MANY TONGUES, ONE PEOPLE: CONSTRUCTING THE ‘TEA – TRIBE’
3.3. Religious identity
violation of caste sentiments16. While inter-ethnic marriages occur and are tolerated, they are not the norm, and their frequency is less in the numerically viable groups.
Marriage between the Christians and non-Christians is not rare, particularly among the Oraons, Munda and Kharia, as their status seems the same. The boy may have to pay a token fine to the girl's parents in such a case. One of the offences in marriage is marriage between tribes with unequal status. Earlier, such couples were out-casted.
However, nowadays, the panchayat takes over the issue and settles the dispute imposing a fine on the boy. Sometimes trade union takes responsibility for amicable settlement. The incidence of inter-tribal marriage is higher in large plantations where various tribal communities live together. Residential quarters are allotted to the workers without considering their ethnic background, and thus different ethnic groups live side by side. It leads to intimate social interaction between members of two or more tribes, which opens the opportunity for inter-tribal marriages. Inter-tribal marriages are found more in plantations that are close to urban centres and those that have tribal groups with small populations.
to the Julaha (weaver) caste in some of the erstwhile Brahmaputra Tea Company gardens (presently owned ·by the Assam Tea Corporation), such as Negheriting and Rungamatty, in the Golaghat district. These labourers had migrated from Bihar and UP.
Since colonial times a good number of the tribals among the tea workers has adopted Christianity, and the rest are primarily Hinduized tribals who have retained many elements of their animistic faith:
The people of the tea labour community follow mainly two religions: Hinduism and Christianity. Hinduism is professed by more than four-fifths of the total population and Christianity by Jess than one-fifth. But basically, the people of this community are animist (Saikai, 1994, p. 223).
It is mainly the tribals belonging to Chotanagpur who have adopted Christianity, while others are very few. The missionaries made a profound impact on the religious as well as socio-economic life of the labourers. An analysis of the role of Christianity and Christian missionaries among sections of tea workers helps us understand many aspects of life at the plantation.
Except for a few who had been converted to Christianity under the impact of missionaries in their native villages' animism was the prevalent form of belief amongst the Chotonagpur tribals who migrated to the tea plantations. The initial conversions amongst these tribes were carried out under the aegis of the Gessner Evangelical mission of Berlin and the Belgian Jesuits in Bihar, while a large majority of them converted after migration to the Assam plantations. The first pioneer among the Catholic missionaries in the gardens was the Salvatorian, Rev. Rudolf Fontaine (Beker, 1980 cited in Sharma 2011). In the erstwhile Sibsagar district of Assam, the American Baptist missionaries had established a mission for evangelising the Assamese. However, they found work among the labourers much more promising than among the local people. One of the early Acts of baptism by this missionary
took place in 1871 by Rev. E.W. Clerk, who baptised four tea labourers. With this began the active participation of the American Baptist missionary activities in the tea areas (Downs, 1993). Following these, hundreds of tea garden labourers were baptised in Assam every year. Initially, the planters viewed the activities of the missionaries in the Garden with suspicion. However, after some initial hiccups, the planters extended co-operation to the missions. They would often make use of the missionaries' influence to solve the labour problems. When the Government made it obligatory for the management of the tea gardens to provide elementary education to the labourers' children, the planters sought the help of the missionaries to establish schools (Muthumana, 1992).
It is not possible to give an exact number of tea workers following Christianity; about 10% of the tea and ex-tea labour population is believed to be Christian, 9 of whom around 60% belong to three Protestant churches, namely, Baptist; Lutheran and Anglican, the rest being Catholics (ibid.). Most Christian converts have given up their traditional beliefs and superstitious practices. They no longer participate in practices such as ancestor worship and worship of supernatural spirits for curing disease. They are inclined towards modern ideas including medical treatment, education and gender equality after their conversion and have imbibed desirable habits of health and personal hygiene, sanitation and cleanliness. The trend towards drinking has declined among them. The Christian labourers with a higher level of education have better representation in non- plantation jobs and professions and are economically sounder than their non-Christian counterparts. The Christian converts give high value to education and maintain regular savings. The Christian converts have been found to maintain an independent identity cutting across ethnic groups. There is very minimal social interaction between the Hindu and the Christian tea workers have been found. Among the Santals, Troisi observed that "the
Christian method of evangelisation often tended to draw the SantaIs out of their milieu"
(Troisi, 1978, p. 26). He further maintains, "A cleavage between the converts and their community also arises as a result of the substantial changes in the rites and ceremonies which surround a Santal's life cycle" (ibid., p. 268). It might have contributed to the cleavage observed between Hindu and Christian labourers. In matrimonial negotiations, however, it is observed that the Christians too prefer mates from the same ethnic groups, though inter- religious marriages are rare.
"We are a very misunderstood community. People here called us Coolie, Bongalee, and now we are called Tea-Tribe and Adibasi but our real identity is something else".
"We have become used to this 'Tea-Tribe' term now. It has become our identity now. Our leaders use this name to take benefits."
"We have different cultures, traditions, and religions, but we are the same in the garden, and even outside the garden, you see."
"Many of our people have converted to other religions, but they still follow the old traditions and culture."
"Change in 'country' (region) has bought in many changes in our food habits, religion and other customs. We have got mixed up with the local culture".
-Perceptions on Culture and Identity from FGDs (translated from Assamese)