Adivasi bodies in Jharkhand바카라 웹사이트led by Borio MLA Lobin Hembrom and바카라 웹사이트Geeta Shree바카라 웹사이트Oraon, among other tribal leaders, gathered at Peer Taand in Jharkhand's Giridih district to assert바카라 웹사이트their right over Marang Buru, which the Jains also consider as their pilgrimage site and call바카라 웹사이트Parasnath.
Thousands of tribals바카라 웹사이트climbed바카라 웹사이트the mountain바카라 웹사이트and raised slogans against the Jain community, who they say바카라 웹사이트have encroached their lands and established a hegemony over tribal lands, customs, and practices in the area.
Tribals raise voice, allege Jains'바카라 웹사이트hegemonic control
Shortly after the Union바카라 웹사이트government accepted바카라 웹사이트the demands of the Jain community protesting against a 2019 government notification to make the Jain pilgrim site of바카라 웹사이트Parasnath바카라 웹사이트a eco-tourist hub, the Jharkhand's바카라 웹사이트tribals바카라 웹사이트have also바카라 웹사이트become vocal for their rights and access to the tribal land which they have been worshipping for centuries.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) government released the original notification from 2019 to show바카라 웹사이트that the decision to promote the hills as a tourist spot was Bharatiya Janata Party라이브 바카라 (BJP) decision바카라 웹사이트and not that of the바카라 웹사이트Hemant Soren-led government.
The controversy also erupted in the backdrop of alleged instances of chicken bones, meat, and liquor consumption near the Jain temple. However, local leader Sikander Hembrom quashed such claims and stated바카라 웹사이트that the local authorities found no evidence of any such happenings in their investigation.
Furthermore,바카라 웹사이트the land where the Parasnath stands is part of the adivasi-populated region where바카라 웹사이트animal sacrifice is an integral part of their culture.바카라 웹사이트
Parasnath for Jains, Marang Baru for adivasis
At a distance of about 160 km from Jharkhand's capital Ranchi, Giridih's Parasnath hill rises up to 4,500 feet above sea level. There are about 30 temples there바카라 웹사이트dedicated to Jain Tirthankars and monks who attained moksha on this mountain.바카라 웹사이트Many temples are said to be more than 2,000 years old.
However, for the region's adivasis, these mountains are바카라 웹사이트'Marang Buru', which literally mean바카라 웹사이트the "eldest mountain deity" in Santhali and Bengali.
While the Jain temple is one part of the hill range, and only one hillock regarded as a Jain shrine, several other hills were worshipped by the Santhal Adivasis as Marang Buru, who revere the nature, mountains, forests and rivers as God.
Lobin Hembrom told 바카라, "The hills have been worshipped by the Santhals for centuries and there are Santhali holy sites on the hills. These hills righteously belong to the natives and their practices바카라 웹사이트which we will not desecrate. The Jain protests were reported by media and were taken congisance of by both the governments.바카라 웹사이트However, the protests occurred because they [Jains]바카라 웹사이트do not want any government interfering with바카라 웹사이트what they have been doing with the money and our people under the garb of religious trusts."
The Santhals suspected that the Jain protests, which바카라 웹사이트drew both the government and media attention, were devised to strip the adivasis of their rights over the hills, which is a shared heritage.
Tribals in the area told바카라 웹사이트바카라바카라 웹사이트that the Jain community often restricts adivasi women from collecting wood from the forests.바카라 웹사이트Kurmis and Muslims are also prohibited from entering the바카라 웹사이트10kms radius of the mountain range. Previously, the Disab Manjhi Tand Board, denoting the holy site of the Santhals was also tampered with and removed by Jains, and was later reinstalled by the locals, said the tribals residing in the area.
Historic evidence for바카라 웹사이트adivasi claims
The Bihar district gazetteer, prepared in 1911 by special officer PC Roy Choudhury, in the recision section reads that the Parasnath is the Marang Buru or hill deity of the Santhals of Hazaribagh, Manbhum, Bankura, and Santhal Parganas and each year they assemble at the period of the full moon in Baisakh. It further says that the community celebrates a religious hunt for three days during this time.
The gazetteer mentions that the practice was challenged by the institution of a suit by the Swetambar Jains to have it declared that no such custom exists. That suit was dismissed by the judicial commissioner and an appeal, preferred against his order, was rejected by the High Court. The case then went up to the Privy Council, London, and it was held that the Santhals have the customary right of hunting on the Parasnath hill.
At present, only a decimal of Jain population resides in the Giridih district and even lesser in the areas surrounding the바카라 웹사이트hill range.
CPI(M)(L) MLA Vinod Kumar Singh said that the entire issue has been blown out of proportions with one powerful community trying to reject the identity of the weaker section and that the matter might reach a resolution if the two communities could have an equal peace talk.
He added, "Our natural forests should not be converted into concrete jungles in the name of religion or development as in the case of Joshimath we can see what extreme human interventions to nature can do."
