Are Indian Tribals Hindus? - Part 3 West-Central India

IV. The West-Central Heartland

The West-Central heartland of India consists of the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan in the West and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in Central India. We must also include here the small states or territories of Goa, Daman-Diu and Dadra-Nagar-Haveli.

First we will take the tribes having more than 97% declared Hindus:

TRIBE	States	Total Population	%age  of Hindus
Bhil	M, G, R, MP, C	143,63,991	98.53
Koli	G	75,99,057	99.59
Kunbi	G	75,88,339	99.81
Mina	R, MP	45,74,086	99.80
Koli Mahadev	M	14,20,656	99.55
Kol	M, MP, C	11,70,525	99.55
Kokna	M, G, R, DNH	10,61,071	97.46
Varli	M, G, Go, DD, DNH	10,48,729	98.05
Kawar	M, MP, C	9,38,210	97.81
Halbi/Halba	M, MP, C	8,40,531	98.65
Dubla	M, G, Go, DD, DNH	8,27,807	99.60
Korka	M, MP, C	8,25,382	99.60
Dhodia	M, G, Go, DD, DNH	7,91,050	99.25
Bharwad	G	6,90,024	100.00
Rathawa	M, G	6,25,644	99.84
Sahariya	R, MP, C	5,88,947	99.66
Vaghri	G	5,20,004	99.99
Thakar	M	4,87,171	99.57
Baiga	M, MP, C	4,65,189	99.34
Andh	M, MP, C	4,23,420	99.22
Chaudhari	G	3,65,554	98.42
Rabari	G	3,30,773	100.00
Bharia Bhumia	M, MP, C	3,30,179	99.19
Pardhan	M, MP, C	3,23,079	98.91
Kathodi	M, G, R, DNH	2,99,757	98.61
Koli Malhar	M	2,93,919	98.65
Koli Dhor	M, G, R, DNH	2,92,537	98.32
Garasia	R	2,34,412	99.27
Kolowar/Kolami	M, MP, C	2,17,212	99.47
Pardhi	M, G, MP, C	2,09,600	99.36
Bhattra	M, MP, C	1,99,219	98.99
Panika	MP	1,91,799	99.58
Saur	MP, C	1,82,483	99.86
Dhanwar	M, MP, C	1,64,475	99.44
Khairwar	M, MP, C	1,53,067	99.52
Naikda	M, G, R, Go, DD, DNH	1,34,817	99.40
Majhi	MP C	1,21,712	99.22
Korwa	MP, C	1,17,062	97.34
Charan	G	1,05,778	100.00
Mawasi	MP, C	1,04,866	99.45
Agariya	MP, C	1,02,795	99.18
Sonr	MP, C	75,748	98.48
Pao	MP, C	69,856	99.83
Bhaina	M, MP, C	69,848	97.24
Damaria/Damor	R, MP, C	61,281	98.59
Majhwar	MP, C	61,120	99.02
Keer	MP	50,310	99.92
Kamar	M, MP, C	39,600	99.09
Karku	MP, C	30,402	99.83
Padhar	G	24,273	100.00
Bhunjia	M, MP, C	23,189	98.65
Chodhara	M, G	20,303	99.26
Barda	M, G	15,878	98.52
Kui Khond	M, MP, C	15,321	98.99
Biar/Biyar	MP, C	14,697	99.11
Gadaba	MP, C	10,089	99.06
Bavcha	M, G	8,098	98.10
Saonta	MP, C	4,781	99.62
Birhor	M, MP, C	4,570	98.69
Pomla	M, G	2,327	99.53
Saora/Savara	M, MP	2,271	99.56
Kisan/Nagasia	M, MP, C	256	100.00

The following are the tribes having between 90-97% of declared Hindus:

TRIBE	States	Total Population	%age of Hindus	%age of Christians	%age Of Muslims	Total %age H+C+M
Gond	M, G, MP, C	108,70,476	93.21	0.69		93.90
Gamit	M, G	6,30,075	91.91	8.02		99.93
Dhanka	M, G, R	4,20,398	93.36	2.44	3.92	99.72
Kharia	M, MP, C	77,413	96.47	3.34		99.81
BhilMina	R, MP, C	60,077	96.34		2.93	99.27
Vitholia	M, G	30,892	94.39	5.56		99.95
Parja	M, MP, C	6,542	96.35		2.87	99.22

And finally the few tribes where Hindus are less than 90%:

TRIBE	States	Total Population	%age of Hindus	%age of Christians	%age Of Muslims	Total %age H+C+M
Oraon	MP, C	7,48,901	64.34	32.88		97.22
Munda	MP, C	13,222	86.39	11.99		98.38
Patelia	M, G, R	8,791	83.60	0.19	15.22	99.01
Koya	M	802	86.78		12.84	99.62

To sum up the situation so far: we have seen the religious composition of the tribals in the whole of India to the north, west and south of the Jharkhand-Orissa line, and we find that in the overwhelming majority of the tribes the percentage of “Hindu Category One” tribals is far above 90%, and far more than the percentage of the Hindus in the general population of the states concerned. The tribals are more emphatically Hindu than the non-tribals of these states. In the few tribes where the powerful missionary machinery has made any impact, the converts are obviously from among “Hindu Category One” tribals, and “Hindu Category Three” tribals are almost totally absent.

It is only in the single case of the Gond tribe of the Western-Central heartland region that we find “Hindu Category Three” tribals of any significance: a total of 6,51,111 tribals from the Gond tribe in this region declare themselves to be neither Hindu-Buddhist-Sikh-Jain nor Muslim-Christian-Parsee-Jew. It is true that this is only 5.99% of the total Gond population of 108,70,476 in this region, and the “Hindu Category One” Gonds number 101,32,841, or 93.21% of the tribe. Nevertheless, we have here one case of a “Hindu Category Three” religion: a Gond religion. [As we also saw earlier, out of the miniscule population of 1,625 Ho tribals in Bihar, 3.08% declare themselves likewise to be “Hindu Category Three”, while 88.62% are outright Hindus. But this is only a spillover from the neighbouring Jharkhand area, as we shall see in a moment].