Story of a sacred Jharkhand hill at the centre of old friction between Jains & Santals

A sacred hill

Jains believe that 20 of the 24 Jain tirthankaras (divine teachers) attained nirvana (liberation) on Parasnath Hill. The name “Parasnath” is derived from Parshvanatha, the 23rd tirthankara. Today, there are more than 40 Jain temples and dhams on the hill.

“The Jains, being followers of one of the oldest religions, have held this hill sacred since the time of the tirthankaras [in the BCEs],” Amit Jain, a community leader in Parasnath, told The Indian Express.

Elders guide the youth through traditional rituals, preserving the Santal heritage in Sohraia village.

“[Jains and Adivasis] have co-existed at Parasnath Hill from the very beginning. When the tirthankaras came here to attain nirvana here, it was the Adivasis who carried them to the top of the hill. That tradition continues today,” he said.

Marang Buru (literally “the Great Mountain”) is the supreme animist deity in the Santal tradition. The Jug Jaher Than (sacred grove) on the hill is the most sacred dhorom garh (religious site) of the Santals, akin to what Mecca means for Muslims. Also significant is the Dishom Manjhi Than on the hill, the symbolic seat of the dishom manjhi (the traditional Santal leader) where customary rituals are performed.

Its religious significance aside, Marang Buru is the supreme seat of justice for Santals. The Lo Bir Baisi, a tribal council that resolves disputes which cannot be handled at the village level, convenes at Boda Darha in Sohraiya village, on the eastern part of the sacred mountain.

It was with a resolution of this council that the historic Santal Hul was launched in 1855. Led by Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, the rebellion targeted the oppressive dikus, literally “outsiders”, including zamindars, mahajans, and British officials.

An old conflict

Jains believe that an ancient king donated the Parasnath Hill to the community. But revenue department official P C Roy Choudhury in the 1957 Hazaribagh District Gazetteer wrote that “the oldest of the [Jain] temples appears to date only from AD 1765.”

It was in 1911 that the conflict between Adivasis and Jains over Marang Buru/Parasnath officially entered state records.

“Parasnath is the Marang Buru or hill deity of the Santals… Each year they assemble during the full moon of Baisakh… and celebrate a religious hunt for three days; after which a great tribal session is held… The entry of this custom in the record-of-rights which was prepared in 1911… was followed by the institution of a suit by the Swetamber Jains who have declared that no such custom exists,” Roy Choudhury wrote.

Village elders prepare for the worship of Marang Buru ahead of the Sendra.

This account describes the Sendra festival which has been a frequent flash point in the Santal-Jain conflict over the hill. During the three-day-long Sendra, all male members of the Santal community head into the forest to hunt. “It’s a rebirth for Santal men. Either die or hunt to survive,” Arjun Marandi, a community elder, told The Indian Express.

For Jains, who follow a rigorous spiritually-motivated vegetarian diet, Sendra has long caused consternation. But initial attempts to ban hunting on the hill were unsuccessful.

The aforementioned suit was dismissed by the district court, and upon appeal, rejected by the Patna High Court in 1917. “[The plaintiffs’] grievance, if any, is hyper sentimental,” the court observed.

The Privy Council, the highest court of appeal in British India, later held that Santals have a customary right to hunt on Parasnath Hill, Roy Choudhury wrote in the 1957 Gazetteer.

After Independence

Continuing pressure from dikus and concerns regarding India’s depleting forests gradually eroded Adivasi rights over the hill post-Independence.

In 1972, the year in which the Indira Gandhi government passed the Wildlife Protection Act, Adivasi villages around Marang Buru lost their status under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.

Areas included in the Fifth Schedule give Scheduled Tribes certain special rights with regards to administration and control of resources. The forested area on and around the hill was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1978, which further reduced Adivasi rights over it.

As a result, rituals at the Jug Jaher Than in Marang Buru were halted from the 1970s to 2000, the year Jharkhand attained statehood. Ajay Tudu, a prominent Santali activist who led the movement for the resumption of Adivasi rituals at Marang Buru, was shot dead by unknown assailants in 2008.

But even in a state created with the ostensible purpose of politically empowering Adivasis, there have been continuing impediments on Santal customary practices in Parasnath.

Most recently, a 2023 memorandum by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change ordered that no alcohol or meat be served within a 25 km radius of the hill — an area encompassing 99, mostly Adivasi, villages — out of respect for the sentiments of the Jain community.

The memo also banned serving eggs or meat in Anganwadi centres and primary schools in the area, Naman Priyesh Lakra, the Deputy Commissioner of Giridih district, told The Indian Express. The recent HC order pertained to the enforcement of this MoEFCC directive.

DC Lakra said that following the HC order the number of home guards in the area has been increased to prevent illegal activities by villagers or outsiders.

Nonetheless, earlier this week, Santals celebrated the Sendra festival in the jungles of Marang Buru. The Marang Buru Sanvta Susaar Baisi (MBSSB), a local Santal association led by Sikandar Hembrom, has also filed a counter-petition asserting Santals’ traditional rights over the hill.