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Editors’ note: The Adivasi, or tribal peoples, of India are traditionally animist, although a minority have embraced Christianity. The growth of Christianity among the Adivasi and Dalit communities in the past century has sparked waves of violence against Christians by Hindu nationalists, who equate being Indian with being Hindu. They view Dalits and Adivasi as Hindu, despite the insistence of many Dalits and Adivasi that they are not.
How do I describe Chhattisgarh? It’s the sort of place where the sun sets in paddy fields and you feel like this planet is the most beautiful place in the universe, where you feel grateful and lucky to be alive. It has that kind of not just natural beauty but also peace. It’s this peace you feel when you spend time with the Adivasi or tribal community of Chhattisgarh.
The villages are small, no more than 50 families per village. They live in huts made with bamboo or mud. Their homes are neat and well-kept. Minimalist is the word I would use. There’s literally only what they need. Definitely no hoarders here. The Adivasi spend their days foraging for food and wood in the forest or farming the land.
You see children climbing trees or playing and running around. They’re looking after chickens and dogs. The Adivasi are, in a way critical, as the protectors and gatekeepers of India’s forests.
The Adivasi have no religion as such, certainly not in a conventional sense. They worship an animal or nature as deity. However, given India’s right-wing politics at the moment, they’ve found themselves identified as Hindu.
Chhattisgarh has one of the highest Adivasi populations in the country. The three days we were in Chhattisgarh, India’s home affairs minister, Amit Shah, a man seen as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confidant, was visiting. Adivasi are seen as a substantial wood bank and are therefore critical to the government.
Going back to the Adivasi being forced to identify as Hindu now, some, however, have decided to convert to Christianity — and specifically Catholic. The Syro-Malabar Church is active in its missionary work here. They built hospitals and schools.
The Catholic churches in Adivasi villages are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. They’re small and cute, usually in the middle of a cornfield. After the service, you donate not money, but rice. And worship is usually done not through sermons or readings, but songs.
But Adivasi have recently been facing religious persecution. Hindu fanatics want them to convert backs to Hinduism — “ghar wapsi” — homecoming. Christian Adivasi are often attacked in their villages, banned from working on farms, physically assaulted and ostracized from their community just because they’re Christian. But the Adivasi who are now Catholic stand firm in their belief in Jesus. Many we spoke to said they’d rather give up their life than give up Christ.
The church has also been condemned for what the Hindu extremists call “religious conversion.” But the church says missionary work is much more than just conversion. It’s about offering the Adivasi a better way of life, with medical and educational facilities and better farming infrastructure. The Indian constitution says everybody has the freedom and the right to practice the religion of their choice.
The fact remains that the Adivasi are an incredibly poor community, Christian or not. Most of them earn less than $12 a month. The priority has to be the development of the tribals, not a fight over religion.
Read more about the church’s work with the Adivasi in “Last, but not Least” in the March 2025 issue of ONE.