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This religious policy underwent a change when the East
India Company was forced to admit missionaries to India for
the first time under the renewed Charter Act of 1813. The General
Baptist Missionary Society (GBMS) sent William Bampton
and James Peggs to start the Orissa mission in 1822. Peggs believed
that Puri was the main seat of Hinduism and Jagannath
“the stronghold and fountainhead of their idolatry” and assumed
that “a blow at Idolatry here, will prove a blow at the root”
(Kulke 2005: 355). Their blow, however, took a long time coming
and it was several years before they were able to convert a
follower of Jagannath. The missionaries finally succeeded in
1856 when the government handed over the superintendence
and management of the temple to the raja of Khurda.
While Christian missionaries questioned the colonial government’s
policy on Jagannath in coastal Odisha, they conveniently
followed the government’s line in tribal areas. The colonial
government’s campaign against Kondhs/Kandhas began
in 1835 and continued till 1865, killing many and burning
villages in a series of “savage wars”. It used brute force to
suppress the Kandhas, who were described by Campbell as a
“degenerate race, with all the ignorance and superstition of
savages” (1864: 15). During this, the army generals “discovered”
a practice of human sacrifice called meriah (victim), and
exaggerated its “savagery” and “cruelty”. The colonial interpretation
was partly due to ignorance of the Kandha lifeworld
and partly due to arrogance of their “civilising” mission.
Meriahs were “rescued” and sent to orphanages, while the
matter was reported in newspapers in the UK and India. Baptist
missionaries got involved in Kandha affairs at around the
same time. Missionary propaganda played an important role
in ending the practice of meriah. While the discovery and rescue
of meriahs legitimised the colonial conquest, the Kandhas
took it as an affront to their freedom and self-respect – they
never trusted missionaries and resisted evangelisation.
Thus, the missionaries carried on with evangelisation, pursuing
an anti-Jagannath agenda and demonising the adivasi
cultural universe. Ironically, the anti-Jagannath propaganda
further popularised the Jagannath cult. Continuous denunciation
and misrepresentation of Jagannath and the rath yatra
antagonised not only the brahmins but also other Hindus
across the region, particularly on the coast. Evangelisation by
the missionaries invited the ire of adivasis, and stories of their
underhand methods of conversion became a part of the
everyday tribal discourse. Thus, a sort of anti-Christian sentiment
had been brewing in Odisha for long when Hindutva
made its entry.
Hindutva Mobilisation against Christianity
While Christian missionaries made inroads into some adivasi
districts, Hindutva adopted a long-term strategy. Swami
Laxmanananda, a militant Hindu monk, was deputed to the
adivasi-majority district of Phulbani/Kandhamal in 1969. He
set up his base at Chakapada with two objectives – Hinduising
the Kandhas and countering the proselytising activities of
Christian missionaries. Laxmanananda introduced satsangs
(assemblies) and yagnas (sacrifices), Hindu gods and goddesses,
ODISHA
religious scriptures and modes of worship, and organised mega
religious congregations (ashtaprahara namayagyas) attracting
the Kandhas to the Hindutva fold (Kanungo 2002). He launched
an alternative welfare system challenging the Christian
missionaries in education and healthcare services. Schools,
colleges, and hostels for adivasi boys and girls were opened,
creating a pool of permanent cadres for the Sangh parivar.
While Laxmanananda was preparing the Kandhs of Kandhamal
as foot-soldiers for a future battle against Christians,
the parivar pursued an aggressive agenda against conversion
in the adivasi areas. In December 1998, an adivasi mob broke
into the jail at R Udaygiri, dragged out Jai Singh, who was a
scheduled caste covert, and burnt him alive along with his
associate. In this area, the parivar had been mobilising the
Saura adivasis against the Christian Panas for quite some time.
Dara Singh, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, mobilised a section
of adivasis of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts and launched
violent attacks on Muslims and Christians – the former for cow
trade/slaughter and the latter for conversion. Australian
missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons were
burnt alive at Manoharpur in Keonjhar district on the night of
22 January 1999 by Dara Singh and his associates. Though the
Wadhwa Commission established Dara Singh’s involvement, it
ruled out the involvement of any organisation despite Dara
Singh’s association with a parivar affiliate being commonly
acknowledged. Dara Singh and his associates also killed
Sheikh Rehman, a Muslim trader at Padiabeda, and Arul Doss,
a Christian priest in the Jumoboni jungle of Mayurbhanj
district. Anti-conversion agitations spread to the coastal
districts as well. In February 2004, seven dalit Christian
women of Kilipal village of coastal Jagatsinghpur district were
tonsured, forcing them to reconvert to Hinduism.
Kandha-Pana Divide Becomes Communal
The Kandha-Pana ethnic divide can be traced back to the precolonial
period. The migrant landless Panas from the plains
were a sort of serfs of the Kandhas, the original inhabitants of
Kandhamal. Due to their control over land, the Kandhas perceived
themselves as rajas (kings) and the Panas as their prajas
(subjects). This sense of superiority extended to the social
and cultural spheres as well. However, colonial intervention
changed the scenario by introducing new land relations and
depriving the Kandhas of their traditional rights over forestland.
Moreover, the reluctance of the Kandhas to directly deal
with the outside world gave the Panas a material and political
opportunity. When some Panas became a little prosperous due
to their access to petty jobs, small trade, and even land, the
Kandhas found it hard to swallow and old stereotypes for the
Panas such as “thieves”, “cheats” and “liars” were revived. In
the postcolonial period, the resentment of the Kandhas grew
when they came to believe that a large number of Panas had
illegally usurped their rights in two important matters. One,
that they had trampled over the Kandhas’ legal entitlements to
land, which was guaranteed under the Orissa Scheduled Areas
Transfer of Immovable Property by (Scheduled Tribes) Regulations
(Regulation 2 of 1956); and two, that they had availed
Economic & Political Weekly EPW APRIL 5, 2014 vol xlix no 14 51