Munda (people)

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Girls of the Bonda, an ethnic group belonging to the Munda.
Munda man and Munda woman (from: Dalton: Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal. 1872)

The Munda are an indigenous people in India with 2.2 million members (as of 2011), mainly in the states of Jharkhand , Odisha and West Bengal , as well as in parts of Bangladesh . With a share of 2%, they form the eighth largest group of all Indian tribal communities, which often see themselves as Adivasi ("original inhabitants, first settlers"). The Munda are known as actors in the popular dance drama Purulia chhau .

The language of the Munda is the Mundari from the family of the Munda languages , which belong to the Austro-Asian languages . They also speak the language of the state in which they live. In 2011 there were 1,128,200 Mundari speakers in India. In 2018, the linguistic compilation Ethnologue lists 7,800 speakers for Nepal and 2,500 for Bangladesh .

History and origin

The Munda are one of the indigenous tribes of India who lived in northern and eastern India before the Indo-Aryans . They speak an Austro-Asian language , which is mainly spoken in East and Southeast Asia . (See Vietnamese or Khmer ). According to linguistic and genetic studies, the ancestors of the Munda migrated from southern China and Southeast Asia to India and mingled with the local population.

According to some historians, the Austro-Asian peoples, commonly referred to as Munda in India, were more widespread than they are today. Some suspect that parts of the Ganges plain were mainly populated by Munda before the migration of the Indo-Aryans. However, the Dravidian peoples made up the majority even then. Even today, some cultural aspects of northern India can be traced back to East and Southeast Asian origins.

In the late 18th century, the Munda were forced to work in fields with little to no wages by the Indians and English ( British Raj ). This resulted in uprisings by the Munda led by Birsa Munda against the state authorities. Even today he is revered by many Munda under the name Birsa Bhagawan.

population

In 7  federal states the resident Munda are recognized as Scheduled Tribe (ST: "registered tribal community"), to which state protection and promotion measures are entitled according to the constitution of India . A total of 2,203,000 Munda and subgroups determined the census in India 2011 in the 7 ST.

The largest ST in Jharkhand with the two groups Munda and Patar has 1.2 million members. In Odisha , the local ST includes "Munda, Munda Lohara, Munda Mahalis, Nagabanshi Munda, Oriya Munda", in West Bengal , Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh only Munda, in Tripura Munda and Kaur and in Bihar again Munda and Patar.

The following list compares social indicators of the resident Munda tribal communities in 7 states:

  • Population of the state (see comparison list of Indian states )
  • Munda: a total of 2.2 million in India
  • Population development from 2001: India-wide growth of 14.8% (from 1.9 million; population growth in India: +17.6%), partly also due to national reassignments of Munda subgroups
  • Share of the respective population - all Munda groups together make up 0.2% of the population of India (1,210,855,000)
  • rural areas - only 11.5% of all Munda live in cities (India-wide: 31%)
  • Gender distribution : number of female to 1000 male persons (balanced would be 1000: 1000) - with 998 the Munda are well above the Indian average (943)
  • Under 7: Children from 0 to 6 years and their gender distribution from girls to 1000 boys - here too the Munda with 973 are higher than India (919: 1000)
  • Reading ability (from 7 years), also for men (♂) and women (♀), as well as the gap between the two - the Munda with 60% alphabets are well below the values ​​of India (74%; 82% ♂ and 65% ♀ = 17% gap)
  • ST (Scheduled Tribes): the registration as a "tribal community" is only valid for the residents of a state (see ST list ) - the 7 ST of the Munda make up 2.1% of the 705 ST in India (compare the 33 largest indigenous peoples of India )
State Residents Munda From 2001 onwards proportion of rural Female under 7 Female read ♂ ♀ gap ST proportion of
36 IndiaIndia India 1,210.9 million 02,203,006 + 14.8  % 0.18  % 88.45  % 998  : 1000 16.07  % 973  : 1000 59.8  % 69.7  % 49.8  % 19.9  % 7th 2.11%
1 Jharkhand 33.0 million 1,229,221 + 17.1% 3.73% 89.17% 1001: 10000 16.19% 973: 1000 62.6% 72.9% 52.4% 20.5% 1 55.80%
2 Odisha (Orissa) 42.0 million 558,691 + 16.3% 1.33% 85.05% 1001: 10000 17.53% 972: 1000 54.9% 64.7% 45.2% 19.5% 1 25.36%
3 West Bengal 91.3 million 366.386 0+ 7.3% 0.40% 92.47% 990: 1000 13.16% 976: 1000 57.7% 67.1% 48.3% 18.8% 1 16.63%
4th Chhattisgarh 25.5 million 15,095 + 21.9% 0.06% 62.64% 972: 1000 15.90% 899: 1000 62.6% 73.3% 51.8% 21.5% 1 0.69%
5 Tripura 3.7 million 14,544 + 17.1% 0.40% 97.00% 961: 1000 19.20% 996: 1000 66.7% 73.2% 59.8% 13.4% 1 0.66%
6th Bihar 104.1 million 14,028 −21.0% 0.01% 92.27% 941: 1000 19.51% 1049: 10000 40.8% 48.3% 32.6% 15.7% 1 0.64%
7th Madhya Pradesh 72.6 million 5,041 + 22.8% 0.01% 38.92% 889: 1000 17.69% 939: 1000 64.5% 72.2% 55.7% 16.5% 1 0.23%

The Christian missionary Joshua Project lists Munda at the beginning of 2019 with a total of 3,807,700 members, of which 3,661,000 in India, 142,000 in Bangladesh and around 2,000 each in Nepal and Bhutan ; there are also 500 Munda in California (USA).

religion

According to the 2011 census in India , the 2.2 million Munda are 43% Hindus ( India: 80% ) and 27.8% Christian ( Christians in India : 2.3%); Muslim is 0.3% (India: 14%). In contrast to the two large indigenous ethnic groups Bhil and Gond , the Munda have a large number of followers of ethnic religions and new religious movements : 28.4% are not followers of the 6 major Indian religions. The old animistic religion "Sarna" has 0.6 million followers (28%), "Birsa" has 2,339 followers (0.1%) and the other 9 smaller religions have a total of 3,300 followers (compare the largest ethnic religions in India ).

The list calculates the shares of Munda, which one of the six major religions in India belong to or under "Other religions and beliefs" (Other Religions and Persuasions) specified - atheist (without faith in Divinity) are not Munda (see atheism in India ):

2011
Indian census 		00Munda 2,203,00600
 fJharkhand 1,229,221f
 0fOdisha 558,6910f
 West Bengal
366.386 		Chhattisgarh
15,095 		0fTripura 14,5440f
 00fBihar 14,02800f
 Madhya Pradesh
5,041
religion 100% 56% 25% 17% 0.69% 0.66% 0.64% 0.23%
1. Hindus 43.187% 17.325% 66.254% 88.975% 87.963% 95.373% 94.026% 39.119%
2. Muslims 0.328% 0.196% 0.202% 0.334% 0.106% 0.165% 0.242% 47.391%
3. Christians 27.758% 32.823% 31.166% 8.278% 10.845% 4.160% 5.133% 12.696%
4th Sikhs 0.013% 0.008% 0.013% 0.026% 0.079% 0.000% 0.007% 0.000%
5. Buddhists 0.065% 0.075% 0.055% 0.049% 0.020% 0.103% 0.021% 0.020%
6th Jainas 0.006% 0.003% 0.009% 0.008% 0.000% 0.007% 0.093% 0.040%
7th Other R. u. Ü. 28.387% 49.245% 2.126% 2.166% 0.914% 0.069% 0.235% 0.635%
7.1 "Sarna" 28.092% 48.885% 1.853% 2.051% 0.596%
7.2 "Birsa" 0.106% 0.190%
7.3 "Adi Dharm" 0.047% 0.184%
7.4 " Munda " 0.043% 0.057% 0.017% 0.042%
7.5 …Further… 0.058% 0.066% 0.054% 0.047%
7.9 unclassified 0.041% 0.047% 0.017% 0.025% 0.318% 0.069% 0.235% 0.635%
8th. Without specification 0.256% 0.324% 0.175% 0.165% 0.073% 0.124% 0.242% 0.099%
Real numbers of religious followers  
2011           alle Munda:  Jharkhand  Odisha  Westbeng. Chhatt. Tripura Bihar MadhyaP.
Munda:             2203006 = 1229221 + 558691 + 366386 + 15095 + 14544 + 14028 + 5041
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Hindus           951421 =  212965 + 370154 + 325991 + 13278 + 13871 + 13190 + 1972
2. Muslims            7228 =    2412 +   1130 +   1223 +    16 +    24 +    34 + 2389
3. Christians       611516 =  403466 + 174119 +  30329 +  1637 +   605 +   720 +  640
4. Sikhs               284 =     102 +     73 +     96 +    12 +     0 +     1 +    0
5. Buddhists          1436 =     928 +    308 +    178 +     3 +    15 +     3 +    1
6. Jains               129 =      34 +     49 +     30 +     0 +     1 +    13 +    2
7. Other R & P      625362 =  605335 +  11878 +   7936 +   138 +    10 +    33 +   32
8. Not Stated         5630 =    3979 +    980 +    603 +    11 +    18 +    34 +    5

„7. Other Religions and Persuasions“ (0,62 Mio. von 2,20 Mio. = 28,1 %):
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarna               618870 =  600910 +  10354 +   7516 +    90
Birsa                 2339 =    2339
Adi Dharm             1029 =       0 +   1029
Munda                  945 =     696 +     95 +    154
Addi Bassi             428 =     428
Adi                    313 =     154 +    159
Ho                     145 =       0 +    145
Sarvdharm              114 =     114
Malla                  111 =     111
Sari Dharma             93 =       0 +      0 +     93
Saranath                81 =       0 +      0 +     81
Other unclassified     894 =     583 +     96 +     92 +    48 +    10 +    33 +   32

The Christian missionary Joshua Project lists the supposedly 142,000 Munda in Bangladesh as 65.6% Hindus, 0.7% Muslims and 10.6% Christians, as well as 23% "unknown".

Ethnic religion

The Munda have their own ethnic religion called Sarna - it has almost 5 million followers across India (0.4% of the total population). They believe in a variety of gods or spirits and practice an ancestral cult . The buru bonga (clan spirits) and the haprom (ancestral spirits of the family) are particularly venerated . The most important god is the sun god Sing Bonga (Singbonga). About a quarter of the Munda population were missionaries and converted to Christianity. Their wedding and burial rituals are based on ancient traditions.

music

The music of the Munda is deeply rooted in the cultural tradition. Only percussion instruments play the rhythm with the dances, while wind instruments and the spit fiddle banam are used in all musical areas, but not to accompany dances. A rod zither that has also become rare among the Mundas and is unusual for today's Indian music is the tuila , which is regarded as practically the last remnant of the early vinas , as they were depicted on temple reliefs in the 1st millennium.

literature

  • Lydia Icke-Schwalbe: The Munda and Oraon in Chota Nagpur - history, economy and society (= treatises and reports of the State Museum for Ethnology Dresden. Volume 40). Academy, Berlin 1983, DNB 911404422 .
  • Barbara A. West: Mundas (Kol, Buno, numerous individual tribes). In: Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-8160-7109-8 , pp 564-566 (brief description; Extract in the Google Book Search).

Web links

Commons : Munda  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1,128,228 Mundari speakers according to Census of India 2011: Paper 1 of 2018: Language - India, States and Union Territories (Table C-16). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2018, p. 10: Table Statement 1, Part-B: Languages ​​not Specified in the Eighth Schedule (Non-Scheduled Languages) (English; PDF: 945 kB, 52 pages on censusindia.gov.in).
  2. ↑ Ethnologue -Lexikon: Mundari: A language of India. 2018, accessed March 5, 2019.
  3. ^ Paul Sidwell: Austroasiatic Studies state of the art in 2018 . ( academia.edu [accessed December 8, 2019]).
  4. ^ Joachim Schliesinger: Origin of the Tai People 3: Genetic and Archaeological Approaches . Booksmango, 2016, ISBN 978-1-63323-962-3 ( google.com [accessed December 8, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Maria Eugenia Riccio, José Manuel Nunes, Melissa Rahal, Barbara Kervaire, Jean-Marie Tiercy: The Austroasiatic Munda Population from India and Its Enigmatic Origin: A HLA Diversity Study . In: Human Biology . tape 83 , no. 3 , June 2011, ISSN  0018-7143 , p. 405-435 , doi : 10.3378 / 027.083.0306 ( bioone.org [accessed December 8, 2019]).
  6. ^ Barbara A. West: Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania . Infobase Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7 ( google.com [accessed December 8, 2019]).
  7. ↑ RS Sharma : India's Ancient Past. Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-566714-X , pp. 2, 118-119.
  8. ↑ Jharkhand: Amit Shah launches scheme for villages of freedom fighters. In: The Indian Express. September 18, 2017, Retrieved December 8, 2019 (American English).
  9. ↑ a b number of Munda as ST in seven States (2011): Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Statistics Division Statistical Profile of Scheduled Tribes in India 2013. English Government of India, New Delhi, 2013, pp 142 and 148-158ix ( ; PDF: 18.1 MB, 448 pages on tribal.nic.in).
  10. ↑ Numbers of the individual Munda STs per country (2011): Census of India 2011: A-11: Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2019 (English; download overview );
    → 7 national Excel tables: Jharkhand , Odisha , West Bengal , Chhattisgarh , Tripura , Bihar , Madhya Pradesh ,
  11. ↑ There were 1,918,218 Munda at the 2001 census: Ministry of Tribal Affairs: Report of the High Level Committee on Socio-Economic, Health and Educational Status of Tribal Communities Of India. Government of India, New Delhi May 2014, p. 48: Table 3.11: Fifteen most populous tribes in India (English; extensive analysis; PDF: 5.0 MB, 431 pages on indiaenvironmentportal.org.in).
    → Numbers of the individual Munda-ST per state (2001): Census of India 2001: ST-14: Scheduled Tribe Population by Religious Community (for each tribe separately). The Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2014 (English);
    → 11 national Excel tables: Census Digital Library. Instructions: First, select the census year "2001", then on the screen where Tabulations plan of Census Year - 2011 below the point Special Tables for Scheduled Tribes (ST Series) click, from ST 9 to ST-16 Select then ST-14: Click on Scheduled tribe population by religious community and select the desired state from the long list that appears or from the pull-down menu: Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh - there are the members of the individual Scheduled Tribes Listed alphabetically for each country in detailed XLS Excel tables, including Munda; However, only "ST.htm" is offered as a download name - this name must be changed to "ST state name .xls" each time before saving in order to be able to load it as an Excel table and avoid overwriting.
  12. ↑ a b Compare the Joshua Project entry for ethnic group number 13867 "Munda" on joshuaproject.net.
  13. ↑ a b c All religious followers of the Scheduled Tribes as individual download for each state:
    Cenus of India 2011: ST-14: Scheduled Tribe Population by Religious Community. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2019, accessed on February 5, 2019 (English; download overview );
    plus appendices to “Other Religions and Beliefs”: ST-14 A: Details Of Religions Shown Under 'Other Religions and Persuasions' in Main Table (for each tribe separately). ( Download overview );
    1. Jharkhand: ST-14: Main Religions. + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 20).
    2. Odisha / Orissa: ST-14: Main Religions. + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 21).
    3. West Bengal: ST-14: Main Religions. + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 19).
    4. Chhattisgarh: ST-14: Main Religions. + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 22).
    5. Tripura: ST-14: Main Religions. + + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 16).
    6. Bihar: ST-14: Main Religions. + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 10).
    7. Madhya Pradesh: ST-14: Main Religions. + ST-14 Appendix: Other Religions (State 23).
  14. ↑ PC Roy Chaudhury: The Tribals of Bihar. In: India International Center Quarterly. Volume 5, No. 1, January 1978, pp. 33-38, here p. 37.
  15. ↑ KS Singh: The Munda Epic: An Interpretation. In: India International Center Quarterly. Volume 19, No. 1/2, Spring-Summer 1992, pp. 75-89.