On November 15, 2025, India commemorates Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, a day that transcends the boundaries of a mere holiday. It is a national tribute to the tribal communities of India, acknowledging them not as peripheral participants but as the original and inseparable core of the nation’s civilizational identity. This year carries special significance as it marks the 150th birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, revered as Dharti Aba or ‘Father of the Earth.’
When we, as a nation, celebrate our ‘Tribal Heroes’ and the ‘Tribal Heritage’, there is a notorious propaganda that has been allowed to grow, that India’s tribal communities, the ‘Janjati’, are somehow separate from the nation’s cultural and spiritual identity.
The propaganda is that they are not part of Hindu civilization. That their faith, traditions, and way of life exist outside the Indian mainstream. This story is not new. It began with the British, who deliberately tried to divide Indians by creating false categories of ‘tribal’ and ‘non-tribal,’ ‘forest dwellers’ and ‘civilized people.’ Today, that same colonial propaganda is repeated by those who seek to fracture India’s unity.
But history, faith, and lived reality all tell a very different story. The truth is that the Adivasis are the foundation of Bharat. They were the first defenders of this land, the earliest believers in its sacredness, and the original upholders of the very spirit that later came to be called Sanatan Dharma.
When the British came to India, they found a society deeply united by shared cultural threads – reverence for nature, community life, and a moral code that placed Dharma above material gain. To rule over this unity, they needed division. They called some ‘tribes’, others ‘castes’, and then claimed that the ‘tribes’ had nothing to do with Hinduism or Indian civilisation.
Unfortunately, this lie did not die with the British. It continues to be repeated today by ideologues and activists who wish to rewrite history. They speak of ‘tribal identity’ as something separate from the ‘idea of India,’ as if the Adivasis live in a different moral universe. But the truth is exactly the opposite, it is in the forests and mountains of India that the soul of this country first awakened.
Long before modern nationalism took shape, the Adivasis were fighting for the land, faith, and freedom of Bharat. In 1576, the Bhils stood shoulder to shoulder with Maharana Pratap against the Mughal armies ,a battle fought not for tribal gain, but for the motherland’s honour.
Rani Durgawati of the Gond dynasty resisted Akbar’s forces till her last breath, and the Ahoms of the Northeast successfully repelled multiple Mughal invasions. And when British rule spread across India, it was again the tribals who rose first. The Santhal Rebellion (1855-56) and Birsa Munda’s Ulgulan (1899-1900) were not tribal uprisings in isolation – they were the earliest calls for Swaraj, for self-rule for all of India. When Birsa said “Abua Raj Etejana” – “Our rule is established” – he did not mean a small tribal rule; he meant an India free of foreign dominance.
The attempt to portray tribal faiths as ‘non-Hindu’ is another colonial deception. Adivasi spirituality is the purest expression of India’s ancient worldview seeing divinity in nature, reverence in rivers, trees, and the earth itself. This is not foreign to Hinduism; it is its very essence. Across India, tribal deities are worshipped alongside mainstream Hindu gods. The 2011 Census counts show Hinduism as the faith of a large majority of Indians, including many tribal people. The attempt to cast tribal religion as utterly separate ignores this lived reality.
The claim that tribals do not believe in the ‘idea of India’ collapses when confronted with their actions. They serve in the Indian Army, they vote, they participate in democracy, and they stand at the frontlines of national security. Their movements have always demanded respect, not separation. Calls for recognition of tribal faiths, such as the Sarna Code, are not rebellions , they are requests for dignity within the Indian family.
The tribals have never rejected India, they have embodied it. Their idea of community, justice, and reverence for nature reflects the same values that define our Constitution and cultural heritage. They have always believed in unity in diversity – the very phrase that modern India takes pride in. As India celebrates Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on November 15, 2025, marking 150 years of Bhagwan Birsa Munda, we are not merely remembering a freedom fighter. We are reclaiming a truth that colonialism tried to bury, that the Adivasis were never outside India’s
story; they are its beating heart.
Their courage defended the land, their wisdom preserved its forests, and their faith sustained its soul. The attempt to divide them from the rest of Bharat is not only false, it is an insult to the very idea of India. To honour the Adivasis is to honour India itself. Their history is our national history; their faith is our civilisational faith. In the voice of Birsa Munda still echoes the timeless call – Abua Raj Etejana – not just for his people, but for a united and self-respecting Bharat. The truth is simple: Adivasis are not outside Hindu civilization – they are its first expression, its fiercest defenders, and its eternal guardians. To divide them from India is to divide India from
itself.
