GUDUTA, India (AP) тАФ The ritual began with a thunderous roll of leather drums, its clamor echoing through the entire village. Women dressed
Maranda and others in Guduta, a remote tribal village in IndiaтАЩs eastern Odisha state that rests in a seemingly endless forest landscape, are тАЬAdivasis,тАЭ or Indigenous tribespeople, who adhere to Sarna Dharma.
The government does not legally acknowledge their faith тАФ a fact that is increasingly becoming a rallying point for change for some of the 5 million or so Indigenous tribespeople in the country who follow Sarna Dharma. They say formal recognition would help preserve their culture and history in the wake of the slow erosion of Indigenous tribespeopleтАЩs rights in India.
Citizens are only allowed to align themselves with one of IndiaтАЩs six officially recognized religions тАФ Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism.
The protests have gained momentum after the recent election of Droupadi Murmu, the first tribal woman to serve as IndiaтАЩs president, raising hopes that her historic win will bring attention to the needs of the countryтАЩs Indigenous population, which is about 110 million people as per the national census.
