Sing Bonga

Sing Bonga

Tradition: Sarnaism / Munda / Ho

This entry honours the self-representation of Sarnaism tradition. India's sacred landscape includes hundreds of traditions beyond the Brahminical-Vedic canon. Each has its own cosmology, priesthood, ritual calendar, and relationship with the sacred landscape. Each deserves first-person recognition.

The Place

• Location: Khunti region, Khunti, Jharkhand (23.0728°N, 85.2783°E)
• Tradition: Sarnaism, Munda, Ho
• Historical: Pre-historic; Birsait movement 1890s

Story & Worship

The Munda (~2 million) and Ho (~1 million) tribes of the Chotanagpur plateau (Jharkhand-Odisha) worship Sing Bonga (Sun) as supreme. Birsa Munda (1875–1900) led a millenarian uprising against British rule in his name. The Hindu word "Bhagwān" is not used — Sing Bonga is distinct. Sacred groves (Sarnā) are primary sites. Sing Bonga is invoked at birth, marriage, and death. The Jani Shikar (hunting festival, every 12 years) is a Munda ancestor-ritual hunt — women hunt, men cook (the gender-reversed social-day).

Mantra / Invocation

Oral Munda invocations

Festival Calendar

• Sarhul (Chaitra (March–April), 3 days)
• Māge Parab (Paush (December), 3 days)

Sources

Drawn from scholarly ethnographies of Indian tribal and regional religions (Roy, Vidyarthi, Sinha, Fuchs, Sarkar, Sontheimer, Kinsley), colonial-era gazetteers, and contemporary community documentation.