Christianity in Jharkhand

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Outer view of St. Mary's Cathedral, mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Ranchi. Ranchi - Cathedrale Sainte-Marie - 1.jpg
Outer view of St. Mary's Cathedral, mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Ranchi.

Christians are a religious community residing in the Indian state of Jharkhand. As per 2011 Census of India, 4.3% of people in Jharkhand are Christians. [1] Christians are majority in Simdega district of Jharkhand. [2]

Contents

Overview

Christianity is a minority religion in Jharkhand, a state (formerly Southern region of Bihar state, colloquially Chota Nagpur division) of India. Jharkhand is known for tribals such as Munda, Santhal, Oraon and Kharia. A Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ranchi exists. St. Mary's Cathedral in Ranchi has been a cathedral since 1909. [3] The Church of North India has a Diocese of Chota Nagpur with a seat at Ranchi. The Church of North India has a St. Paul's Cathedral in Ranchi. [3] Gossner Theological College is in Jharkhand. Many Munda & Kharia are Christians. [4] The then pope visited Ranchi in 1986. [5] The Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam has its seat in Ranchi. [3] Dhanbad has Oriental Orthodox Churches. [6] Christian missionaries arrived in today's Jharkhand in 1845.[ citation needed ]

History

Pre-independence era

Christian Mission Stations of the Indian Empire, 1893 Christian Mission Stations of the Indian Empire.jpg
Christian Mission Stations of the Indian Empire, 1893

By the year 1765 Britishers were successful in their military mobilization to bring Santhal Pargana under British rule. After this conquest, the British colonial planters in India indentured tribal people of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region into Northeast India about 150 years ago for the purpose of being employed in the tea gardens industry as workers and came to be known as Tea tribes. These tribals were influenced by the Christian missionaries who came along with the British. These Christian missionaries worked for the improvement standard of living and providing education to the children of the tribals.[ citation needed ]

Nearly 15 decades later missionaries from Germany left started their voyage to India in 1844 and reached Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in 1845. These missionaries were initially heading for Mergui in Myanmar (formerly Burma) in view of preaching the Christian faith among the Karen people or in the areas located in the footsteps of the Himalayas. However, on meeting some people from Ranchi, they changed their plan and headed for Chhotanagpur and its main town, Ranchi. They reached Ranchi on 2 November 1845 and camped on, what is now known as, the 'Bethesda Ground' in Ranchi. [7] By 1872, the Christian population in the Jharkhand region was 16,190, which increased to 43,535, 96,125, and 155,606 in the 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses, respectively. [a] The growth of Christianity in the region was largely among the tribal communities, which contributed to the rise of anti-conversion movements like the Birsa Munda Movement and the Tana Bhagat Movement.

Post-independence era

After India became independent, the missionaries who remained post independence, worked for the improvement standard of living and providing education to the children of the tribals. Evidently many of the tribals emerged as sportsmen especially in the game of hockey and football. [8]

Even the first Prime Minister of India, Dr. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his The Discovery of India acknowledges the contribution of the early missionaries for development of tribals dialect stating that even laboured at the dialects of the primitive hill and forest tribes... [9]

Demographics

Christianity in Jharkhand
YearPop.±%
187216,190—    
188143,535+168.9%
189196,125+120.8%
1901155,606+61.9%
1911209,923+34.9%
1921234,724+11.8%
1931389,770+66.1%
1941—    
1951415,548—    
1961502,195+20.9%
1971658,717+31.2%
1981740,186+12.4%
1991843,717+14.0%
20011,093,382+29.6%
20111,418,608+29.7%
Note: Prior to the 1951, the area corresponding to present-day Jharkhand is used; [a] 1951–2001 census, Bihar's figure also included (but the Christian population in present-day Bihar was minimal), from which Jharkhand was bifurcated in 2000.
Source: Census of India [10] [11]
Christianity among social group of Jharkhand, 2011 census [12]
  1. Scheduled Tribes (94.33%)
  2. General (incl. converted Scheduled Castes) population (5.67%)

Churches and ministry

The major denominations and church bodies in the state are given below.

The other smaller denominations are:

Source: [13] [14]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Area of consideration: Chota Nagpur Tributary States (39,940 km2, incl. northern part of present-day Chhattisgarh), the District of Chota Nagpur Division, and Santhal Parganas, with the 49,389 square miles (127,920 km2) total area, which corresponds to the present-day 79,710 square kilometres area of Jharkhand.

Sources

  1. ↑ "Jharkhand Population 2022 | Sex Ratio & Literacy rate 2024". www.census2011.co.in.
  2. ↑ "Simdega District Population Census 2011 - 2021 - 2024, Jharkhand literacy sex ratio and density". www.census2011.co.in.
  3. 1 2 3 "Churches in Jharkhand". Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
  4. ↑ "Suedasien.info - das Informationsportal zu Südasien". January 2005.
  5. ↑ "Impact of Christianity on the Tribes of Jharkhand". Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2011-04-03.
  6. ↑ "Churches in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India - World Orthodox Directory".
  7. ↑ Devalle, Susana B.C. (1990), Lorenzen, David N. (ed.), "Tribe in India: The Fallacy of a Colonial Category", Studies on Asia and Africa from Latin America (1 ed.), El Colegio de Mexico, p. 104, doi:10.2307/j.ctv3f8qc7.8, ISBN   978-968-12-0459-4, JSTOR   j.ctv3f8qc7.8 , retrieved 2025-05-13
  8. ↑ "Successful tribals acknowledge jubilee dioceses help".
  9. ↑ "Christian Impact on India, History of | Encyclopedia.com".
  10. ↑ "Total population by religious communities". Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Indian Census 2011". Census Department, Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  12. 1 2 3
  13. ↑ World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, 2001 Volume 1, p. 369
  14. ↑ "Namasté: Stories and voices from the Mennonite church in India - Mennonite Church Canada". www.mennonitechurch.ca. Archived from the original on 2011-06-13.

Bibliography

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