Advent of Vaishnavism in an Animistic Environ: The case of the Deoris of Assam

Abstract

Animism is one of the oldest form of religion, which is professed by almost all the tribes of the world. Most of the tribes of North East India, both in the hills and plains, professed animism from time immemorial. The Deoris of Assam, a scheduled tribe principally concentrated in the Brahmaputra valley, are traditionally animist. The Deoris are a patriarchal tribe divided in to four sections. Agriculture is their mainstay and their material culture has been developed centring paddy cultivation. Traditionally they were the worshippers of natural objects. Data for this paper have been collected from Majar Chapari Village of Lakhimpur District, Assam. The village is surrounded by the Assamese Hindu villages and the inhabitants of those villages practised Vaishnavism – a form of Hinduism. Gradually good number of traits of this religious system percolated to the society and culture of the Deoris of Majar Chapari village. In this paper a modest attempt has been made to examine the Vaishnavism practised by the Deori inhabitants of Majar Chapari Village.