Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia Online

Get access Subject: Asian Studies


Edited by:
Marine Carrin (Editor-in-Chief), University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, and Michel Boivin, Centre for South Asian Studies (CNRS-EHESS), Gérard Toffin, Centre d’Études Himalayennes, Paul Hockings, University of Illinois at Chicago, Raphaël Rousseleau, Université de Lausanne, Tanka Subba, North-Eastern Hill University, Harald Tambs-Lyche, University of de Picardie-Jules Verne (Section Editors)

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Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia strives to reflect the diversity of indigenous cultures of South Asia with its many language groups and religious traditions. Shaped by their own mythologies, these tribal religions differ in form and content from Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, and Christianity, though variants of the latter traditions have been adopted by some indigenous people. Religion is taken in a broad sense and includes aspects of morality, symbolism, identity formation, environmental concerns, and art. Far from being simple survivals of an earlier stage, these religions often show remarkable capacity for adaptation and change. The approach is contemporary rather than a reconstruction of an anterior state, though it does not overlook relevant historical processes.

More information: Brill.com

Sherdukpen

(6,359 words)

Author(s): Dollfus, Pascale
ancestraThe Sherdukpens are a population of about 4,000 living in West Kameng district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh (“The Land of Dawn-Lit Mountains”). The word Sherdukpen, or more rightly Sertukpen, is a portmanteau word comofbining the names of the two main settlements: Ser (or Shergaon) and Tukpen (present-day Rupa), each of which has several satellite villages and hamlets. The Sherdukpens are considered, like other linguistically related Tibeto-Burman speakers, tribals, as opposed to pe…
Date: 2021-11-10

Sherpa

(5,822 words)

Author(s): Sherpa, Pasang Yangjee
The word Sherpa is derived from Sharwa, which literally means “Easterners” in the Sherpa language. It is established that Sherpas came from the Kham region in Tibet around 1500. The Khumbu valley in the Solukhumbu district is considered to be the original settlement area of Sherpas in Nepal, from where they migrated into the adjacent mountain districts of Taplejung, Sankhuwasabha, Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, and Ramechhap. Today, Sherpas live throughout the world. The Sherpas are one of the 59 comm…
Date: 2021-11-10

Siddi (of Karnataka)

(5,532 words)

Author(s): Péquignot, Sofia
Siddi is how most Indians of African descent are named and call themselves today in India. The term has various spellings: Sidi, Siddhi, Sidhi, and Sheedi. Another designation, Habshi, is used less frequently nowadays. According to H. Basu, Sidi was a name given indiscriminately to African slaves and sailors working on ships and in the Indian Ocean. It became a generic term for all people of African origin in South Asia (Basu, 2008, 161). There are also people of African descent in Pakistan, whe…
Date: 2021-11-10

Siddi (of Northwestern India)

(5,300 words)

Author(s): Péquignot, Sofia
Siddi is how most Indians of African descent are named and call themselves today in India. The term has various spellings: Sidi, Siddhi, Sidhi, and Sheedi. Another designation, Habshi, is used less frequently nowadays. According to H. Basu, Sidi was a name given indiscriminately to African slaves and sailors working on ships and in the Indian Ocean. It became a generic term for all people of African origin in South Asia (Basu, 2008, 161). There are also people of African descent in Pakistan, whe…
Date: 2021-11-10