Influence of Ancient Sacred Sites of Jharkhand on the Evolution of Indian Religious Traditions

Abstract

This paper examines the role of ancient sacred sites in Jharkhand as dynamic agents in the evolution of Indian 
religious traditions. Moving beyond descriptive cataloguing, it argues that these sites functioned not merely as passive 
backdrops to religious practice but as active nodes of interaction, negotiation, and transformation between tribal 
cosmologies and institutionalised religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Drawing on archaeological 
evidence from megalithic cultures, ethnographic accounts of Sarna groves, and historical documentation of Parasnath 
Hill and regional temples, the paper demonstrates how Jharkhand's sacred landscape fostered processes of 
syncretism, localisation, and contested identity-formation over the longue durée. Applying Eliade's notion of 
hierophany alongside more critical frameworks drawn from landscape anthropology and postcolonial religious 
studies, the paper contends that Jharkhand's sacred geography represents a palimpsest of religious change. The 
findings suggest that indigenous Adivasi traditions made substantial, though historically under-acknowledged, 
contributions to the broader fabric of Indian religiosity, and that contemporary contestations over sites like Parasnath 
Hill are continuations of much older negotiations.