English: Distribution of Sarnaism, 1961 census
According to the 1961 Census, the total number of Sarna adherents was 428,687, of which 99.6% were from Bihar state: 239,369 (^#including 14,343 non-ST adherents) from Ranchi district, 187,348 (^#including 4,446 non-ST adherents) from Singhbhum district, and 363 from Monghyr district. Mayurbhanj district of Odisha returned 1,498 adherents, and Raigarh district of Madhya Pradesh returned 109.

Further breakdown of those districts illustrates that the Oraon-Munda-Ho corridor constituted the core concentration of Sarna returns. In Ranchi district nearly all ORPs returned were Sarna adherents, predominantly recorded in the frontier regions subject to external religious pressure, inhabited by the Munda and Oraon communities. In Singhbhum district, particularly the Kolhan tract—a region predominantly inhabited by the Hos and largely animist in character—Sarna adherents accounted for only about half of all ORP returns, with the remaining half identified under their own distinct ethno-religious identity as Ho (i.e., 48.7% Sarna, 49.8% Ho, and the rest other religious beliefs). In Mayurbhanj district Sarna adherents were returned mainly from the Bamanghaty subdivision, inferred to be largely from Rairangpur—the birthplace of Raghunath Murmu—and all were Santals.

Overall, out of 1.6 million ORPs returned in India (including 0.11 million not stated), 26.7 percent identified as Sarna adherents. It ranked as the seventh most followed religion with around 0.4 million adherents, accounting for 0.10% of the population — after Hinduism (366.5 million, 83.47%), Islam (46.9 million, 10.69%), Christianity (10.7 million, 2.44%), Sikhism (7.8 million, 1.79%), Buddhism (3.3 million, 0.74%), and Jainism (2.0 million, 0.46%). It was followed by Ho (0.19 million, 0.04%), Garo (0.18 million, 0.04%), Khasi (0.17 million, 0.04%), Santal (0.09 million, 0.02%), and Naga (0.05 million, 0.01%). Those about 0.11 million respondents (0.03%) who did not state any religion were mostly from Manipur.

In the previous census, although the all-India figure for Sarna adherents was not tabulated, the total is estimated at approximately 240,000, based on 237,310 Sarna adherents recorded in Bihar (142,361 in Ranchi, 93,891 in Singhbhum, and 1,058 unspecified but likely from other districts of the Chota Nagpur or Patna divisions). Odisha recorded 2,576 adherents, all in Mayurbhanj, and Madhya Pradesh reported 699 adherents from Raigarh district, while no Sarna adherents were reported in the neighboring state of West Bengal. A notable aspect of this census is that 378,774 individuals in Bihar—predominantly from the Ranchi (218,332) and Singhbhum (150,279) self-identified their religion as Adivasi, with Bihar being the only and presumably the first state where this religious identity was recorded. Among Bihar’s 871,434 tribal religious responses, 43.5% identified as Adivasi, 27.2% as Sarna, while others identified various ethno-religious identities, including Ho (16.5%), Mundari (6.5%), Kharwar (2.5%) and Santali (1.7%). By the 1961 census, the Adivasi religious identity was largely subsumed under Sarna, and in subsequent censuses, various regional ethno-religious identities were gradually merged into it.

Historically, the Sarna religious identity grew out of the ideological difference between converted and non-converted tribals and subsequent socio-political polarization around it during the Adivasi identity assertion in Chotanagpur. Although the collective territorial ethnic identity Adivasi gained wider acceptance based on the principle of earliest inhabitants, traditionalists in Adivasi organisations, who initially regarded Adivasi as both an ethnic and religious identity, later consolidated their beliefs into the Sarna identity to assert religious distinctiveness. In the political landscape, the Sarna identity became a channel for uniting diverse non-converted tribal groups – who constituted the majority among the Adivasis – based on socio-cultural similarities in pursuit of autonomy for the tribal-concentrated Chotanagpur region. Through this process of religious assertion, ethnic consolidation, and political mobilization, diverse tribal communities came under the Sarna movement, shaping a broader strategic religious identity, while each tribe continued to maintain their distinct beliefs, traditions, and cultural practices.

Data source:

• Hembram, P.C. (1982). "Return to sacred grove". In Singh, K.S. (ed.). Tribal Movements in India. Vol. II (2006 reprint ed.). Manohar.
• Social and Cultural Tables, Part II-C(I), Volume 1, India - Census 1961
• Social and Cultural Tables, Part II-C, Volume-IV, Bihar - Census 1961
• Special Tables For Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Part V-A, Volume-IV, Bihar - Census 1961
• Tables on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Part-V-A, Volume-XII, Orissa - Census 1961
• Inset map:
  • District Census Handbook, Ranchi, 15, Bihar - Census 1961
  • District Census Handbook, Singhbhum, 17, Bihar - Census 1961
  • District Census Handbook, Mayurbhanj, Orissa - Census 1961
  • District Census Handbook, Raigarh - Census 1961
  • District Census Handbook, Monghyr, 8, Bihar - Census 1961 (not considered)

• See also:
  • Census Atlas of Bihar, Part IX, Volume-IV, Bihar - Census 1961
• Background (1951)
  • Tables, Part II-A, Volume-V, Bihar - Census 1951
  • General Population, Social and Cultural and Land Tables, Part II-A, Tables, Volume-XI, Orissa - Census 1951
  • Household and Age (Sample) Tables, and Social and Cultural Tables, Part II-C, Vol-VII, Madhya Pradesh - Census 1951

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POV Note: This map of India uses 2024 international boundaries and 1961 internal boundaries for a retrospective view.¹

¹Boundary reference: Census Atlas 1961; Indian Administration Map 1951–2011.