Influence of Religion on Rural life

The life of rural people and religious practices are so mixed that it is very difficult to separate Indian rural religion from social life. Generally speaking, all social activities have some religious bearing on the other. The major rural institutions, such as family, marriage, and case are related to religion. Religion dominates the life of villagers and it is respected in the thoughts and conduct of the rural people. It is very difficult to understand the motive of rural people unless their religious background is studied comprehensively.

Influence of Religion on Rural Life

In order to understand the influences of religion on Indian rural life, it is essential to analyze various aspects of rural religion, an attempt of which is being made below:

1. Rural Gods and Goddesses

So many Gods and Goddesses are worshipped by the people in rural India. Following are the most common Gods and Goddess worshipped by the folks.

A.God and Goddesses of Hindus

• Lord Shiva is the most important God worshipped by the people in rural India. Shiva is worshipped under different names. The most famous names used for Lord Shiva are Sankara and Bholebaba.
• Hanuman the legendary figure belonging to satyug is another important God worshiped by Hindus. This deity is worshipped with the belief that Hunuman is a key figure in preventing many kinds of disasters. Like Shiva, Hanuman is worshipped by people of all castes.
• Sun God is also worshipped by the rural people, villagers worship Sun God immediately after taking bath and the devotees offer water to the Sun God.

Besides the above three Gods, other, Gods worshipped in the villages are Rama, Krishna, Agni, Valmiki, Jagannath, etc.

Among the goddesses, Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, and Saraswati are the most important goddesses worshipped by the rural people. Kali is worshipped to get rid of diseases, Lakshmi is worshipped as the Goddess of wealth and prosperity while Durga keeps away disaster and evil spirits. Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge, and Lord Ganesha is the premise deity in the sense that this deity is worshipped on all occasions before offering prayers or worshipping God and goddess.

B. Non-Hindu Gods and Goddesses

In addition to the above Gods and Goddesses worshiped by the Hindus, there are some deities that do not belong to the Hindu religion but are worshipped by rural people such deities are Shitala Maharani who is worshipped to get rid of smallpox and other epidemics. Bhuiyan Devi and Sati Maharani etc. besides these, many saints are worshipped which vary from region.

There are many Gods and Goddesses that are worshipped by the rural people and such deities are local, the place of worship of such deities is generally out of the village.

C.  Worship of Plants, Trees, and Animals

There is a practice among many villagers to worship trees, plants, and animals, as they are considered divine, the trees, which are offered water and worshipped are Banyan, Neem, and Pipal. Tulsi plant is worshipped nearly throughout rural India and it is held in high esteem of religious considerations.

The cow is worshipped by the Hindus as the sacred mother and its dung is used for purifying the place of worship. In many places, ox and snakes are also worshipped and later as the conclusion of Lord Shiva.

2. Practicability of Indian Religion:

Indian religion is thoroughly practical and Indian people are predominantly religious-minded. The rural people of India are far more deeply involved than urban people in the field of religious activities and worship. To quote Sir Har Court Butler, “The Indians are essentially religious as Europeans are also essentially secular; Religion is still the alpha and the omega of Indian life.” Indian people are concerned to be the only of their kind who seek salvation from this earthly world and their religion provides the ladder for climbing this difficult destination.

The world is considered transitory and an appearance. Reality is an escape from the world and forms the forms which make existence in the world necessary, this observation of Olper tries to discard Indian Religion as beyond the level of practicality and declares it to be escapist other writers like Oscar Lewis prefer Indian religion as most practical and realistic.

3. Belief in Ghosts and Witches: 

Superstitions and mystic aspects of Rural Religion. The rural people believe in Ghosts and witches. There exist different ways to please them as well as rid of them, whenever a man or woman meets an untimely death. It is considered that the soul of the dead is dissatisfied and roams in the village in some form or the other. The soul of a dead man becomes a ghost and the soul of a dead woman becomes a witch. In any case of mental abnormality or reflection by a man or woman in a village is not treated as a mental disease, but it is taken as the effect of either a ghost or a witch and it is treated in a most peculiar manner by a witch doctor called ojha, who is supposed to ward off the haunting ghost or which witch with the power of magic and mantras. The techniques of these Ojhas sometime are so cruel that the affected person has to bear extreme physical torture that may even lead to his death. These Ojhas give some metallic piece to either tie around the arm or wear around the neck to keep the willing spirit away.

4. Belief in Noble Souls: 

Rural people in India believe in good souls without any discrimination and it is considered that these souls help living being in various ways. Such souls are considered to be of dead saints, it is believed that after death if the soul of a saint haunts the village it would protect the village in all respects.

5. The factor of Auspicious and Inauspicious Faith in Dreams: 

Village people believe in so many superstitions concerning the performance of a particular work and journey etc. particular days and months are considered auspicious for doing or undertaking any ventures. Local pundits are contacted to suggest an auspicious day for a ritual and these pundits calculate after consulting patra, a document, and advice the interested parties about the sense; many things like travel on Monday and Saturday in the eastern direction are considered inauspicious. 

People in rural India believe in dreams and it is in some way related to good or bad. However, the interpretation of such dreams is not common everywhere. In general, whatever a person dreams after 4 am is considered to be something related to good or bad in the future. The belief in dreams is basically due to illiteracy and superstition among the villagers.

6. Belief in Omens: 

Rural people assign much importance to good and bad omens particularly when some ritual is to be performed. Bad omens are of various types, for instance, it is a bad omen for a man on the journey if he comes across a one-eyed man during his travel. If anyone sneezes when stepping out of the house, it is considered better to wait for some time. If a cat crosses the way of a person, it is a bad omen for him. Similarly if one looks into an empty pot success is believed. But when a washer man or a dead body or even a donkey meets, it is a good omen.

7. Religious Practices in Dietary Habits: 

In rural India, food is another aspect that is related to the notion of auspiciousness and in auspiciousness. It is considered necessary to take bath before taking a morning meal and different ingredients on different days it is considered good to take beta on Sunday and curd on Tuesday.

8. Superstition and Mystic belief in National phenomena: 

Villagers in India have their own peculiar way of interpreting national phenomena. For instance, Solar and lunar eclipses are treated as the catastrophes of Rahu and Ketu (the legendary figures). It is believed that a black snake (called Shesh Naga) holds the earth on its fangs and any earth tremor and earthquake is taken as the movements of one of the several fangs or undulation of the snake’s excessive rain or no rain is taken as the effect of the rain God India’s anger. The reasons behind these beliefs are some legendary tales as well as the ignorance of the villagers.

Apart from this, the villagers have their own assumptions, about the supernatural. Thus religion in rural India is remarkably full of superstitions and assumptions. It is not escapist but practical in its message as well as its approach to the creation, function, and end of a man’s life.

Difference between Rural Religion vs. Urbanized Religion

Rural Religion vs. Urbanized Religion

1. Crude vs. Refined form of Religion: It is essential to distinguish the crude forms of religion comprising animism, magic, polytheism, mythology, ghost beliefs, and others, which exercise influence over the mind of the rural population, form the refined and subtle forms of religion and religious ideas which exist in cities among the urban intelligential. ‘These refined and subtle religions and religious philosophical speculations on basic problems of life such as the problems of the nature of ultimate reality, the genesis of human knowledge, and others, which markedly distinguish them from the native religious beliefs generated in the rural atmosphere.’
2. Concrete vs. Abstract: Rural religion is crude and concrete in form whereas urbanized religion is abstract. Thus, ‘whereas the rural population worships and falls prostrate before a multitude of gods and goddesses derived out of their animistic conception of the universe, the cultured educated section of the urban humanity subscribes to the idealistic view of the universe and discusses such categories as the nature of Brahman, Free Will, and others.’
3. Fanaticism vs. Rationalism: Even critical rationalism and philosophical materialism as minority philosophical currents flourish in urban centers.
4. Static vs. Dynamic: The rural sociologist needs to distinguish between the crude, almost static, rural religion and the refined and highly abstract urbanized religion which soars in the stratosphere of speculative thought and grapples with ontological, epistemological, and other basic problems of philosophy. Further, he should also note that rationalist and materialist philosophical thought currents found in the urban society are almost absent in the rural area.”
5. Roots in Ignorance Vs. Intelligence: The root of rural religion is in the great, ignorance and ‘resultant fear of the forces of the environment prevailing among the rural people. Refined urban religion, even if based on the erroneous idealistic interpretation of the world, is not born of mere fear. This distinction regarding the psychological roots of rural and urban religions is important.’

How Urban Influence on Rural Society in India?

Urbanization has greatly influenced rural people from all walks of their life and this influence can be seen in the sphere of social organization, family organization, food habits, the standard of living, dress habits, religion, beliefs, etc.

1. Change in Social Life: The greatest influence has been the sphere of social life. The relation between caste and profession is no longer necessary. According to Desiai, “In the social field, the role of custom enforced by the joint family, the caste, and the village panchayat was gradually replaced by the reign of laws made by the centralized British state in India and administered by its own revenue, executive and judicial officials posted in the village. This considerably undermined the powers of the family, the caste, and the village panchayat. 
2. Changes in the Family Organization: The process of urbanization has affected, the family organization in a very extensive way. During the last hundred ad fifty years, the traditional joint family and the family pattern in the rural framework have been undergoing a qualitative transformation. The basis of rural family relationships is shifting from that of status to that of contract. The basis of rural family relationships is shifting from that of status to that of contract. The rule of custom is being replaced by the rule of law. The family is being transformed from a unit of production to a unit of consumption. The cementing bond of the family is being changed from consanguinity to conjugality. Further is ceasing to become an omnibus social agency, it being shown most of its economic, political, educational, medical, religious, and other social and cultural functions. Instead, it is becoming a specialized and affection small association. A massive joint family composed of members belonging to a number of generations has become intolerant of their elders and wants to break away from the village mores. The family system is in a state of disintegration. Life has become more artificial. The standard of morality has fallen. Expensive habits have been acquired.
3. Urbanization has also changed the modes of recreation. In the villages radios are popular. 
4. Change in the mode of living, dress, and food habits. Wristwatches, sunglasses, plants, buy shirts, nylon sarees, and tea can be seen in the villages.
5. The existing rural aesthetic culture is in a state of increasing disorganization. Thus, in the final analysis, is the result of the increasing disorganization of the rural society itself which is the aesthetic reflex. The crisis of culture is the product of the crisis of society.
6. The transformation is taking place in each and every sphere of rural life including the sphere of rural religion. The ideology institutions, rituals, ethics, and aesthetics of the rural religion are undergoing a change, though gradual, under the pressure of new material and cultural forces.
7. The process of urbanization has also influenced the political life of the villagers. In recent times, however, due to the growth of class consciousness among various groups into which the rural population is divided into economic lines, the influence on political life is slowly diminishing. For instance, non-Brahmin landlords will politically ally with Brahmin landlords rather than with their non-Brahmin tenants since both the Brahmin and the non-Brahmin landlords stand for the defense of landlordism, then common economic interest. Similarly, the Brahmin and the non-Brahmin tenants will more and more come together and form a kisan sabha or a peasant party with the program of the abolition of landlordism and transfer of land to the tillers of the land, both Brahmin and non-Brahmin.

Thus urbanization has affected rural life completely. There is a change in the family organization, old practices are melting down, political awareness is strengthening, and fashions and way of life is being adopted.

What are the Factors Responsible for Changes in the Structure of Indian Rural Life?

The life of people in villages has experienced many changes. The factors are not very old but of recent origin. “The elements which have tended to dilute and even weaken old village solidarities and loyalties, like those which cement them, have developed out of the day-by-day life and living in local villages.”

Factors of Change

Many factors responsible for change can be studied under the following heads:

1. Natural Factors: The factors conditioning place where the rural community exists are treated as natural factors. For instance, a village near a river bears the effects of rivers and similarly, the villages prospering in the lap of mountains are even close to the mountains are seen affected by the mountains. In a similar way, the social, economic, cultural, and religious life of the communities settled in bamboo forests bear the effects of bamboo in their life. Animals and cattle are employed in their natural places and in other places they are treated as strange creatures. Cottage industries developing in a particular region much depend upon the minerals available in that area. In a similar way, the mountains, rivers, animals, minerals, and vegetation around a village, are the natural factors that influence the life of people in the villages. Whenever there is a change in these natural factors, rural life around it also experiences change.
2. Technological Factors: Man does not live only with, what nature has provided but a substantial part of it is created by him through various means. Technical assistance is taken by man to construct a favorable condition for him, much within the permission of the natural environment. The availability of electricity to the villages has altered many aspects of their life. The invention of the radio and other instruments has played a remarkable role in changing the lives of rural people. Ogburn points out those nearly 150 changes were brought into the way of rural life by the invention of the radio only. Installation of machines in the villages has changed the taste of the villagers towards their traditional and customary techniques and instruments, steam and electrical power is in no way lagging behind in creating a change in the life of the people. Technological changes have revolutionized the everyday life of rural people.
3. Social Factors: In view of the changes taking around, many practices pertaining to social life have either been changed or faced threats to their very existence. British rule has influenced to a very great extent many social practices prevalent among the people living in rural India. These changes included the abolition of sati system, child marriages, regularization of marriage, and restoration of rights to women has brought an appreciable change in rural life. The effects of these changes are apparent in the better conditions of women, in society. In addition to these, many systems have lost their effect. These include a system of joint family, jajmani customs that have lost their place in the life of rural India. Caste panchayats are outdated now, and so is the rigidity in the caste feelings. Backward classes, hitherto treated as downtrodden are being looked after by the special machinery of government and new laws have been made to bring up scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people. There has been a tremendous decline in the influence of the caste system also. 
4. Economic Factors: The increase in population has compelled rural folks to migrate to industrial and urban areas for their livelihood. Agriculture cannot employ and feed everyone and this urgency has been very well noticed which a quite clear from the pace of migration to urban areas. When the rural youth approaches an urban area, his way of thinking and living is influenced by urban life. This has affected not only the life of the people living in villages but also changed the existing values.
5. Cultural Factors: Cultural life comprises the beliefs, assumptions, and taboos of a community. In India, village life is much influenced by religious contacts. Westernization has changed the attitude of village youth toward their ancient customs and values. In tribal areas, once the dominator dominated the life of tribal youth, but with the impact of westernization brought into by Christianity, the place of the dormitory is fading away from the tribal culture. Western beliefs in individualism and materialism have been accepted by the village youth. Because of these changes has been changing attitude of people regarding casteism, family, and marriage.
6. Political Factors: Post-independence period has led to the politicization of village life. Now the villages have become the hub of political activities. Thus the various political forces like party activities, elections, and propaganda have caused changes in various communities living in rural areas. Now the rural people are much more aware of their rights and like the urban people the villagers also take part in political processes with a due sense of judgment.

Conclusion 

The factors discussed above have been instrumental in introducing many changes in the life of the people in rural India. Many changes have been introduced many changes in the life of the people in rural India. Many changes have introduced healthy practices at the same time; some effects of westernization have set receiving effects on the quiet and calm life of the villages.

Need to Study Rural Religion

The study of rural religion is very important for having a composite story of the ‘past cultural evolution of the Indian People”. The history of Indian culture is still scattered and is more over still in a fragmentary state. Controversy still exists regarding the genesis of Indian culture and the subsequent phases of its subsequent development. Different views have been advanced on the subject. ‘Also problems such as, where the Indian culture originated and how it spread in different parts of India, also remain in the domain of debate.’

Although the study of rural religion and its valuable role in ‘determining the life processes of the rural society’ must always form an essential part of the study of that society. The following are the principal reasons for this:

1. It has been observed by sociologists all over the world that rural people have a greater predisposition to religion than urban people. The dependence on agriculture the basic form of production in the countryside- on the hitherto un-mastered forces of nature like rains and the near absence of scientific culture, which provides a correct understanding of the natural social worlds, among the rural people are two main reasons for the greater degree of religiosity among them. Traditional religion composed of the crudest conceptions of the world holds their mind in its grip. Animism, magic polytheism, ghost beliefs, and other forms of primitive religion, are rampant among the rural people to a far greater extent than among the urban people.’
2. The religious outlook of the rural people overwhelmingly dominates their intellectual, emotional, and practical life. It is difficult to locate any aspect of their life which is not permeated with and colored by religion. Their family life, caste life, general social life, economic, and even recreational life, are more or less governed by a religious approach and religious norms. Religious conceptions also largely dominate their ethical standard; the form and content of their arts like painting, sculpture, architecture, folk songs, and others; as also their social and economic festivals. This special true of societies based on subsistence economies of the pre-capitalist epoch when religion was almost completely fused with social life and when even the then-existing secular scientific knowledge of man-psychology,  medicine, astronomy, mathematics, agronomy, mechanics, sociology, ethics, etc. was clothed in religions garb and was the monopoly of the priestly caste.
3. In societies based on subsistence economies, the leadership of the village life in all domains was provided by the priestly group, in India the Brahmins. Modes, which this group laid down for individual behavior as well as for social control, were determined by traditional religious concepts. Hence the life of the village aggregate in all spheres was molded in the spirit of religious ideas and was controlled by religious institutions and leaders.
4. A new development took place in modern times in India after the advent of British rule. The social, economic, and political life of the village, as stated elsewhere, experienced a progressive transformation. The development and spread of capitalist economic forms led to the disintegration of the subsistence economy of the autarchic village from the village panchayat and caste councils whose outlook was essentially religious and who were generally guided by religious conceptions and criteria even in secular matters. 

There has been a change in the past. The new economic and political environs, new norms, and secular forces have increasingly superseded the authoritarian religious norms which for centuries had governed even the secular life of the village people. It is because of these factors of change, ‘the village people for the first time in history felt the impact of secular, democratic, and equalitarian ideas on their consciousness. A new ferment began to spread among them which has been steadily affecting their life and outlook hitherto colored with religion. There have also led to the emergence of new secular institutions and associations, new secular leadership, and social controls, within the Indian rural society.

These changes have caused a slow but steady decline in the ‘hegemony and control of the leaders of religion over the life of the rural population.’