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This paper is an attempt to locate the Boros in the debate surrounding the religion of tribal communities and their relationship to Hinduism. It begins in the late 19th century wherein the project of categorizing particular groups into definite religious entities was beginning to take shape. The late 19th century saw the surge of colonial knowledge production in the form of census and colonial ethnographies which set out to determine the characteristics of Hinduism and of the Boro religion. Simultaneously, it witnessed the consolidation of Hinduism as an organized religion. As will be explored in the paper, the Boros have been constantly understood in relation to their “Hindu” neighbors and their religion in relation to “Hinduism”. Such notions of the Boro religion have undergone numerous stages of debates in which the Boros actively engaged. The debates and negotiations have continued to shape the Boro socio-religious and political landscape. As such, the paper will explore the intricacies of identifying the Boro religion and its affinities to and distinction from Hinduism. It will emphasize the debates and the role played by multiple actors in discerning the Boro religion. Recent works on indigenous religions of the Northeast reveal a complex affair of the interplay between indigenous religious assertions and the assertions of major religions, primarily Hinduism. By taking up the case of the Boro religion, the paper attempts to contribute to the literature on the anthropological understanding of tribes and their religion. Further, it seeks to provide an alternative to the discourse of religion which is often assumed as a given and clear-cut category.