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Santal / ‘Other religions and persuasions’ / Traditional beliefs / Sarna |
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The Santal (Hindi: संताल), also spelled as Santhal (formerly also spelt as Sonthal), are the largest tribal community in India, found mainly in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam. There is also a significant Santal minority in neighboring Bangladesh and a small population in Nepal.
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The Santali language is part of the Austro-Asiatic family, distantly related to Vietnamese and Khmer. A few of the Indian anthropologists also believe that humans first came to India about 65000-55000 years ago. Historians believe that they were the ancestors of the tribal community residing in the eastern part of India (excluding hilly portions). So the Santals, Kols and Mundas may be the descendants of them.
But in those times their primary ways of subsistence were hunting and food gathering. The agrarian way of living was brought by the Aryans who came about in the 1500 B.C. How the Mohenjo- Daro civilization annihilated is a big question whether there was an Aryan invasion or a major environmental change that wiped them out is still under research and every day new theories are coming out.
Coming back to the history of tribes, the Proto Australoids, their earliest ancestors, started living in the forest in the eastern part of India .
The Santali script, or Ol Chiki, is alphabetic, and does not share any of the syllabic properties of the other Indic scripts such as Devanagari. It uses 30 letters and five basic diacritics. It has 6 basic vowels and three additional vowels, generated using the Gahla Tudag.[4]
The Santal script is a relatively recent innovation. Santali did not have a written language until the twentieth century and used Latin/Roman, Devnagri and Bangla writing systems. A need for a distinct script to accommodate the Santali language, combining features of both the Indic and Roman scripts was felt, which resulted in the invention of new script called Ol Chiki by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925. For his noble deed and contribution of the script Ol Chiki for the Santal society, he is revered among Santals. He wrote over 150 books covering a wide spectrum of subjects such as grammar, novels, drama, poetry, and short stories in Santali using Ol Chiki as part of his extensive programme for uplifting the Santal community. Darege Dhan, Sidhu-Kanhu, Bidu Chandan and Kherwal Bir are among the most acclaimed of his works. Pandit Raghunath Murmu is popularly known as Guru Gomke among the Santals, a title conferred on him by the Mayurbhanj Adibasi Mahasabha.
Beside Pandit Raghunath Murmu, very few Indian linguists worked seriously on the linguistic aspects of the language. One of them was Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti (1923-1981). He was a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages. He was a renowned educationist and a poet too. His major contribution was in finding out some basic relationship between Santali language and Bengali language. He showed how the Bengali language has got some unique characteristics, which are absent in other Indian languages, under the influence of Santali language (in 'A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali').
His contribution was fundamental in nature in the origin and development of the Bengali and Santali language and provided scopes of research in newer fields in liguistics.
The Santali culture has attracted many scholars and anthropologists for decades. The first attempt to study the Santali culture was done by the Christian missionaries. The most famous of them was the Norwegian-born Reverend Paul Olaf Bodding. Unlike many other tribal groups of the Indian subcontinent, the Santals are known for preserving their native language despite waves of migrations and invasions from Mughals, Europeans, and others.
Santali culture is depicted in the paintings and artworks in the walls of their houses. Local mythology includes the stories of the Santal ancestors Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Bhudi.
The Santal people love music and dance. Like other Indian people groups, their culture has been influenced by mainstream Indian culture and by Western culture, but traditional music and dance still remain. Santal music differs from Hindustani classical music in significant ways. Onkar Prasad has done the most recent work on the music of the Santal but others preceded his work. The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak' and the Tumdah'. The flute (tiriao) was considered the most important Santal traditional instrument and still evokes feelings of nostalgia for many Santal. Santal dance and music traditionally revolved around Santal religious celebrations. This is still true to a degree, although traditional religious beliefs have been significantly altered by Hindu belief and Christian mission work. However, Santal music and dance both retain connections to traditional celebrations. The names of many Santal tunes are derived from the traditional ritual with which they were once associated. Sohrai tunes, for example, were those sung at the Sohrai festival.
The Santal community is devoid of any caste system and there is no distinction made on the basis of birth. They believe in supernatural beings and ancestral spirits. Santali rituals consist mainly of sacrificial offerings and invocations to the spirits, or bongas. It is believed by some scholars that Bonga means the same as Bhaga (or Bhagavan).[5] The Santal system of governance, known as Manjhi–Paragana, may be compared to what is often called Local Self Governance. This body is responsible for making decisions to ameliorate the village's socioeconomic condition.
The insurrection of the Santals was mainly against the corrupt moneylenders, zamindars and their operatives. Before the advent of the British in India the Santhals resided peacefully in the hilly districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhalbhum, Manbhum, Barabhum, Chhotanagpur, Palamau, Hazaribagh, Midnapur, Bankura and Birbhum. Their agrarian way of life was based on clearing the forest; they also engaged themselves in hunting for subsistence. But, as the agents of the new colonial rule claimed their rights on the lands of the Santals, they peacefully went to reside in the hills of Rajmahal. After a brief period of peace the British operatives with their native counterparts jointly started claiming their rights in this new land as well. The simple and honest Santals were cheated and turned into slaves by the zamindars and the money lenders who first appeared to them as business men and lured them into debt, first by goods lent to them on loans. However hard the Santals tried to repay these loans, they never ended. Through corrupt measures of the money lenders, the debts multiplied to an amount for which a generation of the santal family had to work as slaves. Furthermore, the Santali women who worked under labour contractors were disgraced and abused. This loss of the freedom that they once enjoyed turned them into rebels.
On 30 June 1855, two great Santal rebel leaders, Sido Murmu and his brother Kanhu, mobilized ten thousand Santals and declared a rebellion against British colonists. The Santals initially gained some success but soon the British found out a new way to tackle these rebels. The legend is that the Santals were so skilled in archery that they could shoot arrows with great accuracy and with great power. The British soon understood that there was no point fighting them in the forest. Instead, they forced them to come out of the forest. In a conclusive battle which followed, the British, equipped with modern firearms and war elephants, stationed themselves at the foot of the hill. When the battle began the British officer ordered his troops to fire without loading bullets. The Santals, who did not suspect this trap set by the British war strategy, charged with full potential. This step proved to be disastrous for them: as soon as they neared the foot of the hill, the British army attacked with full power and this time they were using bullets. Thereafter, attacking every village of the Santals, they made sure that the last drop of revolutionary spirit was annihilated. Although the revolution was brutally suppressed, it marked a great change in the colonial rule and policy. The day is still celebrated among the Santal community with great respect and spirit for the thousands of the Santal martyrs who sacrificed their lives along with their two celebrated leaders to win freedom from the rule of the Jamindars and the British operatives.
Sl.Name of State/District Total Population Santal population Per cent
I BIHAR
DEOGARH 9,33,113 NA DHANBAD 26,74,651 2,40,718 9 DUMKA 14,95,709 5,68,370 38 GIRIDIH 22,25,480 3,56,077 16 GODDA 8,61,182 1,20,565 14 HAZARIBAGH 16,01,576 64,063 4 KATIHAR 18,25,380 1,09,522 6 KODARMA 6,29,264 37,755 6 PASCHIM SINGHBHUM 17,87,955 1,78,795 10 PURBI SINGHBHUM 16,13,088 NA PURNIA 18,78,885 93,944 5 SAHIBGANJ 7,36,835 3,09,471 42
II ORISSA
BALASORE 16,96,583 1,69,658 10 BHADRAK 11,05,834 33,175 3 CUTTACK NA DHENKANAL NA KEONJHAR 13,37,026 NA KHURDA NA MAYURBHANJ 18,84,580 5,67,282 28 SUNDARGARH NA
III TRIPURA*
TRIPURA 2,200
IV WEST BENGAL
BANKURA 28,05,065 3,36,607 12 BARDHAMAN 60,50,605 3,63,036 6 BIRBHUM 25,55,664 1,53,340 6 WEST (N&S) DINAJPUR 12,00,924 1,80,138 15 JALPAIGURI 28,00,543 NA MALDAH 26,37,032 1,84,592 7 MEDINIPUR 83,31,919 13,33,107 16 PURULIA 22,24,577 3,33,686 15
V ASSAM
ASSAM NA 2,00,000
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SANTAL (or [[Sonthal) Parganas, The]], a district of British India, in the Bhagalpur division of Bengal. Area 5470 sq. m. In the east a sharply defined belt of hills stretches for about too m. from the Ganges to the river Naubil; west of this a rolling tract of long ridges with intervening depressions covers about 2500 sq. m.; while there is a narrow strip of alluvial country about 170 m. long, lying for the most part along the loop line of the East Indian railway. The Rajmahal hills occupy an area of 1366 sq. m.; they nowhere exceed 2000 ft. There are several other hill ranges which with few exceptions are covered almost to their summits with dense jungle; they are all difficult of access. There are, however, numerous passes through all the ranges. Coal and iron are found in almost all parts, but of inferior quality. The alluvial tract has the damp heat and moist soil characteristic of Bengal, while the undulating and hilly portions are swept by the hot westerly winds of Behar, and are very cool in the winter months. The annual rainfall averages 52 in. In 1901 the population was 1,809,737, showing an increase of 3% in the decade.
The Santals, who give their name to the district, are the most numerous aboriginal tribe in Bengal; they work the coal-mines of Raniganj and Karharbari and migrate to the tea-gardens of Assam. In 1832 officials were deputed to demarcate with solid masonry pillars the present area of the Daman-i-Koh, or "skirts of the hills." The permission to Santals to settle in the valleys and on the lower slopes stimulated Santal immigration to an enormous extent. The Hindu money-lender soon made his appearance among them, and caused the rebellion of 1855-56. The insurrection led to the establishment of a form of administration congenial to the immigrants; and a land settlement has since been carried out on conditions favourable to the occupants of the soil. The Church Missionary Society and the Scandinavian Home Mission have been very successful, especially in promoting education. The district is traversed by both the chord and loop lines of the East Indian railway. It contains the old Mahommedan city of Rajmahal and the modern commercial mart of Sahibganj, both on the Ganges; and also the Hindu place of pilgrimage of Deogarh, which is important enough to have a branch railway. The administrative headquarters are at Dumka, or Naya Dumka: pop. (Igor) 5326.
See F. B. Bradley-Birt, The Story of the Indian Upland (1905).
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