Santal people

The Santal, or Santhal,[5] are an ethnic group native to India

Santal
and Bangladesh in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in
the Jharkhand state of India in terms of population and are
also found in the states of Assam, Bihar, Odisha and West
Bengal. They are the largest ethnic minority in northern
Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. They
have a sizeable population in Nepal and Bhutan. The Santals
mostly speak Santali, an Austroasiatic language and that is the
most widely-spoken of the Munda languages.

A traditional Santali dance

Total population
Contents 7.4 million
History Regions with significant populations
Religion India, Bangladesh, Nepal
Culture India Jharkhand 2,752,723[1]
Notable people West Bengal
References 2,512,331 [1]

Bibliography Odisha 894,764[1]

Bihar 406,076[1]
External links
Assam 213,139[2]
300,061 (2001)[3]
History Bangladesh
According to linguist Paul Sidwell (2018), Austro-Asiatic Nepal 42,698[4]
language speakers probably arrived on coast of Odisha from
Languages
Indochina about 4000–3500 years ago.[6] The Austroasiatic
speaker spread from Southeast Asia and mixed extensively Santali
with local Indian populations.[7] Religion
• Sarnaism • Hinduism • Christianity •
British officials intended to enhance the revenue by expansion Islam • Sikhism • Buddhism • Jainism
of agriculture.[8] They encouraged the Paharia people of
Related ethnic groups
Rajmahal hills to practice settled agriculture but they refused
to cut the trees. Then British officials turned their attention to Mundas • Hos • Juangs • Kharia
Santals, who were ready to clear the forest for the practice of
settled agriculture. In 1832, a large number of areas were demarcated as Damin-i-koh or Santal Pargana.
Santals from Cuttack, Dhalbhum, Birbhum, Manbhum and Hazaribagh migrated and started cultivating
these lands as peasants. British collected taxes from these Santals as revenue. The imposition of taxs,
exploitation by Zamindars and money lenders sparked the Santal rebellion. Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu,
two brothers led the Santals against the Britishers but were defeated.[8][9][10]
Religion
One of the most studied, the Santal religion worships Marang buru or Bonga as the Supreme Deity. The
majority of reverence, however, falls on a court of spirits (Bonga), who handle different aspects of the
world and who are placated with prayers and offerings in order to ward off evil influences. These spirits
operate at the village, household, ancestor, and sub-clan level, along with evil spirits that cause disease
and can inhabit village boundaries, mountains, water, tigers, and the forest. A characteristic feature of a
Santal village is a sacred grove (known as the Jaher[11] or "Santal Sthal") on the edge of the village
where many spirits live and where a series of annual festivals take place.[12]

A yearly round of rituals connected with the agricultural cycle, along with life-cycle rituals for birth,
marriage and burial at death, involve petitions to the spirits and offerings that include the sacrifice of
animals, usually birds. Religious leaders are male specialists in medical cures who practice divination
and witchcraft (the socio-historic meaning of the term, used here, refers to the ritual practice of magic
and is not pejorative). Similar beliefs are common among other tribes of northeast and central India such
as the Kharia, Munda, and Oraon.[12]

Smaller and more isolated tribes often demonstrate articulated classification systems of the spiritual
hierarchy less well documented, described as animism or a generalised worship of spiritual energies
connected with locations, activities, and social groups. Religious concepts are intricately entwined with
ideas about nature and interaction with local ecological systems. As in Santal religion, religious
specialists are drawn from the village or family and serve a wide range of spiritual functions that focus
on placating potentially dangerous spirits and co-ordinating rituals.[12]

According to the 2011 Indian Census, majority of the Santal's from Jharkhand follow Hinduism at 54%,
with 37% following "other religions and persuasions". Christianity is practiced by 8.3% present of the
population. Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism are followed by less than 1% of the population.[13][14]

Culture
Sohrai is the principal festival of Santal community. Besides that Baha, Karam, Dansai, Sakrat,
Mahmore, Rundo and Magsim are important festivals. The Santal traditionally accompany many of their
dances during these festivals with two drums: the Tamak‘ and the Tumdak’.[15]

Chadar Badar, a form of puppetry known also as Santal puppetry,

is a folk show involving wooden puppets placed in a small cage
which acts as the stage.

Originally hunter-gatherers, Santals made a transition to agrarian

lifestyle. Decision-making matters is done through a village
council which is headed by a person titled manjhi. The manjhi is
aided by other council members to carry out and deal with local
affairs.[16] Santali dance

Santal art is noticeable for its intricate carving style. The walls of
traditional Santal homes are ornamented with carved designs of animals, hunting scenes, dancing scenes,
geometric patterns, and more. Santal styled Palanquins were also finely carved and designed.[16]
Notable people
Babulal Marandi - first chief minister of Jharkhand[17]
Draupadi Murmu - Politician[18]
Raghunath Murmu - Inventer of Ol-Chiki Script
Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu - freedom fighter[19]
Shibu Soren - former chief minister of Jharkhand[20]

References
This article incorporates public domain material from the
Library of Congress Country Studies website
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/).

1. "A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Dhodro banam musical instruments
Abstract Data and its Appendix" (http://www.censusindi
a.gov.in/2011census/PCA/ST.html).
www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General
& Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 18 November
2017.
2. "C-16 Population By Mother Tongue" (http://www.censu
sindia.gov.in/2011census/C-16/DDW-C16-STMT-MDDS
-1800.XLSX). www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the
Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
Retrieved 3 November 2019.
3. Cavallaro, Francesco; Rahman, Tania. "The Santals of
Bangladesh" (http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/cfcavallaro/
Pdf%20files/Cavallaro%20and%20Rahman%202009.p
df) (PDF). ntu.edu.sg. Nayang Technical University.
Retrieved 17 November 2017.
4. "Santali: Also spoken in Nepal" (http://www.tribalzone.n
et/language/santali.htm). Retrieved 1 April 2011.
5. Bisoee, Animesh (28 May 2019). "Brave show of
support for arrested Santhal" (https://www.telegraphindi
a.com/states/jharkhand/brave-show-of-support-for-arres
ted-santhal/cid/1691348). The Telegraph. Retrieved
31 May 2019.
6. Sidwell, Paul. 2018. Austroasiatic Studies: state of the
art in 2018 (https://www.academia.edu/36689736/Austr
oasiatic_Studies_state_of_the_art_in_2018).
Presentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics,
National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 22 May 2018.
7. Schliesinger, Joachim (2016). Origin of the Tai People
3: Genetic and Archaeological Approaches (https://book
s.google.com/?id=766hDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA71&dq=mu
nda+people+came+from+south+east+asia#v=onepage
&q=munda%20south%20east%20asia&f=false).
Booksmango. p. 71. ISBN 9781633239623. Retrieved
30 September 2019.
 8. Jha, Amar Nath (2009). "Locating the Ancient History of
Santal Parganas". Proceedings of the Indian History
Congress. 70: 185–196. ISSN 2249-1937 (https://www.
worldcat.org/issn/2249-1937). JSTOR 44147668 (http
s://www.jstor.org/stable/44147668).
9. This is Our Homeland: A Collection of Essays on the
Betrayal of Adivasi (https://books.google.com/?id=9T3z
YvKVF98C&pg=PA57&dq=santhal#v=onepage&q=sant
hal&f=false). 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
10. Malik, Dr Malti (1943). History of India (https://books.go
ogle.com/?id=bMg-DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA329&dq=santhal
+revolt#v=onepage&q=santhal%20revolt&f=false).
ISBN 9788173354984. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
11. "Jaher Worshiping Place of Santals" (http://india-portray
ed.blogspot.in/2008/08/jaher-worshiping-place-of-santal
s.html). Retrieved 27 September 2014.
12. "The Green Revolution in India" (http://countrystudies.u
s/india/57.htm). U.S. Library of Congress Country
Studies (released in public domain). Retrieved
6 October 2007.
13. "ST-14 Scheduled Tribe Population By Religious
Community" (http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011censu
s/SCST-Series/ST14.html). www.censusindia.gov.in.
Office of the Registrar General & Census
Commissioner, India. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
14. "Religion Data - Jharkhand" (http://www.censusindia.go
v.in/2011census/SCST-Series/ST14/ST-20-00-014-DD
W-2011.XLS). census.gov.in. Retrieved 3 November
2019.
15. "Chadar Badar" (http://www.telegraphindia.com/111010
7/jsp/jharkhand/story_13400270.jsp). Telegraph. 2015.
Retrieved 22 March 2015.
16. Winston, Robert, ed. (2004). Human: The Definitive
Visual Guide. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 440.
ISBN 0-7566-0520-2.
17. "िजस BJP को िदलाई थी क र माई जीत, बाबू लाल मर डी का
उसी से हुआ मोहभंग" (https://aajtak.intoday.in/story/babul
al-marandi-jharkhand-lok-sabha-elections-2019-bjp-jhar
khand-vikas-morcha-pm-narendra-modi-santhal-1-1072
441.html). aajtak.intoday. 1 April 2019.
18. "Draupadi Murmu may soon be the President of India:
Know all about her" (https://www.indiatoday.in/education
-today/gk-current-affairs/story/draupadi-murmu-preside
nt-of-india-982961-2017-06-15). indiatoday.
19. Sailendra Nath Sen (2010). An Advanced History of
Modern India (https://books.google.com/books?id=bXW
iACEwPR8C&pg=PA1876). Macmillan. p. 120.
ISBN 9780230328853.
20. "Shibu Soren" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/S
hibu-Soren). britannica.
Bibliography
Archer, W. G. The Hill of Flutes: Life, Love, and Poetry in Tribal India: A Portrait of the
Santals. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974.
Bodding, P. O. Santal Folk Tales. Cambridge, Massachusetts: H. Aschehoug; Harvard
University Press, 1925.
Bodding, P. O. Santal Riddles and Witchcraft among the Santals. Oslo: A. W. Brøggers,
1940.
Bodding, P. O. A Santal Dictionary (5 volumes), 1933–36 Oslo: J. Dybwad, 1929.
Bodding, P. O. Materials for a Santali Grammar I, Dumka 1922
Bodding, P. O. Studies in Santal Medicine and Connected Folklore (3 volumes), 1925–40
Bompas, Cecil Henry, and Bodding, P. O. Folklore of the Santal Parganas. London: D. Nutt,
1909. Full text at Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11938).
Chakrabarti, Dr. Byomkes, A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali, KP Bagchi,
Calcutta, 1994
Culshaw, W. J. Tribal Heritage; a Study of the Santals. London: Lutterworth Press, 1949.
Edward Duyker Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1987, pp. 201, SBN 19 561938 2.
Hembrom. T, The Santals: Anthropological-Theological Reflections on Santali & Biblical
Creation Traditions. 1st ed. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1996.
Orans, Martin. "The Santal; a Tribe in Search of a Great Tradition." Based on thesis,
University of Chicago., Wayne State University Press, 1965.
Prasad, Onkar. Santal Music: A Study in Pattern and Process of Cultural Persistence, Tribal
Studies of India Series; T 115. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications, 1985.
Roy Chaudhury, Indu. Folk Tales of the Santals. 1st ed. Folk Tales of India Series, 13. New
Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1973.
Troisi, J. The Santals: A Classified and Annotated Bibliography. New Delhi: Manohar Book
Service, 1976.
———. Tribal Religion: Religious Beliefs and Practices among the Santals. New Delhi:
Manohar, 2000.

External links
Saontal Voice in Bangladesh (http://www.saontalvoice.org/about_saontal_community.html)
Santal Rebellion (http://livelystories.com/2013/06/14/santhal-rebellion-part-i-the-begining/)
Santal Engineers' Welfare Association – Working for all round development of Adivasi (htt
p://www.santalengineers.org/)
All India Santal Welfare and Cultural Society (http://aiswacs.org.in/)
Santal Arts (https://web.archive.org/web/20061205015825/http://www.tribalarts.com/feature/
santal/)
Santal Dance (https://archive.is/20130102194147/http://www.frazadelic.com/Santhal.html)
Boro Baski: Santal worries (http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/young-generation-indias-adivasis
-struggles-tough-problems-other-youth-do-not-have)
Santal culture on Daricha Foundation website (Kolkata) (http://www.daricha.org/tribes.aspx?
ID=TR140630204053&Name=Santals)
Banam The bowed music instrument played by the Santals (http://www.daricha.org/sub_gen
re.aspx?ID=92&Tribes=Santals&Name=Banam)
RWAAI | RWAAI, Lunds universitet (http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai) RWAAI (Repository and
Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
 http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-A6AF-2@view Santali language in RWAAI
Digital Archive

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