ABOUT THE SANTHAL TRIBE

Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Assam are the states where the Santhals
live in India. They can also be found in Bangladesh and Nepal, which are
neighbouring countries. The Santhals are India's most populous tribal community.
They are Proto-Australoid in origin. There are no exact records of their existence, but
anthropologists believe they arrived in India shortly after the Negritos. They have a
racial type that is similar to that of Australian tribes. There is no doubt that the Proto-
Australoid tribes were referred to as 'Nishads' in Sanskrit literature, where they are
described as having no nose, dark skin, and strange speech and habits. Santhals are
shorter in stature than other tribals, and they have a broad flat nose with a sunken nose
ridge. They usually have wavy hair, which is occasionally curly but never frizzy. All
of these characteristics, however, are shared by other primitive tribes in the same
group. To the Proto-Australoid races, the majority of totemistic rites, exorcism, food
taboos, and magical belief that still exist in Indian life can be attributed. They must
also be responsible for the ban on commensality and intermarriage, which is the
foundation of the caste system. The Santhals, like the other tribes of central India,
have a totemistic tribal structure with patrilineal clans.

Etymology:

A Bengali exonym gave rise to the word Santhal. The term refers to residents of
Saont, which is now located in West Bengal's Midnapore region and is the Santhals'
traditional homeland. HorHopon ("sons of mankind") is their ethnonym.

History:

Austro-Asiatic language speakers arrived on the coast of Odisha about 4000–3500

years ago, according to linguist Paul Sidwell. Austroasiatic speakers migrated from
Southeast Asia and intermarried with local Indian populations in large numbers. Due
to the lack of authentic archaeological records, the Santhals' original homeland is a
questionable matter. It is widely assumed that their ancestors originated in Hihiri,
which scholars have identified as Ahuri in the Hazaribagh district. They claim they
were pushed from there to Chota Nagpur, Jhalda, Patkum, and finally Saont, where
they settled permanently. This legend has been cited by several scholars as proof that
the Santhals had a significant presence in Hazaribagh in the past. Colonel Dalton, a
colonial scholar, claimed that a fort in Chai was once occupied by a Santhal raja who
was forced to flee when the Delhi Sultanate invaded the area (Sarda, 2017).

Occupations of the Santhal Tribes:

The Santhals are primarily farmers, but they also engage in activities such as hunting,
gathering, fishing, mat and basket making, and so on. Their main agricultural products
are rice, millet, maize, and vegetables. They are experts in both traditional and modern
agricultural practises, and they have adopted a variety of agricultural methods from
the mainstream, such as crop rotation, irrigation, fertilisers, and pesticides, to name a
few. They primarily raise cows, goats, sheep, pigs, oxen, buffaloes, cats, and dogs as
cattle. The majority of Santhal women work in the production of leaf plates and cups,
among other things. Wild animals are occasionally hunted by Santhals for their meat.
They used to work in the neighbouring industrial, mining, and urban areas during the
lean or post-harvesting season to supplement their income. They are carpentry and
other work experts.

The Santhal Clan:

There are 12 clans and 164 sub-clans among the Santhals. They are patrilineal and
endogamous to a tee. The clans are ranked based on old functional divisions: the
Kisku were kings, the Murmu were priests, and so on. Santhals, despite their clan
ranking, are essentially egalitarian, which contrasts with their Hindu surroundings. On
a village level, the local descent group plays a significant organisational role. Santhals
marry in a variety of ways, depending on the spouses' relative positions. Bride-price
marriages are the most common, and they usually result in the couple living with the
man's family. However, bride-service marriages, which result in the couple living with
the woman's family, do occur when grooms have fewer resources. Divorce by mutual
consent, men marrying second wives, widow remarriage, and special arrangements for
finding grooms for unmarried mothers are all examples of this flexibility in marriage
practises.

The Santhals' inheritance rules are complicated; the family property is usually divided
among brothers, with a smaller portion going to daughters as dowry. It is common for
them to divide the property prior to the father's death. Rather than nuclear families, the
household units are extended. Children's socialisation and cultural education are aided
by grandparents of both genders.

Santhal Society and Culture:

Santhal groups have a distinct culture and tradition from the rest of the world. The
Santhal language is part of the Austro-Asiatic language family and belongs to the
North Munderi group of languages. Their ancestors were said to have come from the
Champa Kingdom in Northern Cambodia. Santhal society can be found in a variety of
locations across India. Santhals can be found in large numbers in Bihar, West Bengal,
Jharkhand, and Odisha, but they also live in Assam, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Santhals
have their own villages, with populations ranging from 400 to 1000 people. Mud
houses were popular until recently, and they are frequently decorated with floral
designs. Houses usually have verandas and at least two rooms, with the ancestors and
the granary protected by them in the 'inner room' (chitar).

The Santhals were traditionally hunters and gatherers. They are experts at determining
which plants and roots are edible. They have their own traditional hunting techniques
as well as advanced hunting technology. Later, they switched to slash-and-burn
agriculture and animal husbandry as a source of income. They have advanced to the
point where they are experts in the field of cultivation. The Santhals were also experts
in aesthetics and art. Woodwork, carved carts, musical instruments, and wood carving
are their main artistic products. All of these are being made for their own personal use.
However, some crafts, such as basket weaving, mat weaving, and the creation of
dishes and cups, are for sale. The Santals used to sell their products in tribal markets
solely on the basis of barter, but later switched to a cash market.

A division between "brother" (boeha) and "guest" (pera) is at the heart of Santhal
society, as it is in many other tribal societies in central and eastern India. Nijboeha, or
children of the same father (or grandfather), often live next door to each other and
own adjacent plots of land. Because the house refers to a common ancestor from
whom all the families are believed to descend, those in the closest form of
brotherhood, called mitorakhor ("people of one house") in Singhbhum, cannot marry
each other and propitiate the same Deity. Mitorakhor marriages are the only ones who
are severely stigmatised. Exogamous clan membership is another form of
brotherhood. Phul, a ritual friendship with members of other ethnic groups, is the last
form of brotherhood. Phul brothers' children consider themselves brothers and attend
each other's major life events, such as weddings and funerals, as pera. They also offer
assistance in times of need. Pera, or guests, are those who do not belong to a
brotherhood. Members of other communities, particularly those who do not speak
Santhali, are excluded from this grouping, with the exception of those who are
enmeshed in Santhal society, such as the Karmakar, Mahali, or Lohar. This
relationship allows people to marry and attend major festivals as guests.

Santhals' totemistic clans are known as pari. There are seven senior clans and five
junior clans among the twelve clans. The senior clans are Hansda (goose), Murmu
(Nilgae), Marndi (Ischaemumrugosum), Kisku (kingfisher), Soren (Pleiades),
Hembrom (betel palm), and Tudu, in order of seniority (owl). Baskey (stale rice),
Besra (falcon), Caure (lizard), Pauria (pigeon), and Donker are the junior clans. Senior
clan members do not marry junior clan members, and there are some marriages that
are forbidden, such as Marndi and Kisku. Furthermore, because of their perceived low
status, Besras are sometimes treated differently, but they play no role in social life
outside of marriage. The clans also avoid harming their clan totem for fear of
attracting evil.

In south Chota Nagpur, the Santhals' social organisation, which is required for their
rituals, is known as askhunti, orgusti. The term refers to descendants of a common
ancestor who live in close proximity and are only a few generations apart. A
distinguishing feature of the ancestor, such as poeta, people who worship by wearing a
thread on their chest, is used to identify the khunti. In many cases, all members of a
gusti live in the village where they were born, but some may have moved to
neighbouring villages.

Santhal Language

The Santhalis are India's most populous tribe with a well-preserved language. It is
closely related to Mundri, as well as smaller tribes' languages Ho, Korku, Savara, and
Gadaba. The Santhals have a racial, cultural, and linguistic relationship with these
tribes. Despite this, they have been apart long enough to develop their own languages
and cultures, which are distinct but related. They also have their own Santhali script,
which is a relatively new development. They did not have a written language in the
beginning, but by the twentieth century, they had adopted the Latin/Roman, Devnagri,
Odiya, and Bangla writing systems. Paul Olaf Bodding (November 2, 1865, Gjovik,
Norway; September 25, 1938, Odense, Denmark) was a Norwegian missionary,
linguist, and folklorist. For the Santhali-speaking native people of eastern India, he
created the first alphabet and wrote the first grammar. In 1914, Bodding was the first
to translate the Holy Bible into Santhali. (J. Troisi, Religious Belief and Practices
Among the Santhals, 27). They have, however, developed their own written script,
known as OlChiki, in the last year. OlChiki has printed a large number of books. The
Santali script, also known as OlChiki, is alphabetical and lacks the syllabic properties
of other Indic scripts like Devanagiri. There are 30 letters in total, plus five basic
diacritics. The Gahla Tudag was used to generate six basic vowels and three additional
vowels. They are also fluent in Bengali, Hindi, and Odia in addition to Santhali. As a
result, they are classified as a bilingual community. (N. Patnaik, "The Santhal World
of Supernatural Beings" in Santal World View, 135, N. Patnaik, "The Santhal World
of Supernatural Beings" in Santal World View, 135, N. Patnaik,

Santhal Religion

According to the 2011 Indian Census, 63 percent of people in Jharkhand, West

Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar identified themselves as Hindus, while 31 percent practise
other religions and persuasions (primarily Sarna dharam), and 5 percent identify as
Christians. Less than 1% of the population practises Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, or
Jainism.

The majority of reverence in the Santhal religion is paid to a court of spirits (bonga),
who are in charge of various aspects of the world and can be appeased with prayers
and offerings. Evil spirits that cause disease can inhabit village boundaries, mountains,
water, and many types of flowers, tigers, and the forest, while benevolent spirits
operate at the village, household, ancestor, and sub-clan level. The bonga serve as a
link between noapuri (the visible world) and hanapuri (the unseen reality), the
Creator's home. This creator, known as Marang Buru (Supreme Deity or literally The
Great Mountain) or Thakur Jiu (Life Giver), is the "cause of all causes," making the
Santhal religion both monotheistic and pantheistic in nature.

Around 150 spirit deities known as bongas make up the Santhal pantheon. There is a
sacred grove in each village where benevolent bongas can be found. The forest
bongas, on the other hand, are evil and contain the souls of those who died in an
unnatural manner. Santhals believe that if souls perform the proper rituals three
generations after death, they will become bongas. The dead body goes through a long
process of death rituals, with the main mourner (usually the eldest son) collecting
some bones after cremation, and female mourners washing and ritually feeding the
bones with milk, rice beer, and sacred water. The bones are then immersed in water
and a series of rituals are performed, releasing the dead from their identity and
transforming them into a nameless ancestor.

The village priest, Naeke, and his wife are identified as the original Santhal couple's
representatives. Their primary function is to assist with festivals and ceremonies. The
animals offered to the sacred grove deities are consecrated by the priest. The ojha is a
diviner and healer. He exorcises malevolent deities, divines disease causes, exorcises
pain from the body, and administers medical treatments. Traditional medicine is well-
developed, implying a broad range of botanical and zoological knowledge. Making
remedies necessitates a substantial amount of practical chemistry knowledge.

Festivals

The traditional drums are Tamak and Tumdaka, and the Santhal community's main
festival is Sohrai. Baha, Karam, Dansai, Sakrat, Mahmore, Rundo, and Magsim are all
important festivals. During all of these festivals, they traditionally use the Tamak and
the Tumdak. Chadar Badar, also known as Santhal puppetry, is a folk show that
features wooden puppets in a small cage that serves as the stage.

Land and Agriculture Practices among the Santhal

The Santhals are an agricultural tribe in India. In their dialect, land is referred to as
'hassa.' From the beginning, they practised traditional agricultural methods. To
survive, they had to clear forests, toil on the land, and produce food. The land in the
Santhal area was not particularly fertile, and it is located in an agricultural drought
zone. However, by applying their indigenous knowledge, the Santhal community has
developed a long-term management strategy. They have used their knowledge not
only for agricultural site selection, but also for crop selection. The most important
crops are legumes, fruit, mustard, groundnut, cotton, and tobacco. They only cultivate
their land for personal consumption. Agricultural work is usually performed by
primary and secondary kin members from their own village. As a result, they must
contribute less money than outside village members.

They are now implementing modern technologies such as shallow tube wells, pump
sets, power tillers, and sprayers, among other things. For better production, they also
use chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and HYV seeds, among other things. They used to
be completely reliant on monsoon rainfall. However, the introduction of pump sets has
resulted in a shift in their production methods. Their monocrop farming has evolved
into double-crop or triple-crop farming. The tractor and power tiller are also used for
land tilling and threshing. Among the mechanised Santhal farmers, the commercial
nature of farming is gradually taking hold. As a result of this, the Santhals' market
orientation is growing.

Santhal Livelihood

Santhals rely on the forests in which they live for their survival. Their basic needs are
met by the forest products in which they live. Aside from that, they make a living by
haunting, fishing, and cultivating their land. Santhals are known for their ability to
create musical instruments, mats, and baskets out of plants. This talent is passed down
through the generations.