Santals

The Santals (also spelled as Santhal; formerly also Sonthal) are the largest tribal community in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, found mainly in the states of West Bengal
West Bengal

West Bengal is a States and territories of India in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal....
, Bihar
Bihar

Bihar is a States and territories of India in East India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size 38,202 square mile and 3rd largest by population....
, Jharkhand
Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a States and territories of India in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar state on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east....
, Assam
Assam

Assam ) is a North-East India state of India with its capital at Dispur, in the outskirts of the city Guwahati. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak River river valleys and the Karbi Anglong District and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles ....
, and Orissa
Orissa

Orissa , is a states and territories of India located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It was established on 1 April 1936 as a province in British India, and consists, predominantly of Oriya language speakers....
. There is also a significant Santal minority in neighboring Bangladesh
Bangladesh

, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
.

Santali language and anthropology
The Santali language
Santali language

Santali is a language in the Santali subfamily of Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho language and Mundari language. It is spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan ....
is part of the Austro-Asiatic family, distantly related to Vietnamese
Vietnamese language

Vietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national language and official language language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of the Vietnamese people , who constitute 86% of Demographics of Vietnam, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese, most of whom live in the United States....
and Khmer
Khmer language

Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austro-Asiatic languages, with speakers in the tens of millions....
. 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 way 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
Aryan

Aryan is an English language loanword. As the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states at the beginning of its definition, "[it] is one of the ironies of history that Aryan, a word nowadays referring to the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of Nazi Germany, originally referred to a people who looked vastly di...
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 tribals, the Proto Australoids, their earliest ancestors, started living in the forest in the eastern part of India .

See Ol Chiki script
Ol Chiki script

The Ol Chiki script, also known as Ol Cemet , Ol Ciki, Ol , was created in 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu for the Santali language....


The Santali script, or Ol Chiki, is alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
ic, and does not share any of the syllabic
Abugida

An 'abugida' is a segment writing system which is based on consonants but in which vowel notation is obligatory. About half the writing systems in the world are abugidas, including the extensive Brahmic family of scripts used in South and Southeast Asia....
properties of the other Indic scripts such as Devanagari
Devanagari

, or 'Nagari', is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together....
. It uses 30 letters and five basic diacritic
Diacritic

A diacritic is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. The term derives from the Greek language d?a???t???? ....
s. It has 6 basic vowel
Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis....
s and three additional vowels, generated using the Gahla Tudag (*).

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.As none of the existing scripts were sufficient enough to correctly express the Santali language phonetically,a need for the separate script was felt by some visionary Santals,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
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
, novel
Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
s, drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
, poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
, and short stories
Short story

The short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books....
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 Mahasabh.

Beside Pandit Raghunath Murmu, very few Indian linguists worked seriously on the linguistic aspects of the language. One of them was Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti
Byomkes Chakrabarti

Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti was a Bengali language research worker on ethnic languages. He was also a renowned educationist and a poet....
(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.

Santali culture
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
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. Unlike many other tribal groups of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent is a large section of the Asian continent consisting of the land lying substantially on the Indian Plate. The subcontinent includes parts of various countries in South Asia, including those on the continental crust , an Island#Continental islands country on the continental shelf , and an Island#Oceanic islands countr...
, the Santals are known for preserving their native language despite waves of migrations and invasions from Mughals
Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
, Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
ans, 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
Santal music

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....
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'
Tamak'

The tamak' is a stick-struck single-headed drum of the Santal people of India. The body of the drum is made from metal and shaped like a large bowl....
and the Tumdak'
Tumdak'

The Tumdak' is a hand-struck double-headed membranophone of the Santal people of India. The Santal typically use the Tumdak' in combination with the Tamak' for religious ceremonies and Santal festivals....
. 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 are mainly comprised 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). 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 Santal Rebellion

Background
The insurrection of the Santals was mainly against the corrupt moneylenders, zamindar
Zamindar

Zamindar , also kniown as Zemindar, Zamindari, Jomidar or the Zamindari System were employed by the Mughal empire to collect taxes from peasants....
s and their operatives. Before the advents of the British in India they resided peacefully in the hilly districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhalbhum, Manbhum, Barabhum, Chhotanagpur, Palamau, Hazaribagh, Midnapur, Bankura and Birbhum. They started their agrarian way of life by clearing the forest and 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 Rajamahal. 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 zamindar
Zamindar

Zamindar , also kniown as Zemindar, Zamindari, Jomidar or the Zamindari System were employed by the Mughal empire to collect taxes from peasants....
s and the money lenders who first appeared to them as business man and allured them first by goods lent to them on loans. These loans however hard a santal tried to repay never ended in fact through corrupt measures of the money lenders it 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 freedom that once which they enjoyed turned them into rebels.

Rebellion
On 30 June 1855, two great Santal rebel leaders, Sidhu 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 so skilled in archery that they could shoot arrows extremely accurately and with great power. The British soon understood that there was no point fighting them in the forest but to force them come out of the forest, so 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 fire without loading bullets as the Santals could not trace this trap set by the much experienced British war strategy charged with full potential. This step proved to be disastrous for them, since 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.

Santal Population

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 DUMKA14,95,709 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 16,13,088NA 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 11,05,83433,175 3 CUTTACK NA DHENKANALNA 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 MALDAH26,37,032 1,84,592 7 MEDINIPUR 83,31,919 13,33,107 16 PURULIA 22,24,577 3,33,686 15

V ASSAM ASSAM NA2,00,000

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
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. Santal Folk Tales. Cambridge, Mass.: H. Aschehoug; Harvard University Press, 1925.
* Bodding, P. O
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. Santal Riddles and Witchcraft among the Santals. Oslo: A. W. Brøggers, 1940.
* Bodding, P. O
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. A Santal Dictionary.(5 volumes), 1933-36 Oslo: J. Dybwad, 1929.
* Bodding, P. O
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. Materials for a Santali Grammar I, Dumka 1922
* Bodding, P. O
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. Studies in Santal Medicine and Connected Folklore (3 volumes), 1925-40
* Bompas, Cecil Henry, and Bodding, P. O
Paul Olaf Bodding

Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian missionary, linguistics and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years , and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santhal Parganas-district....
. Folklore of the Santal Parganas. London: D. Nutt, 1909. Full text at Project Gutenberg.
* Chakrabarti, Dr. Byomkes, A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali, KP Bagchi, Calcutta, 1994
* Chaudhuri, A. B. State Formation among Tribals: A Quest for Santal Identity. New Delhi: Gyan Pub. House, 1993.
* Culshaw, W. J. Tribal Heritage; a Study of the Santals. London: Lutterworth Press, 1949.
* Duyker, E. 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

* All India Santal Culture and Welfare Society
* Santal Arts
* A Portal for Santals
* Santal Dance
* Edward Duyker Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement
* Sinlung Sinlung - Indian tribes



See also

* Santhal rebellion

Source: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Santals

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