Jump to content

Santal people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Santal
ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲ ᱦᱚᱲ
Santals in traditional dress celebratingBaha parab
Total population
c. 7.5 million(2011)
Regions with significant populations
IndiaBangladeshNepal
India:
Jharkhand

2,754,723[1]
West Bengal2,512,331[1]
Odisha894,764[1]
Bihar406,076[1]
Assam213,139[2]
Tripura2,913[3]
Bangladesh129,049 (2021)[4]
Nepal51,735[5]
Languages
Santali
Religion
Majority
Hinduism[6]
Minority
Folk religions (Sari Dharam,Sarna Dharam)
Christianity
Islam,Others[6]
Related ethnic groups
MundasHosJuangsKhariasSavarasKorkusBhumijs

TheSantal(orSanthal) are anAustroasiatic-speakingMundaethnic group of theIndian subcontinent.[7]Santals are the largest tribe in theJharkhandandWest Bengalin terms of population and are also found in the states ofOdisha,Bihar,AssamandTripura.They are the largest ethnic minority in northern Bangladesh'sRajshahi DivisionandRangpur Division.They have a sizeable population inNepal.The Santals speakSantali,the most widely spokenMunda languagesofAustroasiatic languagefamily.

Etymology[edit]

Santal is most likely derived from an exonym. The term refers to inhabitants ofSaontin erstwhileSildainMedinaporeregion in West Bengal.[A][8]The Sanskrit wordSamantor BengaliSaontmeans plain land.[9]Their ethnonym isHor Hopon( "child of human" ).[B]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

According to linguistPaul Sidwell,Austro-Asiatic languagespeakers probably arrived on coast ofOdishafromIndochinaabout 4,000–3,500 years ago (c. 2000– c. 1500BCE).[10][11]The Austroasiatic speakers spread from Southeast Asia and mixed extensively with local Indian populations.

Due to the lack of significant archaeological records, the original homeland of the Santhals is not known with certainty. The folklore of the Santhals claims they came fromHihiri,which scholars have identified as Ahuri inHazaribagh district.[12]From there, they claim, they were pushed ontoChota Nagpur Plateau,then toJhalda,Patkumand finally Saont, where they settled for good.[C]According to Dalton, where they were renamed to Santal from cluster name Kharwar.[13][12]This legend, which has been cited by several scholars, has been used as evidence that the Santals once had a significant presence inHazaribagh.Colonial scholar ColonelDaltonclaimed in Chai there was a fort formerly occupied by a Santal raja who was forced to flee when theDelhi Sultanateinvaded the territory.[D]

British Era[edit]

Santhals inBritish India,1868

In the latter half of the 18th century, the Santals entered the historical record in 1795 when they are recorded as "Soontars." During theBengal Famine of 1770,the drier western and southwestern parts of Bengal, especially theJungle Mahalsregion, were some of the worst-hit areas and were significantly depopulated. This depopulation resulted in a significant loss of revenue for theEast India Company.Therefore, when the Permanent Settlement was enacted in 1790, the Company looked for agriculturalists to clear the lands.[E]British officials turned their attention to Santals, who were ready to clear the forest for the practice of settled agriculture. In 1832, a large number of area of the Raj Mahal hills demarcated asDamin-i-koh.Santal fromCuttack,Dhalbhum,Birbhum,Manbhum,Hazaribaghmigrated and started cultivating these lands as peasants[14][E]sponsored by landowners and the British who were desperate for labour.[14][15][16][F]Under British direction, Santals took loans from non-Santal moneylenders to buy iron tools, seed grain and oxen as individuals and families, rather than groups as was their custom for working the land.[G]

When they arrived inDamin-i-koh(present daySantal Pargana), the British provided no protection for the Santals against the preexistingMal Paharias,who were against destruction of forest, were known raiders of the plains areas and had only recently been partially "pacified". Eventually, the Santals, with their better technology and ability to match the Paharia's guerrilla attacks, managed to drive them out. They clear the forest tracts and started cultivation in these areas. Their settlement took place between the 1830s and 1850s: in 1830, the area was home to only 3,000 Santals, but by the 1850s, 83,000 Santals had settled in the land and had turned it into paddy fields. This resulted in a 22 times increase in Company revenue from the area.[H]

However, as they became more agricultural, the Santals wereexploitedby thezamindars.Unlike the Santals, the British valued individual competition instead of cooperation, and had a rigid system of laws very different from the relatively relaxed norms of the village council, the highest form of government most Santals knew.Mahajansfrom Bengal andBaniyasfrom Bihar began selling goods from elsewhere, and many Santals, seeing them as exotic, were tricked intodebtto buy them, usually with amortgageon their land. When the Santals were unable to pay themoneylendersback, they became owners of the land and the Santals became dispossessedlandlesspeasants. The Baniya merchants and other outsiders also began to treat Santals as outcastes in aBrahminicalsystem.[I][J]

Eventually, these acts ofexploitation,combined with British tax policies andcorrupttax collectors, deteriorated to the point where Santals grew discontented. In 1855, they revolted in theSantal rebellion,better known as theSantal Hul.30,000 Santals, led bySidhu and Kanhu Murmu,attacked the zamindars and other outsiders (dikkus) who had made their lives so miserable, as well as the British authorities. Eventually, around 10,000British troopsmanaged to suppress the rebellion. Although the rebellion's impact was largely overshadowed by that of theIndian Rebellion of 1857,the impact of the Santhal Rebellion lives on as a turning point in Santhal pride and identity. This was reaffirmed, over a century and a half later with the creation of the tribal province in theRepublic of India,Jharkhand.[14][15][16]Following the rebellion, the British satisfied all Santhal demands, due to their importance as a tax-paying group. The British created a 5000 km2area, calledSantal Parganas,where the normal procedures of British India did not apply. Administration of the community was primarily made the responsibility of the village headman, or pradhan, who was also given the power to collect taxes. It was made illegal for Santals to transfer land to non-Santals, allowing them to have legal rights over their land.[17]

After theBritish Crownformally took control over India in 1858, the Santals continued their system of government and traditions. Newly established Christian missions brought education, and many Santals moved to the tea plantations inAssam,North Bengal,where they still remain today. However, most continued with their old life, but were still not prosperous. In addition, secular education did not become widespread until after Indian independence.[K]

In the late 19th century, many Santals migrated from the Santal Parganas to the districts of Bihar and North Bengal such as Purnia, Malda and Dinajpur. The Santals still faced retaliation after the Santal Hul and were invited by zamindars to cultivate many parts of north Bengal, which had become scrubland, land which the Santals specialized in farming.[18]By the 1930s, their numbers in this region the Santals had become two lakh. Most were settled on wasteland where the rent was cheaper than the more fertile wet lands. However they faced heavy taxation from the zamindars, and were oppressed by moneylenders, upper castes, and the bureaucracy in general. In 1924, several Santal sardars, influenced by Gandhian ideology and led by Jitu Sardar, began to lead agitations against the oppressive double system of elite Bengalis and British government. Santals stopped paying rent to the zamindars, beat up revenue inspectors, and led agitations against the moneylenders. In 1928, the Santals stopped paying the chaukidari tax and led protests in Thakurgaon in 1929. In 1932, several Santals attempted to organise their own state with Jitu Sardar as head, initially based on Gandhi's Ram Rajya but quickly criticised Gandhi when he did not help them. In 1933, a British commissioner was appointed to look into the grievances of Santals of North Bengal.[citation needed]

Post-independence[edit]

The Santal community, like the others of the region, was split between West Bengal in India and East Bengal in Pakistan during Partition. After independence, the Santals were made one of theScheduled Tribesin India. In East Pakistan, there were some regions in the west where Santals were still in significant numbers. There and in neighbouring West Bengal, the Santals provided significant support to theTebhaga movement.After the Pakistani military crushed the uprising and burned many Santal homes, many fled across the border to Malda in India.[19]

In northernWest Bengal,tribal peasants participated inNaxalbari uprisingled by a Santal communist leaderJangal Santhal.The impoverishment has led to theGuevaristinspiredNaxaliteinsurgencyin what is often termed as theRed Corridor.[20]

AfterJharkhandwas carved out ofBiharin 2000, theSantal Parganaswas made a separate division of the state.[17]These Santals have also agitated for recognition of their traditions in the census as a separate religion,sarna dharam,for which Jharkhand assembly passed a resolution in 2020. Many still face poverty and exploitation, and in Bangladesh, theft of their lands is common. Although spread out over a large area, they now consider the Santal Parganas as their cultural heartland.[L]

Society[edit]

The base of Santal society is a division between "sibling" (boeha) and "guest" (pera), a divide found in many othertribalsocieties of central and eastern India. Children of the same father (sometimes grandfather), known asnij boeha,often live next to each other and own adjacent pieces of land. Those in the closest form of brotherhood, calledmit orak hor( "people of one house" ) in Singhbhum, cannot marry each other and propitiate the same deity, since the house refers to a common ancestor from which all the families are believed to descend. Onlymit orak hormarriages are severely stigmatised. Another brotherhood is membership of a clan, which are exogamous.[M]The last form of brotherhood isphul,a ritual friendship with members of other ethnic groups. Children ofphulbrothers consider themselves as brothers, and they attend each other's main lifecycle events, such as weddings or funerals, aspera.They also give help in times of hardship.[N]

Those who do not have brotherhood are referred to aspera,or guests. Members of other communities, especially those not speaking Santali, are excluded from this grouping, except for communities such as theKarmakar,MahaliorLoharof their locality, who are enmeshed in Santal society. Those with this relationship can marry, and attend major festivals as guests. People related by marriage, althoughpera,have special roles in life-cycle events. Women perform special welcome rituals forperawhen they visit. Those related by marriage can have one of two relationships. They can bebala,a relationship exemplified by the couple's parents, orsangat,between cross-siblings of a couple.[O]

Santal women

Santal society has much less stratification and is moreegalitarianthan adjacentcaste Hindusociety, but still has some status differences. The most important marker of a person when interacting with others in Santal society is their standing asmarang( "senior" ) orhudin( "junior" ). This standing is evaluated by relation: for example, is someone is greeting their father's elder brother's son, they would be the junior irrespective of age. Similarly, when someone greets their elder brother's wife, the wife would bemarang.However, for strangers or guests with no clear kin connections, the question ofmarangorhudinis decided by age.[P]The ritual greeting (godin Santali) of someone is given much importance and is done in the courtyard of a house when aperavisits. The greeting differs by gender, and whether the person is junior or senior to the one being greeted. The greeting rituals given by ahudininvolve an "offering" (dobok' johar) of respect, while amarang"receives" this respect.[Q]This greeting should not be done hastily, and correct practice of it is encouraged in children from a young age.[R]However thehudin-marangdistinction does not apply tophulorbala,who instead greet each other as if greeting amarang.[S]

The Santals also havetotemisticclans,known aspari.[T]These 12 clans are divided into two ranks: 7 senior and 5 junior. The senior clans are believed to originate from the 7 sons and daughters of the first man and woman, and in order of seniority they are:Hansda(goose),Murmu(Nilgai),Marandi(Ischaemum rugosum),Kisku(kingfisher),Soren(Pleiades),Hembram(betel palm) andTudu(owl).[U]The junior clans are Baskey or Baske (stale rice),Besra(falcon), Chorey or Chonre (lizard), Pauria or Pawria (pigeon) and Bediya. Members of a senior clan do not marry members of a junior clan, and there are some forbidden marriages as well, such as between Marandi and Kisku. In addition, Besras are sometimes treated differently due to their perceived low status, but other than the context of marriage, they play no role in social life. The clans also avoid harming their clan totem, lest evil befall them.[V]

The Santals have another social organisation important for rituals, calledkhunti,orgustiin south Chota Nagpur.[a]The term refers to descendants of a common ancestor, no more than a few generations back, that live nearby. Thekhuntiis identified by some distinguishing feature of the ancestor, such aspoeta,people who wear a thread on their chest in worship. In many cases, all the people of agustilive in their ancestral village, but some members may have migrated to neighbouring villages.[W]

Culture[edit]

Festivals[edit]

Sohraiis the principal festival of Santal community. Besides thatBaha,Karam,Dashain,Sakrat, Mahmore, Rundo and Magsim are important festivals. They traditionally accompany many of their dances during these festivals with two drums: the Tamak‘ and the Tumdak’.

A traditional Dasai dance inPurulia district,West Bengal
Tamak (r.) and Tumdak (l.) - typical drums of the Santhal people, photographed in a village inDinajpur district,Bangladesh.
Lungi Panchi Danceof Santal inBirbhum,West Bengal

Chadar Badar,a form ofpuppetryknown also as Santal puppetry, is a folk show involving wooden puppets placed in a small cage which acts as the stage.[21]

Local affairs are handled by avillage council,led by amanjhi.[22]

The walls of traditional Santal homes are ornamented with carved designs of animals, hunting scenes, dancing scenes, andgeometric patterns.Santal bridal palanquins are also finely carved.[22]

Santal house at 2020 Odisha Tribal fair,Bhubaneswar

Marriage[edit]

There are seven kinds of marriage recognized in the Santal community, each with its own degree of social acceptance. The most elaborate kind of marriage is thehapramko bapla,or ancestor's marriage, but the most widely practiced iskesimek'.In this form of marriage, a boy and girl who wish to marry decide to go to the groom's house and stay there a while. When the girl's family are made aware of their situation, thejog majhiof the girl's village arrives at the house of the headman of the boy's village to discover the couple's intentions. The couple are summoned to the village headman and the bride is asked whether she wishes to set a date forkesimek'.If she replies 'no', the boy's family will have to pay a small fine to thejog majhiof the girl's village, who would take the girl back to her father. If she assents, the boy's family is consulted for the best day for thekesimek'.[X]The bride and groom are not bound by any obligation to marry.[Y]During this time, thejog majhistays in the village to give all the information he can to the bride's father: both in determining what would be a good bride price to demand and whether the marriage might end in a short time.[Y]

On the day of thekesimek'ceremony, a group of men from the bride's village, including thejog majhi,headman, village elders, and the bride's father and some relations, arrives at the bride's village. They are seated at the headman's house with respect and organized bymarangorhudinstatus. Meanwhile, the groom's family gathers to discuss the bride price the groom's father should pay. The two parties then meet and the fathers negotiate thebride priceto be paid. The groom is first asked whether he wishes the marriage to continue. As a symbolicmarriage contract,thegroom's father gives a small amount of cash and giveshandi(rice-beer) to the guests. The negotiations for bride-price continue between the fathers exclusively until an amount is reached. Although this is nowadays in cash, livestock or other goods are not uncommon. The bride price is generally light and it is seen wrong to stop two young people from marrying because of a disagreement about bride price.[Z]After an agreement is reached, celebrations ensue and festive drinking continues into the night.[AA]

A short time afterwards, a relative of the groom along with thejog majhiof thegroom's village hand over the bride price to thebride's family.[AA]Afterwards the couple arrive in the bride's natal village. The bride arriving first carrying a pot with white clay, the symbol of a woman returning to her natal village as a guest. The bride greets her mother first and neighbours are invited to sharehandireserved forpera(pera hor handi), while getting acquainted with the husband.[AA]When the couple leaves the bride's village, the bride pays her respects to the headman in his courtyard. At theMajhi Than,the bride thanks the headman for all he has done and gives a symbolic gift. The headman then blesses the couple and wishes the bride strength, good luck and many strong sons. The couple then leaves for the groom's village to start their new life.[AB]

Marriages done bykesimek'involve very little ritual: Santal society has clearly defined roles for marriage, and the choice of the couple is respected. Decisions by the families are done in a spirit of consensus rather than adversarially, and marriage is seen just as important for the entire village as for the couple.[Y]

Dhodro banammusical instruments

Religion[edit]

Religion among Santal people of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Tripura[23][24]

Hinduism(63.15%)
Sarna(23%)
Sari Dharam (7.28%)
Other (1.12%)

The Santal are granted Scheduled Tribe status in five states:Bihar,West Bengal,Jharkhand,Odisha,andTripura,where they account for a total population of 6,570,807 according to the2011 Census of India.Of this population, 63.15% are reported asHindu,23% asSarna,7.28% asSari Dharam(all in West Bengal), and 5.46% asChristian.[23][24]Other minor religious affiliations include Bidin (27,602),Muslim(13,014), Santal (4,771), Sumra Sandhi (2,059), Sarvdharm (1,625),Buddhist(1,121), Adi Bassi (1,100),Sikh(987), Kharwar (385), Sant (356), Saran (352), Jain (348), Achinthar (273), Sarin (185), Marangboro (167), Saranath (157), Seran (125), Adi (84), and Alchichi (78). Additionally, 102 wereAtheist,331 were believers ofTribal religion,1,123 followed other unclassified religions, and 16,974 did not state any religious affiliation.[23][24]

In the Santal religion, the majority of reverence falls on a court ofspirits(bonga), who handle different aspects of the world and who are placated with prayers and offerings.[25]These benevolent 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.[25]Thebongaare intermediaries betweennoa puri(visible world) andhana puri(the invisible reality), the abode of a Creator.[citation needed]This creator is variously calledMarang Buru(Supreme Deity or literally The Great Mountain) orThakur Jiu(life giver), and is the "cause of all causes," making the Santal religion, in a deep sense,monotheisticas well as pantheistic.[26][AC]

There are several ranks ofbongas:the most important are associated intimately withMarang Buruand are worshipped by all Santals. These includeMarang Buru bonga,Jaher Era bongaandGosae Era.Otherbongas,who are held to be less powerful, are the spirits of important people of the village who have since been deified. There is also another class ofbongaswho are feared as bringers of evil. These spirits are not placated by apriestbut by amedicine-mancalledojha.In the present-day, belief in these malignantbongasis eroding due to the penetration of modern medical science. The lack of a separate name for malignantbongascaused many early colonial scholars to present Santal religion as wholly focused on the appeasement of evil spirits or as representing bongas as exclusively harmful.[AD]Howeverbongain itself simply means a supernatural force in the world and has no specific connotation with good or evil. Moreover, these bongas do not refer to specific objects but to the invisible force that governs or is associated with those objects.[27]

The Santal creation story holds that originally the world was water, and Marang Buru and some lesser deities were the only inhabitants. When some spirits requested permission to make humans, Marang Buru askedMalan Budhito create the human bodies. When she had finally succeeded, she was told by Marang Buru to use the human spirits that were high on the rafters of his hut. She could not reach the human spirit, and took the bird spirit instead. When Marang Buru integrated the spirits with the bodies, they flew away and asked for a place to build a nest. Marang Buru could not get anyone else to bring land to the surface, and so the tortoise volunteered and pushed the Earth onto his back. The birds then gave birth to a boy and a girl calledPilchu HaramandPilchu Budhi.These two had seven sons and seven daughters, but the couple soon had a quarrel and separated. Pilchu Haram and his sons became great hunters, and on a time came upon the daughters, who had become maidens and were unrecognisable. They became introduced and made love. Looking for his sons, Pilchu Haram discovered an old woman and asked for fire, and upon talking to her more, he discovered his wife and reconciled with her. Another version tells how Pilchu Budhi was in fact in tears at her daughters' disappearance, but Marang Buru reassured her that they were all safe and brought her to reconcile with her husband. When their sons found out they had married their sisters, they were very angry and would have killed their parents if Marang Buru had not hidden them in a cave, where they stayed for the rest of their days. The children of these seven couples became the progenitors of the Santal clans.[28]

A characteristic feature of a Santal village is asacred grove(known as theJaher[AE][AF]) on the edge of the village where many spirits live and where a series of annual festivals take place.[25]This grove is set aside in the founding of the village and left undisturbed except at times of festival. Inside is set a series of natural (uncut) stones which represent the bongas, but are not substitutes except during festival.[AG]TheMajhi Than,a raised mound of earth covered with a thatched roof outside the headman's house, is where the Majhi's ancestors' spirits live. During the summer, a jug of water is placed there so the spirits can drink. Here the most important decisions of the village are made, including judgements.[citation needed]

Jaher, the holy place of Santal
People performing rituals in Jaher,Mayurbhanj district,Odisha

A yearly round of rituals connected with the agricultural cycle, along with life-cycle rituals for birth, marriage and burial at death, involves petitions to the spirits and offerings that include the sacrifice of animals, usually birds.[25]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).[25]Similar beliefs are common among othertribeson theChota NagpurPlateau like theKharia,Munda,andOraon.[25]

Smaller and more isolated tribes often demonstrate less articulated classification systems of the spiritual hierarchy described asanimismor a generalised worship of spiritual energies connected with locations, activities, and social groups.[25]Religious concepts are intricately entwined with ideas about nature and interaction with local ecological systems.[25]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.[25]

Politics[edit]

Schedule Tribe status[edit]

The Santhal people are constitutionally designated asScheduled Tribesonly inFifth Schedule areas,such as Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Tripura. While the Santals, who migrated from Fifth Schedule areas toSixth Schedule areas,specifically to Assam as tea garden laborers during theBritish Raj,are not considered Scheduled Tribes.[29][30]Instead, they are classified asOther Backward Classin Assam, and the remaining population living in other states is considered part of thegeneral population.[31]The inclusion in Schedule Tribe list have been opposed by respective states and tribal activists organization following Sixth Scheduled autonomy, such as the Coordination Committee of Tribal Organizations of Assam (CCTOA). The organisation feared up that granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Santal and other 40 migrated tribal communities will squeeze up the benefits ofnatives,the "original tribal people" of the state.[32][33]

Religion status[edit]

The Santhal people believe innature worship,and their place of worship is insacred grovesknown asJaherandSarna,in contrast to Hindu places of worship intemples.They also performanimal sacrificesto honor their gods and accept flesh, includingbeefandpork,practices that are generally prohibited inHinduism.[34]Thus they consider themselves believers ofSariandSarna religionrather than Hinduism. Although there is overlap of ideology, belief, culture and practices in between Sarnasim and Hinduism.[35][36]

Notable people[edit]

Administrative officials[edit]

Entertainment[edit]

Freedom Fighter[edit]

Literature[edit]

Politician[edit]

Science and technology[edit]

Sports[edit]

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^The term comes from theBengaligoshti,meaning clans. It seems likely that the nearby Santals of Singhbhum borrowed the word.

Citations[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^abcd"A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix".censusindia.gov.in.Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.Retrieved18 November2017.
  2. ^"C-16 Population By Mother Tongue".censusindia.gov.in.Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.Retrieved3 November2019.
  3. ^"A-11 Appendix: District wise scheduled tribe population (Appendix), Tripura - 2011".censusindia.gov.in.Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
  4. ^"Table 1.4 Ethnic Population by Group and Sex"(PDF)(in Bengali). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. 2021. p. 34.
  5. ^"National Population and Housing Census 2011: Social Characteristics Tables"(PDF).Nepal Census– via Government of Nepal.
  6. ^ab"ST-14 Scheduled Tribe Population By Religious Community - Jharkhand".census.gov.in.Retrieved3 November2019.
  7. ^Cavallaro, Francesco; Rahman, Tania."The Santals of Bangladesh"(PDF).ntu.edu.sg.Nayang Technical University. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 9 November 2016.Retrieved17 November2017.
  8. ^Census 1961, west bengal-district handbook, Midnapore(PDF).The superintendent, government printing, West Bengal. 1966. p. 58. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 September 2021.
  9. ^Encyclopaedia of Scheduled Tribes in Jharkhand.Gyan Publishing House. 2010. p. 213.ISBN9788178351216.
  10. ^Sidwell, Paul (2018)."Austroasiatic Studies: state of the art in 2018. Presentation at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 22 May 2018".Archived fromthe originalon 22 May 2018.
  11. ^Rau, Felix; Sidwell, Paul (12 September 2019)."The Munda Maritime Hypothesis"(PDF).Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society.12(2): 35–57.hdl:10524/52454.ISSN1836-6821.
  12. ^abKarua, Subhash Chandra (2006)."The Santals of Mayurbhanj — a Study on Their Original Homeland".Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.67:592–599.ISSN2249-1937.
  13. ^Lister, E. (1917).Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Hazaribagh.p. 54.Retrieved29 January2023.
  14. ^abcJha, Amar Nath (2009). "Locating the Ancient History of Santal Parganas".Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.70:185–196.ISSN2249-1937.JSTOR44147668.
  15. ^abThis is Our Homeland: A Collection of Essays on the Betrayal of Adivasi.Banglaore: Equations. 2007.OCLC180852396.Retrieved26 August2019.
  16. ^abMalik, Malti (2016).Saraswati History of India.New Saraswati House.ISBN978-81-7335-498-4.Retrieved26 August2019.
  17. ^abSomers 1979
  18. ^Sarkar, Ashim Kumar (2016)."Forest, Land Use, and Water: A Study of the Santal Adivasi World of Colonial Maldah, 1900-1947"(PDF).Vidyasagar University Journal of History.4:29–40.
  19. ^Panjabi, Kavita (2010)."'Otiter Jed' or Times of Revolution: Ila Mitra, the Santals and Tebhaga Movement ".Economic and Political Weekly.45(33): 53–59.ISSN0012-9976.JSTOR25741971.
  20. ^"Legendary Leader Jangal Santhal".Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).Retrieved10 November2021.
  21. ^"Chadar Badar".The Telegraph.2015. Archived fromthe originalon 6 May 2011.Retrieved22 March2015.
  22. ^abWinston, Robert; Wilson, Don E., eds. (2004).Human.Dorling Kindersley.p. 440.ISBN0-7566-0520-2.
  23. ^abc
  24. ^abc
  25. ^abcdefghiHeitzman, James (1996). "Tribal Religions". In Heitzman, James; Worden, Robert L. (eds.).India: a country study(5th ed.). Washington, D.C.:Federal Research Division,Library of Congress.pp. 168–169.ISBN0-8444-0833-6.OCLC34598209.Public DomainThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
  26. ^Debnath, Mrinal Kanti (28 February 2011).Living on the Edge: The Predicament of a Rural Indigenous Santal Community in Bangladesh(Doctor of Education thesis).
  27. ^Hembrom 1996,p. 40 "... it simply signifies invisible supernatural forces or powers and can very well be understood equivalent to the English word 'spirit'."
  28. ^Bradley-Birt, Francis Bradley (1910).Chota nagpur: a little-known province of Empire(2nd ed.). Smith, Elder, & Co.
  29. ^"ST demand by Santhal union".The Telegraph.Retrieved25 August2022.
  30. ^"Droupadi Murmu's election rekindles hope among Santals in Assam seeking Scheduled Tribe status".Deccan Herald.21 July 2022.Retrieved25 August2022.
  31. ^"Central List of OBCs for the State of Assam"(PDF).ncbc.nic.in.
  32. ^Sarmah, Jayanta Krishna; Hazarika, Joyjit (5 June 2015)."Politics of Scheduled Tribe Status in Assam".Economic and Political Weekly.55(14): 7–8.
  33. ^The report of the advisory committee on the revision of the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes(PDF)(Report). Department of Social Security, GOI. pp. 18–19.
  34. ^Bisoee, Animesh (28 May 2019)."Brave show of support for arrested Santhal".The Telegraph.Retrieved31 May2019.
  35. ^"Sarna Dharam Code: Of Adivasi identity and eco-nationalism".downtoearth.org.in.Retrieved25 August2022.
  36. ^Lakshman, Abhinay (22 July 2022)."Being Sarna: a fight to define tribal identity in Jharkhand".The Hindu.ISSN0971-751X.Retrieved25 August2022.
  37. ^Das, Anand ST (1 November 2019)."'A Tribal Boy Got a Big Opportunity': GC Murmu's Mother Elated over His Appointment as J&K's L-G ".News18.Retrieved19 February2020.
  38. ^"Baul international".The Telegraph.18 November 2007.Retrieved26 March2020.
  39. ^Sailendra Nath Sen (2010).An Advanced History of Modern India.Macmillan. p. 120.ISBN9780230328853.
  40. ^Das, Madhuparna (2 April 2016)."Santhali actress Birbaha Hansda to fight West Bengal polls".The Economic Times.Retrieved8 January2020.
  41. ^"जिस BJP को दिलाई थी करिश्माई जीत, बाबूलाल मरांडी का उसी से हुआ मोहभंग".aajtak.intoday.1 April 2019.
  42. ^"Draupadi Murmu, to be the first president to be born after Independence".The Statesman.21 July 2022.Retrieved22 July2022.
  43. ^"Draupadi Murmu: All you need to know about India's 15th President".TimesNow.22 July 2022.Retrieved22 July2022.
  44. ^"40 Years In CPM And Now A BJP MP, This Man Embodies Left's Demise".HuffPost India.4 June 2019.Retrieved20 August2020.
  45. ^ab"Shibu Soren".Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved3 February2020.
  46. ^Seetharaman, G.; Balasubramanyam, K. R. (25 May 2014)."32 newly elected under-35 MPs & what they intend to do for their constituencies".The Economic Times.Retrieved14 March2019.
  47. ^"Purnima Hembram of Santhal tribe bags pentathlon gold for India at Asian indoor meet – Adivasi Resurgence".adivasiresurgence.20 September 2017.Retrieved7 August2022.
  48. ^রাফায়েল টুডু: গোলকিপার থেকে বিসিএলের শীর্ষ গোলদাতা![Rafael Tudu: BCL top scorer from goalkeeper!].OffsideBangladesh(in Bengali). 11 April 2024.Archivedfrom the original on 12 April 2024.Retrieved12 April2024.

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • 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, andBodding, P. O.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
  • Culshaw, W. J. Tribal Heritage; a Study of the Santals. London: Lutterworth Press, 1949.
  • 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[edit]