The Santhal or Satar in Nepal are a scheduled tribe of indigenous to Terai
of Nepal and India, who live mainly in Nepal and the Indian States of
Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Assam. There is also a significant
Santhal minority in neighboring Bangladesh, and a small population in
Nepal. They are one of the largest tribal community in India. The Santhals
mostly speak Santali, a member of the Munda language family.
Santali Language The Reverend J. Phillips published 'An
Introduction to the Santal Language' in 1852, printed at the Calcutta School -
Book Society's Press. Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, a Norwegian
missionary and a language researcher, published 'A Grammar of Santali
Language' in 1873. Paul Olaf Bodding was a Norwegian
missionary, linguist and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years, and
operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santal Parganas-district. Bodding
created the first alphabet and wrote the first grammar for the Santali-speaking
native people in eastern India. In 1914 he also completed the translation of the
Bible into the Santali Language. In about 1925 Pt.Raghunath Murmu created
Ol Chiki script for the Santali Language.
Religion One of the most studied tribal religions
in India, the Santhal religion worships Marang buru, or Bonga, as the Supreme
Deity. The weight of belief, however, falls on a court of spirits, 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 the Santhal village is a sacred grove
on the edge of the settlement where many spirits live and where a series of
annual festivals take place. 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.
Similar beliefs are common among other tribes of northeast and central India
such as the Kharia, Munda, and Oraon. Smaller and more isolated tribes often
demonstrate articulated classification systems of the spiritual hierarchy less
well documented, described as animism or a generalized 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 Santhal 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
coordinating rituals. Santhali culture
Chadar Badar, a form of puppetry known also as Santhal puppetry, is a folk show
involving wooden puppets placed in a small cage which acts as the stage.
References 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, Mass.: 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, 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, 1925–40
Bompas, Cecil Henry, and Bodding, 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.
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 Santal Rebellion
Santal Engineers' Welfare Association - Working for all round development of
Adivasi All India Santal Welfare and Cultural
Society Santal Arts
Santal Dance Boro Baski: Santal worries
Santal culture on Daricha Foundation website
Banam The bowed music instrument played by the Santals