Santals
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The Santals are the largest tribal community in India, found mainly in the states of West Bengal, Bihar Jharkhand and Orissa. There is also a significant Santal minority in neighboring Bangladesh.
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[edit] Santali Language and Anthropology
The Santali language is part of the Austro-Asiatic family, distantly related to Vietnamese and Khmer.The long history of the Satals may be traced from the age of human migration that started from Africa.Lot of recent findings bring the theory that human from Africa had started to migrate eastward that is in Asia. A few of the Indian anthropologist also believe the fact that human first came in India about 65000-55000 years ago. The earliest of them were Proto Australoids followed by the Proto Dravidians. The Proto Australoids can be identified with some facial characteristics such as low forehead, thick lips, wide jaw and wavy hair .Historians believe that they were the ancestors of the tribal community residing in the eastern part of India (excluding hilly portions).So the Santals,Oraons ,Khols and Mundas may be the descendants of them.
But in those times they were mainly in the Neanderthal stage that is their primary way of subsistence were hunting and food gathering. As many of contemporaries in Africa and other parts of Asia . The agrarian way of living was brought by the Aryans who came about in the 1500 B.C.The inhabitants of the Mohenjo –Daro civilization that existed in the Pakistan and parts of India were also may be originally Proto-Australoids as may be inferred from their sculptures and statues of the dancing girl and others. How the Mohenjo- Daro civilization annihilated is a big question whether there was an Aryan 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
The Santali script, or Ol Chiki, is alphabetic, and does not share any of the syllabic properties of the other Indic scripts such as Devanagari. It uses 30 letters and five basic diacritics. It has 6 basic vowels and three additional vowels, generated using the Gahla Tudag [1].
The Santal script is a relatively recent innovation. Santali did not have a written language until the twentieth century. A distinct script was required to accommodate the Santali language, combining features of both the Indic and Roman scripts. The modern Ol Chiki script was devised by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925. He wrote over 150 books covering a wide spectrum of subjects such as grammar, novels, drama, poetry, and short stories 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.
[edit] 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. Unlike many other tribal groups of the Indian Subcontinent, the Santals are known for preserving their native language despite waves of migrations and invasions from Dravidians, Indo-Aryans, Mughals, Europeans, 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 differs from Hindustani classical music in significant ways. Onkar Prasad has done the most recent work on the music of the Santal but others preceeded his work. The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak' and the Tumdak'. The flute 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. Sohrae tunes, for example, were those sung at the Sohrae 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. 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.
[edit] Background of the Rebellion
The insurrection of the Santals was mainly against the corrupt moneylenders ,zamindars and their operatives .Before the advents of the Bristish in India they resided peacefully in the hilly districts of Cuttack, 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 zaminadrs 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 infact through corrupt measures of the money lenders it multipled 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 used . This loss of freedom that once which they enjoyed turned them into rebels and finally they took oath to launch an attack on these axis of evil.
[edit] The Santal Rebellion
On 30 June 1855, two Santal rebel leaders, Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, 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.As the legend goes that the Santals so skilled in archery could throw arrows extremely accurate 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 bullet 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 using bullet.Thereafter attacking every village of the santals and making 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.
[edit] 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.(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.
- 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.
- 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.
