Cultural dimension Jharkhand renowned cultural events include ebullient festivals like Sarhul, Sohr ai, Karma, Christmas,

Id, Holi and Dushahra. Folk music and dances are part and parcel of the tribal culture. People sing and dance in open places, and it is th e tribal communities who have incorporated the gifts of the seasons in their liv es. Mahua flour, millet, edible roots and tubers are the main components of the tribal diet. All the tribal communities have their unique beliefs called Sarna Parasnath. Fol k spirit defines the unique features of the culture of Jharkhand. Tribal culture s remain mostly unperturbed by the trends of modernization even today. Tribal identity is recognized through various socio-cultural characteristic like community participation in social life and decision making, egalitarian etiquet te in interpersonal relationships, language and dress, completer dependence on t he providence of nature, community ownership of productive resources, adherence to tradition, celebration of festivals following agricultural cycles, and aversi on to radical change in the socio-economic and religious spheres. Festivals Sohraj, Karma, Badna, Sarhul, Hal Punhya, Id, Holi, Christmas, Dussehra are all important festivals. Folk Dances Jadur, Paika, Karma, Chhou, Nachni, Agni, Santhal, Natua, Matha, Sohrai, etc. Folk Music Faguwa, Mardana Jhumar, Janani Jhumar, Jhumta, Dohari Domkach, Akhariya Domkach, Udasi, Pawas, etc.

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Santhals are the largest Adivasi community in India and can be found mainly in t he states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tripura and O rissa. Santhals can be also found in Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar board er areas. In Nepal they live in the districts of Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari. And also one can found significant population of Santhals in Bhutan as daily wage la borer. In Bangladesh, Santhals have made remarkable history of Santhal s identity. Majority of Santhal are being traced in the Chhotanagpur plateau. Rajmahal hill , Damodar valley and forest of Dolma are the witness since time immemorial.

Fahien the Chinese traveler was the first to make a pilgrimage in India and firs t to describe about the Santhal tribe at large. His journey lasted about sixteen years (A.D. 399-414) and described in detail about the tribe staying and lifest yle in foothill of Rajmahal. He also describe about the religion followed by Sa nthals. It is fact that, Santhals belong to the Austro-Asiatic group of human fa milies. They have also been called as a sub-group speaking a language belonging to the Munda family (Dahal, BS2051/052). Some anthropologists also indicate tha t racially the Santhals belong to the Proto-Astraloid racial group, linguistical ly they belong to the Mundari group of Austro-Asiatic linguistic family and econ omically they may be classified as plain agricultural type.

Origin of Santhals:

The species known as Ramapithecus was found in the Siwalik foothills of the nort hwestern Himalayas. This species believed to be the first in the line of hominid s lived some 14 million years ago. Researchers have found that a species resembl ing the Australopithecus lived in India some 2 million years ago. Scientists hav e so far not been able to account for an evolutionary gap of as much as 12 milli on years since the appearance of Ramapithecus. The people of India belong to dif ferent anthropological stocks. According to Dr. B. S. Guha, the population of I ndia is derived from six main ethnic groups and main ethnic group which define A divasis especially Santhals, Munda, Kol and Ho are as follows:

Pro-Australoids or Austrics : This group was the next to come to India after the Neg ritos. They represent a race of people, with wavy hair plentifully distributed over their brown bodies, long heads with low foreheads and prominent eye ridges, noses with low and broad roots, thick jaws, large palates and teeth and small c hins. Austrics tribes, which are spread over the whole of India, Myanmar and th e islands of South East Asia, are said to form the bedrock of the people". The Au strics were the main builders of the Indus Valley Civilisation. They cultivated rice and vegetables and made sugar from sugarcane. Their language has survived i n the Kol or Munda (Mundari) Santhali in Eastern and Central India.

History of Santhals:

Histories of Santhals are only persisting in songs and folklore of Santhal tribe itself. Historians from different region have come and wrote different things r egarding them and large populations believe that is only the truth about Santhal s. Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who develops Santhali manuscript, written Santhals ar e from Pre Aryan period. And they were the real great fighters during British re gime. Santhals were the first who fought against Permanent Settlement Act of Lor d Cornwallis during 1855. It was during late 1850, when Sidhu Murmu, Kanhu Murmu , Chand Murmu and Bhairo Murmu hoarded around 85,000 Santhals to wage a war agai nst British to object all the law which were objectionable to them at that point of time..

So, Santhals with their entire musical instrument (like Tumdak, Tamak, Banam, an d Trio) and weapons (Aag-Saar, Kapi, Tarwade) start moving towards Calcutta. But they had to face British army on the way and could not able to reach Calcutta.

It is also recorded that Baba Tilka Majhi was the first Santhal s leather who raise weapons against the British in 1789. It was due to great famine in 1770 and the consequences of Court of Directors orders influenced by British Prime Minister Pit t the Younger. Court of Director issued ten year of the settlement of Zamindari and later in 1800, it was permanent. This resulted in minimal chance to negotiat e between local Zamindars and Santhal villagers. Baba Tilka Majhi made bold step to kill one of the British lieutenant with arrow from the top of banyan tree. L ater Baba Tilka majhi was hanged till death from the same tree to show example f or such deeds.

Santhal Language:

Languages can be broadly classified as:

1. Dravidian 2. Munda or Austric

The Kissam Koya and Oraon belonging to Dravidian-language-speaking clan are few in numbers in this district. The Santhals, Kol and the Munda tribes belong to Au stric family and are the prime tribes and they do have own mother tongue. Santha ls have their own language, which belong to Austro-Asiatic language family. Sant hals have well developed manuscript called Ol Chiki developed by Pt Raghunath Murm u in 1920s. Initially Ol Chiki was regarded as copied one and also considered as, which doesn t have any characteristic of language. But after lot of studies, whe n it was found that 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 an d five basic diacritics. It has 6 basic vowels and three additional vowels, gene rated using the Gahla Tudag.

Santhals did not have a written language until the nineteenth century. Therefore , the script is a recent development. A distinct script was required to accommod ate the Santali language, does not combine any features of both the Indic and Ro man scripts. The modern Ol Chiki script was devised by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1 925. He wrote over 400- 450 books covering a wide spectrum of subjects. Darege D han, Sidhu-Kanhu, Bidu Chandan and Kherwal Bir are among the most acclaimed of h is works. Pandit Raghunath Murmu is popularly known as Guru Gomke among the Sant hals, a title conferred on him by the Mayurbhanj Adibasi Mahasabh.

Art and Culture of the Santals:

Santali culture is such that it had and has been attracting many scholars and an thropologists since centuries. The first attempt to study the Santali culture wa s done by the Mughals and which followed by the Christian missionaries. The most famous of them was the Norwegian-born Reverend Paul Olaf Bodding. Unlike many o ther adivasi groups of the Indian subcontinent, the Santals are known for preser ving their native language despite waves of migrations and invasions from Mughal s, Europeans, British and others.

Santali culture is depicted in the paintings and artworks in the walls of their houses. Local mythology includes the stories of the Santhal ancestors Pilchu Har am and Pilchu Bhudi.

The Santhal people love music and dance. Like other Indian people groups, their culture has not been influenced by any mainstream Indian culture and or by Weste rn culture, but traditional Santhals have own way of music and dance. Santali mu sic differs from Hindustani classical music in significant ways. Onkar Prasad ha s done the most recent work on the music of the Santhal but others preceded his work. The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: th e Tamak' and the Tumdak'. The flute (tiriao) was considered the most important S anthal traditional instrument and still evokes feelings of nostalgia for many Sa nthals. Santali dance and music traditionally revolved around Santhal religious celebrations. However, Santhal music and dance both retain connections to tradit ional celebrations. The names of many Santhal tunes are derived from the traditi onal ritual with which they were once associated. Sohrai tunes, for example, wer e those sung at the Sohrai festival. Santali rituals are mainly comprised of sac rificial offerings and invocations to the spirits, or Bongas.

The Santhals are musicians and dancers par excellence and have dances for every imaginable occasion. The martial dances - Golwari and Paikha are marked with vig or, virility and a lot of jumping and leaping in the air. They carry bow and arr ows while doing martial dances and perform mock fights and attacks. Their courts hip and marriage dances are typical. These dances, romantic and lively in nature , are performed on full moon nights. The loud drumming, resembling thunder, call s the belles of the community and they come dressed in their fineries, adorned w ith flowers, feathers and assemble under a large banyan tree. The young men come forward taking strides with drums and lilting songs on their lips, and then the dance commences in two rows, their arms interlinking in pairs. The rows surge f orward like rhythmic waves and then recede with supple footwork and swaying head s and bodies. The boys in the row opposite play on flutes, drums, and large cymb als and sing songs in perfect harmony. After the dance the boys and girls mingle and have a good chat.

Santhals have their hunting and sowing dances. On Dassai festival men-folk dance from one locality to another. Then there are the Jhika and the Lagren type danc es in which men and women dance together. Men form the outer ring and the women the inner circle. The Dhong and Lagren are exclusively confined to women. The La gren has many forms and variations according to the occasion, be it a marriage, a festival or social gathering. All these dances reflect their collective nature , cohesion, community feeling and social awareness. They are great spontaneous c ollective singers and dancers. The Santhal women and girls can be seen singing a nd dancing while engaged in their daily chore like sowing, plantation, journeyin g to and from the forest. They work and sing simultaneously and in between pause for a round of dance. They use song and music as a convenient tool of dancing. Dance is a super ordinate and all the rest is subordinate.

Adivasi Religion:

Santhals have Jaher and Gosade are two places where Santhals do religious activi ties. Santhals don t have even shape of God and do not believe in idol worship. Sa nthals follow the Sarna religion. The common God and Goddess of Santhal are Mara ng-buru, Jaher-era. Santhals pay respect to the ghosts and spirits like Kal Sing , Lakchera, Beudarang etc. They have village priests known as the Naiki and Ujha . Animal sacrifices to the Gods are the common practice common practice among th e Santhals to appease the Gods and Goddess.

Santhals do believe in many Gods and Goddesses except common GOD and patrimonial one. According to them the Sun is omnipotent. He is the creator and father. The earth is believed to be their mother. She brings up all. Mother earth is the fe male and the Sun God is the male and all other are their off springs.

Different clans of Santhals worship the God with different names. The ancestral GOD is important and followed by some rituals in regular interval of time. Santh alis worship the powerful Sun God as Singabonga (also spelled as Singhbonga) in co mmon.

Festivals:

Santhals celebrate loads of festivals in different occasion. Santhals follow cy cle of nature and agricultural term to celebrate festivals and celebrate festiva ls accordingly. They celebrate this festival to invocations the Nature for helpi ng them in getting where ever they have and sometime to increase their wealth an d free them from all the enemies. It is the tradition among the Santhals to grow the tree outside their house after the purification process for different purpo ses.

The Santhals celebrate other festival like, Sohorai, from the end of Paush and f or the entire month of Magh. "Karam" festival is celebrated by the Santhals in t he month of Aswin (September- October) in order to have increased `wealth and pr ogeny` and to get rid of the evil spirits. During this festival, two youths afte r being purified, fetch two branches of Karam tree from the forest and plant the m just outside the house. Other festivals of the Santhal community include Maghe

, Sakrat, Baba Bonga, Sahrai, Ero, Asaria and Namah. They also celebrate hauntin g festival called Disum sendra on the eve of Baishakhi Purnima.

Ero (Paddy sowing festival)

The Santals, Mahali, Bhumija and Lodha celebrate this festival on the day of 'Ak shitrutiya' to worship mother earth with religions flavor and enthusiasm. The bl ack cock is offered as sacrifice with non-boiled rice, flower, Vermillion and in cense sticks to propitiate mother earth for bumper harvest, prosperity peaceful and disease free life. Dance amidst traditional tribal songs and beating of drum s rent the air, which makes the festival quite enjoyable.

Jamtala Bonga (Jantal Festival):

This festival is celebrated when the ear of paddy hangs downward exclusively in the year when crop is destroyed due to scanty rainfall. The fill treated as God is offered male goat as sacrifice with a belief that propitiation of hill God wi ll bring about bumper crops. The male goat so killed is distributed among the vi llagers.

Karam Parva:

This festival is celebrated in the month of 'Ashwina' or 'Kartika' and the auspi cious day in fixed by the village meeting. A 'Karam Bough' is planted on the alt ar in the middle of village. The village maids offer molasses non-boiled rice, f lower and vermillion then story of 'Karamdharan', the God of fate is recited and it continues amidst dance, song and beating of drums till morning and then imme rsion of 'Karam Bough' is solemnised with the blessings of God of fate the life becomes enriched with health and this is their sincere belief.

Makar Parva:

The prime festival of Santhals is celebrated with pomp and grandeur by Adivasis month of 'Pausha' and English month 'January' when the paddy reaping is half don e and the mind is free from all lures and anxieties. Irrespective of colour and crew and age all partake in religious gaiety and fervour.

This festival lasts for three days and celebration primarily starts night before 'Makar Sankranti'. First day is celebrated since morning by the burning of log of woods in the bank of river or near water reservoir. It is told as 'Kumbha', d one mostly by the children and teens. The process is done in the early morning. Day of Sakrat, everyone in the family will take bath early and wear new cloths. In every household 'Makar Chaula' and delicious cakes are prepared. After that h ead of the family offer food and drinks to ancestors and Ora bongs (house God) i n the inner most (Bhitar orah) part of the house. In other words we can say the deities are worshipped. After having food which includes mutton curry, chicken, pork, lamb, sheep, palatable cakes and country liquor 'Handia', in every village or collection of villages , male will participate in archery competition and fema le come to witness. First village priest Naike will purify the target and set the distance for competitors. Three chances will be provided until someone hit the t arget. If someone hit the target, then he ll be the winner and awarded with garlan d of flowers and someone (assign by headman of village) will take him in shoulde r till Gosande . Manjhi/Naike will worship and is followed with singing, dancing an d playing of instrumental music. All those present there, are given rice-beer. W inner will be accompanied by Santhali traditional dance, song and music. In that occasion men and women dance in the Gosande till late night with boisterous music , songs and drums. The traditional dress of Santhal women is called Pandhat, wh ich is a covering from the chest to the foot.

Second and third day is for the occasion of Makar a special 'Monkey Dance' named as 'Gari-aseen' is performed. The tribal folks adorning their bodies in many fo rms roam door to door asking for paddy, rice and cakes, which becomes quite enjo yable. Also female makes-up by men and dance with tradition songs and drums call ed Budhi-Gari . Finally in a village meeting all the collected items will be disclosed. And vill agers will organized for feast or grand village party on some free day. Rice wil l be distributed to different household to brew rice whisky or rice beer and col lected on the day of grand village party. Relatives are also invited to join.

By nature, the Santhals love Dance, Music and wine. There cannot be a festival w ithout these. Their fairs and festivals are very colorful.

Judicial system:

The Santhals traditionally had an organized judicial system for the management a nd solution of the various problems within the community. They make every effort to solve the social problems arising within their community by themselves. The Santhal system of governance, known as Manjhi Paragana, is compared to what is oft en called Local Self Governance. This body is responsible for making decisions t o ameliorate the village's socioeconomic condition.

The head of the Santhal community is called Manjhi Hadam (headman of village). H e is the chief of the executive, judicial and all other functions within society . He is assisted by other office bearers like Paranik, Jagmanjhi, Jagparanik, Na ike, Gudit, etc, who work in their respective fields to solve various kinds of p roblems. After the birth of a child, the Jagmanjhi and following the death of a person the Gudit and others are present. Manjhi Hadam undertakes the looking int o judicial cases and the dispensing of justice and above him is Disham Manjhi, a nd above both is Diheri. The Diheri is the highest judicial office bearer of San thals. The Santhals who generally like to live in concentrated settlements of th eir own near rivers and forests are divided into 12 thars or groups. As the grou ps are in accordance with professional specialization, this appears as a form of social system. The Murmu are the priests of Santhals and Mardi the businessmen, while Kisku are the rulers and Hemram judges. Similarly, the Tudu are musicians and Soren soldiers. The organizations of Santhals are village council (Manjhiba isi), Parganna Council (Pramatrabaisi) and the highest council (Labirbaisi).

Customs of the Santhal:

After the birth of a child, the Santhal midwife of Gaasibudhi cuts the umbilical cord of the child with an arrow and buries it near the door. The child is named on the day of the birth or on any odd numbered day following birth. The first-b orn son is given the name of his grandfather; and second a male child will be na

med from maternal side. He is also given another name for calling him.

Birth

Birth is regarded as very joyous occasion in the society of the Santhal. It make s the couple fertile and washes the strain of barrenness forever. It enhances th e status of the husband and the wife as father and mother. After birth of child family has to provide feast to villagers.

Family

Family is the smallest unit of social organization in the Santhal society. Famil y is nuclear, husband-wife and their unmarried children. Married son established their own family and married daughter leave the house to lead a family with the ir husband.

Marriage and divorce:

The ritual of marriage generally comes in the life of all boys and girls of the Santhal, Monogamy is the usual form of marriage. Bigamy is also allowed. Levirat e and Surrogate marriage are possible depending on the situation. Pre-marital re lation within lineage group is not allowed. But in case of other lineage group i t is excused and finally results in marriage. Marriage may take place between bo ys and girls of two lineages but generally it is avoided. They generally follow village exogamy. Usual way of acquiring bride is by bride-price and through the

consent of parents of boys and girls. But marriage by exchange, elopement servic e and love may also take place.

The Santhals have different types of marriage. Their marriages are exogamous and these marriages known as `Bapla` are of seven types namely Sanga Bapla, Kadam B apla, Kirin Bapla, Upagir Bapla, Tanki Dipil Bapla, Itut Bapla, Nirbelok Bapla, Diku Bapla etc. At the end of every marriage, the bride money is collected. Divo rce can be obtained easily; however, some alimony has to be given whole divorcin g. If marriages are undertaken within one`s own group, such couples are ostraciz ed and chased away from society. There is also the practice of the son-in-law st aying in his in-laws` house.

To learn more about Santhali Marriage, go to - jharkhandi.com/SanthalAdivasiMarr iage.aspx

Death

The death during old age is taken good because it brings occasion of transformat ion of body and soul of a person. The dead body is buried or cremated. Only male members participate in death rituals. The dead are cremated as well as buried. After the death of a respected person of the community who occupies an important post such as Manjhi, Paranik, Gudit, etc, all Santhals participate in the death ceremony. The entire village has to mourn the death. On the evening of the deat h of a person, a rooster is killed and Khichadi (porridge) cooked and offered to the soul of the dead. After seven days the Santhals purify themselves by bathin g in a river. The last rites (Bhandan) are undertaken at an appropriate time aft er another seven days. The last rites or purification are undertaken on the same day of the week as when the dead was buried.

Population, Economy and Livelihood

Santhals has total Population --96, 05,000 (from 2001 census) West Bengal Bihar Jharkhand Orissa Assam MP 19, 97222 1039425 20, 67039 9, 29782 1223032 2348500

Major economic activities of the Santhal are agriculture, collection of forest p roduce from the forests and cultivation. The livelihood of the Santhals revolves around the forests they live in. They fulfill their basic needs from the trees and plants of the forests. Apart from this they are also engaged in the haunting , fishing and cultivation for their livelihood. Santhals possess the unique skil ls in making the musical equipments, mats and baskets out of the plants. This ta lent is safely passed on from one generation to the other. Now days, Santhals, w ho got education engaged in well paid governments and private jobs.

Bibliography Archer, W. G. The Hill of Flutes: Life, Love, and Poetry in Tribal India: A Port rait of the Santals. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974. Bodding, P. O. Santal Folk Tales. Cambridge, Mass.: H. Aschehoug; Harvard Univer sity Press, 1925. Bodding, P. O. Santal Riddles and Witchcraft among the Santals. Oslo: A. W. Brgge rs, 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), 19 25-40 Bompas, Cecil Henry, and Bodding, P. O. Folklore of the Santal Parganas. London: D. Nutt, 1909. 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 Pres s, 1949. Duyker, E. Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Moveme nt, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1987, pp. 201, SBN 19 561938 2. Hembrom, T. The Santals: Anthropological-Theological Reflections on Santali & Bi blical Creation Traditions. 1st ed. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1996. Orans, Martin. "The Santal; a Tribe in Search of a Great Tradition." Based on th esis, University of Chicago., Wayne State University Press, 1965. Prasad, Onkar. Santal Music: A Study in Pattern and Process of Cultural Persiste nce, 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 Seri es, 13. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1973. Troisi, J. The Santals: A Classified and Annotated Bibliography. New Delhi: Mano har Book Service, 1976. Tribal Religion: Religious Beliefs and Practices among the Santals. New Delhi: M anohar, 2000.

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