Introduction:
Santals are the most numerous of the tribes in India. The word Santal comes from Sawantar . This name they used even after coming to this country. According to some, they came to be known as Saostar or Santal because of their long residence in the Samantabhoomi or Saost country adjacent to Medinipur. At present most of the Santals live around the Santal Parganas. The topography of this vast region is full of diversity.
On the west lies the rugged undulating terrain of Jharkhand, and on the other (east) the alluvial plains. In this vast land, the Santal population has largely merged to survive.
1 Habitat
Santals live in the tea estates of Bihar Santal Parganas, Dhaka, Munger, Bhagalpur, Hazaribagh, Purnia, Manbhum, Singhbhum, Odisha's Mayurbhanj, West Bengal's Medinipur, Purulia, Malda, North Bengal and Assam.
2.Ethic identity
According to the caste theory, the Santals are descendants of the Dravidian group, whose main source is the Austro-Asiatic ethnic family.
3. Community
Some communities related to Santals are Har, Maji, Satar, Hos, Kharia etc.
4. Physical form
(i) Santals are of medium size, (ii) Muscular body, (ii) Dark complexion (iv) Thick and long lips, (v) Low forehead and low head, (vi) Hair wavy and curly (Fizzly). Incidentally, Boring found many similarities between Negroes and Santals.
5. Nature
Santals are very simple and hard working.
6. Language
The main languages of Santals are Santali, Oriya, Bengali, Hindi etc.
7. Religion
Santals are mainly worshipers of 'Marang Buru' deity of Santali religion. However, Hindu, Islamic, Christian and Buddhist Santals are also observed.
8. Main occupation
The main livelihoods of Santals are agriculture, hunting, animal husbandry etc.
Natural adaptation of Santal community:
Economy:
Santals are mainly engaged in agriculture. There are very few of their equal castes to use the land. Apart from working as agricultural laborers in their surrounding farmlands, they also go to distant places to work while harvesting and sowing paddy. Again, come back after work. At times, gathering of forest leaves, fruits, hunting and fishing constituted a major part of their economic life, but a large number of them worked as unskilled laborers in tea gardens, coal mines or factories. Again, some Santals are educated and working in offices, courts, education. A few joined the police and army.
Agriculture:
Santals are an agricultural community. They cultivate three types of land. Barge, Gora and Khet. A barge is the land adjacent to a house, especially the land at the back of the house. Here they grow maize, beans, peas, beans and vegetables. A 'gad' is a small piece of land situated some distance from the house. Different types of dal, sorghum, carpus are cultivated here. To say 'game', he used to eat step-cut rice on the slopes of the hill.
Land:
The Santals believe that they had collective rights to land in the past. But land was reserved for village cultivators (je-mazhi, fa-mazhi, paraniks) from which they earned their livelihood, and some land was reserved for village festivals. And the traditional villagers pay some money from the current land for the service.
Labor Department (Working Groups):
The division of labor between men and women is varied. At the beginning of the monsoon, men get busy fertilizing the land. Plowing, leveling the land and spreading the seeds are men's work. And the women take the seeds from one place and plant them elsewhere. Daily household chores include fetching water, cutting wood for fuel, washing dishes, cooking, raising children, cleaning the house apart from taking food to the field for the husband. Younger boys are given the responsibility of looking after their family's cows, goats and sheep. Sometimes they also graze the cows of other families in the village, they are called shepherds. Old people don't sit still. They also work in the fields or do housework if they stay at home. Co-operative labor system is in operation among the Santals.
Hunting:
Men participate in hunting. Hills and forests are divided into several areas for hunting purposes. Each part is responsible for a Dihri. He is the spiritual person of the victim. Having the knowledge of where to find the prey or during the hunt so that no harm is done to the party, he is given this responsibility.
The men of the entire village participate jointly in the annual hunt (dismu sendra). At this time, those who stay where they are, return to their villages. Whatever is found in such expeditions is shared among them. The main hunting season of the Santals takes place during the Buddha Purnima. Every year on the eve of the Buddha Purnima, millions of people from far and wide come and gather at the lap of the rugged Ayodhya hills in Purulia. It is a very old festival of Santals. Before the elders give the burden of family and society to the youth, come to this hunt and initiate them. It is still going on. Gradually this hunt is taking the form of a festival. Although it is just now the forests of Ayodhya Hills are gradually disappearing. It is no exaggeration to say that this festival is currently going on to protect the forest animals.
Food:
They usually eat twice. After breakfast in the morning, he went to work. When you come back in the evening, you are satisfied with hot rice and a little salt, pepper and vegetables. The guest actually eats fish and meat. Children do not have fixed meal times, they eat when they are hungry. Fish in the pond or river, small prey in the forest and field, they burn and eat on the spot. When they are free, they try to find prey with a bow and arrow. They drink from pots made of rotten rice. During summer and during any festival, they spend the night eating and drinking. Liquor made from Mahua flowers is their favorite drink
Home Furnishings
Their farming implements include plows for tilling the land, ladders for plowing the soil (and wheat), spades (kudi) for harrowing the soil, sickles for harvesting paddy. House furniture includes cots, mats, sitting boards, udkhal, dhenki, flute for playing music, dhol (dhamsa), madal, kengri (violin-like), strainer nets, khepla nets for fishing, bows and arrows for war and hunting, quills. , spears, axes, slings, swords, armor.
Settlement and house:
Villages of the Santals are generally small in size, with 10 to 35 families each. Houses were built on either side of the main road (Linebandi Basti). Villages are built on higher ground where water never stagnates.
At the entrance of the Santals village there is a sacred than, which is known as Jahar than. It is located in Shalban. Here is the abode of the main deities. Village chief's bus is next to the main road of the village and Majhi than is near it. It is the place of the spirit of the first chief who founded the village. Currently, many Santal villages have primary schools and clubhouses in some villages apart from koots and tubewells. The houses are usually 5 meters long, 5 meters wide and 1 meter high. Through the wall in one corner of the main room. A small space is kept. It is called inner house. It is the seat of the main deity of the household. The roof structure is made of bamboo or tree trunks. These are tied together with ropes to form the structure. The roof pitch is steep and descends quite low. It makes the rice on the dawa like a balcony. Here they hang out. sleep here at night, There is also cooking. Here are other times of the year except winter or monsoon.
is slept Each house has a partition inside. There is only one door, it is usually low. Houses usually do not have windows. High up in the wall are small rectangular holes. So the houses are smoky. The walls are painted with white, red, black clay. Dawa is built quite high from the ground. It is again painted black. The house has a house for keeping cows, buffaloes and pigs. Vegetables are grown behind the house.
Clothes and Decoration:
The working dress of Santal men is a kaupeen (one-piece) short cloth, the women a coarse sari (five hands), one side of which is tied at the waist and the other side comes down from the chest to the back. Lately men are using dhoti, shirt. Boys wear pants, shirt, genji, girls wear blouse and saree, 5/6 year olds usually wear pants, not much clothes. Santali girls love to be clean and adorn their bodies with jewelry and flowers. Every young woman wears a silver necklace around her neck, flowers on her head, rings in her ears, and bracelets in her hands. Apart from this, they decorate themselves with tattoos of various flowers, birds, fish on the whole body, especially on the hands, back, and neck.
handcraft
Santal girls are skilled in handicrafts. The colorful work on the wall of their house is proof of that. They make flutes from buffalo horns. Apart from that, they make ghani oil from Mahua flowers.
Social structure:
Santals have their own social organization like other tribes. They do not marry in other tribes than their own. Among them 12 tribes are Hansda, Murmu, Kisku, Hembram, Mandi, Soren, Tudu, Baste, Besra, Pauria, Chade, Baroa. Every gotra or clan has a gotra deity. For example - Hansdad's duck, Pauria's pigeon, Besrad's hawk, Char's chameleon etc. People of that tribe. Never kill those animals. It is believed by many that in the past, each tribe had several traditional vocations. For example, Sorens work as soldiers, Tudus as blacksmiths, Murmuds as priests. Among the tribes, the Chades and Besrads rank at the bottom.
Santal society is patriarchal, children are known by their father's clan. Each gotra is divided into each sub-gotra. The main work of the sub-gotra revolves around religion.
Lifecycle:
The life cycle of Santals has 4 distinct phases—birth, puberty, marriage and death. Dhai takes care of the pregnant mother. After the baby is born, the mother uses a sharp knife to separate the baby's umbilical cord from the body.
After the birth of a child, the house and the village become ritually impure, no festival is held in the village. No one in the village takes Agrajal in the house of a new-born child, until the purification festival takes place. This festival is held for 5 days if it is a boy and 3 days if it is a girl. The baby is named on this festival. Baby naming follows a rule. As elder son is named after great-grandfather, sage son is named after mother's relationship.
The second festival of the Santals is initiation which is performed between the ages of 4 and 12 even before marriage. Besides, no Santal man is married or cremated after his death unless the Santal man gets social recognition through this festival.
Marriage:
Among the Santals there is a practice of bride bet (ganam taka). Irrespective of social or financial status, the amount of bride price remains the same. At one juncture of the long discussion regarding the marriage, the bride's family arrives at the groom's house. Then the bride has to pay 11 rupees and 5 tins of paddy. On the day of marriage, the groom has to pay another rupee. The bride's brother also receives a car from the groom as a blessing for the child. The point of this type of system is that they are not only mothers of children, they also play a major role in daily productive work. Gharjamai is an alternative system for those who cannot pay bride price. In this case, the bride and groom live in the father's house and live in the father-in-law's land for 5 years.
Death:
All except pregnant women or children are cremated by rivers or ponds. The older boy frowned. Their funeral is like Hindu society. 6 days after the death Tel Nahan ceremony is held. On that day they offer oil to the gods.
Political Structure
The political activities of Santals are governed by village councils (panchayats). The solution of any problem in the rural society is in the hands of this council.
Source (Festival):
In fact, festivals are an integral part of Santal life. When they have leisure, especially when the harvest is over, they gather together in the evening to dance. Their dance performance accompanied by musical instruments is quite commendable.
Religion:
Incorporeal deities have a prominent place in the religious system of the Santals. Today, however, the influence of Hinduism has brought about some changes in their beliefs and religious practices. The 7 major festivals of Santals are—
(i) Ero Sim → June ceremony before sowing seeds to eat
(ii) Hariar Sim (Hariar Sim) → the ceremony of growing saplings from seeds
(iii) Iri gundli mauwai → Prayer centered on the main fruit of millet,
(iv) Kansar (Fanthar) is the first flowering festival of Aman paddy.
(v) Baha is the spring festival. Mahua, a prayer for the first buds of wild fruits and flowers. Apart from this, colored water sprinkling games are also held in the spring with the help of pitchers. And the end of the year prayer
(vi) Magh Sim (Magh Sim) In the month of February, with this ceremony the work of farming ends and at the end of the festival the villagers are allowed to bring straw to their homes socially. Houses are covered with this straw.
(vii) Sohrai → is harvest festival. This festival lasts for 6 days in the month of January.
Santals worship numerous gods and goddesses, disembodied spirits. Their main deity is head-headed or Singbongo. According to their belief, this sun god provides life, rain, crops and all other useful materials. All the gods except Singbongo live in mountains, forests, rivers, water bodies and other places.
They believe that these singbongos have a lot of power to harm people. So they worship them. Apart from gods, they kill incorporeal spirits like ghosts, ghosts, demons etc.
They believe in magic and witchcraft. They believe that witches have the power to cause harm and death.
Recent changes:
Contact with the civilized world brought about a great change in the life of the Santals. Until now they were victims of exploitation by landlords, moneylenders, contractors. But with the spread of education and the welfare of the political world they became very conscious of their rights, which resulted in the creation of the state of Jharkhand.
The provincial and central governments have failed to develop them properly. On the one hand, the forests are being destroyed day by day, along with the depletion of forest wood and forest by-products. On top of this, the government has regulated their free rights in the forest by making various laws related to forest. Deforestation is also causing soil erosion. And it is becoming unfit for cultivation. Fortunately, the local residents and the government have understood this problem and to solve the problem, the government has focused on community-based forestry. Apart from this, they leave their old profession and work as unskilled workers in coal mines or factories.
Conclusion : In conclusion, the educated Santals are not as much aware of their own socio-culture as they come in contact with civilized people. The tolerance and simplicity that once caught everyone's attention, is not seen much in them today. However, it can be said that the Santals in the rural areas are very much clinging to their old customs and culture.
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