Santhals

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About Santhal tribes-

• The name “Santhal,” which means quiet and serene, is derived from two words: “santha,” which means calm, and “ala,” which means man. The Santal, or Santhal, are a Munda ethnic group native to South Asia. 
• However, the exact date of the origin of the Santhal community is not known due to the paucity of written records. But it is believed that their origin was from the Champa kingdom of North Cambodia. 
• According to Bhubaneswar-based Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), Santhals were a nomadic stock before they chose to settle in the Chotanagpur plateau.
• Santhals are the third largest scheduled tribe community in India after Gonds and Bhils. 
• Their population is mostly distributed in Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. 
• They are nature worshippers and could be seen paying obeisance at Jaher (sacred groves) in their villages.
• Various forms of marriage are accepted in the Santhal society – including elopement, widow remarriage, levirate, forced (rare) and the one in which a man is made to marry the woman he has impregnated.
• The Santhal have 12 clans, each divided into a number of subdivisions also based on descent, which is patrilineal. Traditionally, members of the same clan do not marry each other. 
• Divorce is not a taboo in the Santhal society. Either of the couple could divorce the other.
• There are certain unique rules that expecting Santhal parents have to follow. The husband does not kill an animal or takes part in a funeral when the wife is pregnant. 
• The wife does not go out into the forest unaided by somebody, and does not mourn or weep the death of anybody during her pregnancy.
• During festivals, Santhals play musical instruments like kamak, dhol, sarangi and flutes.
• Most Santhals are agriculturists, depending on their farmlands or forests. Their homes, called Olah, have a particular three-colour pattern on the outer walls. The bottom portion is painted with black soil, the middle with white and the upper with red.
• River Damodar holds a special place in the religious life cycle of a Santhal. When a Santhal dies, his or her ashes and bones are immersed in the Damodar for a peaceful afterlife.
• Their tribal language is called Santhali, which is written in a script called Ol chiki, developed by Santhal scholar Pandit Raghunath Murmu. 
• Santhali language belongs to the Munda group. Santhali written in OI-Chiki script is recognised as one of the scheduled languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.

Santhal Uprising-

• The community had revolted against British rule in 1855, two years before the far more famous uprising of 1857.
• In 1855–1856, the Santhal Revolt took place. Jharkhand is home to a large population of the Santhal tribe. This was India’s first major peasant uprising. 

• The implementation of the Permanent Land Settlement in 1793 was responsible for the uprising.
• The British seized territories that the Santhals had been cultivating for ages through the aforementioned settlement pattern. 
• Farmers were taken advantage of by zamindars (land-owning communities), lenders, Europeans, and British government officials, who also increased the land tax.
• The Santhals then revolted against the British government and landlords because they felt oppressed.
• The Santhals took part in guerrilla conflict. For Bihar, this was an unusual occurrence. 
• In order to fight their oppressors, the Santhals organised their own army of peasants. The rail and postal networks were destroyed by the Santhal army. 
• The Santhal insurrection was undoubtedly highly successful for a while, but it was crushed because it was unable to overthrow the government’s absolute power.

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