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1 Chapter I Introduction Santhal as People Santhals are tribal people living in eastern region of Nepal. The larger portion of santhal population is found in Jhapa and Morang districts of Nepal. The Government of Nepal has enlisted Santhal as indigenous and aboriginal people ( National Indigenous Peoples ' Development Committee ). Santhals are the old inhabitants and ancient ethnic people of eastern Terai of Nepal. Santhals call themselves ‘Hor’ meaning ‘man’. They call ‘Pahadiya,’ people migrated from the hills, ‘Munda’ in general and the upper class Brahamins ‘Diku’ in particular. In India, the term ‘Diku’ represents those people who are cruel to Santhals. The term Santhal is a derivation of ‘Saontar,’ a place name in India, where they are known as Santhal (Ghimire 9). But, in Nepal, they are called ‘Satar,’ which is often taken as pejorative term reflecting hegemonic attitude and disrespect to the tribe as well as a form of domination by ‘Pahadiya’ people of Nepal. According to some Santhals, the term ‘Satar’ also means people living in neat and clean place. The other opinion regarding the term ‘Satar’ is that they are the people who have crossed seven oceans. Santhals are dark in complexion with curly thick and short hair, flat nose like those of Negro and the size and shape of skull is like those of Aryans. Santhals look Dravidian in their physical appearance. Santhals, who have their own traditional culture, are the oldest immigrants of the eastern Terai region. They were strong to fight against the hostile climatic condition of the Terai regions. They survived there because of their strong physical strength and their capacity to adapt in dense forest areas of eastern Terai.
Historico-anthropological Introduction Santhals are the largest Adivasi community in India. They have settled mostly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tripura and Orissa. Santhals can be also found in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar, especially in their boarder areas. According to some anthropomorphic description, the species known as Ramapithecus was found in the Siwalik foothills of the northwestern Himalayas. This species, who was believed to be the first in the line of hominids, lived some fourteen million years ago. Researchers have found that a species resembling the Australopithecus lived in India some two million years ago. However, scientists have so far not been able to account for an evolutionary gap of as much as twelve million years since the appearance of Ramapithecus. It is assumed that “Proto-Austroloids” or “Austrics” group was next to come to India after the Negritos. They represented 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 chins. “Proto-Austroloids,” which are spread all over India, Myanmar and the islands of South East Asia, are said to “form the bedrock of the people". It is believed that the “Proto-Austroloids” were the main builders of the Indus Valley Civilization. They cultivated rice and vegetables and made sugar from sugarcane. Their language has survived in the 'Kol' or Munda (Mundari) or Santhali language in Eastern and Central India. There are many assumptions regarding the history of origin of Santhali people in Nepal. It is found that Santhals immigrated to the eastern plain region of Nepal from Dumka district of Santhals paragana, sub-division of Bihar states (Nearly 6/
Location and Settlement Areas Population of Santhals is the largest in Jhapa district than in Morang and Sunsari. All Village Development Committees (V.D.C.) and metropolis of Jhapa district contain a remarkable proportion of Santhali population. In Morang, they are found only in some of the V.D.Cs like Bardanga, Rajghat, Hoklabari, Bisanpur and Darbesa etc. According to Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal, total population of Santhal was 42,698 in 2058 B.S. Santhals are mostly found in the previously dense forest areas of Morang and Jhapa. But they prefer to live on the bank of rivers and rivulets. Only after their settlement in the dense forest of Terai region, other ethnic groups such as Brahamins, Chhetri, Gurung, Dhital, Rajbhanshi, Rai, Limbu etc. immigrated to the Terai areas. However most of the sociologist/ anthropologists argue that Santhals people are not the aboriginal people of Terai, but Poffenberger argues that Santhals are the aboriginals of malaria forest of Nepal (9). Society and Social/Political Practices Santhals have wonderful social-cultural mosaic. They have interesting social characteristics and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it contains flexibility in rigidity. Santhals favour patriarchal family system and in the absent of male member, lead role is transferred to female member too. Basically, they have joint family, but due to intensifying poverty among this tribe nowadays, they are living in nuclear family. All the family members cook, eat, and sleep together in a cozy but small house. They have separate religion, which is called ‘Sarna.’ Image of idol worship is absent, and no traditional temples that exist in Santhal society. Both burial and cremation are practiced and chicken is dedicated to the dead body in their burial rites.
Though there is a mythic hierarchy. As a result, the Santhal society in recent ages is devoid of caste hierarchy. As a result, the Santhal society is a casteless society, which is a unique characteristic of the community. By birth, no person, family, clan group is superior or inferior. It is said that Santhali women enjoy much more freedom than their counterparts in the society do. Blood offering is prevalent in the community. Earlier practice of cow sacrifice is now restricted. Priesthood is not appropriated by a particular clan group but is owned by the family members of the first settlers of the village. Occasionally selection of successors of the old priest is held if he leaves no issue. Mainly a divinized person makes such a selection and it is undisputed. Santhals are mostly agricultural people. Their villages are found in the open space in the middle of their agricultural land. They prefer to live with the group of community and so the number of house ranges mostly from ten to twelve. Their dwellings are very close to each other. Most of them are very poor and so they are dependent on the labor of the landlords’ land. Their houses are made up bamboo, paddy straw, wood, and mud. They keep their house neat and clean. Most of them smear the floor daily. Santhals follow their own customs regarding birth, death, and marriage. Santhals celebrate their biggest festivals ‘Sohorai’ from the end of Poush and for the entire Magh month. Santhals traditionally have an organized system for the management of social and judicial system to solve the various problems within the community by themselves. The head of the Santhal community is called ‘Majhi Hadam’ who is the chief of the executive, judicial and all other functions within society. He is assisted by other office bearers like ‘Paranik,’ ‘Jag Majhi,’ ‘Jagparanik,’ ‘Nike,’ ‘Gudit,’ etc, who work in their respective field to solve various kinds of community problems.
the absent of ‘Jag Majhi,’ the ‘Jag Paranik’ officiates, equally important is the religious headman called ‘Naike’ and his assistant ‘Kudam Naike’. Judicial System Santhals traditionally have an organized judicial system. It is very important for the management and solution of the various problems that arise within the community at different times. The most important features of Santhal community as often found in Adivasi Janajati are that they make every effort to solve the social problems arising within their community by themselves. The Santhal system of governance - ‘Majhi Parganna’ is synonymous to Local Self Governance. This body is also responsible for making decisions to restructure the village's socioeconomic condition. ‘Majhi Hadam,’ who is the headman of village, is the chief of the executive, judicial and all other functions within society. He is assisted by other office bearers like Paranik, ‘Jag Majhi,’ ‘Jagparanik,’ ‘Naike,’ ‘Gudit,’ etc. These people work in their respective fields to solve various kinds of problems. After the birth of a child, ‘Jag Majhi’ and following the death of a person, ‘Gudit’ and others are present. ‘Majhi Hadam’ undertakes the looking into judicial cases and the dispensing of justice and above ‘Majhi Hadam’ is ‘Disham Majhi,’ and above both is ‘Diheri’. ‘Diheri’ is the highest judicial office bearer of Santhals. Santhals, who generally like to live in concentrated settlements near rivers and forests, are divided into twelve ‘Thars’ or groups. As the groups 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 (‘Majhibaisi), Parganna Council (Pramatrabaisi) and the highest council (Labirbaisi). Language Santhals have their own language called Santhali in Nepal, which is different from the Nepali language. But, Santhali language far belongs to the Indo-Aryan family. They do not have their own scripts. In Nepal 0.18 percent of people speak Santhali language (CBS 2058 B.S.). Santhali language is an Austro- Asiatic language spoken in the Terai district of Nepal, mainly in the Santhal community. This language is one of the dialects of the Munda language. Six million people has been estimated to speak the Santhali language in Indian states like Jharkhanda, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal. But in Nepal, though it is spoken in Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari districts, its speakers are seemed to have missed its originality. In Nepal, Santhali language seems to get huge influence from languages of some ethnic groups like ‘Teli,’ ‘Thakur,’ etc., who are their neighbour and who can speak and understand Santhali language. Origin Myth: Nature at Supreme Santhal society possesses a unique and mysterious myth about the history of creation of world and creation of human beings. There are many assumptions about the history of origin. According to Santhal myth, once there was no land but there water everywhere. There were no living creatures but only ‘‘Thakur Jee’’ (main god of Santhals) and his slaves. For the creation of man, he ordered ‘‘Malin Budhi’’ (who lived in water) to make two sculptures of man and woman. When ‘Malin Budhi’ led the sculpture to dry to sun, Singsadomp (sky living horse) came and spoiled it, and then she made other sculpture. ‘Thakur Jee’ sent ‘Malin Budhi’ to bring man’s soul from definite spot. But ‘Malin Budhi’ did not get man’s soul there. But, she brought
Life-Cycle Ceremonies Birth Ceremony When a Santhal child is born, the mother of the baby is considered as impure. Also the parents of newborn baby observe first five days of birth to be impure. On the fifth day, a special food is prepared (made with leaves of Nim plant with rice grains) and offer it to ‘Marang Buru,’ the main God of Santhals community. The food is later distributed to the mother, other members of family and relatives. The eldest son is always named after his grandfather and other child according to their birthday. Marriage As Santhals Community is divided into twelve different clans, they do not marry with people of their own clan. ‘Bapla’ in Santhali language means marriage. Arranged marriage is pre-dominated mode of marriage in Santhal community though different types of marriages exist in Santhal society. The book ‘Mechi Dekhi Mahakali’ mentions eight different types of marriages in Santhal community. These are: (1) Golat Bapla, (2) Ghar di Jawai, (3) Apang gir Bapla, (4) Kirin Bahu Bapla, (5) Jawai Kirinok Bapla, (6) Mirbolak Bapla, (7) Tunki Dipal Bapla, and (8) Itut Bapla. Death Rituals When a Santhal dies, body is wrapped in white cloths and tied on to a ‘khapiya’ (bed) in which he has slept. The corpse is carried first by the son followed by other relatives. After it is taken to a cross road, some people throw and spray un- husked rice and cotton seeds to please the evil spirits that might cause obstacles on the way. The dead body is buried near some rivulet or any other particular place, which is pre-determined by the society. Son of the dead person gets his haircut. Santhals observe funeral rituals only for a day. On the ninth to thirteenth day, they have to feed those people who had attended funerals. After the completion of this
ritual, they are eligible to return to their previous state in the society. Religion Santhals worship Hindu Gods and Goddesses since a long time. During my research work, it is found that Santhals are Hindus. But, they have their one priest. They do not invite the ‘Brahmin’ priest. Nowadays, Santhals are facing the twin problems of maintaining a separate cultural identity as well as establishing their place within the surrounding Hindu culture. The God and Goddess they worship and the rituals they perform are similar to the Hindu god and goddess and Hindu rituals. Major threat to disappearance of their culture is the adoption of the Christianity. These innocent and naïve people are economically tempted to change their religion. But, God and Goddesses worshipped by Santhals are ‘Marang Buru’ (the main god), ‘Bhitri’ (family God), ‘Ato Bango,’ ‘Thakur Jee,’ ‘Jaher Ada,’ ‘Moreko Turai’ and ‘Gosai Ara’. They believe that ‘Thakur Jee’ was the god, who created the earth. Proximity to Nature From their settlement areas to their major resources and social practices, Santhals are found in close proximity to nature. Santhal ethnic communities in Nepal prefer to live in the peripheries of forests and rivers. They have their own unique religion, tradition and culture. Amateur in hunting and fishing as their favorite occupation, they are animist with unparalleled devotion to god and are best in performing the rites and rituals. Santhal is a committed race that keeps bows and arrows as their traditional weapons. Pork is their favorite meat in food. Both bows and arrows are important weapons needed in different rituals: in naming ceremony, marriage and others. Their selection of locations for dwelling places to materials used to make house (hut) keep them close to nature. They love to go to hunting which is their instinct. Even today, young Santhali lads go out for hunting with bow and arrow
Chapter 2 Santhals and Nature: Proximity and Distance Nature and culture are inherently entangled and inseparable. It is a universal fact that human beings constitute an intgral part of nature. Human beings adopt nature and celebrate its rythm in their language, rituals, beliefs and other dimensions of culture. The degree may vary but every civilization displays a bond between nature and culture. Charles Darwin’s assumption shows the basics of interelationship between nature and culture. According to him, all organisms evolve from adaptive process of natural selection, reiterates human beings’ course of action through the natural process. This reinforces the fact that human beings and thier social institutions evolve from natural process that has been in existance since early ‘bands.’ The process of adaptation itself treats all the organisms: both human beings and non- human species equally. Nature is the house to all the organisms. Human beings and thier culture also evolve through this process of adaptation. It might be the reason why cultures from different regions are different. It might be the impact of their different experiences of adaptation. Since modern civilization began, people, instead of filling up the gap between culture and nature, are prone to widen the fissure because of their feeling to overcome it. Different civilizations have different attitudes towards the nature. “Hindu and American Indian cultures hold biocentric stance and prioritize organic unity between earth/environment and human beings as opposed to antropocentric importance given to human culture by the christian world” (Joshi 34). Some culture sustain in the close proximity with nature, while some other maintain a distance. Specifically, the term nature is taken relatively in relation to culture. Culture is kept superier to nature. The term nature is often associated with animals and tribe.
Culture is often times, is associated with the urban people and their so-called civilized activities. Van Plumwood argues, “historically-traceable distortions of reason and culture have resulted in dangerous forms of ecological denial. They have had a widespread effect in areas as diverse as economics, politics, science, ethics, and spirituality, and appear in the currently dominant form of globalization” (Introduction). My focus is to emphasize the cultural practices including hunting, naming ceremony, marriage and death rituals of Santhals, and their performance acts that are carried away through attending both materiality and performativity. In this regard, interrelationship between nature and culture is more strong in santhal community, “which thrive in the niche of nature” (Mathur IX) because nature is suffused in their life. Santhals are in a close proximity with nature because they do not just generate life from nature but live inside it. People from civilized and scientific societies take nature with a sense of dettachment. Whereas, Santhals spare their life in the lap of nature, within it, with utmost possible approximity. It is often said that status of Santhal people is low because of their strong attachment with nature. As they are close to nature they have a unique culutre that is inherently close to it. Figure 1 : Santhal with cock feathers in the traditional dance costume
Culture,“the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group” (World English Dictionary) is thus possible by means of performances. Thus, performance is in the centre of santhal community. In fact, perfoamnce is only way that let them link nature to culture. Their attachment to nature can be explored if closely examined to the cultivation and growh of plants. They even perform the act of sowing, transplanting and harvesting. For them, seedlings are associated with prosperity and happiness. They treat seedlings like their own children and express both joy and excitement for it. For them, sky is male and earth is female and water is semen that come in the form of rain. The act of transplantation is performed with extreme passion because transplanting rice plants is changing their residence. For them, it is a kind of wedding. They sing songs adressing the plant as their own child. One of the songs goes like this: The paddy is weeping The paddy is asking When will be my wedding? When the water of the sky Drenches the earth, then will be your wedding. (Tudu Interview Trans.) Santhals are found to be deriving their design of life from the process and phenomena of nature itself. Their intimacy to nature can further be explored if we observe their relationship to animal. Santhals believe that the priests of all creatures were born before the human beings. Man lives on the Earth in the company of animals and spirits. Natural elements are under the control of spirits and spirits are
everywhere. Rituals are performed in the sacred grove, near the source of water, on hilltops and in mountain caves and help humans to experience the rhythm of life. Elements of nature have a vital role in the making of a cultural person. Deriving a large number of words in Santhali language from the natural sounds; resembling lifestyles of Santhali people to the web of relationships between human beings and physical enviornment; accepting both inanimate things and phenomena as sacred are some instances that convince everybody on an assumptions that santhali people live and die on the lap of nature, probably very close in comparision to others community. However, same proximity to nature is difficult to maintain in due course to time as peoples’ beliefs and their social practices change according to changing time. Due to heavy influence of other dominant cultures, and declining forest and other forms of nature, Santhals are forced to realize a sense of distance with nature. What happens if the traditional practices are difficult to continue? As often happens in other cultures, a symbolic representation of nature prevails as newer initiation. By nature, they are hunters but they are forced to change their forms of living engaging on agriculture. Remarkably, Santhals, even today keep the bows and arrows in their house as sacred weapons. Though it is difficult to go for hunting these days because the areas where Santhals dwell are cultivated areas with no more animals and birds to hunt. Young Santhali lads are interestingly found with bow and arrow at least for birds. Culturally, carrying bow and arrow, and going for hunting is the symbol of getting maturity in Santhal community. They make the bows and arrow themselves because these are of prime importance in the Santhal community. Figure 3 depicts a Santhal man making bows and arrows.
Chapter 3 Santhals and Performance Santhali people are by nature performers. Their concept of decorating house where they make beautiful artworks in the walls of their houses and their love for dancing and singing in every ritual display of importance of performance in their community. Their rites and rituals include performance as their fundamental cultural feature. Performance is their natural quality. Unlike other performers like, a street performer and an actor performing with mask, Santhali practices display a great deal of performativity as an intrinsic quality. Dancing and Singing Santhals are born dancers and singers. Their love for music and dance is noticeable performance act in their community. Their songs and music are joyous and depict the festive spirit that prevails whenever there is an occasion for people to get together. The indigenous musical instruments and the traditional tribal costumes and jewellery worn by the dancers, add to the beauty of the dance. Basically, Santhals dance in the music of two drums: 'Tamak' and 'Tumdak'. Flute (Tiriao) is more important than other instrument. Santhali dance and music traditionally revolves around Santhal religious celebrations and rituals are mainly comprised of sacrificial offerings and invocations to the spirits. However, Santhal music and dance both retain connections to traditional celebrations. The names of many Santhali tunes are derived from traditional rituals with which they were once associated. ‘Sohorai’ tunes, for example, are the songs sung at the ‘Sohorai’ festival. One of the famous song of Santhal goes like this: Oh flower friend I am thirsty
And I am hungry But hearing the sound Of the drums under the canopy My thirst and hunger are banished Figure 4 : Santhali women dancing in a group Santhals are excellent musicians and dancers. The dances performed in wedding, named ‘Golwari’ and ‘Paikha’ are full of energy with a lot of jumping and leaping in the air. They carry bow and arrows while doing such dances, perform mock fights, and attack too. Their courtship and wedding dances are typical which are performed on full moon nights. The loud drumming resembles thunder, calls the belles of the community and they come dressed in their fineries, along with flowers, feathers and they get assembled under a large banyan tree. The young Santhals 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 (figure 4 & 5). The rows surge forward like rhythmic waves and then recede with supple footwork and swaying heads and bodies. The boys in the row opposite play on flutes, drums, and large cymbals and sing songs in perfect harmony. The drummers remain at centre so that everyone hears them.
