It is well-known that Rabindranath Tagore harbored a special affection for the Santhals in the villages around Santiniketan. He saw in their life a special beauty. Santhal, also called Manjhi, is an ethnic group of eastern India, numbering well over five million at the turn of the 21st century. This tribe habitation is found mostly in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odhisha, and Jharkhand.
They combine the work of tilling the earth as farmers with poetry, songs, and dance. Tracing this tribe back to the Late Bronze Age period, the British regime in India witnessed many great Santhali fighters. Every village has a Headman who is responsible for conducting the affairs of the village. The work affair of the Santhals revolves around the forests in which they reside. Their basic needs get fulfilled by the forest trees and plants. They keep themselves engaged in hunting, fishing, and cultivation for their livelihood. Nowadays many Santhalis are employed in the coal mines near the city of Asansol, West Bengal, or the steel factories in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, while others work during part of the year as paid agricultural laborers. Santhals acquire skills in making musical equipment, mats, and baskets out of the plants. The tribe makes some unique kinds of an instrument such as Tirio made with a bamboo flute with seven holes, an open chest is known as Korom and Phet Banam made of a fretless stringed instrument with three or four strings.
Santhal is a distinct culture on its own as the people delightfully enjoy dancing, which keeps them happy. They move to the beats of music, to celebrate the glory of nature, raise a message, and offer prayers to the presiding deity of their tribe, through a dance known as Santhal dance. While performing, the male Santhali dancers are dressed up in dhoti and use accessories like a turban, tree leaves, flowers, and bushes, during the dance. The dance is performed on special occasions. During the spring festival, it is performed to the glory of nature. Santhali dance is accompanied by folk music instruments like flutes, pipes, drums, and cymbals. They believe that dancing relaxes the minds after working a long tiring day.
They worship nature in any form as their God and also propitiate their ancestors for their well-being. They are very superstitious in character. This tribe is known to pay respect to the ghosts and spirits like Kal Sing, Lakchera, and Beudarang. Santhalis mainly celebrate the Karam festival that comes in September and October. They laud this festival to please the god to increase their wealth and free them from all the enemies.
The Santhal women use various ornaments as adornment. They are of silver, brass, bronze, shell, glass, or flowers. Their houses are decorated with beautifully colored animal and forest motifs. They are very skilled painters and their folk-paintings have inspired many great artists. The key role in the economy of the Santal society is played by the women. Most of the domestic works are performed by them. They engage themselves in domestic works, collection of firewood, rearing of the child and domestic livestock, selling and marketing for the family. They are also busy with agricultural activities like sowing and reaping, fishing, gathering forest products along with performing wage labor as and when required. The Santhal community is devoid of any caste system and there is no distinction made based on birth. The Santal system of governance, known as Manjhi Paragana, is similar to Local Self Governance.
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