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SANTALS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 188 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SANTALS , an aboriginal tribe of See also:

Bengal, who have given their name to the See also:Santal Parganas (q.v.). Their See also:early See also:history is unknown; but it is certain that they have not occupied their See also:present See also:home for longer than a See also:century, having migrated from See also:Hazaribagh, and they are still moving on into See also:Northern Bengal. Their See also:total number in all See also:India is nearly two millions. They speak a See also:language of the Munda or Kolarian See also:family. The Santals as a See also:race care little for permanent homes. They are not true nomads, but they like to be " on the move." In the See also:low-lands they are agriculturists; in the jungles and on the mountains they are skilful hunters, bows and arrows being their See also:chief weapons; on the See also:highlands they are See also:cattle breeders. But if fond of See also:change the Santals like comfort, and their villages are neat, clean and well built, usually in an isolated position. Their social arrangements are patriarchal. In every See also:village is a headman supposed to be a descendant of the founder of the village. A See also:deputy looks after details; a See also:special officer has See also:charge of the See also:children's morals, and there is a watchman. Physically the Santals are not prepossessing. The See also:face is See also:round and blubbery; the cheekbones moderately prominent; eyes full and straight, See also:nose broad and depressed, mouth large and lips full, See also:hair straight, See also:black and coarse.

The See also:

general See also:appearance approximates to the 'See also:negroid type. They are somewhat below the See also:average height of the See also:Hindus. They are divided into twelve tribes. In See also:character they are a See also:bright, joy-loving See also:people, hospitable and seizing every See also:chance of a feast. " They have neither the sullen disposition nor the unconquerable laziness of the very old See also:hill-tribes of central India," writes See also:Sir W. W. See also:Hunter in See also:Annals of Rural Bengal (1868). " They have carried with them from the plains a love of See also:order, a genial humanity, with a certain degree of See also:civilization and agricultural habits. Their very vices are the vices of an op-pressed and driven-out people who have lapsed from a higher See also:state, rather than those of savages who have never known better things." Each village has its See also:priest who has lands assigned to him; out of the profits he must twice a See also:year feast the people. At the Sohrai feast—the ' See also:harvest-home "—in See also:December, the headman entertains the villagers, and the cattle are anointed and daubed with See also:vermilion and a See also:share of the See also:rice-See also:beer is given to each See also:animal. The Santals have many gods whose attributes are See also:ill-defined, but whose festivals are strictly observed. Marang See also:Burn, the See also:great spirit, is the deity to whom sacrifices are made at the Sohrai.

Among some Santals, e.g. in See also:

Chota See also:Nagpur, Sing Bonga, the See also:sun, is the supreme deity to whom sacrifices are made. Generally there is no definite See also:idea of a beneficent See also:god, but countless demons and evil See also:spirits are propitiated, and ancestors are worshipped at the Sohrai festival. There is a vague idea of a future See also:life where the spirits of the dead are employed in the ceaseless toil of grinding the bones of past generations into a dust from which the gods may recreate children. In some villages the Santals join with the Hindus in celebrating the See also:Durga Puja festival. In the eastern districts the See also:tiger is worshipped. For a Santal to be sworn on a tiger-skin is the most See also:solemn of oaths. The Santals are omnivorous, but they will not See also:touch rice cooked by a See also:Hindu. Santal parents undergo See also:purification five days after childbirth. Santals have adopted as a rite the See also:tonsure of children. See also:Child See also:marriage is not practised, and the See also:young people make love matches, but the septs are exogamous as a See also:rule. Santals seldom have more than one wife and she is always treated kindly. An open space in front of the headman's See also:house is set apart for dancing, which is very elaborate and excellent.

The See also:

flute, upon which they See also:play well, is the chief Santal See also:instrument. The Santals burn their dead, and the few charred bones remaining are taken by the next of See also:kin in a See also:basket to the Damodar, the sacred See also:river of the Santals in Hazaribagh See also:district, and See also:left where the current is strongest to be carried to the ocean, the traditional origin and resting See also:place of the Santal race. See E. Tuite See also:Dalton, Descriptive See also:Ethnology of Bengal (See also:Calcutta, 1872) ; F. B. See also:Bradley-Birt, The See also:Story of an See also:Indian Upland (1905).

End of Article: SANTALS

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