The Santals are a tribal people of India, residing mainly in states of Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. They speak the Austro-Asiatic (Mundaic) language Santali or Santhali. Once mainly hunter-gatherers, most Santals today work as agricultural labourers. According to the Library of Congress, they numbered some 42,00,000 at the 1991 Census of India.

Santals had famously rebelled against the British in 1857-58 under the leadership of Sido Murmu and his brother Kanhu Murmu.

Religion

Santals do not consider themselves to be Hindu, but adhere to a so-called "animistic" religion of their own. The Santals' indigenous religion is one of the most studied tribal religions in India. According to the 1991 census, however, only 23,645 people listed Santal as their religious belief.

According to the Santal religion, the supreme deity, who ultimately controls the entire universe, is Thakurji. The weight of belief, however, falls on a court of spirits (bonga), who handle different aspects of the world and who must be placated with prayers and offerings in order to ward off evil influences. These spirits operate at the village, household, ancestor, and subclan level, along with evil spirits that cause disease, and can inhabit village boundaries, mountains, water, tigers, and the forest. A characteristic feature of the Santal village is a sacred grove on the edge of the settlement where many spirits live and where a series of annual festivals take place.

The most important spirit is Maran Buru (Great Mountain), who is invoked whenever offerings are made and who instructed the first Santals in sex and brewing of rice beer. Maran Buru's consort is the benevolent Jaher Era (Lady of the Grove).

A yearly round of rituals connected with the agricultural cycle, along with life-cycle rituals for birth, marriage and burial at death, involves petitions to the spirits and offerings that include the sacrifice of animals, usually birds. Religious leaders are male specialists in medical cures who practice divination and witchcraft. Similar beliefs are common among other tribes of northeast and central India such as the Kharia , Munda, and Oraon.

As of 1995, there were also some 3,00,000 Christian Santals who are alienated from traditional festivals, although even among converts the belief in the spirits remains strong.

This section incorporates text from the public domain Library of Congress Country Study for India.[1]