DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16243#0451
442 PEOPLE OF JNDIA
Raja called Hambir Singh to the eastern part of the Manbhum district near
Pachet. Here after a while their Rajas adopted the Hindu religion and set up a5
Rajputs, so that at the present day they intermarry with the family of the Raja of
Sarguja. But the people would not change their religion, so they left their chief
to rule over Hindus, and wandered on to the Santal Parganas, where they are
settled now.
Neither as a record of actual wanderings nor as an example of the working5
of the myth-making faculty does this story of the wandering of the Santals appear
to deserve serious consideration. A people whose only means of recording fad5
consists of tying knots in strings and who have rfo bards to hand down a national
epic by oral tradition, can hardly be expected to preserve the memory of their pas'
long enough or accurately enough for their accounts of it to possess any historical
value. An attempt has indeed been made by Mr. Skrefsrud to prove from these
legends that the Santals must have entered into India from the north-west, just as
Colonel Dalton uses the same data in support of his opinion that the tribe carfle
originally from Assam. The one hypothesis is as tenable or as untenable as th{
other, and all that can be said is that there is not a fraction of substantial evident
in support of either. If, however, the legends of the Santals are regarded as a"
account of recent migrations, their general purport will be found to be fairly !|
accord with actual facts. Without pressing the conjecture mentioned above, tha'
Ahiri Pipri may be no other than pargana Ahuri in the north-west of Hazaribag'1
district, it is clear that a large and important Santal colony was once settled i"
Parganas Chai and Champa in the same district. A tradition is noticed by Colonel
Dalton of an old fort in Chai occupied by one Jaura, a Santal Raja, wh°
destroyed himself and his family on hearing of the approach of a Muhammada"
army under Sayyid Ibrahim Ali alias Malik Baya, a general of Muhammad
Tughlak's, who died in 1353. This tradition, so far as it refers to the existence 0
a Santal fort in Chai Champa, is to some extent corroborated by the followiffl
passage from the legends of the Southern Santals collected by the Revd. J'
Phillips and published in Appendix G to Annals of Rural Bengal, ed. 186S :
" Dwelling there (in Chai Champa) they greatly multiplied. There were two gateSi
the Ahin gate and the Bahini gate, to the fort of Chai Champa." If, moreo\'cr'
the date of the taking of this fort by Ibrahim Ali were assumed to be abou'
1340 A.D., the subsequent migrations of which the tribal legends speak would fij)
up the time intervening between the departure of the Santals from Chai Champ3
and their settlement in the present Santal Parganas. Speaking generally, these
recent migrations have been to the east, which is the direction they might pri»%
facie have been expected to follow. The earlier settlements which Santal traditio"
speaks of, those in Ahiri Pipri and Chai Champa, lie on the north-west frontia
of the tableland of Hazaribagh and in the direct line of advance of the numeroi15
Hindu immigrants from Bihar. That the influx of Hindus has in fact driven tbe
Santals eastward is beyond doubt, and the line which they are known to bave
followed in their retreat corresponds on the whole with that attributed to them 111
their tribal legends.
The internal structure of the Santal tribe is singularly complete and elaborate'
There are twelve exogamous septs, (1) Hasdak, (2) Murmu, (3) Kisku, (4) Hembro'11'
(5) Marndi, (6) Saren, (7) Tudu, (8) Baske, (9) Besra, (10) Pauria, (11) Chore'
(12) Bedea. The first seven are believed to be descended from the seven sons 0
Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Burhi or Ayo. The five others were added afterward5'
All are exogamous. In order that members of the various septs may recogni?e
each other when they meet, each sept, except Pauria, ChoVe, and Bedea, h8^
certain pass-words peculiar to itself, which are supposed to be the names
the original homes of the septs in Champa or in one of the earlier settlements 0
the tribe. The pass-words are as follows:—(1) Hasdak—Tatijhari, Gangijai"1''
Raja called Hambir Singh to the eastern part of the Manbhum district near
Pachet. Here after a while their Rajas adopted the Hindu religion and set up a5
Rajputs, so that at the present day they intermarry with the family of the Raja of
Sarguja. But the people would not change their religion, so they left their chief
to rule over Hindus, and wandered on to the Santal Parganas, where they are
settled now.
Neither as a record of actual wanderings nor as an example of the working5
of the myth-making faculty does this story of the wandering of the Santals appear
to deserve serious consideration. A people whose only means of recording fad5
consists of tying knots in strings and who have rfo bards to hand down a national
epic by oral tradition, can hardly be expected to preserve the memory of their pas'
long enough or accurately enough for their accounts of it to possess any historical
value. An attempt has indeed been made by Mr. Skrefsrud to prove from these
legends that the Santals must have entered into India from the north-west, just as
Colonel Dalton uses the same data in support of his opinion that the tribe carfle
originally from Assam. The one hypothesis is as tenable or as untenable as th{
other, and all that can be said is that there is not a fraction of substantial evident
in support of either. If, however, the legends of the Santals are regarded as a"
account of recent migrations, their general purport will be found to be fairly !|
accord with actual facts. Without pressing the conjecture mentioned above, tha'
Ahiri Pipri may be no other than pargana Ahuri in the north-west of Hazaribag'1
district, it is clear that a large and important Santal colony was once settled i"
Parganas Chai and Champa in the same district. A tradition is noticed by Colonel
Dalton of an old fort in Chai occupied by one Jaura, a Santal Raja, wh°
destroyed himself and his family on hearing of the approach of a Muhammada"
army under Sayyid Ibrahim Ali alias Malik Baya, a general of Muhammad
Tughlak's, who died in 1353. This tradition, so far as it refers to the existence 0
a Santal fort in Chai Champa, is to some extent corroborated by the followiffl
passage from the legends of the Southern Santals collected by the Revd. J'
Phillips and published in Appendix G to Annals of Rural Bengal, ed. 186S :
" Dwelling there (in Chai Champa) they greatly multiplied. There were two gateSi
the Ahin gate and the Bahini gate, to the fort of Chai Champa." If, moreo\'cr'
the date of the taking of this fort by Ibrahim Ali were assumed to be abou'
1340 A.D., the subsequent migrations of which the tribal legends speak would fij)
up the time intervening between the departure of the Santals from Chai Champ3
and their settlement in the present Santal Parganas. Speaking generally, these
recent migrations have been to the east, which is the direction they might pri»%
facie have been expected to follow. The earlier settlements which Santal traditio"
speaks of, those in Ahiri Pipri and Chai Champa, lie on the north-west frontia
of the tableland of Hazaribagh and in the direct line of advance of the numeroi15
Hindu immigrants from Bihar. That the influx of Hindus has in fact driven tbe
Santals eastward is beyond doubt, and the line which they are known to bave
followed in their retreat corresponds on the whole with that attributed to them 111
their tribal legends.
The internal structure of the Santal tribe is singularly complete and elaborate'
There are twelve exogamous septs, (1) Hasdak, (2) Murmu, (3) Kisku, (4) Hembro'11'
(5) Marndi, (6) Saren, (7) Tudu, (8) Baske, (9) Besra, (10) Pauria, (11) Chore'
(12) Bedea. The first seven are believed to be descended from the seven sons 0
Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Burhi or Ayo. The five others were added afterward5'
All are exogamous. In order that members of the various septs may recogni?e
each other when they meet, each sept, except Pauria, ChoVe, and Bedea, h8^
certain pass-words peculiar to itself, which are supposed to be the names
the original homes of the septs in Champa or in one of the earlier settlements 0
the tribe. The pass-words are as follows:—(1) Hasdak—Tatijhari, Gangijai"1''