Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 59
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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JUNE, 1930 ]
SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL LIFE OF THE SANT
The Santals, therefore, have their own pantheon, in which fire and other elements of nature play a by no means unimportant part.85 Mountains, rivers and other objects are almost deified. The Great Mountain, of which mention has been made before, is venerated above everything else. It has been identified as the eastern Himalaya, considered by them as their natal region; it is the Marang Buru, the divinity which watches over their birth, and is invoked with bloody sacrifices.84 The Great Mountain represents neither man nor woman, but the life-sustaining providence necessary for the existence of either. It is invoked publicly as well as in private on all important occasions, such as, for example, in times of tribulation, in time of wealth, in 'health, in sickness, on the birth of a child, and on the death-bed ; and bloody offerings are common. "Goats, sheep, bullocks, fowls, rice, flowers, beer, the berries from the jungle, a head of Indian corn from the field, or even a handful of earth; all are acceptable to the Great Mountain, who is in a sense lower than a Christian understands by the epithet, but still in a high sense the Common Father of the people. It was he who divinely instituted worship, who has journeyed with the race from its primitive home, shared its defeats and flights, and still remains with it, the symbol of the Everlasting and Unohangeable One "86 In a long and erudite discussion, Hunter has attempted to identify this Santal divinity with the Hindu god Rudra or Siva.86
The home of the Santal possesses no mighty rivers watering its shores; no river with rolling waves have the SantAls seen. In fact, there is nothing there majestic enough for the honour of being deified. Were there any such rivers, there is no doubt that the SantAls would have apotheosized it, or at least populated it with a horde of water-spirits. Their largest river is the Damodar, which is fordable even in a carriage during many months of the year.87 The SantAls regard it as sacred. If the death of a Santal occurs at a distance from the river, his nearest kinsman carries a little relio, and places it in the current to be carried to the ocean, the traditional origin and resting place of the Santal race,88 This ceremony known as 'Purifying for the Dead' takes place once a year : and at other times hundreds of superstitious Santals repair to the banks of the Damodar to consult the prophets and diviners. Instances have been known where the relatives of a person killed by a tiger or some other wild animal have tracked the animal for miles in order to bring back some relio, no matter how insignificant it may be, so that it could later be thrown into the Damodar."
Adjoining Santal villages there is a grove of the national adl tree (Shorea robusta) which is regarded as a favourite resort of all the family gode of the community. These gods are feared by the superstitious SantAls, for it is these gods that cause crooked limbs, leprosy, cramps, and so on. Hence they are appeased by offerings of goats and chickens. Men and women come to these groves; dance round them and chant songs in remembrance of the original founder of the community, who is venerated as the head of the village pantheon."
The religion of the Santals, as well as everything else, is based on the family. Each family has its own household gods, who are two in number: the Ordk-bongd and the Abge-bongd.
83 Sylvain Lévi, in Grande Encyclopedie, vol. x, p. 682, .o. "Inde." C. Bibhutibhusan Gupta, "Santal jfvan," Prabdol, Jaistha 1332 [Bengali ora), pp. 263, 266.
84 OL. Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology (London, 1906), vol. i, p. 366, *186 [4 System of Synthe. tie Philosophy, vol. vi].
86 (Sir) W. W. Hunter, Annale of Rural Bengal, p. 187; af. Encyclopoodia Britannica, 18 vol. xxiv, p. 188. 86 (Bir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 188 1. 87 (Bir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, pp. 162 1.
88 Enoyclopædia Britannica, :vol. xxiv, p. 188. Herbert Spencer (Principles of Sociology i, 202, 112 quoting Hunter) says that they are placed in the current to be conveyed to the far-off eastern land from which their ancestors came. And oommenta (ibid.) that it is "an avowed purpose which, in adjacent regions, dictates the placing of the entire body in the stream."
8° (Sir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 163. or (ir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 184. 01 (Bir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 183.
