The Santhal tribal community, one of the largest tribal groups in India, speaks the Santhali language. It belongs to the Austroasiatic language family, specifically the Munda branch, and people in several states, including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar, actively use it. In Bankura, the Santhal people preserve and promote the language as an important part of their culture.
Linguistic Features and Script
For centuries, the Santhal people primarily communicated in Santhali through oral traditions. They passed down folklore, songs, and stories from one generation to another. In the 20th century, Pandit Raghunath Murmu created the Ol Chiki script, giving Santhali a dedicated writing system. Before this development, people wrote it using Bengali, Devanagari, and Latin scripts. Today, educators and writers widely use Ol Chiki to teach and document the language.
Santhali differs from Indo-Aryan languages like Bengali and Hindi because of its agglutinative structure. Speakers form words by adding suffixes to root words. The language includes three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and common) and six vowels, each with nasalized forms. Santhali phonetics also feature unique sounds that Bengali does not have.
Cultural Significance in Bankura
Santhali plays a crucial role in preserving the Santhal community’s traditions in Bankura. The Santhal people use their language to share folklore, myths, and religious beliefs. During festivals, they perform Santhali music and dances, such as Baha and Sohrai, while singing traditional songs. These songs express themes related to nature, tribal unity, and historical struggles.
Elders in the community actively engage in traditional storytelling, narrating myths and legends to younger generations. Many of these stories highlight the Santhal people’s deep connection with forests, animals, and spirits.
Status and Recognition
In 2003, the Indian government granted Santhali official recognition by including it in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Schools now teach Santhali, and officials are working to introduce it into administration and media.
Even though most people in Bankura speak Bengali, the Santhal community continues to use and promote Santhali, keeping their language, identity, and heritage alive.