What is the religion of Santal? Are Santals Hindus?

 

Clifford Geertz in his book  “Religion As A Cultural System (1966)” mentioned that “Religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.”

 

For humanity religion is a very crucial thing. Because religion can be deeply tied to one’s sense of self and cultural heritage. Religion can offer a sense of meaning and direction in life. Religion often provides a sense of belonging to a community and social support network. Religion can offer comfort and solace in times of uncertainty or hardship. For some, religion provides a sense of security and reassurance about the afterlife. Losing one’s religion can feel like losing a part of oneself, which can be terrifying. It’s like facing an existential crisis, where one’s sense of identity, purpose, and belonging are all challenged.

According to this facts Santali people are also included in this race of self identically establishment. Though santali people have a very kind and socially friendly manner but  when the topic is about their religion then they become very egoistic. On top of that they have a big controversial statement about their religion. Which have divided them in two groups . One is “Sari Dharam” Group and other one is “Sarna Dharam” group.

 

Now what is “Sari Dharam”  and “Sarna Dharam” ? Well among the Santali mythological tales, their is a story where the “The Kherwals (Ancestors of the santal tribe) ” started searching the name of their religion. They discussed for it through twelve years but they failed to  find any conclusions. So they decided that they would shoot an arrow in the name of dharam (religion) and where the arrow  pierced that would be their worship place and the first word that echo at that place, it would be the name of their religion. As it is the plan got executed. They shot an arrow above the sky and started following it. After sometime flowing in air the arrow  pierced a tree called “Sari Sarjom ( Sal tree - Shorea robusta C. F. Gaertn) ”. At the same time the women group  of village went to collect the Sal tree leafs and other daily uses herbs, foods and wood from that part of territory. So when the arrow pierced the Sari Sarjom tree, they  got panic and shouted “Sari Sarjom Dare Butare Sarna Sarna ( Arrow under the Sal tree ”. The men’s group group also arrived and the shouted “Sari geho sari geho – sar do bidh akana Sari Sarjom dare butare ( it’s true it’s true – the arrow pierced the Sal tree ”. So according to the plan the first word that would echo at the place where the arrow pierced should be the name of the religion. But there were two words one was “Sari” and other one was “Sarna”. Now what would be the name? 

Source : Jaher Bonga Santar Ko – Rameshwar Murmu  (Adim santar) Chapter - 5

Throughout the generations this one event divided the Kherwals in two different groups one is “Sari Dharam group” and other one is “Sarna Dharam group”. The ideology of Sari dharam group is that women’s were not included in the plan so the word which echoes from men’s group should be the name of our religion and Sarna dhram group said that we had decided that the first word that echoes would be the name of the religion so “Sarna”  should be nemed. In the 19^th centuries this controversy got more flamed. When two powerful santali leader Sadhu Ramchand Murmu and  Pandit Raghunath Murmu started to encourage people for their religion and culture. Most of the santal of West Bengal leaded by Sadhu Ramchand Murmu and they supported “Sari Dharam” and opposite of that Pandit Raghunath Murmu promoted “Sarna Dharam” across the borderline of Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar state. Though there is no any major differences had found between these two religions but just for this little misalignment of thinking divided the whole santal community. It’s really a sad and egoist perspective for watching Santal’s intellectual unawareness.

 

 

Many people asked, Are Santals Hindu? The answer is no. They clearly doesn’t belong to Hindu religion. They have their own beliefs and thoughts for reality and morality.