Santhal, the tribe of Indian President Droupadi Murmu, has a great history

As India's first tribal woman president, Droupadi Murmu has made history.She is the 15th President of India.She is the second woman to become India’s first citizen and the Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces.She is from the Santhal community, which has an eventful history. After several decades of effort, the Santhali community and its language are now attracting attention at the national and international level. Once dependent on agriculture, this community is today leading in literacy rate.

In addition to Murmu, notable members of the Santhal community include Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, current Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu, and Bisweshwar Tudu, India's Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti.

Apart from India, people from this community have settled in Nepal and Bangladesh, among other countries, as well.

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Once known as a nomadic tribe, the Santhals are now the third largest tribal community in India after the Gonds and Bhils. The involvement of this community in politics has increased in the last two decades.

By the 21st century, the population of this community had grown to about 6 million. The people of this community largely live in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha.

Santhal means a calm person

The name "Santhal," which means quiet and serene, is derived from two words: "santha," which means calm, and "ala," which means man, according to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), Bhubaneswar. The Santal, or Santhal, are a Munda ethnic group native to South Asia.

However, the exact date of the origin of the Santhal community is not known due to the paucity of written records. But it is believed that their origin was from the Champa kingdom of North Cambodia. By the end of the 18th century, it was a nomadic group that had gradually settled in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Bihar, Odisha, and Jharkhand.

Santhal Uprising

The community had revolted against the British rule in 1855, two years before the far more famous uprising of 1857, as a result of interactions with the British Raj, which are perhaps the most notable aspects of its more recent history.

In 1855–1856, the Santhal Revolt took place. Jharkhand is home to a large population of the Santhal tribe. This was India’s first major peasant uprising. The implementation of the Permanent Land Settlement in 1793 was responsible for the uprising.

The British seized territories that the Santhals had been cultivating for ages through the aforementioned settlement pattern. Farmers were taken advantage of by zamindars (land-owning communities), lenders, Europeans, and British government officials, who also increased the land tax.

The Santhals then revolted against the British government and landlords because they felt oppressed.

The Santhals took part in guerrilla conflict. For Bihar, this was an unusual occurrence. In order to fight their oppressors, the Santhals organised their own army of peasants. The rail and postal networks were destroyed by the Santhal army. The Santhal insurrection was undoubtedly highly successful for a while, but it was crushed because it was unable to overthrow the government’s absolute power.

(With inputs from agencies)