The Santals are the third largest tribal community in India. They have always maintained a distinct cultural identity. Their mythology is closely integrated with their religious concepts and rituals, and is known as Jomsim Binti.
Majhir Than Image by Shuvro (Mehi,Purulia,India)
Santali Version of the Story of Creation
From the beginning, the entire universe has been divided into three layers. At the top, there is Sermapuri (heaven); Dhartipuri or Manchapuri (earth) is at the middle, and Patalpuri or Hanapuri (underground) is at the bottom. Everything in this universe has been created by the supreme God, Thakur Baba or Thakur Jiu. Thakur Baba lives in heaven along with his wife, Thakurain.
At first, the entire world was dark and static. Thakur Baba placed the world on his index finger and spinned it forcefully. The world started to spin, along with the entire universe. The entire creation was set in motion and the spinning motion created the wind flow. Thakur Baba then created all the other gods, one by one. Thakur Baba is the God of the gods. Thakur Baba and his messenger, Lita Majhi (who can cross the entire world in just two and a half steps), created the life forms in the world.
Marang Buru is the most important deity to the Santal people. According to some sources, Lita is the original name of Marang Buru (buru means mountain in the Santali dialect). There are two other very important deities, Jaher-era Jaher-aayu (the consort of Marang Buru) and Dharam Baba (brother of Marang Buru). Thakur Baba and Thakurain used to live in heaven with the other gods.
One day, Thakur Baba and all the other gods came down to earth from heaven to inspect its condition. The entire earth was like a desert without any sign of water or life. So, Thakur Baba asked the gods to dig a well to fetch water from the patalpuri. But the layer separating the earth from patalpuri was very hard. Finally, the layer was breached with the help of the sceptre (Barchhi hapa) of Thakur Baba and water gushed on the surface through the hole. Soon, the entire earth was flooded with water, and there was no land left.
The gods returned back to heaven, leaving the earth, submerged in water. They only used to come down to the earth to take baths with the help of tore sutam (a thread just like the spider web).
Then Thakur Baba asked Lita to create life on the earth. Hence, Lita, one by one, created wooden models of tortoise, crab, eel fish, lobster, earthworm and crocodile. Thakur Baba gave life to them, and they started to live in the water below. But Thakur Baba was not very happy as he wanted to create a human being.
One day, Thakurain was taking a bath. She had some dirt on her neck. She took the dirt in her hands and modelled one duck and one drake with it (Hans and Hansli) and requested Thakur baba to give life to them. As they became alive, they started to fly in the open sky. But they had no place to seat. One day, Sin sadom (the day sun in the form of a divine horse) came to drink water from the earth. Froths dropped from his mouth into the ocean. Thakur told Hans and Hansli to sit on the froth to take rest. The froths were floating on the water and they carried the Hans and Hansli as boats. But there was nothing to eat for them. So, Thakurain placed a few Kainma seeds in the water and bushes grew out of them. So, the Hans and Hansli built a nest there and they got both shelter and food.
Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Buri
After a few days, the Hansli laid two eggs, from which one boy and one girl came out. They were Pilcha and Pilchi, the first humans and the ancestors of the Santals. Later they came to be known as Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Buri. Thakur Baba gave cotton wool to the Hans and Hansli, and told them to squeeze the fluid out of whatever they eat and soak the cotton wool in that fluid, and then to give the cotton to the children to suck. The children grew stronger after getting food. But there was no proper place to live. As there was no landmass, Thakur Baba asked all the earlier created aquatic animals and amphibians to assist him in creating the earth.
First, the crocodile tried to take out soil from the underwater, but the soil was washed away before reaching the surface. Similarly, the fish, the crab, the lobster and the tortoise failed. Then, the earthworm told Thakur Baba that he could do so if there was a solid platform on the water. Hence, tortoise was asked to float on the water and Thakur Baba tied his feet with a chain. The tortoise was assured that now onwards he would get a share of sacrificial offerings as food.
The earthworm began to take soil through one end and excrete it through the other, piling it up on the tortoise's shell. Soon, enough soil was heaped up to form the land mass. Lita ploughed the soil to create a plain surface. The excess soil formed the mountains. Dhubi grass was grown to hold the soil together.
Hence, Pilcha and Pilchi got some place to live. But Thakur Baba instructed the Hans and Hansli to find a place that would be ideal for making a home. One day, the Hans and Hansli actually found that place while flying towards the west direction. They took their son and daughter to that place to live, known as Hariri Pikiri, which was as beautiful as paradise. After completing their task, Hans and Hansli went to heaven for ever.
Pilcha and Pilchi were staying together happily in that place. But Thakur Baba was still not happy as the number of humans was not growing. He told Lita to take care of it.
One day, Lita came down from heaven and went to see Pilcha and Pilchi. He saw that the boy and girl were grown up now. He told them that he had come to teach them to make rice beer, or "Handia", (an indigenous alcoholic beverage). He taught them how to make rice beer from rice by fermenting using certain roots. When the rice beer was ready, Lita told them to taste it. Pilcha and Pilchi were very excited as they had never tasted anything like that before. They drank more and more without control. This was the actual intention of Lita. He left them alone in their hut. In a drunken condition, they made love to each other. The next day, when Lita returned, they were not willing to come out and face him. Lita understood everything and assured them that nothing profane had happened and there was nothing to be ashamed of. Then Pilcha and Pilchi started to live happily.
Pilchi, or Pilchu aaye (aaye means mother), gave birth to seven boys and seven girls. The girls used to stay with their mother and they used to gather leaves and firewood for cooking, whereas the boys used to stay with their father and were engaged in hunting and gathering fruits and roots.
One day, the seven boys were returning from hunting when they heard the singing of the girls, who were enjoying themselves in the forest. The forest was also full of beautiful flowers. The boys joined the girls, and fell in love with each other. In time, the seven boys married the seven girls according to their order, meaning the eldest boy married the eldest girl and the youngest boy married the youngest girl.
Pilchu Baba now declared that in the future, no marriage would be permitted between brothers and sisters. Thus, seven exogamous clans were formed and the offspring of the seven couples were known as Hansda, Murmu, Kisku, Hembrom, Marandi (or Maradi), Soren, and Tudu, respectively.
Marang Buru made a wooden plogh, and gave it to the santals, who soon learnt its usage in farming. The santals now have began to practice agriculture and have settled in small hamlets. But soon they forgot the customs and rules as directed by the Gods and Pichu Haram, and they started to observe immorality.
Hence, Thakur Baba decided to destroy the entire mankind. He warned Pichu Buri and Pilchu Haram, and instructed them to go to the Harata mountain along with the lawful couples. Then Thakur Baba showered the fire arrows from the sky for seven days and seven nights. Except for a few of holy men and women, entire human race was destroyed. Then Pilchu Buri and Pilchu Haram divided them into pure groups to start the exogamous clan system once again. Apart from the seven original clans, five new clans came into existence. They were Baski, Bedea, Besra, Chore, and Pauria. Hence, a total of twelve clans came into being.
Marang Buru
The Santals needed a new place to live. So, they started to migrate towards the east and south, and after a long journey, they reached a new homeland (present day Chota Nagpur Plateau region). Marang Buru helped them to reach their destination and settle there. Hence, Marang Buru emerged in prominence as their main deity.
Marang Buru and 12 other Gods (Dasai Guru Bonga) descended on earth and taught the Santals dancing and singing, as well as customs, morality and rules. They descended on Lugu Buru (Lugu Hills) and gave their teachings at Ghantabari, a rocky platform at the base of the hill. There was a sacred spring in the place, known as Setinala. After completing their learning, the Santals dispersed in various locations with their unique religious and cultural identity. Henceforth, Luguburu Ghantabari became the most sacred place for the Santals (now in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand). The Santali religion is known as Sarna Dhorom.
But despite the teachings, people failed to understand the inner meaning of religion. So, Thakur Baba himself incarnated in the form of great sal trees (sari sarjom) to teach them the meaning and rules of the religion. The Santals understood the meaning of religion while performing their rituals in the sacred groves.
The area below and around a great tree is known as Jaher Than. Every Santhal village invariably has a Jaher Than which is an open place with a great tree and is the place for worship. They mainly worship the Bongas (spirits), including Marang Buru and Jaher aayu. The village council takes care of Jaher Than and consists of five members; Majhi Haram (village elder), Jog Majhi (assistant to the village elder), Godet (village messenger), Paranik and Nayake (priest). Majhir Than is the seat of the village elder and the place where the spirits of the ancestors stay. It is the place where important social decisions are taken by the village council.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Bablu Mondal and the Santali population of Ranardi and Velardi tribal hamlets, Kashipur, Purulia, India.
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