The Santhals are one of the largest tribal communities in India.
Spread across six Indian states, and four nations. The Santhals are homogeneous in terms of language, beliefs, values and traditions.
A characteristic which is very clear in any Santhal village is that the community is very close-knit and the social structures are very complex.
Each Santhal village has a council of five people; led by “Manjhi”–The Headman, “Paranik”- Assistant Headman, “Jog Manjhi”– Overseer of morals, “Naeke”- The priest and “Godet”–The announcer. Every dispute, be it personal or between families, is discussed in the village meetings and is settled through mutual consent.
In this article, I will compare traditional Santhal way of life with that of the modern way of life in sociocultural and behavioural terms.
Sociocultural difference
Traditional Santhal culture
Santhal people are extremely “collectivist” in nature. In a collectivist society, communal life is very cohesive. The social rules promote selflessness, and it encourages to put the community’s common goals and interests ahead of individual wants and desires.
In a collectivistic society, everyone works as a group and supporting each other is essential. They teach children from their childhood to do what’s best for the community, and they have the celebrations along with everyone. There is little room for individual celebrations.
The collectivist nature of our community is clear even in our traditional dance, where the women sing, putting their arms around other fellow women, whereas the men take charge of the music with Tamak and Tunda.
Modern Culture
Modern Culture as we see today is very “individualistic” in nature. In an individualistic society, the focus is more on individual needs, wants and desires, rather than on a group’s needs. Children growing up in individualistic societies are taught to be self-reliant and independent from the beginning, and greater emphasis is laid on standing out of the crowd.
Modern Culture is something which has originated from the western nations such as the US, Australia and the European countries.
It is in contrast to collectivist culture and promotes autonomy, independence, self-sufficiency and uniqueness.
Watch this video to understand more about individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
How culture affects Behaviour
Traditional Santhal culture
The culture in which we live plays a dominant role in how we view the world and act in certain situations. Following are some characteristics or behaviour patterns which are observed in people of the Santhal community.
- Strong communal relationships– Santhal people usually have “low relational mobility”, which means they have strong, stable and long-lasting relationships which are formed by factors such as- living in the same area. People in these societies feel comfortable and satisfied in the village or locality in which they grew up and are not keen to meet or befriend strangers.
- Low competitive nature– Since Santhals are brought up in a society where the group’s interest is larger than their own, they usually are not very competitive like people of individualistic cultures. Most Santhal youths are often introvert and avoid being in leadership positions.
- Wealth generation– Unlike people from individualistic cultures, Santhals traditionally don’t believe in accumulating much wealth. They live in the moment. They usually like to live a carefree lifestyle and are satisfied with whatever resources they have.
- Raska– Santhals believe in the concept of “Raska”–Joy of life, more than anything else. They are fond of their Rice-beer- “Handi” and unless there is enjoyment in life they find little interest in their work.
- Low risk-taking– Santhal people are usually risk-averse, which means they don’t like taking up risks. This is the reason Santhal youths prefer taking up government jobs which are secure and pay a regular salary instead of going for something which is high risk with a possibility of high wealth creation such as Entrepreneurship.
- Environment conservation– Santhal people’s life-values are deeply connected with nature. Historically, all the Santhals belonged to “Sarna” religion which worships nature. They believe that man, nature and God share an intimate relationship and spirits dwell in the mountains, rivers and trees. Conservation of nature is something which comes traditionally in Santhal culture. There are innumerable folk tales, songs and stories in which forests, mountains and rivers play integral parts.
Read: Infographic: Origin of Ol-Chiki letters
Modern Culture
People who grew up in individualistic culture show characteristics which differ significantly from that of people of collectivistic societies. Some of them are:
- Family Relationships– Keeping close relationships with many people does not come naturally to people of individualistic culture. They care only for their immediate family, such as parents, children or spouse. Relationships in these cultures are often very transactional and fragile. They need to give much more effort in maintaining the relationships.
- High competitive nature– People brought up in individualistic culture are often very competitive because they put their interest before anyone else’s. The drive to achieve is very strong in them and their society appreciates extrovert people. Because it encourages people from this culture to be self-reliant from the beginning, they are very much capable to handle setbacks and failures alone; without the support of someone else.
- Wealth Generation– Individualistic lifestyle revolves primarily around wealth creation. It has become common to see people do jobs only because it pays well and not because they like it.
- Discipline and Hard work– Individualistic societies believe success comes through hard work and discipline. Too much indulgence in merrymaking is looked down upon. Modern lifestyle also seeks enjoyment in “things” rather than with people.
- High-risk appetite– Modern culture promotes and encourages people to take risks because high risk also brings high returns. People from individualistic societies prefer being their own bosses and start-up their own company.
- Exploit environment– Over the past few years, the Modern lifestyle has cared little for the environment. The development which has happened often took place at the cost of exploitation of nature and its resources. This is the reason the rate of global warming has doubled in the last 50 years. Only now, when the changes are very evident, people are coming up from around the world to raise issues of climate change.
Read: Santal Rebellion: Revolution of Baba Tilka
So, which one is better? Traditional or Modern culture?
The answer is not that simple and straightforward.
No culture is better or worse, and each one has its positives and negatives. One should instead adapt as the situation demands instead of picking up faults.
For a person who grew up in a collectivistic society might find certain things of an individualistic culture offensive, whereas a person from an individualistic culture might find collectivistic traditions naïve.
According to the social development theory, each and every society passes through well-defined stages in the course of its development. They are nomadic hunting and gathering, rural agrarian, urban, commercial, industrial and finally post-industrial societies. We Santhals have moved-on totally from our nomadic lifestyle to rural agrarian society. Only in the past two decades have people from these rural lifestyles started moving to an urban society. And when these transitions occur, some cultures and traditions are bound to get lost over time.
Social development is a very complex process and many factors play a role there. But one important thing which we lack today is “Pioneers” in our society. Pioneers are the people who introduce new ideas, practices and habits in the society which would play a pivotal role in the transformation of the society as a whole. Many conservative people would initially resist these innovative ideas at first but at a later stage, these innovations would be accepted, imitated and used by others of the community. For example, if Pandit Raghunath Murmu had not pioneered the invention of Ol-Chiki then still we would have been using other scripts for Santhali.
Read: Santal Mythology: The story of the Santal Clans
What do we learn?
It’s common knowledge that the world today is moving more towards an individualistic culture. But that doesn’t mean that we Santhals have to forget our traditions, customs and relationships that we share in our community.
The Family in which an individual grows plays an important role because it educates the younger generation to transmit social values, cultures, communal responsibilities and skills. Though, Santhals culture is very dear to us but it also has its flaws and weakness such as chronic alcoholism, reluctance to accept new ideas, uncontrolled indulgence in merrymaking and Suspicion towards “dikus”
There are many things that we can learn from individualistic cultures like being self-motivated, handling setbacks,competing with peers and getting things done, which would help us succeed in life.
And only when we are successful and happy in our lives, then we can help the less fortunate people of our society in a much better way.
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