SANTHAL TRIBES

The third largest tribes of India are the Santhal Tribe. This tribe habitation is mainly in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam. They belong to the Pre -Aryan period and were the great fighters during the British regime in India. A bantam bunch comprising of the Santhals can also be traced back to Bangladesh. Santhals were brave and courgeous people who wagged war against the permanent settlement of Lord Cornwallis in 1855.

In 1850 Santhals hero Sidhu had accumulated around 10 thousand Santhals to run parallel government against the British government. The first Santhal leader who raised weapons against the Britishers in 1789 was Baba Tilka Majhi. According to the earlier census their population is around 49,000.

The scientists have conjectured that the individuals of the Santhal in Jharkhand had the Proto Australoids as their ancestors and these so-called Proto Australoids had embarked upon a journey towards the eastern frontier of India and eventually settled there. Many call them as "the tribes at extreme".


Place /Location (then and now)
West Bengal , Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam
Population
49000
Languages spoken
Hindi, Santhali
Religion/God
Sarna, Sari Dhorom