Tuesday 10 March 2015

Santhal people Life

The Santhal (also spelled as Santal, and formerly also spelt as Sontal or Sonthal) are one of the Tribal peoples who live mainly in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Assam. There is also a significant Santhal minority in neighboring Bangladesh, and a small population in Nepal (known as Satar in Nepal). The Santhals speak the Santali language, one of the Tribal languages. They are one of the largest tribal community in India

Santali Language

The Santhals have been more tenacious of their language than many of the other people to whom they are racially allied. They are the largest tribe in India to retain a good language to the present day. The Santali Language is part of the Austroasiatic family, distantly related to Vietnamese and Khmer. It is closely related to Mundri as well as to Ho, Korku, Savara and Gadaba, languages spoken by smaller tribes. The relationship of the Santhals with these tribes is racial and cultural as well as linguistic, and as they live in neighboring territories it is very likely that they have a common origin. They have nevertheless been separate long enough to develop their individual languages and to possess distinct though allied cultures.

The Santali script is a relatively recent innovation. Santali did not have a written language until the twentieth century and used Latin/Roman, Devnagri, Oriya and Bangla writing systems.

The Reverend J. Phillips published 'An Introduction to the Santal Language' in 1852, printed at the Calcutta School - Book Society's Press.

Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, a Norwegian missionary and a language researcher, published 'A Grammar of Santali Language' in 1873.

Paul Olaf Bodding (born Gjøvik, Norway on 2 November 1865, died Odense, Denmark on 25 September 1938) was a Norwegian missionary, linguist and folklorist. He served in India for 44 years (1889–1933), and operated mainly from the town Dumka in the Santal Parganas-district. Bodding created the first alphabet and wrote the first grammar for the Santali-speaking native people in eastern India. In 1914 he also completed the translation of the Bible into the Santali Language.

In 1925 akilman Raghunath Murmu created Ol Chiki script for the Santali Language.
source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santhal_people
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