Note 81 — Glossary (continued 2)

Santāl, Saonta, Sonthāl.—An important tribe of Bengal, belonging to the Munda family. The transfer of five of the Chota Nāgpur States has brought more than 10,000 Santāls into the Central Provinces. They belong principally to the Sargūja State and a few are returned from Udaipur State and from the Bilāspur District, but in all those tracts they are known as Saonta and appear to have been cut off from the main tribe for a considerable period. According to Mr. Skrefsrud the name Santāl is a corruption of Saontār and was given to the tribe by the Bengalis because they lived in the country about Saont in Midnāpur. Sir H. Risley held that the tribe might equally well have given its name to the locality, and there was no means of ascertaining which theory was correct. The forms Santāl and Sonthāl are only used by natives who have come into contact with Europeans. Santāls call themselves ‘hārko,’ men, or ‘hārhāpān,’ man-child.81 At the present day when a Santāl is asked to what caste he belongs he will almost invariably reply Mānjhi, which means a village headman, and is the common title of the tribe; if further explanation is demanded, he will add Santāl Mānjhi. Whether the term Santāl was derived from the Saont pargana or not, it is therefore at any rate a name conferred by the Hindus and affords no evidence in favour of a separate origin of the tribe.