Majhis (Santhals)
Table of Contents
April 6, 1984
Today Baba visited Krishnapur a village about 150 years old. There is a Hari Mandir of temple here and the cul- ture in the area has been greatly influened by Mahaprabhu.
The Kharakaya river flows at a short distance from the village.
Local people do not know of any temples or old rock paintings in the vicinity or idols along the rocks of the Kharkaya river.
Southeast of the Kharkaya river is Saraikela where Aditya Pratap Narain Deva once ruled.
The prince Shubhendu Narain Singha deva was an expert in ‘Cho’ dance.
Saraikela is so named be cause kela or plantain grows here.
The Sanjaya river meets the Kharakaya river which flows into the Suvarnarekha river.
The Dulang river meets the Suvarnarekha river at Citaligarh, which was once the capital of Dhavala bhum.
People of the Dakra seet used to live on the banks of the Suvarnarekha river and took out gold.
Nowadays gold is extracted from the local mine.
Ho-mundas live nearby and Majhis or Santhals also live in the region and use the titles like Hembrum, Murmu and Tudu.
Majhis came to Tatanagar 250 years ago.
The titles Marang and Murmu are also used by the people living around Tatanagar.
To the south of Saraikela as far as Mayurbhanja, there used to be a dense forest.
The Krishnapura variety of deer once lived to the east of Krishnapur while to its south a few horned deer were once found.
When the forest in the region was destroyed, these animals became extinct.
Meghasini is a high hill and in front of Krishnapur there is at small hill where Satpathi Brahmans reside.
The soil of Rarh is laterite soil, but black soil is also found in places like Kalimati. Rarh is famous for rhythm while Magadh is famous for music,
Tatanagar April 7, 1984
Today, Baba visited a village called Nijal on the other side of the Sanjaya river.
A Shiva temple is found here though there is no Shiva linga inside.
However, a large Gouripitha could be seen.
A local man explained to Baba that the present temple is only 200-300 years old.
No local person could say how long the old temple had existed.
Long ago, the temple was constructed with village tiles.
- Following that the landlord of that rebuilt it with bricks.
Later just before 200-300 years ago, the local people collectively built the present temple.
Today, they worship the deity with milk and honey.
Red and white sandalwood paste or chandan is used in the worship of such a deity.
But there, only white chandan is used.
A special ceremony is observed on the 31st of Chaitra, when Charaka-puja perfed and Charaka songs are sung.
Vana-viddha or arrow posing is done.
Special worship is also done in the month of savant, which is approximately July to August.
Regular worship is offered at the temple every Monday.
All people irrespective of caste are welcome to worship at the temple where mantras a rested in the local language.
One of the people in the village sang the following prayer for us:
Ha’s plata Bhola baje bam bam bam Spa hash bhon bhon bam bam Ha’s pals bhola baje bam bam Batch sang kala kala kal Cars can dhara tale tala tala pe Midang dini ta’ ta tham ta’itham tha’itham Dims dims dims dima damru’baje Phan phan phun phon phani garaje
Baba noted that the village people also worship the Shitala and Manasa dites and offer duck in sacrifice.
Sacrificing duck is Jain ritual and is evidence of the Jain influence in the region.
Tribals offer hens and pigs in sacrifice while other Hindus offer male goats.
Baba further said:
In the ancient past, Tatanagar was the land of Bhaerava Tantra.
Later, Jainism had to adjust with it and Jain Tantra was the result, although Shiva was still accepted as the controlling deity.
The Jain Shiva linga and Gauri-piitha are large. Shaeva Tantra was dominant throughout the region upto 3,000 years ago.
Later the external form of Shaeva Tantra was given up by the people and gradually Jain Tantra was accepted, indicating that Jainism had spread throughout the area.
Tatanagar became a hot bed of Jain Tantra although Shashank destroyed the Jain Shiva lingas and also disfigured lingas and idols at Boudh Gaya.
The capital of Shashanka was situated near Naihati and Bhadrapur in the district of Birbhum.
- Later it was called Rangamati.
- Later still Harshvardhan renovated the temples in the area.
During the days of the Pal dynasty, Shiva was the main deity worshipped by the people, although Daksayanil Devi, that is, the daughter of Daksa meaning Durga was given the status of a state deity, meaning the deity of the kingdom.
The Shiva-linga here is broken, but the Gauri piitha remained intact.
The priests here are neither Utkal Brahmans nor Rarhi Brahmans.
They are Pandeys who became Brahmans during the heydey of Jainism.
They were originally not Brahmans.
Pandeys are culturally Bengalis, but they have adopted the culture of the Tatanagar locality.
Pandeys are the priests of Kurmi-Mahatos, and no other class of Brahmans act as such.
The wealthy Mundas (Singh mund’a’, Kheria-munda’, Ho-munda’, Khangar’ mund’s) called themselves Ksattriyas.
They speak in Mundari language at home and Bengali while outside their homes.
The language spoken in the northern side of the Sanjaya river is Rarhi Bengali, and towards the south it is Kera Bengali.
The latter is a blending of Bengali and Oriya, and is spoken mostly by Utkal Brahmans like Panigrahi’, Hota, and Sarangi. The word ‘Kare’ is commonly used in their vocabulary exemplified by ‘Soa’kare Chila’ Go’. The majority of famous people in the region are Mahatos.
The Amyaya river originated in the western side of the Vindhya mountains.
The Vindhya’ Ranges were divided into 3 parts:
- The Ramgarh area which includes Jayachandil, Keto and Susuniia extending as far as Bankura.
- The area towards Chakradharpur extending in the north from Ra’jmahal to Nahebaganj
- The hill track in Ra’rh known as Dalma and Megha’sini and Mayurbhanja.
The Meghasini got its name because the Kharakaya and Sanjay rivers originate in the Vindhya mountains where Megha or clouds continuously drift from the sky.
The Porahat rajya was divided into 2 parts about 700 years ago during the Pathan period, due to a fight between 2 princes:
- Saraikela kingdom
- Kharswan kingdom
The king of Saraikela made Oriya the official language, but the people spoke Bengali.
The language spoken in Mayurbhanja was Kera-Ba’mla. It was known as Mayurbhanj since the Mayur or peacock was Carved in the ornaments of the women of the royal family.
The land of north Saraikela is more fertile than the land of the sou- thern region.
In the past, the Sanjaya river was a large river.
But the Kharkaya river was still large and contained many ripples.
The Kumari river comes from the Ayodhya hills, it is a slow, meandering river of the Rarh plain.
The Dakra community near Suvarnarekha used to extract gold from these rivers but a day’s labour only earned them one rupee. As a result, they found other employment.
Bengali has 12 dialects and the centres of Ra’rhi dialect are Tata, Dhanbad, Dumka, Deoghar, Bardhaman and Sindhri.
The Aryan colonization of Bengal took place over a long period of time.
The cultural transformation of Bengal was very slow as the indigenous cultural heritage was rich and deep.
Well-written folk songs in Bamla’ can be readily found. But there has been very little Vedic influence in Bengal.
Vedic thought had been represented by later philosophers.
Buddhist and Jain influence was very deep in Bengal, which was also deeply influenced by Shaeva cult.
Though Ramayan was translated into Bamla during the reign of Hussain Shah about 550 years ago, Rama cult had little influence.
Rather, Ram has been criticized for sending Sita into exile and killing Ball.
Of course, the influence of Vrindavana and Krishna is evident in Bengal, although Shiva is the cultural hub of Indian civilization.