Santhal

Etymology: The word 'Santhal' is derived from two words; 'Santa' meaning calm and peaceful and 'ala' meaning man.

Origin: The Santhals are an artistic tribe that are inhabitants of West Bengal. However, they are also residents of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Assam. They are the third largest tribal community in India and have the most occupancy in Jharkhand. They also are a sizeable minority community in Bangladesh.

Location: The Santhal community is spread along the states of present-day Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal.

Community: Santhal paintings are derived from the Santhal tribe of West Bengal, whereas the Santhal scroll paintings are created by a sub-tribe called 'Jadupatua' or 'Jadua Patiya' in the Santhal Paragana tribe of Bihar.

Relevance: Santhal paintings serve as a medium for the Santhals to primarily express their devotion to their deities, document their daily activities, and tell their stories about death and the afterlife. It also fulfills their secondary need for livelihood whilst also keeping their tradition alive.

Historical background: The Santhals dwell in and around forested areas which serve in sustaining most of their day-to-day needs, which is a significant part of the narrative that comes out through the painting. Forests influence motifs, patterns, materials, and spiritual beliefs. Moreover, lush greenery is well translated into their paintings. Depiction of farming, fishing, and the raring of cattle are some of the recurring scenarios in their artworks as these are some of the occupational activities they engage in.

Culture and societies: Santhal scroll paintings were preceded by wall paintings just like much of the tribal art styles. They would decorate the walls of their huts with paintings to celebrate festivals and marriage, but also to express themselves; they would paint on themes of nature and scenes depicting brothers of the bridegroom carrying the bride in a basket, people hunting or fishing, and dancing or singing under a tree. They are animists and worship stones as they believe that the divine resides in these natural elements. The Santhals were a nomadic tribe before they took up agriculture, fishing, and hunting ever since they became settlers in various parts of the Eastern states of India.

Religious significance: Santhals are nature worshippers and their paintings speak of their belief in the divine. Through Santhal paintings, they illustrate their day-to-day activities. The motifs that hold permanency in their creations are animals, birds, and most importantly trees. The central theme for their scrolls surrounds storytelling and folklore about death and the journey of the soul.

Legends: The myth of the Santhal scrolls dictates that these scrolls were painted for the bereaved. The Scroll painters would travel to the village of the person who had passed on, depict the departed member's body and paint their eyes without the pupils, their soul's journey and hardships to get those pupils back were narrated in the scroll paintings. These scroll painters are called Jadupatua which when broken into two halves means Magic Painters, 'jadu' translating to magic and the second half 'patua' meaning painter.

Central motifs and their significance: The focus of these paintings is centered on animals, the folklore surrounding death and their beliefs. The themes could range from a scene showing women working in the field, harvesting crops, and feeding fodder to the cattle to flying kites and swinging.

Medium used: Traditionally, the paintings were made on cloth or 'pata' whereon pigments made from natural elements found in the forest around them, were utilised to paint. These colours were prepared from leaves, flowers, mud, and rocks. The sketches and paints were created by using a variety of sticks and twigs, frayed ones for filling in the paints.

Style: The wall and scroll paintings are made in predominantly primary colour schemes, wherein the figures of humans, animals, and other fauna are drawn primitively without much precision put into anatomy. Santhal paintings have floral borders and their background is filled with a balanced harmony of leaves, insects, and flowers. The pigments used are multicolour without a specific colour palette, the focus of this art style is to be artistic and expressive than to showcase realism. Their paintings are one of the most minimalist forms of tribal art.

Process: The linework for the final painting is sketched out in either black or brown pigment usually made out of burnt wood charcoal, after which colours are filled in. The surface they painted over traditionally was cloth, but now the new artists stitch two sheets of paper together to create a surface to paint over or simply make use of canvases.

Modern-age artists have started using canvases and synthetic colours such as acrylics to create these scrolls, whereas the older and traditional artists stick to using their ancient tools and techniques but that is on the decline given the geographical changes in their migration and settlement patterns.

The Santhal paintings were scoped out, studied, and revived by Rabindranath Tagore who then taught Santhal painting techniques at Shantiniketan where this art style experienced tremendous exposure. Through Shantiniketan, 'Jamini Roy', one of our leading post-modernist and contemporary artists, bought the world the treasure of Santhal paintings.

1. Sengupta, A. (2012) Scroll paintings of Bengal Art in the Village. India: Bloomington Author House.

2. Lalita Kala Akademi (2014) Santhal Paintings. New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi.