Santhal Pargana division constitutes six district administration units known as the divisions of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

state in eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Origin of name

Santal Pargana derives its name from two words: "

Santal The Santal (or Santhal) are an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic-speaking Munda peoples, Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found ...

", a major inhabited tribe in the region and

Pargana Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empire ...

, a unit of administration in Persian language used mostly by medieval rulers.

Location

Santal Pargana is one of the divisions of

. Its headquarters is at Dumka. Presently, this administrative division comprises six districts: Godda,

Deoghar Deoghar (pronounced ''Devghar'') is a city and a municipal corporation in Deoghar district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also the administrative headquarters of Deoghar district. It is a holy place of Hinduism. The city is primarily ...

, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur. Santal_Parganas

History

This region is mentioned as Kajangala in different ancient literatures specially in Buddhist literatures. It is mentioned that the Chinese monk-traveller

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

(Hiuen Tsang) travelled from Champa (recent

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur, historically known as Champapuri, Champa Nagari, is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern bank of the Ganges river. It is the Bihar#Government and administration, third largest city of Bihar by population and ...

) to Kajangala and then proceeded to

Pundravardhana Pundravardhana or Pundra kingdom (), was an ancient kingdom of Iron Age India located in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent with a territory that included parts of present-day Rajshahi and parts of Rangpur Division of Bangladesh a ...

(recent

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

) in the 7th century AD. He says that the northern limit of its territory (means Sahebganj) was not very far from the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

. The forests to the south had plenty of

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s. The people were straight forward, talented and devoted to education.Roy, Niharranjan, ''Bangalir Itihas, Adi Parba'', , first published 1972, reprint 2005, pp. 99–100, 81–93, Dey’s Publishing, 13 Bankim Chatterjee Street, Kolkata, In the system of

Permanent Settlement The Permanent Settlement, also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, was an agreement between the East India Company and landlords of Bengal to fix revenues to be raised from land that had far-reaching consequences for both agricultural m ...

, British encourage paharia of Rajmahal hills to practice settled agriculture but they refused to cut trees. Then British officials attracted attention to Santals who were ready to clear the forests for settled agriculture. In 1832, a large number of area demarcated as Damin-i-koh. Santal from

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

Dhalbhum Dhalbhum was an estate in early modern period and British India, spread across the East Singhbhum district in present-day Jharkhand,Ghosh, Binoy, ''Paschim Banger Sanskriti'', (in Bengali), part II, 1978 edition, p. 56, Prakash Bhaban western ...

Birbhum Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impo ...

, Manbhum,

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is also the administrative headquarters of Hazaribagh district and divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is known ...

migrated, clear forest tracts and started cultivating these lands as peasants. British collected tax from Santals as revenue. The imposition of taxes, exploitation by

Zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

and money lenders sparked Santal rebellion. The Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, two brothers organized and led Santal inhabitants for the Santal Revolt (Santal Hul) against the Britishers but were defeated. Their other siblings namely Chand Murmu, Bhairo Murmu, Phulo Murmu, Jhano Murmu also followed elder brothers leadership for fighting against injustice. In 1855, during

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, Santal Parganas was created as a district, and was a part of the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. Santal Parganas was a district, in undivided

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

state, upgraded to a division in 1983. As a consequence of Santal uprising, the British passed the Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act ,1876 which offered some protection for the tribals against exploitation. It prohibits the sale of Adivasi land to non-Adivasis in the Santal Pargana region along present day Jharkhand's border with West Bengal. After Independence of India, the Santal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949 is the first codified law of tenancy in Santal Pargana division of Jharkhand. When enacted, it supplemented existing British-era tenancy laws and codified some of the customary laws related to tribal land.

Demographics

Languages

It has a population of 6,969,097. Santali, Bengali and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

are mostly spoken national languages, followed by regional dialect Khorta.

Religion

Majority of the population follows

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. Sari Dharam is followed by the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

residents and Sarna by other

. (The percentage will notified soon official sooner the Govt. Of India accomplishes recent Census).

References

Divisions of Jharkhand {{Jharkhand-geo-stub Anga