---

Functional Theory of Religion

Certain sociologists like Emile Durkheim, Malinowsky and Radcliffe - Brown in order to explain religion and various religious phenomena, advocated 'Functional theory'. According to this (Functionalist) theory, Societies are made up of inter-dependent social institutions in such a way that changes in one affect the others and the whole system. Thus, religion in the field of Sociology is functional to social cohesion and provides solidarity and integrity to the society. They are generally found to propagate an egalitarian social order, under the impression of being Homo Equalis, in which situation people tend to have similar life experiences that suggest why there is relative lack of competitiveness among the members or the absence of one-upmanship. The Santals have a perfect social order where there are specialists in the arena of religion, medicine, craft, singers etc. but these roles do not always impart ' superior' status or altered lifestyle from the general lot, specialization is not generally ordained; training in these roles is short and depends on indivdual interests and inclination to learn. (Bhattacharya/Tribes in India; Process of Transition) Like the Hindu customs they are habituated to treat every death or birth in the village as occurrences, which needed social cleansing. However, while the Hindu custom is limited to the family affected by such occurrences, in the Santal traditions these are social responsibility of each one in the village and unless this is performed in the ritualistic pattern rigorously the habitants are uncomfortable during the intervening time. It is believed that the Bongas would be annoyed if the system is faltered for any reason, whatsoever.

^TOP^

The religious belief of the Santals fundamentally revolves around 'Bongas' - the supernatural spirits. According to the belief of the Santals, this world is inhabited by numerous spiritual beings of different kind; and the Santals consider themselves as living and doing everything in close association with these supernatural beings. Thus, Datta-Majumdar has noted, " The Santals live not only in their human tribal society but in a greater society consisting of super natural beings as well".

The Santals have a very innate relationship with their 'Bongas' and consider themselves living with 'them' in a 'Religious Universe'; thus it is essential for a sociologist to know this 'universe' fully before he attempts to analyse the social structure of the Santals. As the time passed by, the Santals gradually evolved a certain system of beliefs, rituals and rites in order to express their feeling and emotions and to interact with these supernatural beings. A system of symbiosis co-exists for a peaceful passage throughout life.
^TOP^ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worship of Bongas
Religion in Santal Society as in other primitive societies performs an important social role. The Santal religion essentially is a manifestation of the Santals' association with these supernatural spirits; the Santals' relation with these 'Bongas' is that of dependence, submission, propitiation and reverential fear. The Santals communion with these spirits are clearly expressed and manifested through various social and religious rites like rice-beer offerings, supplications and animal sacrifices which are usually made on behalf of a household, a subclan or the whole village. Further, this oneness with the spirits is concretely manifested in the ceremonial sharing of sacrificial food (Sura) and rice beer libations.
In the Santal religion there are two types of Bongas - the maleficent ones and the beneficient ones. The worship of the Bongas essentially is the invocation of the powers of the beneficent spirits so as to please the beneficient Bongas and to avert the ill will of the maleficent Bongas. In the Bonga worship one can distinguish analytically two interrelated aspects - the objective and the expressive. The objective or the instrumental aspect of the religious rites is to have an alliance with the benevolent bongas and thereby controlling and /or defeating the powers of the malevolent bongas. The expressive aspect of the worship is manifested through various seasonal and religious rites, festivals and rites associated with various social rituals. . In the common Hindu parlance spirits play a definite role and as such many of the temples have regular rituals of animal sacrifices. These practices are prevalent mostly in the eastern part of the country. Witchcraft or its equal practice of the mysticism is extremely popular for the Santals and it is presumed that it is essential to have a belief especially in a Pagan world. Without a genuine knowledge of God, man is given to all types of speculations. In the absence of God, the situation is accepted as a space of a void. For example are the "Grotesque Gods" of India, the Witch Doctors and Voodoo of Africa, the idolatry of the world, the nature worship of the Pantheist. The witchcraft serves its believer an explanation of what he interprets to be evil and misfortune and provides such a sufferer with a route for entrusting the claim on someone or something. It is totally a circuitous route where the performer sits idle with the problems that he has been bestowed with and a feeling to take recourse to actions, which would help him in tiding over his difficulties. These categories of persons have a mystical belief that the magic and the witchcraft shall enable him to overcome all his problems without his moving from his inertia. He believes that he is the other reincarnation of God and has the immense power of controlling even the nature as God does. For them it is difficult to understand the laws of nature and always lacks the position to explain death, misfortune, tragedy or for that matter sickness. The answer for many throughout history has been to accuse the evil's spirit and the witches. Witchcraft, therefore, serves as an explanation for what otherwise would be unexplained or unexplainable to persons without knowledge.
^TOP^

Researchers feel that many people are turning away from their traditional established religions because they feel that the religious system has failed to meet their need for the supernatural. Witchcraft in such situations serves as a bridge. According to K.S. Singh, former Director General of the Anthropological Survey of India and Author Editor of the People's India, the advent of witchcraft in India probably coin1cided with the arrival of the colonial rulers. The local people had a larger view of the Shamanism (the world of good and other's spirit), but with European influence, it began to get identified with black magic, white magic and witchcraft. Women were regarded as healers and granted powers in Shamanism, he said. In his own observation of tribal societies, mostly in Bihar, the majority of witches killed were women and some 30 per cent were man. In some cases, entire families were wiped out. Greed for property was one of the main reasons for witch killing. The struggle for gender equality has also led to various forms of insecurities in village communities. He found that when voluntary Members intervened they were most often killed along with the hounded women. Singh said that tribal cosmology was explicit in its reference to women being trained as witches. Unfortunately, the research showed the Santhals were major "witch killer" and their witches were often women. The dependence of the Man on the mystical world of supernatural can, therefore, be directly contributed to the religion. The importance of religion in understanding the culture of a society cannot be over-emphasized. As a social phenomenon, religion is an integral part of a social structure of a society and every component of the society is inter-related to the activities, which can be construed as that of the religion. There are no peoples, however, primitive who are without religion.
^TOP^

Religion is a great contributing factor in binding the society. This is all the more true of the tribal societies in which as a result of their relatively simple technology, comparative low literacy figures and a low degree of social differentiation religions has assumed the status of a greater moving force. Modern day people have a tendency of abstaining from religion because of its large content of unnatural and unrealistic rituals. The lower the literacy rate the more is the closeness with the religion. It may also be similarly said that literacy brings with it, the sense of rationalism and inculcating concepts of logic is a primary ingredient of the system. Both these components can also be obtained without literacy by inborn natural geniuses. The illiterate who may belong to a compact social unit of a society because of its low degree of conceptualization and understanding of issues does not have an analytical ability. Many natural issues or problems which normally crop up in a man's life are, therefore, left for the divinely intervention of the almighty for settlement.
^TOP^

In cases, where they get a positive result which often is due to a miracle it is said that the bongas have been kind to them and in instances where the results are not to the general liking, it is taken that some mystical spirit has been behind this mis-happening. There have been instances where illiterate persons even in situation of a disastrous epidemic would not ponder for medical help, but instead leave it to the bongas and some rituals to tide over the difficult times. The present literacy rate of the tribals of India are, therefore, a cogent indication as to why they are religiously orthodox about their supernatural and the mystical world of witchcraft. About the Santhals of Malda district in West Bengal, A.B. Chaudhuri, an officer of the Indian Police Service, writes in his book Witch Killings Amongst Santhals (Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi;1984;Rs. 150) that faced with a desolate existence and haunted by extreme poverty and helplessness, the tribe had started to look to Mahan for leadership. Mahan is "one who knows", and is assisted by kavirajs. He is supposed to know tribal lore and be able to unravel the mysteries of time. A witch is called the fuskin here, and whenever there is a drought or a famine or a disease, the tribal people run to the Mahan, who would identify some hapless woman as the fuskin. In almost all cases of witch killing, Chaudhuri noted that the aged and the weak were identified as witches. The tribal people do not consider it a sin to kill a fuskin. Denying responsibility ends in tragedy, and the Mahan's word is always final. Many a time the poverty-stricken family of the "witch" can only succumb to his decision. Summoning the denounced woman to the village meeting and assaulting her is a common practice, Chaudhuri noted. Even sons are known to have killed their mothers. The murder of a witch is always preceded by deaths or instances of prolonged illness in the village or family. Often sickness and land disputes coincided so perfectly that it was difficult to discern which was the real reason for a woman having been declared a fuskin. Chaudhuri argues in his book that the distrust in women has been accentuated by a belief that they are superior to men in matters of mantras or incantations. Should they be allowed to worship the Bongas, (the supreme deities) they would win favour quickly and their nature being destructive, they would invariably indulge in destructive activities to the detriment of society, so went the argument.
^TOP^

That a definite link exists between forms of ownership of land and persecution of women is borne out in another book, Status of Tribal Women in Tripura (Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1993, Rs. 150) by Malabika Das Gupta. The author writes that with the spread of "development", tribal people in general seem to be moving in the direction of emulating the cultural and socio-economic patterns of caste-Hindu groups and losing the singular features of their own society. Communal ownership and control of land have given way to legal ownership of land by men, and 'witch-hunting' has become popular as an extra-legal method to deprive tribal women of control over land. (Tripuri women have the right to demand a share of their parents property or they can derive a share as per the desire of their parents). It is a most likely that cases of witch-killing and persecution of women will continue as long as economic inequities and neglect of the health care infrastructure continue. The reluctance on the part of both the community and the law-enforcers to see the killings of these hapless women as blatant murder, as was evident in the case of Basumatray, points to collusion among various elements to keep women at the lowest rung of society. To see it merely as a tribal custom would be to ignore the various influences on tribal life, including the political one, where the constitutional right of political participation has the potential to bring women into public life. Revivalism and resistance are but inevitable fallouts.

^TOP^----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Supreme Being : Thakur Jiu and Cando Baba
The Santals like any other tribes in the world recognize and believe in a Supreme Being who is given a pre-eminent position and is considered to be the 'supreme' among all the religious beings. The old Gurus are positive that the Supreme Being is not a Bonga but stands above all, remarks P.O. Bodding (1932:324). Traditionally, the Santals referred to 'this supreme deity' as Thakur Jiu. However the most common Santal term used for the Supreme deity these days is Cando Baba. The Santals here do not refer literally to 'the Sun itself as most scholars believe but that it is a manifestation of a divine activity, an expression of divine love in relation to man. Thus the East, - the direction of the rising Sun has a special significance in Santals Socio-religious rituals and practices. Hence, the Santals face towards the East while worshipping or while taking oaths.The Santals have a deep faith in Cando Baba or the Thakur Jiu who is considered to be the Creator of the Universe and all that exist in the Universe; and he too is the sustainer. Cando Baba is a benevolent deity. Referring to the remarks of Kolean, the old Santal guru, Bodding.(1925:1) writes - God is thought to be fairly well satisfied with the Santals and will not distress them except when it may be absolutely necessary. Being a benevolent deity, the Santals do not worry about him much and there is no specific worship to appease him. However he is remembered with the deepest honour and humility during the important ceremonies associated with marriage and death; he is also called upon as a witness to the solemn oath-takings and is invoked during natural calamities like droughts and famines; in these occasions a white fowl is sacrificed to appease him.
^TOP^----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bongas (Spirits) - Origin and their Worship The Santals have profound beliefs in their bongas; so deep is their association with the bongas that they believe themselves to be completely goverened by them and are believed to be omnipresent. Any event however unimportant has a role for the bongas. Traditionally, in primeval period the Santals had no bongas; the concept of Bongas and their worship found its way in Santal religion during the later period when Santal ancestors' were wandering. During these wanderings the Santal ancestors encountered various difficult and critical situations like the tyranny of Madho-Sin, the 'Sin duar' and 'Bahi duar' which they could not open forcefully and rivers and mountains extremely difficult to be crossed. The Santal ancestors during these critical situations acknowledged and invoked various powers, which they believed would enable them to overcome these difficulties; thus bonga worship was a necessary condition for them which many ethnologists failed to realise. According to Gausdal(1960) there are one hundred and seventy eight different bongas these can be classified into ten broad categories depending upon the nature and function of the spirits.
They are:-
^TOP^

a) Village tutelary spirits comprising of Maran Buru, Moreko - turuiko, Jaher Era,Gosae Era, Pargana Bonga and Manjhi Haram Bonga.

b) The Sub-clan spirits - Abge bongas.
c) House hold spirits - Orak' bongas.
d) Spirit of ancestors - Hapram ko bongas.
e) The Jom-Sim Bongas.
f) Tutelary spirits of Santal Ojhas - Saket Bongas.
g) Hindu deities - deko bongas.
h) Malevolent and spiteful bongas
i) Boundary Spirits - Sima bongas.
j) Mountain & hill spirits - Rongo Ruji bongas.
k) Village Outskirts spirits - bahre bongas.
l) Water Spirits - baghut bongas.
m) Spirits exorcised by Santal Ojhas to ward off mischiefs - naihar bongas, Kisar bongas,thapna bongas.
n) Mischievous spirits that have to be scared away through exorcism; these are not worshipped.
^TOP^

Maran Buru
He is the most powerful and the Chief of the Santal bongas ; mythologically he is believed to have induced the first human beings - the Pilcu Haram and Pilcu Budhi into sex and taught them how to brew the rice beer ; he further exhorted them to offer him the rice beer whenever they invoked him. Maran buru is believed to be close to the ancestors and this is the reason why the Santals invoke his name along with their ancestors.

Moreko-turuiko
The literal meaning of `Moreko-turuiko means- the five-six ; however this Composite Spirit is worshipped as one . The actual identity of this Spirit is still not clear; however traditionally the Santals believe the spirit comprise of five brothers and one sister. This composite spirit is responsible for the welfare of the village and controls the crops, rain and diseases. Mak-More is the occasion during which special offerings are made to him to protect the village from any epidemics.

Jaher Era
This spirit is the spirit of the Jaher than (the sacred grove);thus she being the lady of the sacred grove presides over the Jaher than. she is a benevolent spirit and is concerned with the welfare of villagers, their cattle and is worshiped to obtain good crops. A foul offering is made to her in all the festivals.
^TOP^

Jaher (the Sacred -grove)
It is the abode of national Spirit's; Jaher is the sacred grove which comprises of a group of Sal trees (shorea rabusta) usually situated at the outskirts of a Santal village. It is here that Jaherthan is located. Jaher than is believed to be the abode of three principal spirits namely- Maran buru, Moreko-turuiko and Jaher-Era. These three spirits have a close association with one another . In the Jaherthan each of them is represented by stones at the foot of sal trees; the sal trees are in a row; the first big sal trees close to each other represent the Maran buru and Jaher Era while the third standing at a distance represent the Moreko turuiko. Their close association is manifested in various religious and social rites ; hence in `Jom-jati' ceremony the three spirits are propitiated by the `naeke' by offering three fouls and implores them to purify the village from the guilt and defilement brought about by the ostracised man. The close association is further manifested in the `Baha' festival during which two huts are built at Jaher Thaan ; one of the huts is shared by these three bongas.
Besides these three spirits , Jaher is also the abode for Gosae Era represented by a stone at the foot of a Matkom tree; and also for Pargana bonga being represented by a stone at the foot of sal tree in the Jaher. These spirits in the Jaher are considered as national Spirits as they are worshipped by all during major festival through sacrificial offerings. The Village head priest- Naeke propitiates the Maran buru, Moreko-turuiko, Jaher Era and Gosae E-Era while Kudam naeke (asstt. priest) propitiates the Pargana Bonga.
^TOP^

Gosae Era
This spirit is represented by a stone at the foot of Matkom tree in Jaherthan ; the second hut built at the jaher during the Baha festival is in honour of this spirit. A white fowl is sacrificed by the naeke to please her.

Pargana Bonga
Pargana Bonga is also believed to reside in the Jaher where he is represented by a stone at the foot of a sal tree. He is considered to have the powers to ward off various illness usually caused by witches in the village; he is usually implored by the ojhas who are called upon for this special job by the villagers.

Manjhi haram Bonga
This spirit as the name implies resides in the Manjhithan - a house special place built infront of the village headman's . In the Manjhi than the spirit has a supervisory role and acts as a spiritual advisor to the village headman. The spirit is propitiated by the village headman himself through sacrifice of two pigeons.
^TOP^