"Folklore of the Santal Parganas" is a notable work by Cecil Henry Bompas, an English missionary and ethnographer who dedicated his life to studying and documenting the culture and folklore of the Santal people. The book presents a collection of traditional stories, myths, legends, and customs of the Santal community in the Parganas region of present-day Jharkhand, India. Bompas spent several years living among the Santal people, immersing himself in their way of life and establishing close relationships with the community. He gained their trust and was able to record their rich oral traditions, preserving them for future generations. "Folklore of the Santal Parganas" serves as a comprehensive repository of Santal folklore, encompassing a wide range of subjects, including creation myths, heroic tales, supernatural beings, rituals, and social customs. Bompas' work not only highlights the cultural heritage of the Santal people but also provides valuable insights into their worldview, beliefs, and practices. His meticulous documentation of Santal folklore contributes to the broader field of ethnography and folklore studies, enabling a deeper understanding of the Santal community's traditions and their place within the larger tapestry of Indian folklore. "Folklore of the Santal Parganas" remains an important resource for scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts interested in Indian folklore, anthropology, and cultural studies.

"Folklore of the Santal Parganas" is a notable work by Cecil Henry Bompas, an English missionary and ethnographer who dedicated his life to studying and documenting the culture and folklore of the Santal people. The book presents a collection of traditional stories, myths, legends, and customs of the Santal community in the Parganas region of present-day Jharkhand, India. Bompas spent several years living among the Santal people, immersing himself in their way of life and establishing close relationships with the community. He gained their trust and was able to record their rich oral traditions, preserving them for future generations. "Folklore of the Santal Parganas" serves as a comprehensive repository of Santal folklore, encompassing a wide range of subjects, including creation myths, heroic tales, supernatural beings, rituals, and social customs. Bompas' work not only highlights the cultural heritage of the Santal people but also provides valuable insights into their worldview, beliefs, and practices. His meticulous documentation of Santal folklore contributes to the broader field of ethnography and folklore studies, enabling a deeper understanding of the Santal community's traditions and their place within the larger tapestry of Indian folklore. "Folklore of the Santal Parganas" remains an important resource for scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts interested in Indian folklore, anthropology, and cultural studies.

The book presents a new interpretation of the Santal Rebellion, the Hul 1855–1856, drawing on the colonial sources as well as Santal memories. It offers a critique of postcolonial approaches that overlook specifically tribal perspectives and see the Hul as a class-based peasant rebellion. The author analyses the Hul and its participants—the Santals and their opponents, both the colonial administration and the Bengalis. He also looks at the attempts of the Hul’s leaders, Sido and Kạnhu to reform the Santal religion. Offering a new, respectful reading of the Hul’s religious legitimation, the book argues that changes in Santal religion and ethics were responses to the colonial regime’s new and aggressive economic order. The Hul’s leaders, Sido and Kạnhu, demanded the introduction of just laws based on the universal principle of equality. This historical approach leads to a call for the inclusion of the voice of tribal and Adivasi minorities when formulating politics for their development in the 21st century. The book is relevant for researchers and students of social history, social reform, tribal and indigenous studies, postcolonial studies and South Asian studies.

Bibliography of works on the Santals, a tribal people of India.

In India as elsewhere, peripheries have frequently been viewed through the eyes of the centre. This book aims at reversing the gaze, presenting the perspectives of low castes, tribes, or other subalterns in a way that amplifies their ability to voice their own concerns. This volume takes a multidimensional perspective, citing political, economic and cultural factors as expressions of the autonomous assertions of these groups. Questioning the exclusive definitions of the Brahmanical, folk and tribal elements, the articles bring together the empowering possibilities enabled by three recent theoretical developments: of anthropologies questioning the fringes of mainstream society in India; critically engaged histories from below, which problematize subaltern identities; and a conceptual emphasis on everyday ethnography as an arena for negotiations and transactions which contest wider networks of power and hegemony. This book will be useful to those in sociology, anthropology, politics, history, study of religions, minority studies, cultural studies and those interested in social development, and issues of marginality, tribes and subaltern identity.

The history of Santals has been preserved and passed on over the generations by the words of mouth until the Europeans took interest in them and started writing about them. Most of the initial writings were done by hearing from the elders of Santals and translating them. Some Indian writers had written about them as well but only by hearing from others. All of them had their own perspective as they felt appropriate. I have been looking for an authentic book about Santals written by Santals themselves who were born and brought up with them in their villages and hamlets for a long time but was unable to find one. So I decided to write myself after doing some reading of materials written by different people mainly Europeans and some Indian authors. My little book is no different except I am a Santal myself, born and brought up in a santal village and learnt about our belief of creation, customs, traditions, culture, and legends passed on orally by the elders of the villages to the younger generations during regular worship at the various festivals and other special occasions. They are basically a repetition of the same starting from the creation of the earth to the birth of human beings, growing up, marriage, procreation and death and migration. I have lived through them and have managed to come out of this darkness according to Dr W.G Archert I.C.S one of the last deputy Commissioners of Dumka towards the fag end of British Raj and author of many books on Santals including Tribal Law and Justice and managed to reach United Kingdom several years ago. So I have tried to put our history into perspective from my life long experience and readings of different books and hope you find this helpful to understand the real history of Santals.

The Reverend P.O. Bodding lived as a missionary amongst the Santals in Santal Parganas in India for more than 30 years. During that period he helped the Santals to collate their folklore, which he transcribed into the documents which are presented in this catalogue.