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Who were Santhals? What made them turn to agriculture?

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Santhals were in fact wandering tribal groups. They reached Bengal in the 1780s. The Zamindars of Bengal used their services to clear the forests and expand agriculture. British officials also used Santhals. The British tried to tame the Pahariyas and make them settled farmers. When they failed in their efforts, they sought the help of Santhals to tame the Pahariyas. The British invited the Santhals to live on the Rajmahal hills. Santhals were not like. Pahariyas, who were not ready to cut down trees and use the plough. But Santhals cleared forests and zealously ploughed the land.

The British gave a lot of land to the Santhals in the valleys of Rajmahal hills. They encouraged them to settle there. By 1832, this area began to-be called ‘Damin-o-koh’ and it was declared as the region of Santhals. The British asked them to settle there and take up farming using ploughs.

The British had asked the Santhals to cultivate at least in 10% of the land given to them. The region was surveyed, maps were prepared, boundaries were set and poles were fixed. This way the Santhal region was separated from the settled farmers of the plains and the Pahariyas of the hills.

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