Santali, also known as Santal or Santhali, is the most widely-spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal by Santals. It is a recognised regional language of India per the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It is spoken by around 7.6 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, making it the third most-spoken Austroasiatic language after Vietnamese and Khmer.
The Ol Chiki script, also known as Ol Chemetʼ, Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santhali alphabet invented by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925, is the official writing system for Santhali, an Austroasiatic language recognized as an official regional language in India. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. It has 30 letters, the design of which is intended to evoke natural shapes. The script is written from left to right, and has two styles. Unicode does not maintain a distinction between these two, as is typical for print and cursive variants of a script. In both styles, the script is unicameral.
The shapes of the letters are not arbitrary, but reflect the names for the letters, which are words, usually the names of objects or actions representing conventionalized form in the pictorial shape of the characters.
The Santal are an Austroasiatic-speaking 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 in the states of Odisha, Bihar, Assam and Tripura. They are the largest ethnic minority in northern Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. They have a sizeable population in Nepal. The Santals speak Santali, the most widely spoken Munda languages of Austro-asiatic language family.
Raghunath Murmu was an Indian Santali writer and educator. He developed the Ol Chiki script for Santali language. Until the nineteenth century, Santali people had no written language and knowledge was transmitted orally from one generation to other. Later European researchers and Christian missionaries started to use Bengali, Odia, and Roman scripts to document the Santali language. However, Santalis did not have their own script. His development of the Ol Chiki script enriched the cultural identity of the Santali society. He wrote many songs, plays and school text books in the Ol Chiki script.
Raipur, referred to in census reports as Raipur Bazar, is a census town in the Raipur CD block in the Khatra subdivision of the Bankura district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Pandit Raghunath Murmu Smriti Mahavidyalaya, established in 1986, is the general degree college in Baragari PO Jambani, Bankura district. It offers undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in arts and sciences. It is affiliated to Bankura University.
Pandit Raghunath Murmu Academy of Santali Cinema & Art, is a cine academy based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. It is formed to promote and develop Santali films across the state.
Timotheas Hembrom is an ordained Minister of the Church of North India and an Old Testament Scholar who taught at the Bishop's College, Kolkata, affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University). As a Biblical scholar, Hembrom is a member of the scholarly Society for Biblical Studies in India, with members from the Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic and Charismatic Church societies. He researched on Santali creation traditions and his work was first published in 1996 was simultaneously reviewed in the Indian Journal of Theology and the Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies.
Maharaja Krushna Chandra High School, Baripada, better known as M.K.C High School, is a high school in Baripada, Odisha. The high school was established in 1889. It is considered as one of the oldest government schools in Odisha.
Baligeria is a village in the Nayagram CD block in the Jhargram subdivision of the Jhargram district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Baragari is a village in PO Jambani and the Raipur CD block in the Khatra subdivision of the Bankura district in the state of West Bengal, India
Murmu is a surname indicating a particular clan of the Santals found in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
Fagun is a monthly newspaper published on paper in the Santali language in the Ol Chiki script in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is the only newspaper in India that is published in Santali, and has readership across the country. The newspaper was founded in April 2008 by Mangat Murmu. and is edited by Malati Murmu, who received the Telegraph Legend Award in 2016. Fagun started with a circulation of 500 copies, and as of 2018 has a circulation of 5000. Copies cost 5 rupees each.
Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College (PRMMCH) is a full-fledged tertiary Government Medical College located in Rangamatia situated 7 km (4.3 mi) from the district headquarter of Mayurbhanj District, Baripada, Odisha. It is the fourth government medical college of Odisha, after SCB Medical College, MKCG Medical College and VIMSAR.
The Santali Wikipedia is the Santali language version of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. The site was launched on 2 August 2018. Santali language's own alphabet, Ol Chiki, has been used as the alphabet of this Wikipedia. Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austroasiatic languages, spoken by around 7.4 million people in South Asia.
Sadhu Ramchand Murmu was a Santali poet, writer, and educator. He reshaped the Santali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is also known as Kobiguru or Mahakabi of Santali literature. He is one of the great tribal poets from India. He is the first Santali poet who combines the high poetic tradition of Sanskrit and Bengali literature with the cadences and aesthetic sensibilities of Santali oral tradition. He encourages the indigenous Santals community and inspired them in education & culture. He also developed the first script named MUJ-DANDHE for the Santali language in 1923.
Naresh Chandra Murmu is the current director of CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute Durgapur and CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory Jamshedpur.
Santali literature refers to the literary works written in the Santali language, primarily spoken by the Santal people of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is written in the indigenous script called Ol Chiki script. Santali literature is composed in two broad styles- ᱠᱟᱹᱛᱷᱱᱤ (Kạthni-prose), ᱜᱟᱹᱛᱷᱤᱱᱤ (Gạthni-poetry).In terms of historical development, it is broadly classified into two prominent forms (genres) based on historical passes. They are:
