Santali, Bengali: সাঁওতালী, Odia: ସାନ୍ତାଳୀ, Devanagari: संताली, 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 the year 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 people 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 and Assam. 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.
Rairangpur is a city and a tehsil in the Mayurbhanj district of the state of Odisha, India. It is located 287 kilometres from the state capital Bhubaneswar, 82 kilometres from the district headquarters of Baripada, and about 73 kilometres from Jamshedpur. Rairangpur is the second largest city in the Mayurbhanj district, a notable mining area of Odisha, producing iron-ore from the Gorumahisani, Badampahar, and Suleipat mines.
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 Academy of Santali Cinema & Art, is a cine academy and is formed to promote and develop Santali films.
Santali cinema, also known as Sollywood, has its presence in the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, and parts of Nepal, where Santals live. Santali films are made in the Santali language.
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 one of 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.
Digamber Hansda was an Indian academic and tribal activist who worked for the social and economic advancement of the underprivileged communities in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha. He was a founding member of the Santhal Sahitya Akademi and was considered a pioneer of Santhali language literature.
Joba Murmu is an Indian writer and litterateur who is known for her works in Santali literature. She received the Sahitya Akademi's Children's Literature Award on November 14, 2017 due to her language contribution to Santali literature.
The official scripts of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India include abugidas (pseudo-alphabets), alphabetical writing systems and abjads.
