Santhals Worship Of Gods( Bongas )

The Santals have profound beliefs in their bongas, so deep is their association with the bongas that they believe themselves to be completely governed by them and are believed to be omnipresent. Any event however unimportant has a role for the bongas.

Traditionally, in the 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 realize.

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:-

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

• The Sub-clan spirits - Abge bongas.
• Household spirits - Orak' bongas.
• Spirit of ancestors - Hapram ko bongas.
• The Jom-Sim Bongas.
• Tutelary spirits of Santal Ojhas - Saket Bongas.
• Hindu deities - Deko bongas.

Malevolent and spiteful bongas.

• Boundary Spirits - Sima bongas.
• Mountain & hill spirits - Rongo Ruji bongas.
• Village Outskirts spirits - Bahre bongas.
• Water Spirits - Baghut bongas.

Spirits exorcized by Santal Ojhas to ward off mischiefs - Naihar bongas, Kisar bongas,Thapna bongas. Mischievous spirits that have to be scared away through exorcism; these are not worshipped.

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 is 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.

In the Santal religion, there are two types of Bongas - the maleficent ones and the beneficent 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.