Santal people

Santal
ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲ ᱦᱚᱲ
Santals in traditional dress celebrating Baha parab
Total population
c. 7.5 million (2011)
Regions with significant populations
 India •  Bangladesh •    Nepal
 India:
       Jharkhand
2,754,723[1]
       West Bengal2,512,331[1]
       Odisha894,764[1]
       Bihar406,076[1]
       Assam213,139[2]
        Tripura2,913[3]
 Bangladesh129,049 (2021)[4]
   Nepal51,735[5]
Languages
Santali
Religion
Majority
Hinduism[6]
Minority
Folk religions (Sari Dharam, Sarna Dharam)
Christianity
Islam, Others[6]
Related ethnic groups
Mundas • Hos • Juangs • Kharias • Savaras • Korkus • Bhumijs

The Santal (or Santhal) are an Austroasiatic-speaking Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent.[7] 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 Austroasiatic language family.

  1. ^ a b c d "A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  2. ^ "C-16 Population By Mother Tongue". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  3. ^ "A-11 Appendix: District wise scheduled tribe population (Appendix), Tripura - 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
  4. ^ "Table 1.4 Ethnic Population by Group and Sex" (PDF) (in Bengali). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. 2021. p. 34.
  5. ^ "National Population and Housing Census 2011: Social Characteristics Tables" (PDF). Nepal Census – via Government of Nepal.
  6. ^ a b "ST-14 Scheduled Tribe Population By Religious Community - Jharkhand". census.gov.in. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  7. ^ Cavallaro, Francesco; Rahman, Tania. "The Santals of Bangladesh" (PDF). ntu.edu.sg. Nayang Technical University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2017.