Santals

Several million people in India have been traditionally classed
as 'tribal' . This means they belong to those minority ethnic
communities which neither observe the caste system nor accept the
ideology or ritual of Hinduism. They are egalitarian and ordinarily
organised into exogamous patrilineal clans. Tribal people are
found scattered throughout India living as village agriculturalists.
Their egalitarian ideology and decentralised social system in some
cases suggests an anarchic order.
The Santals, at least, have only the barest indication of any
governmental system. Numbering over 3,000,000 they live in
eastern India, largely in the state of Bihar. In the Santai village
life is ordered by one's own kin group (his family and clan) and
by the village council and headman. Headmanship is an hereditary
position, normally passing from father to son, but nevertheless
requiring the approval of the village's household heads. It is an
office for life. A headman is seen as the main protector and
repository of tradition, which is greatly treasured by Santai. He
may be referred to as the 'big man', in other words, a man of
considerable influence. He is also seen as a man of wisdom and
learning. Nevertheless, he is at best a first among equals. "Publicly
he is little more than the voice of consensus, though privately his
influence is that of an especially respected and powerful man"
(Orans, 21). The headman receives certain tributes and privileges
for his role, including rent free lands, a portion of each animal slain
on a communal hunt and a central place at all weddings.
There are six other offices in a village and these are by
appointment and for life. These include village priests and an
assistant responsible for public morals.
The council comprises all household heads in the village. It
assembles regularly and under the chairmanship of the headman.
While he ordinarily calls meetings, anyone in the village can make
a request that one be held. Apparently, in Santai tradition there
is strong emphasis upon open and free meetings which guarantee
every member the right to express his views fully. The aim of any
meeting should be to achieve consensus, but if this unanimity is
not forthcoming, the support of the overwhelming majority is
accepted. Usually final decisions follow the recommendations of
the headsman.
According to Somers, Santai village life is so structured that
it prevents concentrations of power. Thus, the seven village
office holders are never able to constitute a special power clique
because council meetings are held frequently and are open and
free. Santai also do not take kindly to the secrecy which would be required for a clique to operate. The village has different
foci of power such that they counterbalance the power of the
headman. While each institutionalised social segment has authority
over its members, there is nevertheless considerable tolerance for
individual autonomy. It seems that Santai have a healthy distrust
for power and have therefore not only developed techniques to
minimise its concentration, but have been diligent in preserving
and enforcing them.
Local village affairs are the responsibility of the council and
headman. Conflicts between persons of two different villages
necessitate settlement through the offices of elders of the village
involved. A group of between ten to 20 villages constitutes a
territorial confederation and this is the largest unit of political
integration in Santai society. This confederation also has a council
composed of elders and headmen from member villages. There
is no formalised technique for selection of members. One of the
members, usually a headman of a village, is elected permanent
chairman of the group. This assembly is a 'court of last resort' and is
concerned with intervillage affairs. Here also no decisions are made
unless consensus of an overwhelming majority has been achieved.
In their adjudications village councils seem primarily to assess
fines and order ritual purification as judgements. The aim is to
restore peace rather than to punish. Fines are often used to
provide a feast and drink for the council and in one area both
complainant and accused contribute to such a feast, although the
accused gives more.
Apparently for certain offences one could be administered
physical punishment (cf. Culshaw) . This clearly suggests legal
sanctions. Physical punishment and fines are, however, only
imposed by the collective meeting of household heads and are
arrived at mostly by consensus so that such sanctions are in fact
more in the nature of diffuse sanctions. They are not those enjoined
by the force of a select elite.
The most awesome punishment which could be imposed on an
individual or group is ostracism, which is, of course, one form
of diffuse sanctions. This seems largely to be imposed by the
council of the confederation and in connection with infractions
of marital regulations. A person or a group declared ostracised
is first lampooned by the whole community. Then the guilty
will be shunned and treated as if non-existent. The sentence of
ostracism may be permanent or temporary. In the latter, return to
the community may depend on the person's willingness to change
his ways, his demonstrated repentence and payment of the costs of
purification ceremonies.
Members of Santai society are concerned about concentrations
of power and the need to preserve an egalitarian society which
gives some free rein to individual expression. There is at the same
time a strong dedication to tradition; religious sanctions are both
powerful and important. With the emphasis upon consensus of
the total community, diffuse sanctions rather than legal sanctions
seem to prevail and thus, at the least, Santal society exemplifies
a condition of marginal anarchy. Yet, with the imposition of
British colonial rule and, more definitely, with the creation of
the Indian republic, Santai society has been radically modified
and more clearly integrated into and subjugated to the national
state. For example, confederational councils have apparently not
acted among the Santai since 1947 and local headmen are now
responsible to authorities of the central government.