Witchcraft and Indigeneity in Santali Writings

Despite the dialectal variation of the Santali language, which is spoken across five different states (Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and Assam), many Santali speakers consider it a marker of unity among the dispersed Santal communities. The introduction of writing and the development of narratives have not tarnished the prestige of orality and the power of speech. Today, Santal literature is used as a tool of resistance to counter the way the community has remained the perennial Other in mainstream opinion and media. This article explores narratives which assert the autonomy of the Santal community through a reading of the drama Puruchun, written in Santali and in English in the 1980s by Innocent Soren. Reading Puruchun, I re-examine the subalternity of the Santals, the representation of Adivasi consciousness, and the conflicts which pervade village life. Here, accusations of witchcraft represent a desperate answer to the capitalist logic of development that dispossesses tribal communities of their lands. The drama examines how the community uses reason to challenge the superstitions branding witches as responsible for calamities. The atmosphere of the village, conveyed by Santali words in the English text, enhances the poetic range of Innocent Soren’s drama.