The news of Santals refusing government relief has made headlines in almost all newspapers recently.

Many readers shared the news in social media sites, hailing their sense of self-respect, integrity, and spirit, as not only the young ones, but also how their children and old people are starving and spending nights without any warm clothes under the open sky, with their men on the run fearing police harassment.

Their bold and brave assertion, “we will not take any help from hands that are bloody,” reminds me of the song of Gano Sangeet exponent Hemanga Biswas:

Urrr tang tang/ Dhonukay jor dayray tan (draw the bow hard)

Tana baba tana, firangi (foreigners) dei hana (raid)

Madol shinga baja ray, jhopay jharay paharay (play the trumpet madly in bush and on hills)

Shidhu majhir kira comaniray ghira (Shidhu Majhi’s vow regarding the East India Company)

Kanu majhir kira company ray ghira

Shali boner dharay dharay hajaray hajaray (the vows reflect beside the Shal forest)

Bhoirab hakay Hool Hool, Zamidarer bukay shool (Bhoirab calls for rebellion, to stab shool — a sharp weapon — on the Zamindars’ chests)

Chad hakay Hool Hool, Zamidarer bukay shool

Rokto jhora katabonay footlo buno phool (wild flowers bloom in the bloody woods of thorn)

I first heard the song — written on the Santal rebellion in present Jharkhand of eastern India in 1855 known as the great Hool Bidroho — when I was a teenager and felt a tremor of rebellion myself. But at that time I could not realise the pain and the pathetic situation which caused the great Hool rebellion to happen.

The Santals, led by Shidhu Majhi along with his three brothers Kanu, Chad, and Bhoirab, rebelled against the then East India Company, which had the authority of collecting taxes on behalf of British rulers, and the Zamindars.

The rebellion, which occurred in reaction to the oppression of the East India Company on Santals to accrue more and more taxes and evict them from their lands, was brutally quelled by the British rulers assisted by local Zamindars and the Nawab of Murshidabad.

On the contrary, we find in Charles Dickens’ Household Words:

“There seems also to be a sentiment of honour among them (Santals); for it is said that they use poisoned arrows in hunting, but never against their foes. If this be the case — and we hear nothing of the poisoned arrows in the recent conflicts — they are infinitely more respectable than our civilised enemy, the Russians, who would most likely consider such forbearance as foolish, and declare that is not war.”

Despite being an English man, Dickens admitted that the Santals, who were called uncivilised by most Western people, are infinitely more respectable than the so-called civilised people.

The sense of dignity in Santals is nothing new. They have borne their legacy of pride and honour, along with a history of oppression, for ages. And who have been oppressing Santals over all these years? Yes, the so-called “civilised people.” In the British era, they were the educated, technologically advanced, and the so-called progressive white men and the local Zamindars; and now, the native ruling class, the privileged group of the society.

Thus, the fate of the Santals remains unchanged, even though the imperialists have long  been driven away from our lands. Interestingly, the nature of these civilised people have not changed either — the same brutality, the same greed over money, property, and power, the same cunningness, fraud, and so on, though the world has advanced in the field of science, technology, and education. It indicates that the existing institutionalised education system has failed to remove the darkness within our minds.

I recently observed that all the malice and vice in the world have been invented by the so-called civilised groups, who, in the name of “development,” have pushed our very planet to the brink of destruction. On the contrary, those who they still call “uncivilised” or “savage” have done no such harm to our mother earth.

They live maintaining the harmony of the eco-system. They do not think of themselves as superior to all other species on Earth. But, paradoxically, the so-called under-privileged, uncivilised people have proven themselves superior to the educated, civilised people in terms of morality, humanity, and many other qualities; qualities which are very much needed in today’s world to save us from extinction.

It is high time that we learn from their respect for nature, simple living, honesty, living on one’s own labour (not stealing other people’s labour), lack of any demands from life, and, most of all, their moral courage.

Monswita Bulbuli is a Sub-Editor at the Dhaka Tribune.
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