LIFE AND SOCIETY OF THE ETHNIC SANTALS OF BANGLADESH: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURE AND TRADITION

One of Bangladesh's oldest indigenous groups is known as the Santals. Several historians refer to and regard them as Bengal's first settlers. They mostly belong to the pre-Aryan, Austro-Asian stock of settlers. Since they are the original people of the country, they should have had more power and development. But the truth is otherwise. Santals are frequently denied regal privileges and rights. It has a long history of exclusion and hostility. The Santals were never given the required care since they are secluded from mainlanders. Instead, colonial and post-colonial governments beat and tortured them, which made them, start different forms of resistance. These resistances, however, eventually failed to halt the starvation. Even with all these problems, Santals still fight to keep their social and cultural traditions alive. There were no written records of the history of the Santal civilization, so it was hard to figure out what had happened. As a result, this research mostly utilized secondary sources. With the help of historical information, this study tries to figure out the social norms, ways of making a living, and cultural traits of the Santal group. The fact that they are able to keep most of their own cultural traits shows that they have been poor in many ways in the past.