Jharkhand Tribal
The tribes of Jharkhand consist of 32 tribes inhabiting the Jharkhand state in India. The tribes in Jharkhand were originally classified on the basis of their cultural types by the Indian anthropologist, Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi. His classification was as follows:
Hunter-gatherer type — Birhor, Korwa, Hill Kharia
Shifting Agriculture — Sauria Paharia
Simple artisans — Mahli, Lohra, Karmali, Chik Baraik
Settled agriculturists — Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Ho, Kurmi, Bhumij, etc.
oldest tribe of jharkhand is Asur 31th tribe of jharkhand is kavar in 2003 32th tribe of jharkhand is Kol in 2003
Santhals
Tribal festivals in Jharkhand
Sarhul
Sarhul is celebrated during spring season and the Saal trees get new flowers on their branches. It is a worship of the village deity who is considered to be the protector of the tribes. People sing and dance a lot when the new flowers appear. The deities are worshiped with saal flowers. The village priest or Pahan fasts for a couple of days. In the early morning he takes a bath and puts on new a dhoti made of virgin cotton (kachha dhaga). The previous evening, the Pahan takes three new earthen pots and fills them with fresh water; the next morning he observes these earthen pots and water level inside. If the water level decreases he predicts that there would be famine or less rain, and if the water level is normal, that is the signal of a good rain. Before pooja starts, the wife of the Pahan washes his feet and gets blessings from him. At the pooja, Pahan offers three youngroosters of different colors to one for the almighty god — the Singbonga or Dharmesh, as the Mundas, Ho and Oraons respectively address Him; another for the village deities; and the third for the ancestors. During this pooja villagers surround the Sarna place.
Pahan(The tribal Priest) taking Holy Bath during Sarhul Worship in Ranchi, Jharkhand
Traditional drum — Dhol, Nagara and Turhi — players keep drumming and playing along with Pahan chanting prayers to deities. When pooja is finished, boys carry Pahan on their shoulders and girls dancing ahead take him to his house where his wife welcomes him by washing his feet. Then Pahan offers Saal flowers to her wife and villagers. These flowers represent the brotherhood and friendship among villagers and Pahan the priest, distributes saal flowers to every villager. He also puts saals flowers on every house’s roof which is called “phool khonsi”. At the same time Prasad, a rice made beer called Handia, is distributed among the villagers. And the whole village celebrates with singing and dancing this festival of Sarhul. It goes on for weeks in this region of Chhotanagpur. In Kolhan region it is called “Baa Porob” meaning Flower Festival. it is the festival of the grest happiness.
Karam
The Karam festival is a worship of Karam devta, the god of power, youth and youthfulness. Karam is held on the 11 of moon in Bhadra month. Groups of young villagers go to the jungle and collect wood, fruits and flowers. These are required during the Puja of Karam God. During this period people sing and dance in groups. The entire valley seems to be dancing with the drumbeatth day of the phases. This is one of the rare examples of such a vital and vibrant youth festival in Jharkhand’s tribal area.
KARAM of Ramgarh — Every year on the 11the day of bhadar the people of Jharkhand, Bengal, North odisha and some parts of chatishgarh celebrate the birth anniversary of Karam thakur with pomp and ceremony. On that night we feel as if the mountain of Ramgarh dance with chotanagpur plateau. According to legend and songs of Karam raja we find out that he was a thakur (king ) of jura thikana of Jawa estate(mewar).This chief’s Kingdom was near Banas river. The neighbouring state was sirohi the king of Indore called on him for a war at Bengal. Karam story described about the Karam Rajas collection of wealth from the business(war) and how he and his men remains here because of dense jungle and unable to found the route to his country even also by sending message through pigeon To Jhalda (jhalod ) for their rescue from the unknown jungle but the unfortunate king and his men struggled here in poverty and starvation, and lastly settled here as cultivators. A few people who are now cultivators at this region associates themselves with Rajput clans as Guhilor, Jhal (badnawar ),katiwar, pundiriwar, Bag (badnawar ) etc. and also some territorial name as Tilwar, mutra, khyrod, Dumriar, Kesriwar, Nagtawar. The Karam songs hold the name of cities like Dhar, Indore, Malani, Sirohi, Sonigorea, Fulbaria, Ratanpur, Jhalda (Jhalod ). They observe Chhau (war) dance along with jhumar which are related to western India. The above said clans with their men and the regional tribal people have great faith on Karam raja so they worship him by two branches of Kedi kadam tree. This Kedi kadam tree is known as Karam tree,as a symbolic name of Karam thakur. The people worship him to get rid of misery and poverty. The birth anniversary of Karam thakur is so popular in the region like Ramgarh, Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Purlia, the Chinnamasta mandir of Ramgarh is famous for Jitiya and KARAM. Karam is celebrated at chutupalu 8 km south of ramgarh. Many places Near Ramgarh were named after Karam(karampur,karmaratol,karambay ) great historian GS sardesai gives some light on the basic fact of this history, it is sorry to say that in this 21st century the story is still in dark. The newly settled urban people consider it as a tribal festival,with out any deep knowledge. East Indian historian were unknown about the story of this RAWAT KARAM THAKUR of SALUMBAR…
Jawa
At the same time, the unmarried tribal girls celebrate the Jin awa festival, which has its own kind of songs and dance. This is held mainly for the expectation of good fertility and better household. The unmarried girls decorate a small basket with germinating seeds. It is believed that the worship for good germination of the grains would increase the fertility. The girls offer green melons to the Karam deity as a symbol of ‘son’ which reveals the primitive expectation of human being (i.e., grains and children). The entire tribal area of Jharkhand becomes tipsy during this time.
JAWA OF RAMGARH-Jharkhand has its own primitive and new culture. Some are indigenous and others are exotic, the former culture is the bone immersion and the later culture is the Tusu’s immersion and some culture have got its own historical identity like Jawa or Jawas and Jitiya. In the passage of time 273 years have passed,some people of Jharkhand remember their past native estate Jawa and Jitiya with pomp and ceremony. By analysing the songs of Jawa and the history we found that Jawa or Jawas had a glorious past.Jawa an erstwhile estate of Mewar ruled by Rawat of Salambur. It is situated 66 km south west of Udaipur, this place is known as Kherwara. It is stated in historical annals of the Mewar that in Mewar the three major Bhumiyas chiefs were those of Jawas Para and Madri. The Bhumiyas chiefs of Jawa and Para are called Sambari chahuhan. Rao lakhan Singh the progenitor of the family left Sambar to Marwar and in the 13th century two of his descendants Ganga and Manik came to Jawas, the two brothers divided the conquer territory among themselves. Ganga got Para and Manik got Jawas.later on the hilly area situated at the Western part of Jawa were also ruled by the purbiyachahuhan. These area are known as Jura, Ogna and panwara. Rawat Patta is reputed to have come from Edur in 1398 Ad to Jura. The Western boundary of Jura is Sirohi state. All the above-mentioned estate of Mewar were ruled by the Bhumiyas chiefs and later on these chiefs were under the ruling family members of Salumber known as Thakur and their headquarter was at Jawas…u JITIYA – Jitiya was situated near chitor of Mewar, now it is situated at Bhilwara district of Rajasthan. It was a former estate of Mewar, it is now situated in the western part of Mandelgarh andnorthern part nearer to Chitor district. Jitiya was ruled by the descendants of Biram Singh.Biram Singh was younger brother of Rana Pratap Singh, the second wife of Uday Singh was Sahaja Bai, she had two sons Shakti and Biram. Shakti who saved the life of Rana Pratap during the Battle of Haldighat by giving his horse Ankara. After the death of Chetak at Gogunda hill. Biram Singh was very close to Rana Pratap, he saved the family of Rana Pratap during the time of his trouble from Haldighat and after wards. Man Singh the grandson of Biram was first Sisodiya jagirdar or Thakur of Jitiya. Jitiya,Mandelgarh were also ruled by the Bhumiyas chiefs of Solanki origin,the Bhumiyas of Mandelgarh were courageous to others. Now the question comes who were Bhumiyas and Thakurs? The ancient clans prior to Rana Sangha had ceased on the rising greatness of the subsequent new division of clans. They took to plough, they never forsook their arms and past culture. Their descendants were known as Bhumiyas. The ruling family members who enjoyed the estate by the grant of Prince are known as chief or Thakur, both had duties to protect the country and also took parts in the expedition to abroad. When and how they came to Jharkhand? After Nadir shah’s invasion to India the fall of Mogul empire came to its end, and the Maratha power was on the expansion having severe internal rivalry, this internal dispute between peshwa and Bhonshle ended with clash at Jharkhand for Bengal. At the time of Bengal expedition peshwa left puna with the object of check mating Raghu Ji in Bengal. At that time in 1742(March -April) peshwa asked tribute or help from Rajput princes of Rajputana,when he was at Bundelkhand.At that time Rawat Bhakt Singh was(1739–61) chief of Jawas. Probably Karam Raja was his cousin brother and Thakur of Jura. At that time the total Rajput soldiers and Bhumiyas soldiers ca