Santali Dance Forms

The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak‘ and the Tumdak’. The flute (tiriao) was considered the most important Santal traditional instrument and still evokes feelings of nostalgia for many Santals.

Baha Enej: Baha enej is performed during the eve of Baha festival. Literally 'baha' means flower in santali. So this is the festival in the beginning of spring season. The people sing and dance to welcome the new season.

•Dang Enej:

Their courtship and marriage dances are typical. The young men come forward taking strides with drums and lilting songs on their lips, and then the dance commences in two rows, their arms interlinking in pairs. The rows surge forward like rhythmic waves and then recede with supple footwork and swaying heads and bodies. The boys in the row opposite play on flutes, drums, and large cymbals and sing songs in perfect harmony. After the dance the boys and girls mingle and have a good chat.

•Lagne Enej:                           

Lange are exclusively confined to women. The Lagne has many forms and variations according to the occasion, be it a marriage, a festival or social gathering.

•Jhika Enej:

Then there are the Jhika dance in which men and women dance together. Men form the outer ring and the women the inner circle.

•Dahar Enej:

Dahar is danced at day and during the festival of Gamha parab.

•Karam Enej:

Assar, Shravan and Bhadrav that is June to September. They worship the karam tree to protect the village from bad evils.

All these dances reflect their collective nature, cohesion, community feeling and social awareness. They are great spontaneous collective singers and dancers.

•Danta:

The martial dances - Golwari and Paikha are marked with a lot of jumping and leaping in the air. They carry bow and arrows while doing martial dances and perform mock fights and attacks. This shows their bravery and skills and knowledge to use their weapons.

•Dassai:

They have their hunting and sowing dances. On Dassai men-folk dance from one locality to another. The people put on make ups and colorful costumes during this dance. Generally they wear the sarees in the form of skirts by folding them as bottom accompanied by a vest as a upper garment. The dancers wear turbans also made of sarees. The turbans sometimes fall till their knee or anlke length at back.They hold the props like sword and musical instrument called Bhuang and Ghanti.

There is a story behind the purpose of dance, there was a Santal King who possessed a good amount of wealth and food grains for his people. The king had a daughter who was charming and good in behaviour. Once the princess was kidnapped by the kings enemy and not found any where when searched. Then the kings sent a group of warriors to search for the princess. The warriors dressed up themselves like dance performers, used their weapons like musical instruments and props for dance. They behaved like normal people,visited every house of the villages and asked for water, rice or grains in a hope to get any clue about the princess.They got pleasant reception by the village people hence realized that not only the king but also the people in his empire are rich with food grains and living happily. After many days of searching, they found the enemies, fought with them and saved the princess.The king got back his daughter and praised the bravery of the warriors. To remember this incident the people generally the young men travel many villages followed by dance and songs about sawing and hunting.

The Santal women and girls can be seen singing and dancing while engaged in their daily chore like sowing, plantation, journeying to and from the forest. They work and sing simultaneously and in between pause for a round of dance. They use song and music as a convenient tool of dancing.