Tribal Society and Self-Governance

Tribal villages in Jharkhand have their own governing institutions that predate the state. The Munda-Manki system among the Munda and Ho, and the Manjhi-Pargana system among the Santhal, still decide land, ritual and dispute matters.

Munda and Ho — Munda-Manki system | Santhal — Manjhi-Pargana system | Oraon — Parha panchayat

The traditional systems

Village offices and their work

• Munda or Manjhi — the secular village head, handling land and disputes
• Pahan — the village priest, who performs the sarna rituals
• Naik or Naeke — assistant priest in Santhal villages
• Jog Manjhi — guardian of the morals and conduct of village youth
• Paranik — deputy of the Manjhi
• Kotwar or Gorait — village messenger who calls the assembly

Ritual and social spaces

• Sarna — the sacred grove where village deities are worshipped
• Akhra — the village dancing ground, also used for meetings
• Dhumkuria — the traditional youth dormitory of the Oraon
• Gitiora — the corresponding Munda institution
• These spaces train the young in song, dance, work and community rules
• Many have declined with schooling, migration and changing settlement patterns

How these systems work

• Decisions are taken in an assembly of villagers, not by the head alone
• Land questions are settled with reference to clan and lineage rather than paper title
• Disputes are resolved by discussion, compensation and social sanction
• The head holds office land such as majhihas attached to the post, not as private property
• The system is respected in law through the CNT and SPT Acts and PESA
• Elected panchayats and traditional heads sometimes overlap, which creates friction

Points that get asked

• System of the Munda and Ho — Munda-Mankiबार-बार पूछा जाता है
• System of the Santhal — Manjhi-Pargana
• Village priest — Pahan
• Youth dormitory of the Oraon — Dhumkuria
• Village dancing ground — Akhra

Kinship and social organisation

• Society is organised into clans, called killi among the Munda and Oraon and paris among the Santhal
• Marriage within the same clan is prohibited, which keeps villages linked to each other
• Descent and inheritance are usually traced through the male line
• Clan totems — often an animal, bird or plant — carry ritual restrictions
• Memorial stones such as sasandiri mark the burial ground of a clan
• Community labour groups work each other's fields in turn during peak season

Change in recent decades

• Migration and wage work have weakened the youth dormitory system
• Elected panchayats now share authority that traditional heads once held alone
• Land records on paper increasingly override memory-based clan claims
• Yet traditional heads remain the first forum most villagers approach