Languages and Literature

Jharkhand is one of India's most linguistically varied states. Hindi is the official language, Santali is in the Eighth Schedule, and a long list of tribal and regional languages hold second state language status.

Official language — Hindi | In the Eighth Schedule — Santali | Script of Santali — Ol Chiki

Language groups

Santali and the Ol Chiki script

• Santali is the only language of the state in the Eighth Scheduleबार-बार पूछा जाता है
• Its script, Ol Chiki, was created by Pandit Raghunath Murmu
• The script gave Santali a written literature of its own
• Santali is spoken across Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Assam
• It is taught in schools in Santhal Pargana and used in official material
• Raghunath Murmu is honoured as Guru Gomke by the Santal community

Regional languages and their belts

• Nagpuri — Ranchi and the South Chotanagpur belt; rich song tradition
• Khortha — North Chotanagpur and Santhal Pargana side
• Kurmali — Kolhan and the Manbhum facing districts
• Panchpargania — Tamar, Bundu and Sonahatu belt near Ranchi
• These languages are the everyday link between tribal and Sadan communities
• All of them carry a large body of oral song rather than only written text

Literary tradition

• Most tribal literature began as oral — song, story, riddle and myth
• Writing followed the creation of scripts and the spread of printing
• Nagpuri and Khortha have well developed modern poetry and song writing
• Missionary scholarship produced early grammars and dictionaries of Mundari and Kurukh
• S. C. Roy wrote the earliest systematic studies of these communities in English
• Modern writing in tribal languages focuses on identity, land and displacement

Oral forms you should be able to name

• Jhumar geet — the song form that goes with the Jhumar dance
• Karma geet — songs sung through the Karma night
• Tusu geet — songs of the Tusu festival, composed mainly by young women
• Domkach geet — wedding songs of the women of the household
• Paika and Danda songs — the martial and processional forms
• Riddles, proverbs and origin myths carry the rest of the oral tradition

Language policy in the state

• Several tribal and regional languages have been notified as second state languages
• This allows their use in state examinations and in official communication
• Textbooks and teaching material are being prepared in some of these languages
• Language recognition is a recurring political demand tied to identity