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 Santal Perception of Sound

Santals classify sound into three categories: (a) sade (produced by different objects as a result of collision or stroke); (b) aran (created by human beings, or produced from musical instruments constituting the bases of its subdivision into the ror, and rar, respectively); and (c) rak (produced by animals, birds and insects) including sounds produced by human beings in pain.

From the Santal classification of sounds it is deduced, that they apparently make distinction between jiwet (living) and goc (dead) elements of nature. While this distinction applies to man and all other living beings (animals, birds and insects) the rhythmic sound remains exempted from it. The term aran, as mentioned, is used to refer to both – the human sound and the sound of the musical instruments. Again, the distinction between man and other living beings, specially birds, does not hold good. The painful cry of human beings and the call of the birds are both referred to as rak. It is evident that the various categories of sounds among the Santals are not exclusive but interconnected.

Sounds’ specially that of birds and animals, are transmitted through lullabies, sogoe (jokes), games, occasional discourses with members of younger generation, and songs sung on various festive occasions, Quite importantly, knowledge concerning sound is passed on from one generation to the next through conversations in daily life and through rituals and festivals. Furthermore, when the Santal boys go to forest for cere tuti (hunting of birds) they usually take with them younger ones who learn how to imitate the sound of birds and animals. On return from the forest, the hunted birds are displayed before the elder members of the village who gather there to mimic the sound and to name the hunt. For example, if the bird kok cere has been hunted, the children of the village are shown saying "kok, kok;kok", which is both its name and sound as well. The sound of birds and animals which correspond to their names are favourite repetition with children. Thus the Santals perpetuate the knowledge of and maintain the flow of information about different types of sounds.

Sounds, particularly that of birds and animals, perpetuate because of their multifarious functions in the society as (a) basis of classification of sound producing objects, (b) indicator of time and change in the seasonal cycle, (c) indicator of auspicious and inauspicious happening, (d) means of creating imagery of cosmic phenomenon, and (g) indicator of futurity.

Sounds guide Santal day-to-day activities. Certain sounds are treated as pointer to time and season, some are prophetic, while others are auspicious or inauspicious for them. Besides, on certain occasions, silence (absence of sound) has great significance, In all of these, it is found that the Santal perception of sounds, specially of birds and animals, is directly or indirectly related to aspects of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness in life contextualized in terms of time, place, direction, and object. The call of the cock, for instance between the time of evening meal and midnight is inauspicious; the call of curhin cere from the mound of white ants is good omen, the cock crows food omen but the same from the dead branch of a tree is considered a bad omen; the call of an oriole on the right hand is auspicious and on the left hand side is inauspicious. The normal call of the golden oriole is auspicious and its unusual call inauspicious.

Consideration of auspicious and inauspicious sounds of birds and animals seems to be based on the dichotomies of the eatable-noneatable, totemic-nototemic, sacrificial-nonsacrificial, polluting-nonpolluting and intelligent-unintellignet. There is only one bird whose sound is particularly auspicious; majority of the birds being either only inauspicious, or contextually both auspicious and inauspicious. Birds having inauspicious sounds are largely non-eatable, totemic, non-sacrificail, polluting and intelligent, the birds whose sound is considered both auspicious and inauspicious. The birds whoe sound is considered both auspicious and inauspicious are generally noneatable, nontotemic, nonsacrifical, nonpolluting and intelligent. Similarly, there is only one animal with auspicious sound; majority of the animals are inauspicious. The animals whose sound is considered inauspicious are by rule noneatable, nontotemic, nonsacrificial, nonpolluting and intelligent.

This points to the Santal perceptual differnetiation of sound with regard to birds and animals of their environment.

Onkar Prasad

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