Aims and objectives
Written practices in Santali were initiated by Christian missionaries in Eastern India during early 19th century in the form of printed periodicals. These are significant resources to trace the transformation from oral to written cultures and the interconnection between indigenous religion and Christianity. The project aims to digitise and preserve these rare and endangered periodicals which provide primary research materials for scholars engaging with linguistics, folklore, folk songs and specific cultural forms. Also, the project aims at locating rare manuscripts of Sadhu Ramchand Murmu and Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who have had widespread contributions in invention of Santali Ol-Chiki script.
Outcomes
The records copied by this project have been catalogued as:
- EAP1300/1 Private collection of Dablu Soren (1931-1986)
- EAP1300/2 Private collection of Raban Chandra Baskey (1968-1982)
- EAP1300/3 Private collection of Sushil Baskey (1968-1973)
- EAP1300/4 Private collection of Mahadeb Hansda (1958-1982)
- EAP1300/5 Private collection of Purna Chandra Soren (1940-1984)
Due to the cyber-attack on the British Library in October 2023, the archives and manuscripts database is currently inaccessible and we are unable to provide links to the catalogue records for this project.
