Language:

Gregory D.S. Anderson writes that the Munda languages are a group of Austroasiatic languages spoken across portions of central and eastern India by perhaps as many as ten million people. The Munda peoples are generally believed to represent the autochthonous populations over much of their current areas of inhabitation. Originally, Munda-speaking peoples probably extended over a somewhat larger area before being marginalised into the relatively remote hill country and (formerly) forested regions primarily in the states of Orissa and the newly constituted Jharkhand; significant Munda-speaking groups are also to be found in Madhya Pradesh, and throughout remote areas of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Interestingly, the pre-history of the Munda languages remains obscure. Munda languages constitute the westernmost representatives of the far-flung Austroasiatic linguistic phylum. Two other Austroasiatic groups are found in the present-day territory of India: the Khasi of Meghalaya and the Nicobarese-speaking groups of the Nicobar Islands. The different subgroups of Austroasiatic are all found outside of India. Despite being spoken in a country with a written tradition over two millennia, the Munda languages remained obscured until the middle of the nineteenth century. Throughout the twentieth century, with a few notable exceptions, the minor Munda languages were quietly disappearing while the intellectual community (both in India and abroad) showed no concern. Christian missionaries have provided us with many early works on the Munda languages. One of the most significant contributions was the first volume of Archibald Campbell’s Santal Dictionary, published around 1899.

In the twentieth century, momentum picked up, and we can see a relative boom in Munda linguistics; for example, the second and third parts of Campbell’s dictionary appeared between 1900 and 1903. P. Bodding’s Santal materials were highlights of the 1910s and 1920s, as well as the ethnographically interesting ‘Tea District’ handbooks, with their bizarre phrase-book qualities that were produced for Sora, Kharia, and Mundari, in the wake of an increasing Munda-speaking migrant labour force mobilised to work in the tea plantations of Assam and Darjeeling. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed another boom in Munda linguistics. Norman Zide, the pre-eminent Western scholar in the field of the emergent discipline of Munda linguistics, led a group of linguists under the patronage of the University of Chicago in the Munda region and did brilliant ethnographic surveys which gave rise to many dissertations and more minor works in this period on the Munda language. Most Munda languages remain unwritten or have only fledgling literary varieties. Given the pressure to have a script of one’s own to be considered a ‘real’ language prevalent in South Asia. Unsurprisingly, three or four Munda languages have indigenous script traditions in the twentieth century.

The stream of Munda language we are interested in is primarily Mundari. Mundari is mainly spoken in Jharkhand, which the Government of India recently established on 15 November 2000, and in the adjoining states of Orissa and West Bengal. Gregory Anderson writes that Mundari belongs to the Kherwarian group of the North Munda branch. According to the Census of India 1991, the number of speakers of Mundari is 861,378. The Mundari language generally has four dialects: Hasa-Da, Naguri, Tamaria, and Kera. The Hasada dialect is considered the standard variety among Munda peoples. Hasada speakers are located on the eastern side of Ranchi–Chaibasa Road, while Naguri speakers are situated on the western side. The Tamaria dialect is distributed in the Panchpargana area. Further, Kera is mainly spoken by the inhabitants of Ranchi city and the adjacent area, who ethnically belong to the Oraon tribe.

Munda Society and Village Structure:

Kinship and family structures in Munda society were organised around clans (kuls), strongly emphasising communal ties and collective responsibility. The Munda tribe is divided into many exogamous groups called ‘kilis.’ Robert Parkhin, in his work, claims that two Munda tribes were organised into states in Chotanagpur up to the coming of the British. One of these was the Ho/Mundari kingdom of Chotanagpur, said to have been founded sometime between the sixth and tenth centuries and lasting as a political entity until 1839. Its Maharaja was initially elected among the federation headmen. The kingdom fell increasingly under Hindu influence because of Mughal expansion into the area in the seventeenth century, the now Hinduized Maharaja bringing in many Hindu officials, soldiers, and landlords; this influx increased between the start of British rule in 1770 and about 1810. All the settled Munda groups have a similar village constitution with, at the minimum, a council, headman, and priest. The land registers are made out on a village basis, and the Munda allocates spare land in consultation with village household heads. The clan validates khuntkatti or bhuinhari holdings in the village in that Mundas who do not belong to the dominant clan cannot be khuntkattidar or bhuinhar in that village. Still, villagers have the final say in incorporating outsiders into the town, whether as raiyat of the khuntkattidar or as caste specialists.

In her unpublished doctoral thesis from SOAS, London, Hillary Standing has taken an interesting approach to understanding the Munda territory of the Chotanagpur Plateau. In her work on the Mundas, in 1976, she divided the Munda territory in the Chotanagpur region into two parts, demarcating two cultural zones. To the west is the old estate of the Maharaja and his dependent zamindars, known as the Naguri areas, and to the east is the later settled and surveyed area known as Hasada, where all the khuntkatti land is found. Standing further writes that the Sukuhatu village consists of a compact cluster of 138 households and a small tola, Jojodih, half a mile from the two main settlements comprised of 13 households. In Sukuhatu the Pandu clan, or kili, is coterminous with the village, and hence both are exogamous. Sukuhatu is, however, part of a wider clan area consisting of seven villages (maujha), which share the tradition of a common ancestor from whom the seven brothers who founded the villages are descended. There is also evidence of individuals changing their kili over a while. Four of five raiyat households bear the name of Has, the kili of the other six villages. They came at the invitation of khuntkattidar, who could not cultivate all their lands and all leased land from the Munda hunt, the richest of the four. They pay a fixed rent directly to the khuntkattidar, and except for the restriction of burial place, there is no social discrimination between khuntkattidar and raiyat. Sukuhatu and the six villages of the Has kili form one patti. The use of the word patti instead of parha is because these groups of villages paid an aggregate rent to the overlord while retaining full khuntkatti rights. Patti comes from the Hindi word patta, meaning 'lease';

Service castes in Munda villages may be categorised according to whether they depend on Munda, Hindu, or both patronages. In Sukuhatu, the two blacksmith families and the four Ghasi households fall into the first category. They were asked to settle in the village and were given a house site and a vegetable garden. The Ghasis, who are all from the same family but are divided into four households for cooking purposes, came from Baruhatu, about four miles away, about fifty years ago. They were invited by the munda and were given a house site in return for providing musical services and a village watchman, or bhandari, whose job it is to announce meetings or government notices. Ghasis, according to Standing, are primarily familiar with Hindu idioms and can speak both Mundari and Hindi. Hitesranjan Sanyal, in his seminal work, talked about this kind of social mobility where a ‘jati – asmita’ is taking a structure. The Ghasis stand midway between these two categories. This reflects their ambivalent position in a dual hierarchy of Hindus and Mundas, where there is a position of syncretism.

The structure of the Kadu village is mostly the same, though Kadu has two distinct caste systems because of the substantial Hindu population in the area. At the 99. head of the Hindu hierarchy are the two Brahmin families who live, slightly segregated, on the main road at the opposite end from the Munda tola. Ahirs (cowherds) and Sawasis (weavers) comprise a small proportion of the Hindu population—one tola of Telis (oil pressers) and one of Bhagtas (rice pounders). The agricultural Majhi caste predominates, pressing sugar cane with a recently purchased machine. The service castes work for others in a jajmani-type arrangement, but they will work for the Mundas if paid individually. One Munda who grows sugar cane has it pressed by the Majhis. However, the Mundas perform most of the services provided by Ahirs, Telis, etc.. Every Munda village has one or two oil presses for common use. This lack of interdependence is reflected in commensality; none of the Hindu castes will take food from or eat with the Mundas, and they, in turn, will not eat with or take food from the Hindus of any caste.

Robert Parkhin, in his seminal work, writes that all the settled Munda groups have a similar village constitution with, at the minimum, a council, headman, and priest. Although the village councils are generally referred to as panchayats by most writers, this is not necessarily the indigenous name. The Santali term kulhi durup means 'sitting in the village street'. It seems to refer to the actual meeting of the village assembly, itself called more hor, literally 'five persons.' Mundari hatu panch means 'village panch', like the term grampanchayat (though the latter is a government-sponsored assembly for a whole group of villages found all over India, not just in these areas.) The Juang barobhayki means 'twelve brothers' and meets in the men's house or majang, the ritual focus of the village, for judicial cases are heard there. The Gadaba assembly is called char jono, literally 'four men', one from each agnatically defined kuda or quarter within the village. The traditional assemblies generally consisted of at least the village officials and the male heads of households. However, whether others may attend, speak or vote varies from one Munda region to another.

The Munda population is spread enormously across the Indian landmass and somewhat beyond that. A small window to the Munda population in Bangladesh would be an interesting category to look at. The Munda people travelled to Bangladesh about 220 years ago from Ranchi, Jharkhand's capital, and have been here ever since. They are found in Koyra, Debhata, and Tala, mainly near the Sundarbans in the Shyamnagor Upazila, which lies around 350 kilometres away from Dhaka. The mundas do not have historical records of the arrival of these people to southwest Bangladesh. According to oral tradition the arrival of the Mundas to these Southern regions can be divided into four situations. They were employed as ‘Lathials’ or ‘guards’ in the Royall household in the British period. When the Indigo plantation was started in this part of the country, the planters brought them to work in their fields. When at the closing of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the Zamindari system was introduced, and landlords got leases of large lots of land in the Sundarbans Forest, the Munda were brought to clear the jungle and establish agriculture in those cleared lands. The Mundas were agricultural labourers but brave, more potent and clearing jungle specialists in throwing obeisance. The physical power and diverse experience pay attention to the British Government. And so, they displaced the Sundarbans. The Munda living near the Sundarban forest are the descendants of the Mundas who arrived to clean the jungle and obtain cultivable land. The Mundas take this type of Bengali settlement in their areas as a threat to their cultural wholeness and excessive pressure on their environmental habitation.

There are three large groups of the Mundas:

1. The Compact

2. The Kharia

3. The Mankin

The groups living in the Sundarbans region of Bangladesh belong to the Compat tribe

and are grouped in various chains.

Religion:

In his work, Babu Sarat Chandra Roy depicts the Mundas as worshippers of male violent deities whose business is to bring drought, disease, and death. They have no religious books; all the Mundas' religious beliefs and practices have been handed down by oral tradition. The political scenario of Chotanagpur was vibrating under the impact of the Kol revolt of 1831-32 AD, when J.B. Hoffmann joined the "West Bengal Mission" at Calcutta, his superiors inspired him to study Mundari work amongst the Mundas and learn their religious system. Hoffman writes that a careful study of their religious beliefs and practices shows that the Mundas believe in a Supreme Deity called Singbonga and whose blessings they invoke before every critical ceremony. The priest or Pahan begins with the address:

Netalang Singbonga, He Sirmaren Singbonga Daibiraja,

toalekam turtana, dailekam hasurtana,

dirileka kuramtema parangleka suputema.

[O' Singbonga thou art on high, divine king,

thou risest pure white as milk and settest creamy white as curds

thou hast a chest as hard as stone (thou art eternal)

thou hast arms as thick and strong as a parang load

(thou art all-powerful)]

These praises also mean this deity existed before the sun and the earth. He has made the sun and the dry land. The Mundas think of him as the creator of the universe. Sarat Chandra Roy also writes that Sing Bonga, or the Supreme Deity, has no specific worship but is reverentially

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remembered by the Munda when, before every meal, he puts down a few grains of rice from his plate on the ground. However, Sing Bonga is specially invoked in severe general calamities, and a white fowl is sacrificed for Him. The second class of gods are the presiding deities of the village—the ‘Hatu Bongako’ (village gods), such as the Desauh Ronga, the Jaher Buri, and the Chandra Botiga. These gods aid the Mundas in their agricultural operations and hunting excursions, guide them in every concern of life, and order every human event. They are worshipped by the Pahan or village priest at stated times in the sacred groves of each village. The third class of gods are the gods of the household--the Ora Bongako (house-gods)—the spirits of the deceased ancestors of each Munda family. The head of every Munda family worships these household deities in the ‘ading’ or sacred tabernacle of his house. Their blessings are invoked at every social ceremony and religious festival. The last two classes of deities—the village and household gods- are the 'manating bongas’ of the Mundas —the gods who must be worshipped.

At all village rituals, the pahan, the hereditary village priest of the founding local lineage, is expected to provide food for a communal feast. Because of this obligation, he is usually a wealthy village member with a hereditary right to extra land in many villages. The community rituals performed by the pahan recreate the ideal order of things in their careful prescription of the 'correct' time for collective activities, such as sowing and food gathering. They also symbolise the moral order based on the laws laid down by Singbonga and the ancestors as to the correct behaviour and way of doing things.

As mentioned above, the Mundas worship many malevolent deities, including the Churins, the Muas, the Apsans, the Hankar Bongas, and the Nasan Bongas. According to Sarat Chandra Roy, these spirits are believed to be the earth-bound spirits of persons who died a violent or unnatural death. The propitiation of this class of spirits is the duty — not of the Munda house-holder nor the Munda village priest or Pahan — but of the ghost-finders— the Najos, Matis, and Deonras, who are not infrequently non-Mundaris by race. Occasionally, the earth-bound spirit of a deceased family member haunts his old fields and may do some mischief and has, in such a case, to be propitiated by sacrifices. But such a spirit forms no part of the regular Munda pantheon. There is still a fourth class of spiritual entities recognised by the Mundas. These are the elemental spirits of Nature, such as the Buru Bonga, the Ikir Bonga, and the Nage Era. These stand midway between the beneficent deities (the ‘Manita Bongas’) and the malevolent spirits (the ‘Banita Bongas’) and -ate powerful for good and evil alike. Their ordinary function, indeed, is to do good, — but when an individual Munda or a family or a village offend them, these spirits are roused to mischievous activity and have then to be propitiated by a Najo.

There are many Hinduised Mundas, who warrant a separate discussion. We find a discussion on them, mainly from the region of Panch Parganas, who no longer joined their old national worship, in the work of Sarat Chandra Roy. He writes that in most cases, however, they have not yet dispensed with the office of the village Pahari, who still offers the customary sacrifices to the village gods. The influence of the village gods — the Hatu Bongako or Gaon Deotas - on the village's well-being is never questioned. Mahadeo is a favourite god with these Hinduized Mundas, and curiously enough, animal sacrifices are offered by these Hinduized Mundas to this ‘Lord of ascetics.’ Devi Mai (Sakti) also receives homage and worship. Md Shaiful Huda, while writing about the Mundas from the Sundarban region of Bangladesh, mentions that they often worship the Hindu deity of Bon Bibi, which has a tremendous local significance. They traditionally practice many other rituals (Puja) such as Mage Puja, Karam Puja, Shoshi Puja, Sharul Puja, Gohil Puja, Pahari Puja, Valua Puja, Kali Puja (they arrange used by the conventional Hindu Kali Puja), Hari Puja, Durga Puja, Murgi Puja, Natun Khay Puja, Marriage Puja, Shama Puja, Shaol Puja. Purahit (religious leader/ Pahan) of their community leads the Puja (ritual). Besides, the Munda remember Gazi Peer, Banbibi, Gazi Kalu, Champaboti and Dhakhina Ray. In the many rituals and festivals, they only practice a few traditions and festivals, such as Sarul Puja, Pahari/Dangri Kharam Puja, Karam Puja, Sohrai Puja, Gram Sara Puja/Gram, Natun Khaoa Puja, Valua/Velva Puja.

Sarat Chandra Roy also speaks of another religion prevalent among the Mundas, Bhirsa Munda Dharam. Birsa Munda of Chalkad was the founder and prophet of this religion, a mixture of Hinduism and Christianity. The central doctrines of this ‘Birsa Dharam’ are that there is one only God, that Birsa is His incarnation on earth, and that purity of character and habits are the essential things demanded of man by God. A Birsaite must wear the sacred thread (janeu), abstain from animal food, shall not sit down to dinner in the same row with non-Birsaites, must not work on Thursdays (the day of Birsa ’s birth), nor cut down trees on Tuesdays. The number of Mundis professing this faith is comparatively tiny.

Marriage:

While discussing the importance of marriage among various Munda groups in his work, Sarat Chandra Roy writes that only after marriage that a Kharia is a full-fledged member of the tribe.’ Similarly, 'it is not until he is married that a Birhor is considered to become a full member of his dan', and only marriage makes a Korwa a full adult, giving males the right to sit in the panch. '... the Hos regard men and women who are unwed as socially fewer effective members of the community, and among the Korku, it is a marriage which enables one's jiva (soul substance) to return to Bhagwan. In these respects, marriage seems to be more important than any specific puberty or initiation rite, which is often absent altogether. Understandably, marriage plays an essential role in the social and political life of the Munda tribes.

Among many Munda tribes, despite the importance of marriage, couples live together without ceremony, often for financial reasons, as among the Ho, where bride price payments are exceptionally high. Elsewhere, expectations may be stricter. Pregnancy may lead to immediate pressure to marry, and the Asur and Korku expect couples to be married before their children marry. Robert Parkhin, in his book, writes about seven forms principal forms of marriage which are identifiable among Munda groups, namely regular, exchange, elopement, capture and intrusion marriages, widow remarriage and ghar-jawae marriage, though not all of these are universally found (or reported). In contrast, others are recorded for one or two tribes alone. Sarat Chandra Roy writes that usually, for the Mundas of the Ranchi district, the marriage process begins with The Chenre-uri. It implies that when a Munda father has a suitable bride in view for his son, he sends a go-between called a ‘Dutam’ to the girl's guardian. If the girl’s guardian considers the proposed match desirable, he names a day for chenre-uri. On the appointed day, the Dutam and the guardian of the proposed bridegroom with two or three relatives, and, if so requested by the girl’s guardian, with the proposed bridegroom too, start for the girl’s village. On the way, the party marks every omen, good or bad. If the party comes across any bad omen on the way, they return home, and the negotiations fall through. If, fortunately, no bad omen is encountered, the party proceeds to the intended bride's house. On their arrival, one or more mats are spread out on the angan or courtyard of the house. After the party take their seats on these mats, the boy's Dutam relates to the Dutam on the girl’s side, what omens were noticed on the way. If the latter declares these omens favourable or, at any rate, not unfavourable, he proceeds to take charge of the sticks and umbrellas of the boy’s party. Then, rice beers are distributed among the gathering, and a similar event is scheduled from the bride’s end. On a designated day, an entourage with the bride treks to the groom’s house, considering and evaluating all the omens on the way. After the success of these gatherings, they move on to the subsequent preliminary step called the Bala. In this event, they finalise the arrangement, and once the bride is selected, she is blessed with a new piece of cloth and a bead necklace. Then follows the betrothal feast, after which the bridegroom’s guardian and his party are anointed with oil mixed with pounded turmeric and presented with the hind part of each goat killed at the feast.

But whatever the form — however elaborate or simple, expensive, or cheap — a certain ritual minimum is frequently required. J Hermanns identifies the following among the Korku (which can also be said the standardised process of marriage among the Mundas, mostly):

1. bathing and clothing the couple and rubbing in haldi; 

2. handing over the bride to the bridegroom; 

3. their common reciprocal, ritual feeding; 

4. recognition of the marriage by the community, and through it, admission of the bride within it; 

5. recognition of the marriage and admission of the bride into the clan by the ancestors through the couple's offerings to them.

Economy and Profession:

Robert Parkhin, writes that today, most Munda tribes live by cultivation of some sort, much of it swiddening (shifting or slash-and-bum cultivation). There is also much-irrigated cultivation, especially in the more Hinduized groups. Some groups have alternative or additional occupations: some are semi-nomadic hunters and gathers, while others have acquired a specialist occupation, often as part of an attempt to enter the caste system. Sarat Chandra Roy, speaks about three principal varieties of soil in the regions habituated by the Mundas, pankua or alluvial soil primarily found in the Paanch Parganas, Nagra soil, a kind of black sticky soil, Khirsi, which has an equal proportion of clay and sand, Ruguri, Bala and Lal Matia (danr land.) The staple food crop is rice, which is grown both on ‘don’ and on ‘danr’ lands. The general name for upland rice is ‘gora’ (goda baba), which is reaped in August and September and includes several coarse rice varieties. Irrigated land is more likely to be owned outright by a particular family due to its permanence and the extra labour involved in building terraces and irrigation ditches— generally a result of individual or family initiative rather than a communal enterprise. Fruit trees are also regarded as private property, mainly if they have been planted deliberately. Still, otherwise, the products of the forest are, as far as the tribals themselves are concerned, open to all (today, of course, access to the forest is very much restricted by the government's forest laws). The village may control other economic activities, as well as swiddening.

Some of the hunting and gathering activity performed by the Mundas is 'regressive', for although the government has tried to restrict it through the forest laws, it has also attempted to discourage swidden cultivation in favour of irrigated cultivation and has not always received the response intended. Today, the dependence on the forest for economic resources is almost negligible, owing to strict forest laws and forest depletion. Some Munda groups have taken up a specialist occupation or craft, which can sometimes be associated with attempts to enter the caste system. However, in others, the motive appears purely economic: it is doubtful whether the Birhor tradition of rope-making can relate to attempts to rise in status, for instance. More significant in this respect may be the artisan speciality of the Asur, who were traditionally iron-workers, though today they are primarily cultivators or basket-makers; the Karmali, supposedly an outcasted group of Santal, also arc iron-workers.Some other groups are basket-makers, like the Gataq, the Juang of Pal Lahera, some Korwa (see above) and the Mahali, another Santal outcaste group; the latter are bamboo workers, palanquin-bearers and drummers. All these occupations are regarded as degrading not only by the upper castes but also by the Santal, one possible reason for the exclusion of the Mahali and Karmali from them. The Kora's traditional occupation is as earth-workers, diggers of ditches, etc. The Kharia were supposedly palanquin-bearers, though this interpretation may reflect a false etymology for their name. The Gadaba also have this tradition. Many tribals have also entered the modem Indian economy, for which there is considerable scope in Chotanagpur, now a heavily industrialized region often called 'India's Ruhr'. Many Santal work in the steel plants and coal mines of the area, usually in low-grade jobs. They live in the bustees that are located just outside most industrial cities such as Jamshedpur but return to their villages on important occasions such as marriages, etc. Usually, they prefer to remain non-unionized rather than join the recognized trade unions, which they regard as Hindu-dominated and ineffectual. Although most Ho are agriculturists, some are also miners and yet others (as with many tribes) work as day-labourers for local Hindu landowners. Other tribals work in the tea plantations of the north-east, something of a traditional escape for those involved in domestic difficulties at home. Finally, even agricultural groups may find it more profitable to market the food they grow instead of consuming it themselves: Izikowitz reports that some Gadaba trade most of the rice they grow and live on finger millet instead.

Food:

The foods of the Mundas are varied and interesting. Different types of fish were on their diet. As a separate tribe, the Mundas are fond of Rat meat (they call mete horn), Snails (they call Rhonda), Crabs, Pigs, wild Cats and Civet and dead animals due to injuries (like Hen), etc. They did not know how to cook and eat these things at one time. The Mundas do not eat beef because of their religious tradition. But it has economic significance for their family's existence. Tari / Haria (local wine made by the community)’ is necessary for drinking adult festival members. The Mundas are unsatisfied if they do not drink Haria when entertaining guests and worshipping. They remain unhappy. So, they want to beat them in all the work. There is no substitute for Haria Wine. The Mundas suffer from social discrimination due to this food intake. The Mundas boys and girls at school cannot mix with their classmates.

In an article on “TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS FOOD HABITS AND NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE TRIBAL COMMUNITY IN JHARKHAND, INDIA: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY,” Rajnish Kumar Singh and Sanjay Jamwal write that the weekly local informal marketplaces, or “Hatiya,” are within a five to ten-kilometre radius of the villages, and the Munda community often visits them. Most shop for cooking oil, spices, packaged groceries, freshly made sweets, and savoury foods at these neighbourhood markets. In addition, the community may find indigenous and non-indigenous pulses, fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, meat, and fish at the local markets (more on this in the following sections)". Pulses (Munmuna, "Baturi dal": Vicia hirsuta), horse gramme ("Kulthi": Macrotyloma uniflorum) and vegetables (Cowpea, white, "Simbi": Lablab purpureus) and roots and tubers (Pechki, "Toti": Colocasia esculenta, “Jat sanga": Dioscorea alata) are some of the indigenous food varieties available in local markets. In addition to the weekly markets, the families in all the study villages also get subsidised food commodities (such as sugar, salt, rice, etc.) via the government’s food security system, the Public Distribution System (PDS). The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) provides supplemental nutrition to children under six through Anganwadi centres, which are centres for maternal and child health and food, and the Mid Day Meal (MDM) programme, which schools run, provides cooked meals to students.

Games:

Sarat Chandra Roy writes that a wide variety of games have always been popular with Munda boys and girls. Conversion to Christianity, now on the increase, does not impair Munda’s love of sport. On the other hand, under the excellent guidance of European missionaries, Christian Munda boys have formed excellent hockey teams and are further developing their other national games and sports. He divided the Munda games into three parts: a) Athletic sports, b) Popular juvenile past, and c) Dramatic games. Among the athletic genre, a game called phodi was once very famous among the Mundas, which resembles modern-day hockey with some minor variations. Among the popular pastimes of the Munda cowherds and other lads are several games of touch, marbles, knuckle-bones, and backgammon like ‘chhur’, ‘Til-guti’, ‘kouri-inu’, ‘Dundu-khel.’ There is also another genre of interesting games which combine amusement with instruction, and are generally played in the evening. The Mundas have many games of this class, the most famous being the ‘kantara-kantara.’ Though with growing contact with more popular sports and its growing influence, one cannot comment with surety on the relevance of these games in the present time.