A Santali Village and Bamboo trees

A SANTALI VIALLAGE AND BAMBOO TREES

Generally a Santhal village would grow on the both side of a road and expand on both sides backwards.So its like a fishbone with the central rib as the road and the houses on each side of the roads.It is also generally accepted that family of the initial setters in the village will expand behind each house so there is horizontal expansion of the village. As Borhan Hansda (one of the few santali artist trained from Kala Bhavana) would put that originally a santali village would expand horizontally along side of a central road.

So there is no system of lanes, by lanes in the viallge, there will be narrow pathways between two houses or literally an open pathway that will run through the backyard of houses if one would like to get to houses behind the houses near the main road. According to Borhan the expansion of Santali community in a particular space has much similarity to the pattern of expansion of a bamboo tree.A bamboo tree once planted would expand horizontally on all sides. So in most of the santali villages, one will find numerous bamboo tree behind the main settlement area of a village. The other reason bamboo is very popular is because it is main structural tool of the traditional Santal house which will be made of clay ,mud,bamboo,wood and hay.Morover in a traditional santali village all the basic furnitures like the bed, the seating arrangements and other household structures will be made from bamboo.