International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Bongaism: Reconsidering Santal Cosmology Beyond Animism and Totemism

This article examines the Santal, an Indigenous community in India, understanding of bonga, i.e., supernatural being, and explores how Santal cosmology cannot be fully explained through universal religious theories such as animism and totemism. Drawing upon long-term ethnographic engagement with the Santal community in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal between 2020 and 2025, the study analyses how Santal religious, spiritual and cosmological understandings are formed and transmitted through rituals, oral narratives, festivals, sacred spaces, agricultural practices, and everyday interactions with the natural world. The article combines ritual observation, oral narratives, textual analysis, and ethnographic reflections to examine the relational and performative dimensions of Santal cosmology. While theories such as animism and totemism provide important insights into spirit beliefs, clan relations, and sacred associations with natural entities, they remain insufficient to explain the complexity of Santal understandings of bonga. The study demonstrates that the Santal concept of deity differs significantly from idol-centred religious frameworks, as the adi bonga are generally perceived as omnipresent, formless, and deeply connected to sacred landscapes, ritual practices, and collective life. In this context, the article argues that “bongaism” may provide a more culturally grounded framework for understanding the relational, ecological, and performative dimensions of Santal spirituality and cosmology. Keywords: bongaism; Santal cosmology; animism; totemism; Santal ritual practices, embodied knowledge