SANTAL PARGANAS, THE, a district of British India, in the Bhagalpur division of Behar and Orissa. Area 5,458 sq.m. Pop. (1931) 2,051,472.
In the east a sharply defined belt of hills stretches for about oo m. ; west of this a rolling tract of long ridges with interven ing depressions covers about 2,500 sq.m. ; while there is a narrow strip of alluvial country about 120 m. long, lying for the most part along the loop line of the East Indian railway. The principal range is that of the Rajmahal hills which cover about 2,000 sq.m. ; they nowhere exceed 2,000 ft. The alluvial tract has the damp heat and moist soil characteristic of Bengal, while the un dulating and hilly portions are swept by the hot westerly winds of Behar, and are very cool in the winter months. Coal is worked in the small Jaintia field, which produced 1 o6,000 tons in 1921. Shellac is manufactured; Pakaur is the chief centre of the industry. The early history of British administration is a record of the measures taken to pacify and civilize the Paharias of the Raj mahal hills, who under Mohammedan rule had been turbulent robbers and marauders. The Santals, who give their name to the district and now number 754,804, began to migrate there from Chota Nagpur and the adjoining districts towards the close of the 18th century. Permission to settle in the valleys and on
the lower slopes stimulated immigration to an enormous extent. The oppression of landlords, the exactions of Hindu money-lenders and the consequent loss of land caused a rebellion (the Santal War) in 1855-56. The insurrection led to the establishment of a form of administration congenial to the immigrants; and a land settlement has since been carried out on conditions favourable to the occupants of the soil. The Daman-i-Koh, meaning "the skirts of the hills," which is a Government estate of 1,356 sq.m., is treated as a reserve for them and other aboriginals, such as the Paharias. The district is traversed by both the chord and loop lines of the East Indian railway. It contains the old Moham medan city of Rajmahal and the modern commercial mart of Sahibganj (pop. 15,883), both on the Ganges; and also the Hindu place of pilgrimage of Deoghar (pop. 14,217). The administrative headquarters are at Dumka, or Naya Dumka: pop. (1931) 9,471.