Hembrom Pari
Santhal
At a glance
- Called a
- Pari
- Community
- Santhal
- Found in
- Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam
About
Hembrom, also written Hembram, is one of the twelve paris, the totemic clans of the Santhal, and one of the seven senior paris. Its totem is the betel palm or betel nut, and in the old accounts the Hembrom were the nobility of Champa. The Santhal are a Scheduled Tribe with their own religion, Sarna dharam. A pari is not a gotra, and the Santhal are not described here as a Hindu caste.
What “Pari” means for the Santhal
A pari (plural paris) is one of the twelve totemic clans of the Santhal. Each has a totem, a Santhal does not marry within their own pari, and the pari name is carried today as the surname.
Every pari of the Santal, with how the clan system works: the Santal page.
Name and Origin
The guru Kolean, whose account of Santhal tradition Skrefsrud recorded in 1871, names Hembrom fourth of the seven paris formed at Sasan Beda, and Risley's 1891 list has the same place. Risley gives the betel palm as the totem and Sarma and Mukherjee (2019) the betel nut; they add the belief that the first Hembrom ancestor was born with a string of betel nuts round his waist or, in another telling, under a betel-nut tree. Banglapedia also gives betel nut. Bonnerjea (1930) writes betel palm but names the plant Piper betle, the betel-leaf vine, so the books are not exact about which plant is meant.
Historical Journey
In Kolean's account the Khairi fort in Champa belonged to the Hembrom, and Risley's pass-words for the pari are Kunda, Khairigarh and Jalaghatia. Kolean says the Hembrom were the nobility. Other traditions noted by Bodding call them kuar, princes, and he adds that some Hembrom families had come to style themselves Koomar from this word. Sarma and Mukherjee count the Hembrom fourth in rank, while the 2018 list of Lea Schulte-Droesch places them sixth of the seven senior paris. These are traditions about rank, not rules of present-day life. Bonnerjea (1930) counts 15 Hembrom sub-clans. Risley's glossary also lists a Hemrom clan among the Birhor of Chota Nagpur, with a kind of fish as its totem; this page is about the Santhal pari.
Migration and Diaspora
Kolean's account follows the ancestors from Hihiri Pipiri to Sasan Beda, where the paris were formed, then through Jarpi to Chae and Champa, and from there east to the present Santhal country. Today Hembrom families live wherever Santhals live: mainly in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar, with communities in Assam, Bangladesh and Nepal.
How the Pari Is Kept
No Hembrom marries a Hembrom, and a man does not marry into his mother's sub-clan (Risley, 1891). Sarma and Mukherjee tell of an old bar between the upper heaven, the Hembrom, and the upper earth, the Soren, and write that such restrictions are no longer followed. Sub-clans named by Risley include Gua (areca nut), Dantela (said to be named for breeding pigs with large tusks for sacrifice), Laher, Kumar, Naiki-Khil, Roh-Lutur and Uh, besides Nij and Sada. Sarma and Mukherjee say the Sole Hembrom do not eat eels, because an eel is believed to have saved their ancestor as he crossed a flooded river. Members avoid harming the totem. Kolean's account says each pari has its own abge bonga and house bonga, that they differ even within a pari, and that their names are passed from father to eldest son and not told to others; they are not named here, and no kuldevi or kuldevta is given for the pari.
Stories and Legends
Born with betel nuts
Sarma and Mukherjee record the Hembrom belief that their first ancestor came into the world with a string of betel nuts tied round his waist. Others say he was born under a betel-nut tree, which they describe as hard and solid. Either way the betel became the pari's totem, and the Gua (areca nut) sub-clan that Risley lists carries the same plant in its name.