Significant social transformations in the Santal community of the Indian Subcontinent have become evident since the Church Missionary Society of England began the first organized missionary activities among the Santals of Damin-I-koh in 1860. Similarly, because of a continuous Christianization process, the distinct social structure of the Santal people in Bangladesh is now confronting existential threats. In addition to transforming an individual through experiences of a major life change that causes an initial identity crisis, religious conversion marks its imprints on society and culture as a whole. Relational, vertical, and cultural distances between the Sanatan (traditional-animistic or Hinduized) and the converted (Christian) Santals of Bangladesh symbolizes a disintegration of the age-old social solidarity. A close inspection reveals the subtle existence of segregation and avoidance between these subgroups.
On another note, the nature of the relationship between the dominant Bengali Muslims and the Indigenous Santals takes a new turn when the latter convert into Christian faith. Considering a religious point of view, the Bengalis keep a distant relationship with the animistic or polytheistic Sanatan Santals, whereas they are more willing to mix with the converted section because they both share monotheistic beliefs. Consequently, the Sanatan Santals are more discriminated by the Bengalis in everyday life than their Christian counterparts are. Drawing on the above narratives, this paper studies how the converted Santals are treated by their non-Christian neighbours, both indigenous and mainstream. For this study, field-level data were collected from a Santal settlement in northern Bangladesh by employing a cross-sectional qualitative research design. It finds that the Santals’ conversion into Christian faith creates, for them, both advantages and disadvantages in the social milieu. This study, thus, unfolds how religious categorization acts as driver of social transformations in ethnic communities in Bangladesh, a question which is hitherto under-investigated.
