what is diku

             Diku

1-Diku is a term with a derogatory meaning to it .term diku has been applied by santals to group of oppressors such as money lenders,rajas,land owners and land lord servants.the term diku is also used in a more neutral general sense to designate any non-autochthon such as hindus ,muslims,europeans or any foriegner.

2-The concept of diku relates to the different categories ;the marang diku(big foriegners),allides the upper castes who are seen as oppressive while the harin diku(small foriegners)labels groups who share the same socio-economic conditions than the santhals.

3-Diku: word used by the munda and santal tribals of bihar during the british  period meaning  intruder. Alien. Exploiter  (of the tribe), landlord, moneylender, trader, shopkeeper. In the narrow sense,‘hindu’.

4-The term diku "foreigner" is also found among the munda speaking

Trbes. The expression diku-n means "to settle on somebody's land by

Force" and alludes to the hindus who robbed the santals of their lands.during the british times. V. Hoffman (1950) gives the following meaning.the term diku "hindu", a hindu landlord. P.o. Bodding (1934) translates Diku as "a hindu or bengali of the better clan, not a law-caste hindu":"dom, bauri, hadi, muslim are not called diku".

5-A diku is therefore one who does not belong to the group. The term

Refers to an outsider but it has a welter of associations. The term was used widely during the santal revolt of 1917 in mayurbhanj and earlier during the santal rebellion of 1855.

6- Sinha, sen and panchbhai (1969) came to the conclusion that the term was used to refer to the non-tribal in general.moreover, the low-caste hindu like the chamar (leather-workers), the teli (dealers in oil), tanti (weavers), kumhar (potters), are generally not looked upon as diku by the uneducated santals with pejorative connotation: for example, it is generally thought that diku are looters, and trouble-makers (sigid ko menakoa).

7-The diku is thus the indifferent or hostile outsider who is to be driven away. The feeling of solidarty of the group has been reinforced by the diku concept, but this does not mean that the diku concept coincides with the notion of remoteness.

8-The diku concept has paricularly been used on occasions where the group has been theatened. The pejorative stereotype of diku has been emphasized at such times but the stereotype is always reinterpreted. For example, when more recently in the 1970 the santals were engaged in forcible haresting with their low-caste neighbours, they elaborated another dichotomy: the maran diku, "hostile,

High-status foreigner", and the hurin diku, "small law-status foreigner",

People sharng the same economic level of life...