1. Raghunath Murmu was an Indian Santali writer and educator.
26 Facts About Raghunath Murmu
1. 2.
Raghunath Murmu developed the Ol Chiki script for Santali language.
3.
Raghunath Murmu wrote many songs, plays and school text books in the Ol Chiki script.
4.
Raghunath Murmu was born on the day of Baisakhi Purnima, 1905 in the Dandbose village of Mayurbhanj State, India.
5.
Raghunath Murmu is the son of Nandlal Murmu and Salma Murmu.
6.
Raghunath Murmu started wondering why was the school not operating in the language in which he spoke, Santali.
7.
Raghunath Murmu's father then told him that Santali does not have any written script, as it is an oral language.
8.
Raghunath Murmu started to stay there with some other boys.
9.
Raghunath Murmu used to play alone in soil, drawing different shapes on earth, writing alphabets.
10.
Raghunath Murmu was sent to Baripada for further study.
11.
Raghunath Murmu escaped to his wife's native village Jamjora and stayed hidden.
12.
Raghunath Murmu continued his work of developing Santali literature using Ol Chiki script during that time.
13.
Raghunath Murmu was an ardent supporter of this Jharkhand Movement.
14.
Raghunath Murmu left Baripada and went to Karandih Sarjom Tola village.
15.
Raghunath Murmu stayed there in a rented house and started working for the Tata Steel in Jamshedpur.
16.
Raghunath Murmu used to teach villagers how to read and write the Ol Chiki alphabet, during his travel to many places.
17.
Raghunath Murmu wrote different books Parsi Poha, Parsi Itun, Ranarh, Alkha, Ol Chemed etc for learning Ol Chiki.
18.
Raghunath Murmu went to his native village to spend the final years of his life.
19.
Raghunath Murmu traveled all his life to spread the use of Ol Chiki script, while his mother-in-law took care of his family and home.
20.
Raghunath Murmu used to say our literature can not progress without Ol Chiki.
21.
Raghunath Murmu visited many Santali-dominated places in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, and Odisha and taught people about the use of Ol Chiki alphabet in phonetics through his songs.
22.
Raghunath Murmu started a non-political organization named Adivasi Cultural Association in 1953, which subsequently renamed to Adivasi Socio-Educational and Cultural Association to accommodate other tribals.
23.
Raghunath Murmu wrote more than 150 plays, short stories, novels and poems in Ol Chiki script.
24.
Raghunath Murmu got many awards for his path-breaking work in Santali literature and script.
25.
Raghunath Murmu actually gave the identity to his own Kherwal community via Ol Chiki script.
26.
Raghunath Murmu has not only given a new identity to the Santali society but has laid an inspiration for other societies to create their own script.