The history and existence of Santal in India predate that of the Aryans, Dravidians, and Mongolians. The Santal is the largest homogeneous tribe of India and are proto-Astraloid by origin with an Astro-Asiatic language. The Santal are nomadic people with extensive migration history to different parts of the country. They have inhabited in Central India's dense forests and hills for generations away from mainstream society. The rigid caste system of Indian society and the oppressive colonialism restrained them from any cultural exchange and interaction with civil society. The socio-politico-cultural structure became a major barrier for the community and their culture remained unrecognized, their language remained unknown and the Santali discourse remained unexplored. Due to their close associations with flora and fauna of respective geographical locations, their cultural and linguistic stake remained out from the research domains of the historians and scholars. The history of civilization has not traced the growth and existence of the tribe in comparison to the Aryans and Dravidians. The Santals created a distinctive script called ‘Ol chiki’ in 1925 for their language in order to preserve the region's identity and build the foundations of the community and preserve their language. With the assistance of the organizations, institutions, and individuals behind it in Bihar, West Bengal, and Orissa, Ol-Chiki gradually acquired the form of a movement. Santali literature has been enriched by several authors from a variety of genres, which will continue to establish its significance over time. In order to materialize these efforts, Santal presses have been created in several locations. This paper attempts to analyze the Past and Future of their Culture, Literature, and their place in India as an indigenous tribe. 

In recent years, theoretical and intellectual movements such as actor-network theory, new materialism, and philosophical animism have come to question some foundational aspects of the liberal humanist tradition, including human exceptionalism and the separation from the nonhuman world. It has been recognised that while these approaches have proved revealing and productive in thinking about the post-anthropocentric phase of posthumanism, Indigenous knowledges predate these theoretical formations in their challenge to anthropocentrism. Indigenous stories and practices have been pivotal points of power counteracting the epistemological privilege granted to European cultures and thought. In light of this recognition, the focus of this paper is a contemporary text by Khasi writer Janice Pariat, Everything the Light Touches (2023), which explores the question of human/nonhuman dualism, as inherited from the Enlightenment. It does this by not only revisiting the wisdom that resides within Indigenous communities, in particular the Khasi community to which the writer belongs, but also by reimagining the lives of two highly influential historical figures from the Enlightenment, German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The novel, which deftly interweaves stories from different and disparate places and times, can be considered a daring experiment in narrative structure. It can also be regarded a meditation on the possibilities offered by literary imagination in the age of climate crisis. In response to the conference theme, this paper will examine how and why this recent novel by Pariat brings into focus Indigenous wisdom in juxtaposition with Enlightenment thought to examine some key concerns of posthumanism.