The Munda are any one of several groups living in north east and central India, numbering about 5 million in 1983. Their most widely spoken languages are Santali and Mundari, languages of the Munda group, an isolated branch of the Austro-Asiatic family. The Mundas were formerly nomadic hunter- gatherers, but now practise shifting cultivation. They are Hindus, but retain animist beliefs. Research Munda