A bird effigy carved out of stone is one of those astonishing tribal sculptures belonging to the Santal tribe which is one of the largest and culturally richest Adivasi communities of India. Mainly, found amongst the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar, have a long tradition of producing symbols and ritual objects magically with nature and natural materials like wood and stone.This bird has a curved neck, almost painted beak, and a pair of prominent wings-not presenting simply an ideal representation of a bird but an idealized, perhaps spiritual form. The tail raised and to go along with it's body, engraved with fine linear-circular motifs, indicative of Santal aesthetics mending with nature, mythology, and social customs.
Birds occupy a privileged place in folklore and ritual practice of the Santals. They serve as messengers between men and spirits, and effigies like this are attributed to rituals, ancestor worship, or possibly as totems denoting guidance, freedom, and the relation of humans to nature. The flat base of the sculpture indicates that it was intended to sit on either altars or in sacred places. Though partially broken, it has its own cultural integrity and artistic beauty etched in the stone, showing how the Santals are masters in stone carving as well as their spiritually deep affiliations towards the animal world.