Folklore of the Santal Parganas - Cecil Henry Bompas (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗

to turn into a tiger and kill the animal and he impressed

on her that she must on no account be frightened or run away and he

handed her a piece of root and told her that she must give it him to

smell when he came back and he would at once regain his human shape.

 

So saying he retired into a thicket and took off his waist cloth and

at once became a tiger; then he swallowed the waist cloth and thereby

grew a fine long tail. Then he sprang upon the calf and knocked it over

and began to suck its blood. At this sight his wife was overwhelmed

with terror and forgetting everything in her fear ran right off to

her father's house taking with her her husband's clothes and the

magic root. She arrived breathless and told her parents all that had

happened. Meanwhile her husband had been deprived of the means of

regaining his own form and was forced to spend the day hiding in the

jungle as a tiger; when night fell he made his way to the village

where his father-in-law lived. But when he got there all the dogs

began to bark and when the villagers saw that there was a tiger they

barricaded themselves in their houses.

 

The man-tiger went prowling round his father-in-law's house and at

last his father-in-law plucked up courage and went out and threw

the root which the wife had brought under the tiger's nose and he

at once became a man again. Then they brought him into the house

and washed his feet; and gave him hot rice-water to drink; and on

drinking this he vomited up lumps of clotted blood. The next morning

the father-in-law called the villagers and showed them this blood and

told them all that had happened; then he turned to his son-in-law and

told him to take himself off and vowed that his daughter should never

go near him again. The man-tiger had no answer to make but went back

silently and alone to his own home.

 

_Note_:--The following is a prescription for making an _Ulat bag_

or were-tiger.

 

"The fibre of a plant (Bauhinia vahli) beaten out and cooked in

mustard oil in a human skull."

Glossary.

 

_Adwa_. Rice husked without having been boiled.

 

_Arta_. Red pigment applied to the feet for ornament.

 

_Baha Porob_. The flower festival; the spring festival held about

February.

 

_Bandi_. A receptacle for storing grain, made of straw rope.

 

_Bharia_. A bamboo carried on the shoulder with a load slung at

each end.

 

_Bhut_. A ghost, a harmful spirit, not originally a Santal word.

 

_Bonga_. The name for all gods, godlings and supernatural beings. Sing

bonga is the sun god; the spirits of ancestors are bongas, there are

bongas of the hills, streams and the forest; others are like fairies

and take human form. Sacrifices are offered to bongas on all occasions.

 

_Brinjal_. The egg plant.

 

_But_. Grain, a kind of pulse.

 

_Chamar_. A low caste, workers in leather.

 

_Chando_. The sun, the supreme god of the Santals.

 

_Champa_. A country in which according to their traditions, the

Santals once lived.

 

_Charak Puja_. The festival at which men are swung by hooks from

a pole.

 

_Chatar_. A festival at which dancing takes place round an umbrella.

 

_Chowkidar_. A watchman.

 

_Churin_. The spirit of a woman who has died while pregnant, her feet

are turned backwards. Not originally Santal.

 

_Chumaura_. A ceremony observed at marriage, and Sohrae festival.

 

_Dain_. A witch. Witches are supposed to use their powers to cause

sickness and death; women accused of witchcraft are often murdered.

 

_Dehri_. The president of the annual hunt; he presides over the

Court which during the hunt hears appeals against unjust decisions

of paganas.

 

_Dewan_. The chief minister of a Raja.

 

_Dhobi_. A washerman.

 

_Dhoti_. The waistcloth worn by men.

 

_Dom_. A low caste, scavengers, basketmakers and drummers.

 

_Gamcha_. A small piece of cloth worn round the neck, or when bathing.

 

_Ghât_. The approach to a pool or river at which people bathe; the

crossing place of a river.

 

_Ghormuha_. A horse-headed monster; not a Santal name.

 

_Goâla_. A man of the cow keeping caste.

 

_Godet_. The village constable, the official messenger of the headman.

 

_Goondli_. A small millet.

 

_Gosain_. A religious ascetic, usually of the Vishnuite persuasion.

 

_Gupinî_. A celestial milkmaid, such as those who danced with Krishna;

not a Santal creation.

 

_Gûr_. Juice of sugar cane, molasses.

 

_Hadi_. A low caste of scavengers.

 

_Jan_ or _Jan guru_. A witch finder. When a man is ill the Jan is

consulted as to what witch is responsible. The Jan usually divines

by gazing at an oiled leaf.

 

_Jahirtkan_. The group of sacred trees left in each village for the

accomodation of the spirits of the forest when the jungle is cleared.

 

_Jai tuk_. A bullock given to a woman at her marriage.

 

_Jhalka_. A boastful man.

 

_Jogi_ or _Jugi_. A religious ascetic, a mendicant.

 

_Lota_. A small brass water pot.

 

_Lakh_. One hundred thousand.

 

_Mahadeo_. The great god, i.e. Siva.

 

_Mahajan_. A moneylender.

 

_Mahuli_. A tribe akin to the Santals, basket makers by profession.

 

_Malhan_. A cultivated leguminous plant.

 

_Manjhithan_. The little pavilion in the centre of every Santal village

at which the spirits of dead headmen are worshipped and where village

councils are held.

 

_Mantra_. An incantation, sacred or magic formula.

 

_Marang Burn_. The great spirit, the original chief god of the Santals.

 

_Marwari_. A trader from Rajputana and the adjoining parts.

 

_Maund_. A weight, 40 seers or 82 pounds.

 

_Meral_. A small tree. Phyllanthus emblica.

 

_More Turuiko_. Lit.: The five or six--certain Santal godlings.

 

_Mowah_. A tree, Bassia latifolia, the fleshy flower is eaten and

spirit is distilled from it.

 

_Musahar_. A semi-aboriginal caste which catches and eats rats.

 

_Nala_. A water course with steep banks.

 

_Narta_. The namegiving ceremony observed three or five days after

birth, by which the child is formally admitted into the tribe.

 

_Ninda Chando_. The moon godess, wife of Singchando the Sun god.

 

_Kat_. A dry measure used for grain.

 

_Kisar Bonga_. A spirit which takes up its abode in the house,

frolicsome and mischievous.

 

_Kisku_. One of the twelve exogamous septs of Santals, by tradition

it was formerly the royal sept.

 

_Koeri_. A cultivating caste of Hindus.

 

_Kora_. A youth or young man, the hero of a story is often called so

throughout, and I have for convenience adopted it as a proper name.

 

_Kos_. A measure of distance, two miles.

 

_Ojha_. An exorcist, a charm doctor, one who counteracts the effects

of witchcraft.

 

_Pachet_. A place in the Manbhum district which the Santals occupied

in the course of their immigrations.

 

_Panchayat_. A council primarily of five which meets to decide

a dispute.

 

_Pagri_. A cloth worn round the head, a turban.

 

_Paharia_. A hill man; the Saurias or Malé of the Rajmahal hills.

 

_Pai_. A wooden or metal measure containing half a seer.

 

_Pan_. Betel used for chewing.

 

_Parganna_. A Santal chief having jurisdiction over a number of

villages.

 

_Paranic_. The assistant headman of a village.

 

_Parrab_. A festival.

 

_Peepul_ or _pipal_. A tree, ficus religiosa.

 

_Pilchu Haram_ and _Pilchu Budhi_. The first man and woman.

 

_Rahar_. A cultivated crop, a kind of pulse.

 

_Raibar_. A marriage go-between, a man employed to arrange a marriage.

 

_Rakas_. An ogre. Sanskrit Rakhshya.

 

_Rum_. To be possessed, to fall into a cataleptic state.

 

_Sabai_. A kind of grass used for making rope.

 

_Sal_. A forest tree. Shorea robusta.

 

_Seer_. A weight, about two pounds.

 

_Sid atang_. To take the final step, to be completely initiated.

 

_Sing bonga_. The Sun god.

 

_Sipahi_. An armed guard, a soldier, armed messenger.

 

_Sohrai_. The great winter festival of the Santals.

 

_Taluq_. A revenue division of the country.

 

_Tarop tree_. A small tree, Buchanania latifolia.

 

_Thakur_. The supreme Being.

 

_Tika_. A mark on the forehead, the giving of which corresponds

to coronation.

 

_Tola_. A hamlet, a detached quarter of a village.

Appendix

 

Introduction.

 

The Kolhan forms the western half of the district of Singhbhum in

Chota Nagpur. The Hos or Larka Hos who form the bulk of the inhabitants

are a branch of the Mundas of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. They are one

of those Kolarian tribes of which the Santals are perhaps the best

known. I have collected some of the Folklore stories current among

them, the recollection of which would, however, appear to be dying out.

 

The Rev. A. Campbell of the Free Church of Scotland, Santal Mission,

has printed a volume of Santal Folk Tales collected by him in Manbhum,

a neighbouring district to Singhbhum. As might be expected there is

considerable resemblance between those Santal Tales and the ones now

reproduced. I have heard some of Mr. Campbell's Santal stories told by

Hos precisely as he relates them, and there are many incidents common

to both collections. On the other hand there is no resemblance between

these Kolarian tales, and the Bengal stories published by Rev. Lal

Behari De. In the latter I only notice one incident which appears in

the Kolhan stories, the bringing together of two lovers through a long

hair floating down a stream, but in Bengal it is the lady's hair that

floats to her lover, while in the Kolhan it is always the long hair

of the hero which inspires love in the heart of the Raja's daughter.

 

The stories may be divided into two groups, the animal stories

in which the principal characters are animals, for the most part

denizens of the jungles, and the stories which deal with a settled

state of Society with Rajas, priests and members of the different

Hindu castes following their usual occupations. It is interesting,

but perhaps scarcely profitable, to try and deduce from the latter some

hints of the previous history of the Hos, who, as we know them, are a

strongly democratic race, with a well developed tribal system. They

look on themselves as the owners, of the soil and are unwilling to

admit the claims of any overlord.

 

I have made no attempt to put the following stories into a literary

dress; I merely bring them as a few stones to the hands of the builders

who build the structure of comparative mythology.

 

 

 

 

(1)--The River Snake.

 

Once upon a time a certain woman had been on a visit to a distant

village. As she was going home she reached the bank of a flooded

river. She tried to wade across but soon found that the water was too

deep and the current too strong. She looked about but could see no

signs of a boat or any means of crossing. It began to grow dark and

the woman was in great distress at the thought that she would not be

able to reach her home.

 

While she thus stood in doubt, suddenly out of the river came a

great snake an said to her: "Woman, what will you give me if I ferry

you across the river?" She answered: "Snake, I have nothing to give

you." The snake said I cannot take you across the river unless you

promise to give me something. Now the woman at the time was pregnant

and not knowing what else to do, she promised that when her child was

born, if it were a daughter she would marry her to the river snake

and if it were a son that, when the boy grew up he should become the

"_juri_" or "name friend" of the snake. The woman swore to do this with

an oath and then the snake took her on his back and bore her safely

across the flooded stream. The woman safely reached her home and in a

little time a