There was once a man who lived happily with his wife, but she was very

lazy; when work in the fields was at its height she would pretend

to be ill. In June and July, she would begin to moan as if in pain,

and when every one else had gone off to work she would eat any rice

that they had left over; or if there were none, would cook some for

herself; Her father-in-law decided to call in some _ojhas_ to examine

her and if they could not cure her, then to send her back to her

father: so he called in two _ojhas_ and told them to do their best,

as he did not want the woman's relations to complain that she had

not been properly treated.

So the first _ojha_ felt her pulse and smiled and said nothing, and

the second _ojha_ felt her pulse and smiled and said nothing, and

when the father-in-law asked them if they knew what was the matter,

they answered that the illness was very serious and medicines must be

applied; the father-in-law said "Yes; but you must get the medicines

or tell me exactly what is wanted and I will arrange for it;" this

conversation took place before the woman; the _ojhas_ said "Very well,

we will do what you want but before applying the medicine we shall

have to do some incantations;" the father-in-law answered "Do whatever

is necessary to make a good job of it. Don't spare anything; try and

get everything ready by to-morrow: for we are in great difficulty; I

do not like to leave the patient alone in the house and yet I cannot

spare anyone to look after her;" the _ojhas_ promised and got up

and went out with the father-in-law, and in the village street they

told him that laziness was all that was the matter with the woman,

but that they knew a medicine which would cure her; so they went

to the jungle and dug up two very big tubers of the _tirra_ plant,

as big as pumpkins, and in the evening they went to the man's house

and told him that they had found the medicine, and that the whole

household was to come to the cross roads at the end of the village

very early the next morning with the patient and they would exorcise

the disease and apply remedies.

At cockcrow the next morning the two _ojhas_ brought the two tubers

and put them down at the end of the village street, and then went to

the house where the sick woman lived and awoke the inmates, and they

borrowed a pot of water and some vermilion and an old winnowing fan

and then they all went to the place where the tubers had been left,

and the _ojhas_ made the patient sit on the winnowing fan facing the

east and painted her with vermilion; then they waved pig's dung round

her head and tied the two tubers round her neck and told her to walk

up and down the village street three times; and that would remove

the spell that was on her. So the woman began to walk up the village

street and every one laughed at her and the children ran after her

and smacked her and jumped and shouted for joy and the _ojhas_ called

out to her "You must not take off the tubers until you are cured."

The woman walked up and down twice, but then she was so ashamed at

being laughed at that she threw away the tubers and ran off home;

then they all laughed the more; and followed her to the house, and

the _ojhas_ asked whether she was cured that she had taken off the

remedies they had applied; she only smiled in answer and they told

her to take care because if she ever got ill again they would apply

the same remedy; but from that day the woman completely recovered

and did her fair share of all the work.

CXXXIII. The Brahman's Powers.

A long time ago a Brahman came from the west and did many wonders to

the astonishment of those who saw him. He came to a certain village

and at first put up in an old bamboo hut; there he sat motionless

for three or four days and so far as anyone could see ate and drank

nothing. The villagers said that he must eat during the night, so

four men arranged to watch him continuously; two by day and two by

night; but though they watched they could not detect him eating or

drinking. Then the villagers collected and began to question him

and as his answers seemed worthy of credit they began to bring him

offerings of milk; one day he asked to be supplied with coolies

that he might rebuild the hut in which he had taken up his abode;

so coolies were brought and he made them collect bricks and prepare

mortar and at the end of the day's work they asked to be paid; then

the Brahman wrapped himself in his cloth and repeated some _mantras_,

whereupon pice fell tinkling down from his body and with them he paid

the coolies; and so it was every day until the house was finished. All

this was a source of great wonder to those who saw it.

CXXXIV. Ram's Wife.

It is a custom among us Santals that husband and wife do not mention

each other's names; and even if a husband sometimes mentions his

wife's name in a case of urgent necessity, the wife will never speak

her husband's; in the same way a man may not mention the name of his

younger brother's wife or of his wife's elder sister; women again may

not use the name of their younger sister's husband or their husband's

elder brother. Our forefathers have said that if any one breaks this

rule his children will be born deaf or dumb; we believe this and fear

to break through the custom.

There was once a man named Ram who was ploughing his field; when he

got to the end he found that he had not brought the seed with him;

so he called out to his wife, pretending however that he was speaking

to his daughter "Seed, daughter, seed!" And she called back "What

do you want it for? Are you going to sow it?" (eram = will you sow)

and every time he called, she answered "Eram?" At this he lost his

temper and ran up to the house and asked what she meant by speaking

his name, when he told her to bring out the seed for sowing; and

thereupon he proceeded to give her a good thrashing. His wife said to

him "Your name is the same as the word for 'sow,' it is a very fine

name you have got." At this Ram laughed and asked how he could help

having the name which his father and mother had given him. At this

she giggled. "Then why are you hurt by it? You had better in future

take out the seed corn with you and then you won't have to call to me;

if you do I shall answer you as I did to-day."

To the present day people do not use the forbidden words; or if

compelled to they spit on the ground first; even Christian converts do

not like to infringe the rule if many people are present and usually

speak of a person with a forbidden name as the father, or mother of

such and such a child.

CXXXV. Palo.

There was once a man named Dhuju, and he had sons named Ret Mongla,

Saru Sama and Chapat champa; and their wives were named Chibo, Porbet

and Palo.

One rainy season the family was busy with the ploughing: Ret Mongla

used to take the plough cattle out to get some grazing before the sun

rose; and his two brothers took the ploughs to the fields a little

later and the old father used to look on and tell them what to do. It

was their practice when they wanted to attract each other's attention

to call out: "Ho!" and not "Ya!" or "Brother." One day it had been

arranged that they should sow _gundli_ in a field; but when the

eldest brother arrived at the place with the bullocks ready to plough

he found that his two brothers had not turned up with the ploughs;

so he began to call "Pal, ho!" (Pal = plough share).

Now just then the wife of the youngest brother, Palo, had gone towards

that field to throw away the sweepings of the cowshed and she thought

Ret Mongla was calling her name; this surprised her and made her

very angry; and she made up her mind to pay him back and then if she

were scolded for not paying proper respect to her husband's eldest

brother to explain that he had insulted her first. So that morning

when she took out their breakfast to the men working in the field,

she pretended to be in great hurry, and putting down her basket near

the place where the three brothers were ploughing, called out to them:

"Come, stop ploughing," and then with scarcely an interval: "Look

sharp and come and eat; or if you don't I will take your breakfast away

again." So the brothers stopped their work and ate their breakfasts.

But when Palo had gone back and they were sitting having a chew

of tobacco, the eldest brother began: "Did you notice how that girl

behaved to me just now; she spoke to me in a most rude way as if I were

not a person to whom she owed respect." The other two said that they

had noticed it themselves, and her husband Chapat Champa said that he

would punish her for it when he got home. Directly he got to the house

he began scolding her and she made no answer, but that night when they

were alone together she told him that what she had done was because

Ret Mongla had insulted her by calling her by name. The next day her

mother-in-law took her to task but Palo gave the same explanation.

Then Ret Mongla's mother went to him and asked him whether there was

any truth in this counter-charge; he saw at once what had happened

and explained that he had never called out his sister-in-law by name;

he had called out for the plough; "Pal ho! Pal ho!" because his brothers

had not got the ploughs ready; when Palo understood what a mistake she

had made, she was covered with confusion and they brought water and she

washed Ret Mongla's feet as she had done on the day of her marriage,

and they salaamed to each other and peace was restored. But if the

mistake had not been explained Palo would have been turned out of

the family.

CXXXVI. The Women's Sacrifice.

This is a story of the old days when the Santals both men and women

were very stupid. Once upon a time the men of a certain village had

fixed a day for sacrificing a bullock; but the very day before the

sacrifice was to take place, the Raja's _sipahis_ came to the village

and carried off all the men to do five days forced labour at the Raja's

capital. The women thus left alone suffered the greatest anxiety;

they thought it quite possible that their husbands and fathers would

never be allowed to return or even be put to death; so they met in

conclave and decided that the best thing they could do would be to

carry out the sacrifice which the men had intended to make and which

had been interrupted so unexpectedly.

So they made haste to wash their clothes and bathe, and by way

of purification they fasted that evening and slept on the bare

ground. Then at dawn they made ready everything wanted for the

sacrifice and went to the jungle with the bullock that was to be

the victim. There at the foot of a _sal_ tree they scraped a piece

of ground bare and smeared it with cow dung; then they put little

heaps of rice at the four corners of a square and marked the place

with vermilion; then they sprinkled water over the bullock and led

it up to the square.

But here their difficulties began for none of them knew what

incantations the men said on such an occasion; they wasted a lot of

time each urging the other to begin, at last the wife of the headman

plucked up courage and started an invocation like this: "We sacrifice

this bullock to you; grant that our husbands may return; let not the

Raja sacrifice them but grant them a speedy return." Having got as

far as this she wanted the other women to take a turn, but they said

that her invocation was capital and quite sufficient; and they had

better get on to the sacrifice at once. Easier said than done; they

none of them knew how to do it; as they all hung back the headman's

wife scolded them roundly and bade them take the axe and kill the

beast; then they all asked where they were to strike the animal:

"Where its life resides," said the headman's wife. "Where is that,"

asked the women. "Watch and see what part of it moves," answered she,

"and strike there." So they looked and presently the bullock moved

its tail: "That's where its life is," shouted they; so three or

four of them caught hold of the rope round the animal's neck and

one woman seized the axe and struck two blows at the root of the

animal's tail. She did it no harm but the pain of the blow made

the bullock pass water. "See the blood flowing," cried the women,

and eagerly caught the stream in a vessel; then the sacrificer dealt

another blow which made the bullock jump and struggle until it broke

loose and galloped off. The women followed in pursuit and chased it

through a field of cotton; the bullock knocked off many of the ripe

cotton pods and these the women thought were lumps of fat fallen from

the wounded bullock, so they took them home and ate them; such fools

were the women in those days.

CXXXVII. The Thief's Son.

Once upon a time a goat strayed into the house of a certain man who

promptly killed it and hid the body. At evening the owner of the

goat missed it and came in search of it. He asked the man who had

killed it whether he had seen it, but the latter put on an innocent

air and declared that he knew nothing about it but he invited the

owner of the missing animal to look into the goat house and see if

it had accidentally got mixed up with the other goats. The search

was of course in vain.

Directly the owner had gone the thief brought out the body and skinned

and cut it up, and every one in the house ate his fill of flesh. Before

they went to sleep the thief told his sons to be careful not to go

near any of the other boys when they were grazing the cattle next day,

lest they should smell that they had been eating meat.

Next morning the thief's son took his goats out to graze and was

careful not to go near any of the other boys who were tending cattle;

whenever they approached him he moved away. At last they asked him what

was the matter; and he told them that they must keep at a distance lest

they should smell what he had been eating. "What have you eaten?" The

simpleton replied that he had been eating goat's flesh and that there

was still some in the house. The cowherds at once ran off and told the

owner of the lost goat. The news soon spread and the villagers caught

the man who had killed the goat and searched his house and found the

flesh of the goat. Then they fined him one rupee four annas and made

him give another goat in exchange for the one he had stolen.

CXXXVIII. The Divorce.

There was once a man who had reason to suspect his wife's

faithfulness. He first tried threatening and scolding her; but this

had no good effect, for far from being ashamed she only gave him

back harder words than she received. So he set to work to find some

way of divorcing her without making a scandal. One day when he came

home with a fine basket of fish which he had caught he found that his

father-in-law had come to pay them a visit. As he cleaned the fish

he grumbled at the thought that his wife would of course give all the

best of them to her father; at last an idea struck him. As he handed

over the fish to his wife he told her to be careful not to give her

father the heads of the _mangri_ fish nor the dust of tobacco, as

it was very wrong to give either of those things to a visitor. "Very

well," she answered; but to herself she thought "What does he mean by

forbidding me to do these things? I shall take care to give my father

nothing but the heads of the fish" for her pleasure was to thwart her

husband. So when the evening meal was ready she filled a separate plate

for her father with nothing but the fish heads. As her husband heard

the old man munching and crunching the bones he smiled to himself at

the success of the plot. When his father was about to leave he asked

for some tobacco, and the woman brought him only tobacco dust which she

had carefully collected out of the bottom of the bag. The old gentleman

went off without a word but very disappointed with his treatment.

A few days later the woman went to visit her father's house, and

then he at once asked her what she meant by treating him as she had

done. "I am sorry," said she: "I did it to spite my husband; he went

out of his way to tell me not to give you the heads of the fish and

the dust of tobacco, and so I picked out nothing but heads for you

and gave you all the tobacco dust I could collect because I was so

angry with him." From this her father easily understood that husband

and wife were not getting on well together.

Time passed and one day her mother went to visit the troublesome

wife. As she was leaving, her daughter asked whether there was any

special reason for her coming. Her mother admitted that she had come

hoping to borrow a little oil to rub on the cattle at the coming

Sohrae festival, but as her son-in-law was not there she did not like

to mention it and would not like to take any without his consent. "O

never mind him!" said the woman and insisted on her mother taking

away a pot--not of cheap mowah or mustard oil,--but of ghee.

Now a little girl saw her do this and the tale was soon all over the

village; but the undutiful wife never said a word about it to her

husband, and it was only after some days that he heard from others

of his wife's extravagance. When it did reach his ears he seized

the opportunity and at once drove her out of the house, and when

a panchayat was called insisted on divorcing her for wasting his

substance behind his back. No one could deny that the reason was a

good one and so the panchayat had to allow the divorce. Thus he got

rid of his wife without letting his real reason for doing so be known.

CXXXIX. The Father and the Father-in-Law.

There was once a Raja who had five sons and his only daughter was

married to a neighbouring Raja.

In the course of time this Raja fell into poverty; all his horses

and cattle died and his lands were sold. At last they had even to

sell their household utensils and clothes for food. They had only

cups and dishes made of gourds to use and the Raja's wife and sons

had to go and work as day labourers in order to get food to eat. At

last one day the Raja made up his mind to go and visit his married

daughter and ask her husband's family to give him a brass cup (_bati_)

that he might have something suitable to drink out of. Off he went

and when he reached the house he was welcomed very politely by his

daughter's father-in-law and given a seat and water to wash his feet,

and a hookah was produced and then the following conversation began.

"Where have you come from, father of my daughter-in-law?"

"I have walked from home, father of my son-in-law?"

"You come here so often that you make me quite frightened! How is

it? Is it well with you and yours? with body and skin? Would it not

be well for us to exchange news?"

"Yes indeed; for how can you know how I am getting on if I do not tell

you. By your kind enquiries my life has grown as big as a mountain,

my bosom is as broad as a mat, and my beard has become as long as a

buffalo horn."

"And I also, father of my daughter-in-law, am delighted at your

coming and enquiring about me; otherwise I should wonder where you had

settled down, and be thinking that you did not know the way relations

should behave to each other; at present, I am glad to say, the seed

left after sowing, the living who have been left behind by death,

by your favour and the goodness of God, are all doing well. Is it not

a proverb. 'The eye won't walk, but the ear will go and come back in

no time.' Now the ear is the visitor and so far as it has looked our

friends up, it is well with all, so far as I know."

The other answered; "Then I understand that by the goodness of God,

all is very well with you all, O father of my son-in-law. That is

what we want, that it may be well with us, body and soul."

"Life is our wealth; life is great wealth. So long as life lasts

wealth will come. Even if there is nothing in the house, we can work

and earn wealth, but if life goes where shall we obtain it?"

The visitor answered "That is true; and we have been suffering

much from the 'standing' disease; (i.e. hunger) I have tried to get

medicine to cure it in vain; the Doctors know of none. I should be

greatly obliged if you could give me some medicine for it."

"The very same disease has overflowed this part of the country"

was the reply:--at this they both laughed; and the visitor resumed,--

"Don't they say 'we asked after them and they did not ask anything

about us in return;'? it is right now for me to ask how you are

getting on" and so saying he proceeded in his turn to put the same

questions and to receive the same answers.

Then they went out and bathed and came back and had some curds and rice

and sat for a while smoking their hookahs. Then a goat was killed and

cooked and they had a grand feast. But the Raja did not forget about

the _bati_, and he took his daughter aside and told her to sound her

mother-in-law about it. She brought back a message that if he wanted

anything he should ask for it himself. So he went very shamefacedly

to his host and told him that be must he leaving: "Well, good-bye, are

you sure you only came to pay us a visit and had no other object?" The

Raja seized the opening that this reply gave him and said "Yes, I had

something in my mind; we are so poor now that we have not even a brass

cup to drink out of, and I hoped that you would give me one of yours."

"My dear Sir, you say that you have gourds to drink but of: we have

not even that; we have to go down to the stream and drink out of our

hands; I certainly cannot give you a _bati._" At this rebuff the poor

Raja got up and went away feeling very angry at the manner in which

he had been treated.

When he reached home the Raja vowed that he would not even live in the

neighbourhood of such faithless friends so he went with all his family

to a far country. In their new home his luck changed and he prospered

so much that in a few years he became the Raja of the country.

Meanwhile the other Raja--the father-in-law,--fell into such poverty

that he and his family had to beg for their living.

The first Raja heard about this and made a plan to attract them to the

place where he lived. He ordered a great tank to be dug and promised

the workers one pice for each basket of earth they removed. This

liberal wage attracted labourers from all sides; they came in such

numbers that they looked like ants working and among them came the

father-in-law and his family and asked the Raja for work. The Raja

recognised them at once though they did not know him; at first the

sight of their distress pleased him but then he reflected that if he

cherished anger Chando would be angry with him, so he decided to treat

them well and invited them to his palace. The poor creatures thought

that they were probably doomed for sacrifice but could only do as

they were bid. Great was their amazement when they were well fed and

entertained and when they learnt who their benefactor was they burst

into tears; and the Raja pointed out to them how wrong it was to laugh

at the poor, because wealth might all fly away as theirs had done.

CXL. The Reproof.

A poor man once went to visit his daughter's father-in-law who was very

rich. The rich man was proud of his wealth and looked down on poverty;

so he made no special entertainment for his visitor and only gave him

rice and _dal_ for his dinner. When they went out to bathe he stood

on the bank of the tank and began to boast. "I made this tank; all the

land over there belongs to me; all those buffaloes and cattle you see,

belong to me; I have so many that I have to keep two men to milk them."

The visitor said nothing at the time but that afternoon as host and

guest sat smoking together they saw a beggar standing in front of

the house. The sun was very powerful and the ground was so hot that

the beggar kept shifting from one foot to another as he stood out

in the sun. Then the poor visitor spoke up and said "It is strange

that when you made such a nice house you made the roof without

eaves." "Where are your eyes? Cannot you see the eaves?" asked the

host in astonishment. The other answered "I see that you have made

a house as high as a hill but if it had any eaves, surely that poor

beggar there would not be standing out in the sun; and this morning

you must have been mistaken in saying that that tank was yours for

otherwise you would have given me fish for dinner; and I think that

they were only rocks and tufts of grass which you pointed out to me

as your flocks and herds for otherwise you would have offered me some

milk or curds." And the rich man was ashamed and had no answer to make.

CXLI. Enigmas.

Once upon a time a man and his son went on a visit to the

son's father-in-law. They were welcomed in a friendly way;

but the father-in-law was much put out at the unexpected visit

as he had nothing ready for the entertainment of his guest. He

took an opportunity to go into the house and said to one of his

daughters-in-law. "Now, my girl, fill the little river and the big

river while I am away; and polish the big axe and the little axe and

dig out five or six channels, and put hobbles on these relations who

have come to visit us and bar them Into the cow house. I am going to

bathe and will come back with a pot full of the water of dry land,

then we will finish off these friends."

The two visitors outside overheard this strange talk and began to

wonder what it meant. They did not like the talk about axes and digging

channels, it sounded as if their host meant to kill them as a sacrifice

and bury their bodies in a river bed; rich men had been known to do

such things. With this thought in their minds they got up and began

to run away as fast as their legs could carry them. But when the young

woman saw what they were doing she ran after them and called them back.

They reluctantly stopped to hear what she had to say; and when she came

up they reproached her for not having warned them of the fate in store

for them. But she only laughed at their folly and explained that what

her father-in-law meant was that she should wash their feet and give

them a seat in the cow house; and make ready two pots of rice beer and

polish the big and little brass basins and make five or six leaf cups

and he would bring back some liquor and they would all have a drink. At

this explanation they had a hearty laugh and went back to the house.

CXLII. The Too Particular Wife.

There was once a man with a large tumour on his forehead and his wife

was so ashamed of it that she would never go about with him anywhere

for fear of being laughed at. One day she went with a party of friends

to see the _Charak Puja_. Her husband wished to go with her but she

flatly declined to allow him.

So when she had gone he went to a friend's house and borrowed a

complete set of new clothes and a large pagri. When he had rigged

himself out in these he could hardly be recognised; but his forehead

with the tumour was quite visible. Then he too went off to the fair

and found his wife busy dancing. After watching her for some time he

borrowed one of the drums and began to play for the dancers; and in

particular he played and danced just in front of his wife.

When he saw that his wife was preparing to go home he started

off ahead, got rid of his fine clothes and took the cattle out to

graze. Presently he went back to the house and asked his wife whether

she had enjoyed the fun. "You should have come to see it for yourself,"

said she.

"But you would not let me! Otherwise I should have gone."

"Yes," answered his wife, "I was ashamed of the lump on your forehead

but other people do not seem to mind, for there was a man there with

a lump just like yours who was playing the drum and taking a leading

part in the fun and no one seemed to laugh at him: so in future I

shall not mind going about with you."

CXLIII. The Paharia Socialists.

Formerly before the Santals came into the country the four _taluqs_

of Sankara, Chiptiam, Sulunga and Dhaka formed the Paharia Raj and

the whole country was dense jungle. Then the Santals came and cleared

the jungle, and brought the land under cultivation. The Paharia Raja

of Gando was named Somar Singh and he paid tribute to the Burdwan Raja.

Once ten or twelve Paharias went to Burdwan to pay the annual

tribute. After they had paid in the money the Raja gave them a feast

and a room to sleep in and sent them one bed. The Paharias had a

discussion as to who should sleep on the bed and in order to avoid any

ill-feeling about it they decided that they would all sleep on the

ground and put their feet on the bed and then they could feel that

they had all an equal share of it. This they did and in the morning

the Burdwan Raja came in and found them all lying in this strange

position and was very much amused. He explained that he had sent the

bed for the use of the chief man among them and asked whether they had

no distinctions of rank. "Yes" they said "we have in our own villages;

but here we are in a foreign land and as we do not all belong to one

village who is to decide which is the chief among us. Away from home

we are all equal."

CXLIV. How a Tiger Was Killed.

In the days when the Santals lived in the jungle country there was

once a man who had a patch of maize by the bank of a stream; and to

watch his crop he had put up a platform in his field. Now one day

he stole a goat and killed it; he did not take it home nor tell his

family; he took it to the maize patch with some firewood and fire and

a knife and a hatchet; and he hoisted all these on to his platform

and lit a fire in the bottom of an earthen pot and cut up the goat

and began to cook and eat the flesh. And a tiger smelt the flesh and

came and sat down under the platform.

As the man ate he threw down the bones and as he threw them the tiger

caught them in its mouth; and after a time the man noticed that he

did not hear the bones strike the ground; so he looked down quietly

and saw the tiger; then he was very frightened for he thought that

when he could no longer keep the tiger quiet by throwing down bits

of meat, the tiger would spring up unto the platform and eat him.

At last a thought struck him and he drew the head of his hatchet off

the handle and put it in the fire till it became red-hot; and meanwhile

he kept the tiger quiet by throwing down pieces of meat. Then when

the axe head was ready he picked it out of the fire and threw it down;

the tiger caught it as it fell and roared aloud with pain; its tongue

and palate and throat were so burnt that it died.

Thus the man saved himself from the tiger and whether the story be

true or no, it is known to all Santals.

CXLV. The Goala's Daughter.

There was once a man of the _Goala_ caste who had an only daughter and

she grew up and was married, but had no child; and after twenty years

of married life she gave up all hope of having any. This misfortune

preyed on her mind and she fell into a melancholy. Her parents asked

her why she was always weeping and all the answer she would give was

"My sorrow is that I have never worn clothes of 'Dusty cloth' and

that is a sorrow which you cannot cure." But her father and mother

determined to do what they could for their daughter and sent servants

with money into all the bazars to buy "Dusty cloth". The shopkeepers

had never heard of such an article so they bought some cloth of any

sort they could get and brought it to the Goala; when he offered it

to his daughter she thanked him and begged him not to waste his money:

"You do not understand" said she--"what I mean by 'Dusty cloth.' God

has not given it to me and no one else can; what I mean by 'Dusty

cloth' is the cloth of a mother made dusty by the feet of her

child." Then her father and mother understood and wept with her,

saying that they would do what man could do but this was in the hands

of God; and they sang:--

"Whatever the child of another may suffer, we care not:

But our own child, we will take into our lap, even when it is

covered with dust."

CXLVI. The Brahman's Clothes.

There was once a Brahman who had two wives; like many Brahmans he lived

by begging and was very clever at wheedling money out of people. One

day the fancy took him to go to the market place dressed only in

a small loin cloth such as the poorest labourers wear and see how

people treated him. So he set out but on the road and in the market

place and in the village no one salaamed to him or made way to him

and when he begged no one gave him alms. He soon got tired of this

and hastened home and putting on his best _pagri_ and coat and dhoti

went back to the market place. This time every one who met him on the

road salaamed low to him and made way for him and every shopkeeper

to whom he went gave him alms: and the people in the village who had

refused before gladly made offerings to him. The Brahman went home

smiling to himself and took off his clothes and put them in a heap

and prostrated himself before them three or four times, saying each

time. "O source of wealth: O source of wealth! it is clothes that

are honoured in this world and nothing else."

CXLVII. The Winning of a Bride.

Formerly this country was all jungle; and when the jungle was first

cleared the crops were very luxuriant; and the Santals had large

herds of cattle, for there was much grazing; so they had milk and

curds in quantities and _ghee_ was as common as water; but now milk

and curds are not to be had. In those days the Santals spent their

time in amusements and did not trouble about amassing wealth, but

they were timid and were much oppressed by their Rajas who looted any

man who showed signs of wealth. Well, in those days the winters were

very cold and there used to be heavy frost at nights. And there was a

man who had seven grown-up daughters and no son; and at the time of

threshing the paddy he had to undergo much hardship because he had

no son to work for him; he had to sleep on the threshing floor and

to get up very early to let out the cattle; and as the hoar frost

lay two inches deep he found it bitterly cold.

In those days the villagers had a common threshing floor; and one

day this man was talking to a friend and he jestingly asked whether

he would spend a night naked on the threshing floor; and the friend

said that he would if there were sufficient inducement but certainly

not for nothing. Then the father of the seven daughters said "If

you or any one else will spend a night naked on the threshing floor

I will give him my eldest daughter in marriage without charging any

bride price."--for he wanted a son-in-law to help him in his work. A

common servant in the employ of the village headman heard him and

said "I will accept the offer;" the man had not bargained for such

an undesirable match but he could not go back from his word; so he

agreed and said that he would choose a night; and he waited till it

was very cold and windy and then told the headman's servant to sleep

out that night. The servant spent the night on the threshing floor

without any clothes in spite of the frost and won his bride.

CHAPTER IV

Part IV

The following stories illustrate the belief in Bongas, i.e. the spirits

which the Santals believe to exist everywhere, and to take an active

part in human affairs. Bongas frequently assume the form of young men

and women and form connections with human beings of the opposite sex.

At the bidding of witches they cause disease, or they hound on the

tiger to catch men. But they are by no means always malevolent and

are capable of gratitude. The Kisar Bonga or Brownie who takes up his

abode in a house steals food for the master of the house, and unless

offended will cause him to grow rich.

CXLVIII. Marriage with Bongas.

There have been many cases of Santals marrying _bonga_ girls. Not of

course with formal marriage ceremonies but the marriage which results

from merely living together.

In Darbar village near Silingi there are two men who married

_bonga_. One of them was very fond of playing on the flute and his

playing attracted a _bonga_ girl who came to him looking like a human

girl, while he was tending buffaloes. After the intimacy had lasted

some time she invited him to visit her parents, so he went with her

and she presented him to her father and mother as her husband. But he

was very frightened at what he saw; for the seats in the house were

great coiled up snakes and on one side a number of tigers and leopards

were crouching. Directly he could get a word alone with his wife he

begged her to come away but she insisted on his staying to dinner;

so they had a meal of dried rice and curds and _gur_ and afterwards

he smoked a pipe with his _bonga_ father-in-law and then he set off

home with his _bonga_ wife. They were given a quantity of dried rice

and cakes to take with them when they left.

After seeing him home his wife left him; so he thought that he would

share the provisions which he had brought with a friend of his; he

fetched his friend but when they came to open the bundle in which

the rice and cakes had been tied, they found nothing but _meral_

leaves and cow dung cakes such as are used for fuel. This friend saw

that the food must have been given by _bongas_ and it was through

the friend that the story became known.

In spite of this the young man never gave up his _bonga_ wife until

his family married him properly. She used to visit his house secretly,

but would never eat food there; and during his connection with her

all his affairs prospered, his flocks and herds increased and he

became rich, but after he married he saw the _bonga_ girl no more.

The adventures of the other young man of the same village were much

the same. He made the acquaintance of a _bonga_ girl thinking that

she was some girl of the village, but she really inhabited a spring,

on the margin of which grew many _ahar_ flowers. One day she asked

him to pick her some of the _ahar_ flowers and while he was doing

so she cast some sort of spell upon him and spirited him away into

the pool. Under the water he found dry land and many habitations;

they went on till they came to the _bonga_ girl's house and there he

too saw the snake seats and tigers and leopards.

He was hospitably entertained and stayed there about six months;

one of his wife's brothers was assigned to him as his particular

companion and they used to go out hunting together. They used tigers

for hunting-dogs and their prey was men and women, whom the tigers

killed, while the _bonga_ took their flesh home and cooked it. One

day when they were hunting the _bonga_ pointed out to the young

man a wood cutter in the jungle and told him to set the tiger on to

"yonder peacock"; but he could not bring himself to commit murder;

so he first shouted to attract the wood cutter's attention and then

let the tiger loose; the wood cutter saw the animal coming and killed

it with his axe as it sprang upon him.

His _bonga_ father-in-law was so angry with him for having caused

the death of the tiger, that he made his daughter take her husband

back to the upper world again.

In spite of all he had seen the young man did not give up his _bonga_

wife and every two or three months she used to spirit him away under

the water: and now that man is a _jan guru_.

CXLIX. The Bonga Headman.

Sarjomghutu is a village about four miles from Barhait Bazar on

the banks of the Badi river. On the river bank grows a large banyan

tree. This village has no headman or _paranic_; any headman who is

appointed invariably dies; so they have made a _bonga_ who lives in

the banyan tree their headman.

When any matter has to be decided, the villagers all meet at the banyan

tree, where they have made their _manjhi than_; they take out a stool

to the tree and invite the invisible headman to sit on it. Then they

discuss the matter and themselves speak the answers which the headman

is supposed to give. This goes on to the present day and there is no

doubt that these same villagers sometimes offer human sacrifices,

but they will never admit it, for it would bring them bad luck to

speak about it.

The villagers get on very well with the _bonga_. If any of them has

a wedding or a number of visitors at his house, and has not enough

plates and dishes, he goes to the banyan tree and asks the headman

to lend him some. Then he goes back to his house, and returning in a

little while finds the plates and dishes waiting for him under the

tree; and when he has finished with them he cleans them well and

takes them back to the tree.

CL. Lakhan and the Bongas.

Once a young man named Lakhan was on a hunting party and he pursued

a deer by himself and it led him a long chase until he was far from

his companions; and when he was close behind it they came to a pool

all overgrown with weeds and the deer jumped into the pool and Lakhan

after it; and under the weeds he found himself on a dry high road

and he followed the deer along this until it entered a house and he

also entered. The people of the house asked him to sit down but the

stool which was offered him was a coiled up snake, so he would not

go near it; and he saw that they were _bongas_ and was too frightened

to speak. And in the cattle pen attached to the house he saw a great

herd of deer.

Then a boy came running in and asked the mistress of the house

who Lakhan was; she said that he had brought their kid home for

them. Lakhan wanted to run away but he could not remember the road

by which he had come. Two daughters of the house were there and they

wanted their father to keep Lakhan as a son-in-law; but their father

told them to catch him a kid and let him go; so they brought him a

fawn and the two girls led him back and took him through the pool to

the upper world: but on the way they put some enchantment on him,

for two or three weeks later he went mad and in his madness he ran

about from one place to another and one day he ran into the pool and

was seen no more, and no one knows where he went or whether the two

bonga maidens took him away.

CLI. The House Bonga.

Once upon a time there was a house _bonga_ who lived in the house

of the headman of a certain village; and it was a shocking thief;

it used to steal every kind of grain and food, cooked and uncooked;

out of the houses of the villagers. The villagers knew what was going

on but could never catch it.

One evening however the _bonga_ was coming along with a pot of boiled

rice which it had stolen, when one of the villagers suddenly came upon

it face to face; the _bonga_ slunk into the hedge but the villager

saw it clearly and flung his stick at it, whereupon the _bonga_ got

frightened and dropped the pot of rice on the ground so that it was

smashed to pieces and fled. The villager pursued the _bonga_ till he

saw it enter the headman's house. Then he went home, intending the

next morning to show the neighbours the spilt rice lying on the path;

but when the morning came he found that the rice had been removed,

so he kept quiet.

At midday he heard the headman's servants complaining that the rice

which had been given them for breakfast was so dirty and muddy that

some of them had not been able to eat it at all; then he asked how

they were usually fed "Capitally," they answered "we get most varied

meals, often with turmeric and pulse or vegetables added to the rice;

but that is only for the morning meal; for supper we get only plain

rice." "Now, I can tell you the reason of that" said the villager,

"there is a greedy _bonga_ in your house who goes stealing food at

night and puts some of what he gets into your pots for your morning

meal." "That's a fine story" said the servants: "No, it's true" said

the villager, and told them how the evening before he had made the

_bonga_ drop the rice and how afterwards it had been scraped up off

the ground; and when they heard this they believed him because they

had found the mud in their food.

Some time afterwards the same man saw the _bonga_ again at night

making off with some heads of Indian corn; so he woke up a friend

and they both took sticks and headed off the _bonga_, who threw down

the Indian corn and ran away to the headman's house. Then they woke

up the headman and told him that a thief had run into his house. So

he lit a lamp and went in to look, and they could hear the _bonga_

running about all over the house making a great clatter and trying to

hide itself; but they could not see it. Then they took the headman to

see the Indian corn which the _bonga_ had dropped in its flight. The

next day the villagers met and fined the headman for having the

_bonga_ in his house; and from that time the _bonga_ did not steal

in that village, and whenever the two men who had chased it visited

the headman's house the _bonga_ was heard making a great clatter as

it rushed about trying to hide.

CLII. The Sarsagun Maiden.

There was once a Sarsagun girl who was going to be married; and a

large party of her girl friends went to the jungle to pick leaves

for the wedding. The Sarsagun girl persisted in going with them as

usual though they begged her not to do so. As they picked the leaves

they sang songs and choruses; so they worked and sang till they came

to a tree covered with beautiful flowers; they all longed to adorn

their hair with the flowers but the difficulty was that they had no

comb or looking glass; at last one girl said that a _bonga Kora_

lived close by who could supply them; thereupon there was a great

dispute as to who should go to the _bonga Kora_ and ask for a mirror

and comb; each wanted the other to go; and in the end they made the

Sarsagun girl go. She went to the _bonga Kora_ and called "Bonga Kora

give a me mirror and comb that we may adorn our hair with _Mirjin_

flowers." The Bonga Kora pointed them out to her lying on a shelf

and she took them away.

Then they had a gay time adorning their hair; but when they had

finished not one of the girls would consent to take back the mirror

and comb. The Sarsagun maiden urged that as she had brought them it

was only fair that someone else should take them back; but they would

not listen, so in the end she had to take them. The Bonga Kora pointed

to a shelf for her to place them on but when she went to do so and

was well inside his house he closed the door and shut her in. Her

companions waited for her return till they were tired and then went

home and told her mother what had happened. Then her father and brother

went in search of her and coming to the Bonga Kora's home they sang:

"Daughter, you combed yourself with a one row comb

Daughter, you put _mirjin_ flowers in your hair

Daughter, come hither to us."

But she only answered from within--

"He has shut me in with a stone, father

He has closed the door upon me, father

Do you and my mother go home again."

Then her eldest brother came and sang the same song and received the

same answer; her mothers's brother and father's sister then came and

sang, also in vain; so they all went home.

Just then the intended bridegroom with his party arrived at the village

and were welcomed with refreshments and invited to camp under a tree;

but while the bridegroom's party were taking their ease, the bride's

relations were in a great to-do because the bride was missing; and

when the matchmaker came and asked them to get the marriage ceremony

over at once that the bridegroom might return, they had to take

him into the house and tell him what had happened. The matchmaker

went and told the bridegroom, who at once called his men to him and

mounted his horse and rode off in a rage. Now it happened that the

drummers attached to the procession had stopped just in front of the

home of the _Bonga Kora_ and were drumming away there; so when the

bridegroom rode up to them his horse passed over the door of the Bonga

Kora's home and stamped on it so hard that it flew open; standing just

inside was the Sarsagun girl; at once the bridegroom pulled her out,

placed her on his horse and rode off with her to his home.

CLIII. The Schoolboy and the Bonga.

There was once a boy who went every day to school and on his way

home he used always to bathe in a certain tank. Every day he left his

books and slate on the bank while he bathed and no one ever touched

them. But one day while he was in the water a _bonga_ maiden came

out of the tank and took his books and slate with her under the

water. When the boy had finished bathing he searched for them a

long time in vain and then went home crying. When the midday meal

was served he refused to eat anything unless his books were found:

his father and mother promised to find them for him and so he ate a

very little. When the meal was finished his father and mother went

to the bonga maiden and besought her--singing

"Give daughter-in-law, give

Give our boy his pen, give up his pen."

The _bonga_ maiden sang in answer

"Let the owner of the pen

Come himself and fetch it."

Then the boy's eldest brother and his wife went and sang

"Give, sister-in-law, give,

Give our brother his pen: give up his pen."

The _bonga_ maiden sing in answer

"Let the owner of the pen

Come himself and fetch it"

Then the boy's maternal uncle and his wife went and sang the same

song and received the same answer. So they told the boy that he must

go himself.

When he reached the tank the _bonga_ girl came up and held out his

books to him; but when he went to take them she drew back and so she

enticed him into the tank; but when once he was under the water he

found he was in quite a dry and sandy place. There he stayed and was

married to the _bonga_ girl. After he had lived with her a long time

he became homesick and longed to see his father and mother. So he

told his _bonga_ wife that he must go and visit them. "Then do not

take your school books with you," said she; "perhaps you won't come

back." "No, I will surely return," he answered; so she agreed to his

going and said that she would sit on the door step and watch for his

return; and he must promise to be very quick. She tied up some cakes

and dried rice for him and also gave him back his school books.

She watched him go to his home and sat and watched for his return but

he never came back. Evening came and night came but he did not return:

then the _bonga_ girl rose and went after him. She went through the

garden and up to her husband's house in a flame of fire: and there

she changed herself into a Karinangin snake and entering the house

climbed on to the bed where the boy lay sleeping and climbed on to

his breast and bit him.

"Rise mother, rise mother,

The Karinangin snake

Is biting me."

he called--

But no one heard him though he kept on calling: so he died and the

_bonga_ girl went away with his spirit.

CLIV. The Bonga's Cave.

There was once a young _bonga_ who dwelt in a cave in the side of a

hill in the jungle; and every day he placed on a flat stone outside,

a pot of oil and a comb and a looking glass and some lamp black or

vermilion; any woman who went to the jungle could see these things

lying there; but they were never visible to a man. After a time the

girls who went to the jungle began to use the comb and looking glass

and to dress and oil their hair there; it became a regular custom for

them to go first to the flat stone before collecting their firewood

or leaves.

One day five girls went together to the jungle and after they had

combed and dressed their hair it happened that one got left behind;

and seeing her alone the _bonga_ came out of the cave and creeping

up quietly from behind threw his arms round her; and although she

shouted to her friends for help he dragged her inside the cave. Her

companions were just in time to see her disappear; and they begged

and prayed the _bonga_ to let the girl go for once; but the _bonga_

answered from within that he would never let her go but was going to

keep her as his wife; and he drew a stone door over the mouth of the

cave. News of the misfortune was sent to the girl's parents and they

came hastening to the place; and her mother began to sing:

"My daughter, you rubbed your hair with oil from a pot:

My daughter, you combed your hair with a comb with one row of teeth;

Come hither to me, my daughter."

And the girl sang from within the cave:

"Mother, he has shut me in with a stone

With a stone door he has shut me in, mother

Mother, you must go back home."

Then her father sang the same song and got the same answer; so they

all went home. Then the girl's father's younger brother and his wife

came and sang the song and received the same answer and then her

mother's brother and father's sister came and then all her relations,

but all in vain. Last of all came her brother riding on a horse and

when he heard his sister's answer he turned his horse round and made

it prance and kick until it kicked open the stone door of the cave;

but this was of no avail for inside were inner doors which he could not

open; so he also had to go home and leave his sister with the _bonga_.

The girl was not unhappy as the wife of the _bonga_ and after a time

she proposed to him they should go and pay a visit to her parents. So

the next day they took some cakes and dried rice and set off; they were

welcomed right warmly and pressed to stay the night. In the course of

the afternoon the girl's mother chanced to look at the provisions which

they had brought with them; and was surprised to see that in place of

cakes was dried cowdung and instead of rice, leaves of the _meral_

tree. The mother called her daughter in to look but the girl could

give no explanation; all she knew was that she had put up cakes and

dried rice at starting. Her father told them all to keep quiet about

the matter lest there should be any unpleasantness and the _bonga_

decline to come and visit them again.

Now the girl's brother had become great friends with his _bonga_

brother-in-law and it was only natural that when the _bonga_ and his

wife set off home the next morning he should offer to accompany them

part of the way. Off they started, the girl in front, then the _bonga_

and then her brother; now the brother had hidden an axe under his cloth

and as they were passing through some jungle he suddenly attacked the

_bonga_ from behind and cut off his head. Then he called to his sister

that he had killed the _bonga_ and bade her come back with him; so the

two turned back and as they looked round this saw that the _bonga's_

head was coming rolling after them. At this they started to run and ran

as hard as they could until they got to the house and all the way the

head came rolling after until it rolled right into the house. There

was a fire burning on the hearth and they plucked up courage to take

the head and throw it into the fire where it was burnt to ashes. That

was the end of the _bonga_ but eight or nine days later the girl's

head began to ache and in spite of all medicines they applied it got

worse and worse until in a short time she died. Then they knew that

the _bonga_ had taken her away and had not given her up.

CLV. The Bonga's Victim.

Once upon a time there were seven brothers and they had one

sister. Every day they used to go out hunting leaving their wives

and sister at home. One very hot day they had been hunting since dawn

and began to feel very thirsty; so they searched for water but could

find none. Then one of them climbed a tree and from its summit saw a

beautiful pool of water close by: so he came down and they all went in

the direction in which he had seen the water; but they could not find

it anywhere; so another of the brothers climbed a tree and he called

out that he could see the pool close by, but when he came down and led

them in what he thought was the right direction he was equally unable

to find the water; and so it went on; whenever they climbed a tree

they could see the water close by, but when on the ground they could

not find it; and all the time they were suffering tortures from thirst.

Then they saw that some _bonga_ was deluding them and that they must

offer some sacrifice to appease him.

At first they proposed to devote one of their wives to the _bonga_;

but not one of the brothers was willing that his wife should be the

victim; and they had no children to offer so at last they decided to

dedicate their only sister as the sacrifice. Then they prayed "Ye who

are keeping the water from us, listen; we dedicate to you our only

sister; show us where the water is." No sooner had they said this

than they saw a pool of water close beside them and hastened to it

and quenched their thirst. Then they rested and began to discuss how

they should sacrifice their sister; and at last they decided that

as they had devoted her to the _bonga_ because they wanted water,

it would be best to cast her into the water; and they planned to go

and work one day near a pond of theirs and make their sister bring

their breakfast out to them and then drown her.

So they went home and two or three days later the eldest brother

said that the time had come for the sacrifice; but the two youngest

loved their sister very much and begged for a little delay. Out of

pity the others agreed; but almost at once one of the brothers fell

ill and was like to die. Medicines were tried but had no effect;

then they called in an _ojha_ and he told them that the _bonga_ to

whom they had made the vow while out hunting had caused the illness

and that if they did not fulfil the vow their brother would die. Then

they all went to the sick man's bedside and poured out water on the

ground and swore that they would fulfil their vow; no sooner had they

done so than the sick man was restored to health.

So the very next day they arranged to go and level the field near

their pond and they told their wives to send their sister to them with

their breakfast. When the time came the girl took out their breakfast

and put it down by them and they sent her to draw water for them from

the pond but when she put her water pot down to the surface it would

not sink so as to let the water run in. The girl called out to her

brothers that the pot would not fill; they told her to go a little

further into the water; so she went in till the water was up to her

thighs but still the pot would not fill: then they called to her

to go in further and she went in waist deep but still it would not

fill; then she went in up to her neck and still it would not fill;

then she went in a little further and the water closed over her and

she was drowned. At this sight the brothers threw away the food which

she had brought and hastened home.

Some days later the body rose and floated to the bank and at the place

where it lay a bamboo sprang up and grew and flourished. One day a

Dome went to cut it down to make a flute of; as he raised his axe

the voice of the girl spoke from within the bamboo "O Dome, do not

cut high up; cut low down." The Dome looked about but could not see

who it was who spoke; however he obeyed the voice and cut the bamboo

close to the ground and made a flute of it. The sound of the flute

was surpassingly sweet and the Dome used to play on it every day. One

day he was playing on it at a friend's house and a Santal heard it

and was so taken by its sweet tone that he came at night and stole it.

Having got possession of it he used to play on it constantly and

always keep it by him. Every night the flute became a woman and the

Santal found her in his house without knowing where she came from and

used to spend the night talking to her but towards morning she used

to go outside the house on some pretext and disappear. But one night

as she was about to depart the Santal seized her and forced her to

stay with him. Then she retained her human form but the flute was

never seen afterwards; so they called the girl the Flute girl and

she and the Santal were betrothed and soon afterwards married.

CLVI. Baijal and the Bonga.

Once upon a time there was a young man named Baijal and he was

very skilful at playing on the bamboo flute. He played so sweetly

that a _bonga_ girl who heard him fell deeply in love with him and

one day when Baijal was alone in the jungle she took the form of a

pretty girl and pretended that she had come to the jungle to gather

leaves. The two met and acquaintance soon became love and the two

used to meet each other every day in the jungle. One day the _bonga_

girl asked Baijal to come home with her; so they went to a pool of

water and waded into it but when the water had risen to the calf of

his leg Baijal suddenly found himself on a broad dry road which led to

his mistress's house. When they reached it the bonga girl introduced

Baijal to her father and brothers as her husband and told him not to be

afraid of anything he saw; but he could not help feeling frightened,

for the stools on which they sat were coiled-up snakes and the house

dogs were tigers and leopards.

After he had been there three of four day his brothers-in-law one

morning asked him to come out hunting pea fowl. He readily agreed and

they all set out together. The Bongas asked Baijal to lead the dog

but as the dog was a tiger he begged to be excused until they reached

the jungle. So they hunted through the hills and valleys until they

came to a clearing in which there was a man chopping up a tree. Then

the _bongas_ called to Baijal "There is a peacock feeding; take the

dog; throw a stick and knock the bird over and then loose the dog at

it." Baijal pretended not to understand and said that he could see no

peacock; then they told him plainly that the man chopping the log was

their game. Then he saw that he was meant to kill the man and not only

so, but that he would have to eat the flesh afterwards. However he was

afraid to refuse, so he took the tiger in the leash and went towards

the clearing but instead of first throwing his stick at the man he

merely let the tiger loose and cheered it on. The wood cutter heard

the shout and looking round saw the tiger; grasping his axe he ran to

meet it and as the animal sprang on him he smote it on the head and

killed it. Then Baijal went back and told his brothers-in-law that

the peacock had pecked their hound to death. They were very angry

with him for not throwing his stick first but he explained that he

thought that such a big dog as theirs would not need any help.

Two or three days later Baijal told his _bonga_ wife to come home with

him, so they set off with a bundle of provisions for the journey. When

they had passed out through the pool Baijal opened the bundle to have

something to eat but found that the bread had turned into cowdung

fuel cakes; and the parched rice into _meral_ leaves; so he threw

them all away. However he would not give up the _bonga_ girl and they

used to meet daily and in the course of time two children were born

to them. Whenever there was a dance in the village the _bonga_ girl

used to come to it. She would leave the two children on Baijal's bed

and spend the whole night dancing with the other women of the village.

The time came when Baijal's parents arranged for his marriage,

for they knew nothing of his _bonga_ wife; and before the marriage

the _bonga_ made him promise that if he had a daughter he would name

the child after her. Even when he was married he did not give up his

_bonga_ wife and used to meet her as before. One night she came with

her children to a dance and after dancing some time said that she was

tired and would go away; Baijal urged her not to go but to come with

her children and live in his house along with his other wife. She

would not agree and he tried to force her and shut the door of the

house; but she and her children rose to the roof in a flash of light

and disappeared over the top of the house wall and passed away from

the village in a flame of fire. At this Baijal was so frightened that

from that time he gave her up and never went near her again.

By and bye his wife bore him a daughter but they did not name the

child after the _bonga_ and the consequence was that it soon pined

away and died. Two or three more were born but they also all died

young because he had not named them after the _bonga_. At last he did

give a daughter the right name and from that time his children lived.

CLVII. Ramai and the Bonga.

Once a _bonga_[3] haunted the house of a certain man and became such

a nuisance that the man had him exorcised and safely pegged down to

the ground; and they fenced in the place where the _bonga_ lay with

thorns and put a large stone on the top of him. Just at the place

was a clump of "Kite's claws" bushes and one day when the berries

on the bushes were ripe, a certain cowherd named Ramai went to pick

them and when he came round to the stone which covered the _bonga_

he stood on it to pick the fruit and the _bonga_ called out to him

to get off the stone; Ramai looked about and seeing no one said "Who

is that speaking?" and the voice said "I am buried under the stone;

if you will take it off me I will give you whatever boon you ask";

Ramai said that he was afraid that the _bonga_ would eat him but the

_bonga_ swore to do him no harm, so he lifted up the stone and the

_bonga_ came out and thanking Ramai told him to ask a boon.

Ramai asked for the power to see _bongas_ and to understand the

language of ants. "I will give you the power," said the _bonga_,

"but you must tell no one about it, not even your wife; if you do

you will lose the power and in that case you must not blame me,"

Then the _bonga_ blew into his ear and he heard the speech of ants;

and the _bonga_ scratched the film of his eye balls with a thorn

and he saw the _bongas_: and there were crowds of them living in

villages like men. In December when we thresh the rice the _bongas_

carry off half of it; but Ramai could see them and would drive them

away and so was able to save his rice.

Once a young fellow of his own age was very ill; and his friends blew

into his ears and partially brought him to his senses and he asked

them to send for Ramai; so they called Ramai and he had just been

milking his cows and came with the tethering rope in his hand; and

when he entered the room he saw a _bonga_ sitting on the sick man's

chest and twisting his neck; so he flogged it with the rope till it

ran away and he pursued it until it threw itself into a pool of water;

and then the sick man recovered.

But Ramai soon lost his useful power; one day as he was eating his

dinner he dropped some grains of rice and two ants fell to quarrelling

over one grain and Ramai heard them abusing each other and was so

amused that he laughed out loud.

His wife asked why he laughed and he said at nothing in particular,

but she insisted on knowing and he said that it was at some scandal he

had heard in the village; but she would not believe him and worried

him until he told her that it was at the quarrel of the ants. Then

she made him tell her how he gained the power to understand what

they said: but from that moment he lost the powers which the _bonga_

had conferred on him.

CLVIII. The Boundary Bonga.

There was once a man who owned a rich swampy rice field. Every year

he used to sacrifice a pig to the boundary _bonga_ before harvest;

but nevertheless the _bonga_ always reaped part of the crop. One year

when the rice was ripening the man used to go and look at it every

day. One evening after dusk as he was sitting quietly at the edge of

the field he overheard the _bonga_ and his wife talking. The _bonga_

said that he was going to pay a visit to some friends but his wife

begged him not to go because the rice was ripe and the farmer would

be cutting it almost at once. However the _bonga_ would not listen

to her advice and set off on his journey.

The farmer saw that there was no time to be lost and the very next

day he sacrificed the usual pig and reaped the whole of the crop. That

evening when work was over he stayed and listened to hear whether the

_bonga_ had come back, but all was quiet. The next day he threshed

the paddy and instead of twenty bushels as usual he found that he had

got sixty bushels of rice, That evening he again went to the field

and this time he found that the _bonga_ had returned and was having

a fine scolding from his wife, because he had let the farmer reap the

whole crop. "Take your silly pig and your silly plate of flour from the

sacrifice," screamed the _bonga's_ wife, throwing them at her spouse,

"that is all you have got; this is all because you would go away when

I told you not to do it; how could I reap the crop with the children

to look after? If you had stayed we might have got five _bandis_

of rice from that field."

CLIX. The Bonga Exorcised.

A very poor man was once ploughing his field and as he ploughed the

share caught fast in something. At first he thought that it was

a root and tried to divide it with his axe; but as he could not

cut it he looked closer and found that it was a copper chain. He

followed the chain along and at either end he found a brass pot full

of rupees. Delighted with his luck he wrapped the pots in his cloth

and hurried home. Then he and his wife counted the money and buried

it under the floor of their house.

From that time the man began to prosper; his crops were always good;

and his cattle increased and multiplied; he had many children and

they grew up strong and healthy and were married and had children of

their own.

But after many years luck changed. The family was constantly ill and

every year a child died. The _jan guru_ who was consulted declared

that a _Kisar bonga_ was responsible for their misfortunes. He told

the sons how their father had found the money in the ground and said

that the _bonga_ to whom the money belonged was responsible for their

misfortunes and was named Mainomati.

He told them how to get rid of the _bonga_. They were to dig up

the buried money and place it in bags; and load it on the back of a

young heifer; and take five brass nails and four copper nails, and

two rams. If the _bonga_ was willing to leave the house the heifer

would walk away to another village directly the bags were placed on

its back; but if the _bonga_ would not go the heifer would not move.

So they did as the _Janguru_ advised and when the bags were placed

on the heifer it walked away to a large peepul tree growing on the

banks of a stream in another village and there it stopped. Then they

sacrificed the rams and uttering vows over the nails drove them into

the peepul tree and went home, turning the heifer loose. From that

time their troubles ceased.

But that evening a man driving his cattle home saw a young woman

nailed to the peepul tree; and not knowing that she was a _bonga_

he released her and took her home and married her.

CHAPTER V

Part V.

The legends and customary beliefs contained in this part are definitely

connected with the Santals.

CLX. The Beginning of Things.

In the days of old, Thakur Baba had made everything very convenient for

mankind and it was by our own fault that we made Thakur Baba angry so

that he swore that we must spend labour in making things ready for use.

This is the story that I have heard.

When the Santals lived in Champa and the Kiskus were their kings, the

Santals were very simple and religious and only worshipped Thakur. In

those days the rice grew ready husked, and the cotton bushes bore

cloth all ready woven and men did not have to pick the lice out of

each others' hair; men's skulls grew loose and each man could lift

off his own skull and clean it and then replace it. But all this was

spoilt by the misdeeds of a serving girl of one of the Rajas. When

she went into the field for purposes of nature she would at the same

time pick and eat the rice that grew by her; and when she had made

her hands dirty cleaning out a cow house she would wipe them on the

cloth which she was wearing. Angered by these dirty habits Thakur Baba

deprived men of the benefits which he had conferred upon them and the

rice began to grow in a husk and the cotton plants only produced raw

cotton and men's skulls became fixed so that they could not be removed.

In those old days too the sky was quite close to the earth and Thakur

Baba used to come and visit men in their houses. So it was a saying

among our forefathers "Do, not throw your dirty leaf plates near the

front or back door and do not let your brass plates and dishes remain

unwashed at night; for if Thakur Baba come along and see them so, he

will not come into the house but will be angry and curse us." But one

day a woman after finishing her meal threw the used leaf plate out of

the door, and a gust of wind carried it up to the sky; this displeased

Thakur Baba and he resolved no longer to dwell in the neighbourhood of

men as they were so ill-mannered as to throw their dirty leaf plates

at him and so he lifted the sky to its present height above the earth.

To this day men who have heard of this scold those who throw their

refuse into the street and bid them heap it up in some out-of-the-way

place.

The misdeeds of men at length made Thakur Baba so angry that he

resolved to destroy them all. Now Thakur Baba is Sing Chando or

the Sun, and the Moon is his wife: and at first there were as many

stars by day as there are by night and they were all the children of

the Sun and Moon who had divided them between them. So Sing Chando

having resolved to destroy mankind blazed with a fierce heat till man

and beast writhed under the torture of it. But when the Moon looked

down and saw their sufferings she was filled with pity and thought

how desolate the earth would be without a living being on it. So she

hastened to Sing Chando and prayed him not to desolate the earth; but

for all her beseeching the utmost that she could obtain was a promise

from her Lord that he would spare one or two human beings to be the

seed of a future race. So Sing Chando chose out a young man and a young

woman and bade them go into a cave in a hill side and close the mouth

of the cave with a raw hide and when they were safely inside he rained

fire from heaven and killed every other living being on the earth.

Five days and five nights it rained fire and the man and woman in

the cave sang--(to the Baha tune)

"Five days and five nights the fire will rain, ho!

Five days and five nights, all night long, ho!

Where will you two human beings stay?

Where will you two take shelter?

There is a hide, a hide:

There is also a hill:

There is also a cave in the rock!

There will we two stay:

There will we two take shelter."

When they came out of the cave the first thing they saw was a cow lying

burnt to death with a _karke_ tree fallen on the top of it and near

it was lying a buffalo cow burnt to death; at the sight they sang:--

"The cow is glowing cinders, glowing cinders:

The _karke_ tree is burnt:

The buffalo cow has fallen and has been burnt

to ashes, to ashes."

And as they went on, they sang a similar lament over the remains of

each living being as they saw it.

Although these two had been spared to raise up a new race, Ninda

Chando, the Moon, feared that the Sun would again get angry with the

new race and destroy it; and so she made a plan to trick him. She

covered up all her children with a large basket and smeared her mouth

and lips with red and going to Sing Chando told him that she had eaten

up every one of her children and proposed that he should now eat up

his. At first Sing Chando declined to believe her but she pointed to

her lips and said that they were red with the blood of the children;

so Sing Chando was convinced and agreed to eat up his children except

two whom he would keep to play with. So they devoured all but two

and the two that were saved are the morning and evening stars.

Thus Sing Chando was deprived of the power to again burn up the earth;

but when that night Ninda Chando let out her own children from under

the basket she warned them to beware of the wrath of their father when

he found out the trick that had been played him. When Sing Chando

saw Ninda Chando's children still alive he flew to her in a passion

and the children at the sight of him scattered in all directions and

that is why the stars are now spread all over the sky; at first they

were all in one place. Although the stars escaped, Sing Chando could

not restrain his wrath and cut Ninda Chando in two and that is why

the Moon waxes and wanes; at first she was always full like the sun.

Some men say that the man and woman whom Thakur hid in the cave were

Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Budhi and they had twelve sons and twelve

daughters and mankind is descended from them and has increased

and filled the earth; and that it was in that country that we were

divided into twelve different races according to the food which our

progenitors chose at a feast.

CLXI. Chando and His Wife.

Once upon a time Chando went to the hills to fashion a plough out of

a log of wood; and his wife was left at home alone, Chando was so

long in coming back that his wife grew impatient; so she made some

mosquitos and sent them to worry him and drive him home. But Chando

made some dragon-flies and they ate up the mosquitos and he went on

with his work. His wife made various other animals and sent them out,

but Chando destroyed them all. At last she made a tiger and sent it

to frighten him home; but Chando took up a handful of chips from the

log he was cutting and threw them at the tiger and they turned into

wild dogs and chased the tiger away. Ever since that no tiger will

face wild dogs.

Then Chando's wife shut up a locust in an iron pot and when Chando at

last came home she asked him "Why have you been so long? Who is to

give food and drink to all the living creatures if you don't attend

to business." Chando answered that he had fed them all.

"No you have not, you have not fed the locust!"

"But I have" said Chando.

Then she took the lid off the iron pot and showed him the locust

eating grass inside; and Chando had nothing to say.

CLXII. The Sikhar Raja.

Santals say that the Sikhar Raja was a _bonga_ and this is the story

they tell about him. A certain woman was with child but could not

say by whom she was pregnant so she fled into the jungle and at the

foot of a clump of bamboos gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl;

and then went home leaving the children lying in the jungle. The

children lay there crying very pitifully. Now a herd of wild bison

was grazing in the jungle and they heard the crying and one of the

cows went to see what was the matter and took pity on the children and

suckled them. Every day she came three times and fed them; and under

her care the children grew up strong and healthy. If any man came

to hunt in the jungle the bison-cow used to attack him and drive him

away; she used to bring the bows and arrows which the hunters threw

away in their flight to the boy that he might learn how to shoot. And

when any basket makers passed by the jungle on their way to market to

sell their wares she used to charge out at them and then bring to the

girl the winnowing fans and baskets they threw down in their fright,

so that she might learn to sift rice.

Thus the children prospered; and the boy was named Harichand and he

and his sister looked like gods. When they grew up they married each

other and then the bison-cow left them. Then Thakur sent from heaven

sixteen hundred _gopinis_ and the _gopinis_ said that Harichand and

his wife should be king and queen in that land of Sikhar. Then they

took counsel together as to where the royal fort should be. Three

scribes sat down to study the books with Harichand and his wife in

their midst; on the right sat the scribe Hikim, and on the left the

scribe Bhuja and the scribe Jaganath opened the book to see where

the fort should be; and all the gopinis sat round in a circle and

sang while the book was read.

"Raja Harichand of the Sikhar stock, of Jhalamala,

Where is his abode!

Raja Harichand of the Sikhar stock, of Jhalamala,

In the bamboo clump is his abode!"

"Raja Harichand of the Sikhar stock of Jhalamala

In the banyan-tree field in his abode!

Raja Harichand, of the Sikhar stock, of Jhalamala,

In the brinjal corner is his abode."

And they found in the book that the fort should be in Pachet hill;

then they sang in triumph:--

"It will not do, O Raja, to build a fort here:

We will leave Paras and build a fort on Pachet hill:

There in the happy Brinda forest."

Then they brought the Raja and Rani from the jungle to Pachet and

on the top of the Pachet hill a stone fort sprang up for them; and

all the country of Sikhar acknowledged their sway. After that the

Santals made their way from Champa and dwelt in Sikhar and cleared all

the jungle in it and abode there many years. They called the Sikhar

Raja a _bonga_ because no one knew his father or mother. Under Raja

Harichand the Santals were very contented and happy, and when he

celebrated the Chatar festival they used to sing this song, because

they were so contented:--

"Harichand Raja was born of a bison-cow,

Sirguja Rana was born of a snake."

CLXIII. The Origin of Tobacco.

This is the way that the chewing tobacco began. There was once a

Brahmin girl whose relations did not give her in marriage and she

died unmarried. After the body had been burned and the people had

gone home, Chandu thought "Alas, I sent this woman into the world

and she found favour with no one; well, I will confer a gift on her

which will make men ask for her every day," So he sowed tobacco at

the burning place and it grew up and flourished. And there was a boy

of the cowherd caste who used to graze his cattle about that place;

he saw his goats greedily eating the tobacco leaf and he wondered

what the leaf was and tasted a bit but finding it bitter he spat it

out. Some time after however he had tooth-ache and having tried many

remedies in vain he bethought himself of the bitter tobacco and he

chewed some of that and kept it in his mouth and found that it cured

the tooth-ache; from that time he formed the habit of chewing it. One

day he saw some burnt bones or lime and he picked up the powder and

rubbed it between his fingers to see what it was and after doing so he

ate some tobacco and found that the taste was improved, so from that

time he always chewed lime with the tobacco. He recommended the leaf

to other men who had tooth-ache and they formed the habit of chewing

it too and called it tobacco; and then men who had no tooth-ache took

to it; and acquired a craving for it. This is the way tobacco chewing

began, as our forefathers say.

CLXIV. The Transmigration of Souls.

All the cats of Hindus have believed and believe, and the Santals also

have said and say, that Thakur made the land and sky and sea and man

and animals and insects and fish and the creation was complete and

final: he made their kinds and castes once for all and did not alter

them afterwards; and he fixed the time of growth and of dwelling in

the body; and for the flowers to seed and he made at that time as

many souls as was necessary and the same souls go on being incarnated

sometimes in a human body and sometimes in the body of an animal;

and so it is that many human beings really have the souls of animals;

if a man has a man's soul he is of a gentle disposition; but if he gets

the soul of a dog or cat then he is bad tempered and ready to quarrel

with everyone; and the man with a frog's soul is silent and sulky and

those who get tiger's souls when they start a quarrel never give up

till they gain their point. There is a story which proves all this.

There was once a Brahman who had two wives and as he knew something

of herbs and simples he used to leave his wives at home and go about

the country as a quack doctor; but whenever he came home his two wives

used to scold him and find fault with him for no reason at all till

they made his life a burden. So he resolved to leave two such shrews

and one day when they had been scolding as usual he put on the garb

of a _jogi_ and in spite of their protests went out into the world.

After journeying two or three days he came to a town in which a

pestilence was raging and he sat down to rest under a tree on the

outskirts. There he noticed that many corpses had been thrown out and

he saw two vultures fly down to feed on the bodies; and the he-vulture

said to his mate "Which corpse shall we eat first?" Now the Brahman

somehow understood the language of the birds--but the mate returned

no answer though the he-vulture kept on repeating the question; at

last she said "Don't you see there is a man sitting at the foot of

the tree?" Then they both approached the Brahman and asked why he was

sitting in such a place and whether he was in distress; he told them

that trouble had driven him from his home and that he was wandering

about the world as chance led him, because the continual quarrelling of

his two wives was more than he could bear. The vultures said "We will

give you a means by which you may see your wives as they really are"

and one of them pulled out a wing feather and told him when he went

to any house begging to stick it behind his ear and then he would

see what the people were really like; and they advised him to marry a

woman who gave him alms with her hands. Then he got up and went away

with the feather, leaving the birds to prey on the corpses.

When the Brahman came to a village to beg he saw by the aid of the

feather, that some of the people were really cats and some were dogs

and other animals and when they gave him alms they brought it in their

teeth; then he made up his mind to go home and see what his wives

really were; and he found that one was a bitch and one was a sow;

and when they brought him water they carried the cup in their months;

at this sight he left the house again in disgust, determined to marry

any woman who offered him alms with her hands.

He wandered for days till at last the daughter of a Chamar, when he

begged, brought him alms in her hands; and he at once determined to

stay there and marry her at all costs; so he sat down and when the

Chamar asked why he did not go away he said that he meant to marry the

girl who had given him alms and live in his house as his son-in-law;

the Chamar did all he could to remonstrate at such an extraordinary

proposal as that a Brahman should destroy his caste by marrying a

Chamar; the Brahman said that they might do what they liked to him

but that he would not leave till he obtained his bride. So at last

the Chamar called in his castefellows and relations to advise him

whether he would be guilty of any sin in yielding to the proposal of

the Brahman; and they called into council the principal villagers of

all the other castes and after fully questioning the Chamar and the

Brahman the judgment of the villagers was that the marriage should

take place and they would take the responsibility. Then the Brahman

was made to give a full account of himself and where he had come from,

and when this was found to be true, the bride price was fixed and

paid and the marriage took place and the Brahman became a Chamar.

CLXV. The Next World.

This is what the Santals say about the next world. After death men

have a very hard time of it in the next world. _Chando bonga_ makes

them work terribly hard; the woman have to pound the fruit of the

castor oil plant with a pestle; and from the seeds Chando bonga makes

human beings. All day long they have to work; those women who have

babies get a little respite on the excuse of suckling their babies;

but those who have no children get no rest at all; and the men are

allowed to break off to chew tobacco but those who have not learnt to

chew have to work without stopping from morning to night. And this is

the reason why Santals learn to chew tobacco when they are alive; for

it is of no use to merely smoke a _huka_: in the next world we shall

not be allowed to knock off work in order to smoke. In the next world

also it is very difficult to get water to drink. There are frogs who

stand on guard and drive away any who comes to the water to drink;

and so when Satals die we send drinking vessels with them so that

they may be able to run quickly to the water and fill the vessels

and get away before they are stopped. And it is said that if a man

during his lifetime has planted a peepul tree he gets abused for it

in the next world and is told to go and pick the leaves out of the

water which have fallen into it and are spoiling it and such a man is

able to get water to drink while he is picking the leaves out of it;

but whether this is all true I cannot say.

CLXVI. After Death.

When grown-up people die they become ancestral _bongas_ and sacrifices

are offered to them at the Flower and Sohrai festivals; and when

children die they become _bhuts_. When a pregnant woman dies, they

drive long thorns into the soles of the feet before the body is

burned for such women become _churins_. The reason of this is that

when the _churin_ pursues any one the thorns may hurt her and prevent

her from running fast: and so the man who is pursued may escape; for

if the _churin_ catches him she will lick all the flesh off his bones;

they especially attack the belly and their tongues are very rough.

There was once a man who had been to get his ploughshare sharpened by

the blacksmith and as he was on his way home it came on to rain, so he

took shelter in a hollow tree. While he was waiting for the weather

to clear he saw a _churin_ coming along singing and she also came to

take shelter in the same tree. Fortunately she pushed in backwards

and the man took the ploughshare which was still nearly red hot and

pressed it against her back; so she ran away screaming and he made

good his escape in the other direction; otherwise he would assuredly

have been licked to death.

CLXVII. Hares and Men.

In former days hares used to eat men and a man presented himself before

Thakur and said "O Father, these hares do us much damage; they are

little animals and hide under leaves and then spring out and eat us;

big animals we can see coming and can save ourselves. Have pity on

us and deliver us from these little animals," So Thakur summoned the

chief of the hares and fixed a day for hearing the case; and when the

man and the hare appeared he asked the hare whether they ate men and

the hare denied it and asserted on the contrary that men ate hares; but

the man when questioned denied that men killed hares. Then Thakur said

"O hare and man, I have questioned you both and you give contradictory

answers; and neither admits the charge; the matter shall be decided in

this way; you, hare, shall watch a _Kita_ tree and if within a year you

see a leaf fall from the tree you shall be allowed to eat men; and you,

man, shall watch a _Korkot_ tree and if you see a leaf fall, then men

shall be allowed to eat hares. Begin your watch to-day and this day

next year bring me your leaves." So the man and the hare departed and

each sat under a tree to see a leaf fall but they watched and watched

in vain until on the last day of the year a _korkot_ leaf fell and

the man joyfully picked it up and took it to Thakur; and the hare

failing to see a leaf fall bit off a leaf with its teeth and took it

to Thakur. Then Thakur examined the two leaves and said to the hare,

"This leaf did not fall of itself; see, the tip of the stalk is quite

different from the stalk of the leaf this man has brought; you bit

it off." And the hare was silent Then Thakur rubbed the legs of the

hare with a ball of cleaned cotton and passed this sentence on him,

that thenceforward he should skip about like a leaf blown by the wind

and that men should hunt hares wherever they found them and kill and

eat them, entrails and all.

And this is the reason why Santals do not clean the hares they kill,

but eat them entrails and all.

CLXVIII. A Legend.

Once upon a time a woman was found to be with child by her own brother,

so the two had to fly the country. In their flight they came to the

Mustard Tank and Flower Lake, on the banks of which they prepared

to cook their food. They boiled water and cooked rice in it; and

then they boiled water to cook pulse to eat with the rice. But when

the water was ready they found that they had forgotten to bring any

pulse. While they were wondering what they could get to eat with their

rice they saw a man of the fisher caste (Keot) coming along with his

net on his shoulder. Then the woman sang--

"The son of a Keot is standing on the bank of the tank:

The fish are jumping: the son of a Keot is catching the fish."

So the Keot caught them some fish, which they ate with their rice.

Then they went on and by the side of the road they saw a date palm

the juice of which had been tapped; and they wished to drink the juice

but they found that they had brought no drinking vessel with them. The

woman looked about and saw near by a fan palm tree and she sang--

"The peepul's leaves go flicker, flicker:

The banyan's leaves are thick and fleshy:

Of the fan palm's leaf, brother, make a cup.

And we will drink the juice of the date palm."

So her brother made a drinking vessel of a palm leaf and they drank

the date juice and went on their way. At nightfall they rested at

the foot of a Bael tree and fell into a drunken sleep from the date

juice they had drunk.

As the woman lay senseless her child was born to her and no sooner

was the child born than a bael fruit fell on to its head and split it

into four pieces which flew apart and became four hills. From falling

on the new-born child the bael fruit has ever since had a sticky

juice and the tree is covered with thorns which are the hair of the

child. In the morning the man and woman went on and came to a forest

of _Tarop_ trees and the woman wiped her bloody hands on the _Tarop_

trees and so the _Tarop_ tree ever since exudes a red juice like blood.

Next morning they went on and came to a spring and drank of its water

and afterwards the woman bathed in it and the blood stained water

flowed over all the country and so we see stagnant water covered

with a red scum. Going on from there they reached a low lying flat

and halted; almost at once they saw a thunder storm coming up from

the South and West; and the woman sang--

"A storm as black as the _so_ fruit, brother,

Is coming, full of danger for us:

Come let us flee to the homestead of the liquor seller."

But the brother answered--

"The liquor seller's house is an evil house:

You only wish to go there for mischief."

So they stayed where they were and the lightning came and slew

them both.

CLXIX. Pregnant Women.

Pregnant women are not allowed to go about alone outside the village;

for there are _bongas_ everywhere and some of them dislike the sight of

pregnant women and kill them or cause the child to be born wry-necked.

A pregnant woman may not make a mud fireplace for if she does her child

will be born with a hare-lip; nor may she chop vegetables during an

eclipse or the same result will follow. She may not ride in a cart,

for if she does the child will be always crying and will snore in its

sleep; if she eats the flesh of field rats the child's body will be

covered with hair and if she eats duck or goose flesh the child will

be born with its fingers and toes webbed. Nor may a pregnant woman

look on a funeral, for if she does her child will always sleep with

its eyes half open.

CLXX. The Influence of the Moon.

If a child is born on the day before the new moon the following

ceremony is observed. After bathing the child they place an old broom

in the mother's arms instead of the child; then the mother takes

the child and throws it out on the dung heap behind the house. The

midwife then takes an old broom and an old winnowing fan and sweeps

up a little rubbish on to the fan and takes it and throws it on the

dung hill; there she sees the child and calls out. "Here is a child

on the dung heap" then she pretends to sweep the child with the broom

into the winnowing fan and lifts it up and carries it into the house;

and asks the people of the house whether they will rear it. They ask

what wages she will give them and she promises to give them a heifer

when the child is grown up.

If this is not done the child will be unlucky when it grows up; if

it is a boy, however often he may marry, his wife will die and so,

if it is a girl, her husbands will die.

Another fact is that they always shave a child's head for the first

two times during the same moon; if it is shaved first during one moon

and then during the following moon; it will always have a headache

once a month.

Similarly when they tie the knots in a string to fix the date of a

wedding the wedding must take place in the lunar month in which the

knots are tied or else the children born of the marriage will die.

CLXXI. Illegitimate Children.

If a woman has an illegitimate child and from fear or shame will not

name its father the bastard is called a child of Chando. At its birth

there is no assembly of the neighbours; its head is not ceremonially

shaved and there is no _narta_ ceremony. The midwife does what is

necessary; and the child is admitted into no division of the tribe. If

it is a boy it is called Chandu or Chandrai or sometimes Birbanta and

if a girl Chandro or Chandmuni or perhaps Bonela. Sometimes after the

child is born the mother will under seal of secrecy tell its father's

name to her mother or the midwife; and then between themselves they

will call the child by a name taken from the father's family but

they will never tell it to anyone else. When the child grows up he

is given some nickname and if he turns out well and is popular his

name is often changed again and he is recognised as a Santal.

Often if a father will not acknowledge a child the mother will strangle

it at birth and bury the body. Men who practise sorcery dig up the

bones of such murdered infants and use them as rattles when doing

their sorceries and are helped by them to deceive people.

CLXXII. The Dead.

Santals are very much afraid of burial grounds; for dead men become

_bongas_ and _bongas_ eat men. If a man meet such a _bonga_ in a

burial ground it is of little use to fight for the _bonga_ keeps on

changing his shape. He may first appear as a man and then change into

a leopard or a bear or a pig or a cat: very few escape when attacked

by such a being.

It is said that the spirits of young children become _bhuts_ and those

of grown-up people _bongas_ and those of pregnant women _churins_.

CLXXIII. Hunting Custom.

Formerly when the men went to a hunt the mistress of the house would

not bathe all the time they were away and when the hunters returned

she met them at the front door and washed their feet and welcomed

them home. The wife of the _dehri_ used to put a dish of water under

her bed at night and if the water turned red like blood they believed

that it was a sign that game had been killed.

CHAPTER VI

Part VI.

The belief in witchcraft is very real to the present day among the

Santals. All untimely deaths and illness which does not yield to

treatment are attributed to the machinations of witches, and women

are not unfrequently murdered in revenge for deaths which they are

supposed to have caused, or to prevent the continuance of illness

for which they are believed to be responsible.

The Santal writer in spite of his education is a firm believer in

witchcraft, and details his own experiences. He has justification for

his belief, for as was the case in Mediaeval Europe, women sometimes

plead guilty to having caused death by witchcraft when there appears

to be no adequate motive for a confession, which must involve them

in the severest penalties.

Mr. Bodding is aware that Santal women do actually hold meetings at

night at which mantras and songs are repeated, and at which they may

believe they acquire uncanny powers; the exercise of such powers may

also on occasion be assisted by the knowledge of vegetable poisons.

The witch may either herself cause death by 'eating,' or eating the

liver of, her victim, or may cause her familiar "bonga" to attack

the unfortunate. That witches eat the liver is an old idea in India

mentioned by the Mughal historians.

The Jan guru is employed to detect who is the woman responsible for

any particular misfortune. His usual method is to gaze on a leaf

smeared with oil, in which as in a crystal he can doubtless imagine

that shapes present themselves. The witch having been detected, she is

liable to be beaten and maltreated until she withdraws her spells, and

if this does not lead to the desired result she may be put to death.

CLXXIV. Witchcraft.

The higher castes do not believe in witchcraft. If a man is ill they

give him medicines and if he dies in spite of the medicine they do

nothing further. But all the lower castes believe in witchcraft and

know that it is a reality. The Santal women learnt the craft first

from Marang Burn by playing a trick on him when he meant to teach

their husbands. And now they take quite little girls out by night

and teach them so that the craft may not die out.

We know of many cases to prove that witchcraft is a reality. Pirthi

who lives in Pankha's house was once ill: and it was an aunt of his who

was "eating" him. One night as he lay ill the witch came and bent over

him to take out his liver: but he woke up just in time and saw her and

catching her by the hair he shouted for the people in the house. They

and the villagers came and took the woman into custody. When the

Pargana questioned her she confessed everything and was punished.

Another time a boy lay ill and senseless. A cowherd who was driving

cattle home at evening ran to the back of the house where the sick boy

lay, after a cow which strayed there. There he found a woman in a state

of possession (rum) he told the villagers what he had seen and they

caught the woman and gave her a severe beating: whereupon the sick

boy recovered. But about two months afterwards the cowherd suddenly

fell down dead: and when they consulted a _jan_ as to the reason he

said that it was the witch who had been beaten who had done it.

CLXXV. Of Dains and Ojhas.

Once upon a time Marang Buru decided that he would teach men

witchcraft. In those days there was a place at which men used to

assemble to meet Marang Buru and hold council with him: but they only

heard his voice and never saw his face. One day at the assembly when

they had begun to tell Marang Buru of their troubles he fixed a day

and told them to come to him on it, dressed all in their cleanest

clothes and he would teach them witchcraft.

So the men all went home and told their wives to wash their clothes

well against the fixed day, as they were going to Thakur to learn

witchcraft. The women of course all began to discuss this new plan

among themselves and the more they talked of it the less they liked it;

it seemed to them that if the men were to get this new strange power

it would make them more inclined to despise and bully women than ever;

so they made a plot to get the better of their husbands. They arranged

that each woman should brew some rice beer and offer it to her husband

as he was starting to meet Marang Buru and beg him to drink some lest

his return should be delayed. They foresaw that the men would not be

able to resist the drink; and that having started they would go on till

they were dead drunk: it would then be easy for the women to dress

themselves like men and go off to Marang Buru and learn witchcraft

in place of their husbands. So said, so done;--the women duly made

their husbands drunk and then put on _pagris_ and _dhoties_ and stuck

goats' beards on their faces and went off to Marang Buru to learn

witchcraft. Marang Buru did not detect the imposition and according

to his promise taught them all the incantations of witchcraft.

After the women had come home with their new knowledge their

husbands gradually recovered their senses and bethought them of their

appointment with Marang Buru. So they hurried off to the meeting place

and asked him to teach them what he had promised. "Why, I taught it

all to you this morning," answered Marang Buru, "what do you mean by

coming to me again?" The men could not understand what he meant and

protested that they had not been to him at all in the morning. "Then

you must have told your wives what I was going to do!" This they could

not deny: "I see," said Marang Buru "then they must have played a trick

on you and learnt the _mantras_ in your place," At this the men began

to lament and begged that they might be taught also: but Marang Buru

said that this was impossible; he could only teach them a very little;

their wives had reaped the crop and they could only have the gleanings;

so saying, he taught them the art of the _ojha_ and in order that

they might have the advantage of their wives in one respect and be

able to overawe them he also taught them the craft of the _jan_ and

with that they had to be content. This is why only women are witches.

CLXXVI. Initiation into Witchcraft.

When girls are initiated into witchcraft they are taken away by

force and made to lead tigers about. This makes them fearless. They

are then taken to all the most powerful _bongas_ in succession; and

are taught to invoke them, as school boys are taught lessons, and to

become possessed _(rum)_. They are also taught _mantras_ and songs and

by degrees they cease to be afraid. The novice is made to come out of

the house with a lamp in her hand and a broom tied round her waist;

she is then conducted to the great _bongas_ one of whom approves of her

and when all have agreed she is married to that _bonga_. The _bonga_

pays the usual brideprice and applies _sindur_ to her forehead. After

this she can also marry a man in the usual way and he also pays the

bride price. When a girl has learnt everything she is made to take

her degree (_sid atang_) by taking out a man's liver and cooking it

with rice in a new pot; then she and the young woman who is initiating

her, eat the feast together; a woman who has once eaten such a stew

is completely proficient and can never forget what she has learnt.

This is the way in which girls learn witchcraft; and if any girl

refuses to take the final step and will not eat men she is caused to

go mad or die. Those however who have once eaten men have a craving

for it.

Generally it is only women who are witches; but there are men who have

learnt witchcraft and there are others who without being initiated

have kept company with witches. For instance in Simra village there

is Chortha who was once a servant of the Parganna. He says that the

Parganna's wife used to take him out with her at night. The women used

to sacrifice fowls and goats and make him skin them and cut them up:

he had then to roast cakes of the flesh and give them to the Parganna's

wife who distributed them among the other women.

Sometimes also witches take a man with them to their meetings to beat

the drum: and sometimes if a man is very much in love with a girl he

is allowed to go with them and is taught witchcraft. For instance

there was a man who had a family of daughters and no son and so he

engaged a man servant by the year to work for him.

After being some years in service this man servant one night was for

some reason unusually late in letting the buffaloes out to graze,

and while doing so he saw all the women of the household assembled

out of doors; they came up to him and told him not to be afraid

and promised to do him no harm provided he told no one what he had

seen. Two or three days later the young women of the house invited

him to go to a witches' meeting. He went but felt rather frightened

the whole time; however nothing happened to him, so he got over his

fear and after that he used to go with them quite willingly and learnt

all about witchcraft. At last they told him that he must _sid atang_

by "eating" a human being. He objected that he was an orphan and so

there was no relation whom he could eat. This was a difficulty that

seemed insurmountable; and he suggested that he should be excused the

full course and taught only a little such as how to "eat" fowls. The

women agreed but it was arranged that to deceive people he should go

for two or three days and study with a _jan guru_ and be initiated by

him. Thus it would be thought that he learnt his magic from the _guru_

but really he learnt it from the witches who taught him everything

except how to "eat" human beings. He learnt how to make trees wither

away and come to life again; and to make rain fall where he wished

while any place he chose remained quite dry; he learnt to walk upon

the surface of water without getting wet; he could exorcise hail so

that none would touch his house though it fell all around. For a joke

he could make stools stick fast to his friends when they sat on them;

and anyone he scolded found himself unable to speak properly. All

this we have seen him do; but it was no one's business to question

him to find out how much he really knew.