Folklore of the Santal Parganas, Cecil Henry Bompas [sad books to read .TXT] 📗

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