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