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

CLXXVIII. (Witch Stories.)

 

I will now tell you something I have seen with my own eyes. In the

village of Dhubia next to mine the only son of the Paranik lay ill

for a whole year. One day I went out to look at my _rahar_ crop

which was nearly ripe and as I stood under a mowah tree I heard a

voice whispering. I stooped down to try and see through the _rahar_

who was there but the crop was so thick that I could see nothing;

so I climbed up the mowah tree to look. Glancing towards Dhubia

village I saw the third daughter of the Paranik come out of her house

and walk towards me. When about fifty yards from me she climbed a

big rock and waited. Presently an old aunt of hers came out of the

village and joined her. Then the old woman went back to her house and

returned with a lota of water. Meanwhile the girl had come down from

the rock and sat at its foot near a thicket of _dhela_ trees. The old

woman caused the girl to become possessed (_rum_) and they had some

conversation which I could not hear, Then they poured out the water

from the lota and went home.

 

On my way home I met a young fellow of the village and found that

he had also seen what the two women did. We went together to the

place and found the mark of the water spilled on the ground and two

leaves which had been used as wrappers and one of which was smeared

with vermilion and _adwa_ rice had been scattered about. We decided

to tell no one till we saw whether what had been done was meant to

benefit or injure the sick boy. Fifteen days later the boy died:

and when his parents consulted a _jan_ he named a young woman of the

village as the cause of the boy's death and she was taken and punished

severely by the villagers.

 

It is plain that the boy's sister and aunt in order to save themselves

caused the _jan_ to see an innocent woman. I could not bring the boy

back to life so it was useless for me to say anything, especially as

the guilty women were of the Paranik's own family. This I saw myself

in broad daylight.

 

Another thing that happened to me was this. I had been with the

Headman to pay in the village rent. It was night when we returned

and after leaving him I was going home alone. As I passed in front

of a house a bright light suddenly shone from the cowshed; I looked

round and saw a great crowd of women-witches standing there. I ran

away by the garden at the back of the house until I reached a high

road; then I stopped and looked round and saw that the witches were

coming after me; and looking towards the hamlet where my house was I

saw that witches were coming with a bright light from that direction

also. When I found myself thus hemmed in I felt that my last hour

had come but I ran on till I came to some jungle.

 

Looking back from there I saw that the two bands had joined together

and were coming after me. I did not feel safe there for I knew that

there were _bongas_ in the jungle who might tell the witches where

I was. So I ran on to the _tola_ where an uncle and aunt of mine

lived. As I ran down the street I saw two witches at the back of

one of the houses. They were sitting down; one was in a state of

possession _(rum)_ and the other was opposite her holding a lamp. So

I left the street and made my way through the fields till I Came to

my uncle's house. I knocked and was admitted panting and breathless;

my uncle and aunt went outside to see what it was that had scared me

and they saw the witches with the two lights flashing and made haste

to bolt the door. None of us slept for the rest of the night and in

the morning I told them all that had happened.

 

Since that night I have been very frightened of witches and do not like

to go out at night. It was lucky that the witches did not recognise

me; otherwise I should not have lived. Ever since I have never stayed

at home for long together; I go there for two or three months at a

time and then go away and work elsewhere. I am too frightened to stay

in my own village. Now all the old women who taught witchcraft are

dead except one: when she goes I shall not be frightened any more. I

shall be able to go home when I like. I have never told any one but

my uncle and aunt what I saw until now that I have written it down.

 

So from my own experience I have no doubt about the existence of

witches; I cannot say how they "eat" men, whether by magic or whether

they order _"bongas"_ to cause a certain man to die on a certain

day. Some people say that when a witch is first initiated she is

married to a _bonga_ and if she wants to "eat" a man she orders her

_bonga_ husband to kill him and if he refuses she heaps abuse on him

until he does.

 

 

CLXXIX. (Witch Stories.)

 

Young girls are taught witchcraft against their wills and if they

refuse to "eat" their father or brother they die or go mad. There

was a girl in my own village and she went out gathering herbs with

another girl who was a witch. As usual they sang at their work and the

witch girl sang songs the tune of which the other thought so pretty

that she learnt them by heart. When she had learnt them the witch

girl told her that they were witch songs and explained to her their

meaning. The girl was very angry at having been taught them unawares

but the witch girl assured her that she would never be able to forget

the songs or their interpretation; then she assigned her to a _bonga_

bridegroom and then told her to _sid atang_ and all would be well

with her otherwise she would have trouble.

 

When the girl learnt that she must _sid atang_ by "eating" her father

or brother or mother she began to make excuses; she could not kill

her father for he was the support of the family; nor her only brother

for he was wanted too at the _Baha_ and _Sohrai_ nor her mother who

had reared her in childhood. The witch girl said that if she refused

she would die; and she said that she would rather die than do what

was required of her. Then the witch did something and the girl began

to rave and talk gibberish and from that time was quite out of her

senses. _Ojhas_ tried to cure her in vain until at last one suggested

that she should be taken to another village as the madness must be

the work of witches living in her own village. So they took her away

and the remedies then cured her. She stayed in her new home and was

married there. A long time afterwards she went back to pay a visit to

her father's house: but the day after she arrived her head began to

ache and she fell ill and though her husband came and took her away

she died the day after she reached her home.

 

There was another girl; her friends noticed that when she came home

with them in the evening after planting rice she was very careful

not to fall behind or be left alone and they used to laugh at her for

being a coward. But one day she was gathering Indian corn with a friend

and as they talked she said "You will all have lovely dancing at the

Sohrai." "You!" said her friend: "won't you be there? Are you going

away?" Then the girl began to cry and sobbed out that her mother had

taught her witchcraft and married her to a _bonga_; and it was for

fear of the _bonga_ that she did not like to be alone in the dark;

and because she had refused to "eat" anyone her mother intended to

"eat" her and so she had no hope of living to see the Sohrai. Three

days later the girl fell ill and died, and after her death her friend

told how she had foreseen it.

 

CLXXX. (Witch Stories.)

 

In the village of Mohulpahari there was a youth named Jerba. He was

servant to Bepin Teli of Tempa and often had to come home in the dark

after his day's work. One night he was coming back very late and,

before he saw where he was, suddenly came upon a crowd of witches

standing under a hollow mowah tree at the foot of the field that

the dhobie has taken. Just as he caught sight of them they seized

hold of him and flung him down and did something which he could not

remember--for he lost his senses when they threw him down. When he

came to himself he managed to struggle free and run off. The witches

pursued but failed to overtake him and he reached his home in a state

of terror. The witches however had not finished with him for two or

three days after they caused him to fall from a tree and break his

arm. Ojhas were called in but their medicines did him no good. The

arm mortified and maggots formed and in a few days Jerba himself told

them that he would not recover; he told them how the witches chased

him and that he had recognised them as women of his own village and

shortly afterwards he became speechless and died.

 

My own brother-in-law lived at Mubundi. One night he and several other

men were sitting up on the threshing-floor watching their rice. In

the middle of the night they saw lights shining and flickering in

the courtyard of my brother-in-law's house and he went to see what

was the matter. When he got near, the lights went into the house:

he went up quietly and as he looked in found the house full of women

who extinguished the light directly they saw him and rushed out of

the house. Then he asked my sister what the light was; but she could

only stammer out "What light? I saw no light," so he struck her a blow

and went back to the threshing-floor and told the others what he had

seen. That night he would not tell them the names of the women he had

seen; and before morning his right arm swelled and became very painful;

the swelling quickly increased and by noon he lost consciousness and

a few