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