Folklore of the Santal Parganas Part 38

_Parganna_. A Santal chief having jurisdiction over a number of villages.

_Paranic_. The a.s.sistant headman of a village.

_Parrab_. A festival.

_Peepul_ or _pipal_. A tree, ficus religiosa.

_Pilchu Haram_ and _Pilchu Budhi_. The first man and woman.

_Rahar_. A cultivated crop, a kind of pulse.

_Raibar_. A marriage go-between, a man employed to arrange a marriage.

_Rakas_. An ogre. Sanskrit Rakhshya.

_Rum_. To be possessed, to fall into a cataleptic state.

_Sabai_. A kind of gra.s.s used for making rope.

_Sal_. A forest tree. Sh.o.r.ea robusta.

_Seer_. A weight, about two pounds.

_Sid atang_. To take the final step, to be completely initiated.

_Sing bonga_. The Sun G.o.d.

_Sipahi_. An armed guard, a soldier, armed messenger.

_Sohrai_. The great winter festival of the Santals.

_Taluq_. A revenue division of the country.

_Tarop tree_. A small tree, Buchanania latifolia.

_Thakur_. The supreme Being.

_Tika_. A mark on the forehead, the giving of which corresponds to coronation.

_Tola_. A hamlet, a detached quarter of a village.

Appendix

Introduction.

The Kolhan forms the western half of the district of Singhbhum in Chota Nagpur. The Hos or Larka Hos who form the bulk of the inhabitants are a branch of the Mundas of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. They are one of those Kolarian tribes of which the Santals are perhaps the best known. I have collected some of the Folklore stories current among them, the recollection of which would, however, appear to be dying out.

The Rev. A. Campbell of the Free Church of Scotland, Santal Mission, has printed a volume of Santal Folk Tales collected by him in Manbhum, a neighbouring district to Singhbhum. As might be expected there is considerable resemblance between those Santal Tales and the ones now reproduced. I have heard some of Mr. Campbell's Santal stories told by Hos precisely as he relates them, and there are many incidents common to both collections. On the other hand there is no resemblance between these Kolarian tales, and the Bengal stories published by Rev. Lal Behari De. In the latter I only notice one incident which appears in the Kolhan stories, the bringing together of two lovers through a long hair floating down a stream, but in Bengal it is the lady's hair that floats to her lover, while in the Kolhan it is always the long hair of the hero which inspires love in the heart of the Raja's daughter.

The stories may be divided into two groups, the animal stories in which the princ.i.p.al characters are animals, for the most part denizens of the jungles, and the stories which deal with a settled state of Society with Rajas, priests and members of the different Hindu castes following their usual occupations. It is interesting, but perhaps scarcely profitable, to try and deduce from the latter some hints of the previous history of the Hos, who, as we know them, are a strongly democratic race, with a well developed tribal system. They look on themselves as the owners, of the soil and are unwilling to admit the claims of any overlord.

I have made no attempt to put the following stories into a literary dress; I merely bring them as a few stones to the hands of the builders who build the structure of comparative mythology.

(1)--The River Snake.

Once upon a time a certain woman had been on a visit to a distant village. As she was going home she reached the bank of a flooded river. She tried to wade across but soon found that the water was too deep and the current too strong. She looked about but could see no signs of a boat or any means of crossing. It began to grow dark and the woman was in great distress at the thought that she would not be able to reach her home.

While she thus stood in doubt, suddenly out of the river came a great snake an said to her: "Woman, what will you give me if I ferry you across the river?" She answered: "Snake, I have nothing to give you." The snake said I cannot take you across the river unless you promise to give me something. Now the woman at the time was pregnant and not knowing what else to do, she promised that when her child was born, if it were a daughter she would marry her to the river snake and if it were a son that, when the boy grew up he should become the "_juri_" or "name friend" of the snake. The woman swore to do this with an oath and then the snake took her on his back and bore her safely across the flooded stream. The woman safely reached her home and in a little time a daughter was born to her. Years pa.s.sed away and the woman forgot all about the snake and her oath. One day she went to the river to fetch water and the snake came out of the stream and said to her: "Woman, where is the wife whom you promised to me?" The woman then remembered her oath and going back to her house she returned to the river with her daughter. When the girl came to the bank of the river the snake seized her and drew her underneath the water and her mother saw her no more. The girl lived with the snake at the bottom of the river and in the course of years bore him four snake sons.

Afterwards the girl remembered her home and one day she went to visit her mother. Her brothers when they came home were astonished to see her and said: "Sister, we thought that you were drowned in the river." She answered: "No, I was not drowned, but I am married and have children." The brothers said: "Where is this brother-in-law of ours?" Their sister said: "Go to the river and call him." So they went to the river and called and the snake came up out of the water and went to their house with them. Then they welcomed the snake and gave him great quant.i.ties of rice beer to drink. After drinking this the snake became sleepy and coiling himself in great coils went to sleep. Then the brothers who did not like a snake brother-in-law took their axes and cut off the head of the snake while he slept, and afterwards their sister lived in their house.

(2)--The Sons of the Tigress.

Once upon a time a cow and a tigress lived in a jungle and were great friends, they were never separated. Now in those days tigers did not eat flesh, but grazed like cattle, so the tigress never thought of doing any harm to her friend the cow. The tigress had given birth to two men children who were growing up fine and st.u.r.dy lads. One afternoon the cow and the tigress went down to a stream to drink, the cow went into the stream and drank and the tigress drank lower down. The cow fouled the water of the stream and the tigress tasting the water found it sweet and thought if the cow can make the water so sweet how sweet the flesh of the cow must be. So on the way back from the stream the tigress suddenly sprang on the cow and killed her and ate her up, leaving nothing but the bones. When she got home her sons asked her where the cow was, but the tigress said that she did not know and that the cow must have deserted them, but afterwards the boys found the bones of the cow and they guessed what had happened. Then they thought, if our mother has killed her friend the cow, she will surely kill and eat us next. So when the tigress was asleep they killed her with axes. Then they ran away and after going for many days through the jungle they reached a city and they found all the people in great distress because a tiger was devastating the kingdom and killing all the inhabitants and no one could kill the tiger. The Raja of the city made a a proclamation that any one who could kill the tiger should have half the kingdom and his daughter in marriage. The two boys being the sons of a tigress were able by their knowledge of tiger ways to kill the tiger. So they were given half the kingdom and the elder of them married the king's daughter and they lived happily ever after.

(3)--The Tiger's Marriage.

Once upon a time there lived a Raja who had one son and many daughters. One day the Raja went into the jungle to cut gra.s.s. He cut a great deal of gra.s.s and tied it up in a big bundle and then he found that he had cut so much that it was more than he could carry. As he was wondering what he should do a tiger came by that way and seeing the Raja in difficulties asked what he could do to help him. The Raja explained that he had cut a bundle of gra.s.s which was too heavy to carry. The tiger said that he would carry the gra.s.s if he were rewarded for it: the Raja asked him what reward he wanted. The tiger said that he wished for one of the Raja's daughters in marriage. The Raja reflected that he had many daughters and agreed to the proposition. Thereupon the gra.s.s was placed on the tiger's back and he carried it to the Raja's palace. Now the Raja was ashamed to give his daughter openly to the tiger so he told the tiger to wait by the water hole, and sending for one of his daughters bade her go and fetch water; the girl went to the water hole where the tiger was waiting and was carried off by the tiger. But the Raja's son missed his sister and went in search of her. After searching some time he came to a cave in the jungle and looking in he was the tiger finis.h.i.+ng the remains of the girl whom he had killed. Then the Raja's son ran home as quickly as he could, and told the Raja what he had seen.

The next day the tiger came openly to the Raja's palace and asked to see the Raja. He was taken to the Raja and treated politely. Then the tiger said to the Raja: "I am sorry to say that the wife whom you gave me has died, so you must give me another."[4] The Raja said he would think about the matter and invited the tiger to stay at the palace. So the tiger was given a good bed, and quickly went to sleep. In the night the Raja's son boiled some large vessels of water and poured the scalding water over the sleeping tiger and killed him. And in this way the tiger died.

(4)--The Jackal and His Neighbours.

Once upon a time a jackal killed a kid in a village and taking it to a little distance began to enjoy a good meal. But the crows who always make a noise about other people's business, gathered in a tree over his head and made a great cawing, so the villagers went to see what was the matter and beat the jackal severely and deprived him of his feast. On this account the jackal was very angry with the crows and determined to be revenged.

Shortly afterwards a great storm came on with wind and heavy rain and all the birds and animals were in danger of being drowned. Then the jackal pretended to be sorry for the crows and invited them all to come and take shelter in his house. But when the jackal had got them safely into his house he killed and ate them all; all except one _nilkanth_ bird which he decided to keep for his breakfast the next day, so he tied the _nilkanth_ bird, on to his tail and went away from that part of the country. But the _nilkanth_ bird pecked and pecked at the jackal's tail until it not only pecked itself loose but hurt the tail so much that it became festered and swollen.

As the jackal went along with his swollen tail he met a potter going to market with earthern pots for sale. Then the jackal put on a bullying air and said that he was a sipahi of the Raja, and one pot of those being taken to market must be given to him; at first the potter refused, but being frightened he in the end gave one to the jackal.

Into this the jackal pressed the matter which had acc.u.mulated in his swollen tail and covered it over with leaves. Going on, the jackal met a boy tending goats, he told the boy that he had arranged with the boy's father to buy one of the goats in exchange for a pot of ghee, the boy believed this and took the chatty with its contents from the jackal and gave him a fine goat.

The jackal went off to his home in triumph with the goat.