present asks the name of the spirit which has entered his body and the māti in a nasal voice, supposed to be characteristic of spirits, gives out the name. If the name is not that of the deceased but of some other spirit, the ceremony of burning the miniature hut and calling back the spirit is repeated. And the māti again gets into a state of spirit-possession. When the soul of the deceased at length enters the mäti's body and reveals itself, people present joyfully exclaim: "Ah! he has come now! This is his own house; where else can he go to?" It is now no longer the māti who speaks, but the spirit of the deceased who uses the māti's mouth in speaking. The spirit is now questioned-"Who took you away from this world? Was it an outside bhut or a bhut of the house ?" On naming the bhut that is responsible for the death, the spirit asks leave to get out of the body of the māti. If some spirit of the family of the deceased, either an ancestorspirit or the Buru-Bongā, or some spirit of the ṭāṇḍā has been named as responsible for the death, proper sacrifices are offered to appease it; if it is some outside spirit that has caused the death, the ninchha ceremony is performed by the māti. In the case of a Birhōr killed by a tiger, his spirit is called back by the umbulader ceremony and a seat is provided for the spirit of the deceased by planting an erect stone under some tree, and sacrifices are offered there. After the māti has declared that the shade has entered the hut, the men who carried the corpse to its grave or cremation ground are each given a leaf-plate with some boiled rice on it. Each of them takes up the leaf-plate and places it on his shoulder and then puts it down again on the ground. This is repeated three times. Each time he does so, the man is asked by others present,--"Whose shoulder-pole (kándh-kati)* is this you put down?" He replies: "Now at length I am laying off the shoulder-pole of so-and-so (names the deceased). When this ceremony is finished, the three leaf-plates of rice Pole used in carrying a burden. This refers to the poles of the bier in which the corpse was carried to its grave or cremation ground. " are taken to the spot where the corpse rested on its way to the grave or cremation ground, and are left there. This ceremony, known as "Discharging the shoulder-pole," must be performed that night, whether the funeral feast is then given or delayed. Generally the funeral feast to all the people of the settlement is also provided that night; but sometimes owing to want of means it is delayed for a few months or even for a year. A family postponing the feast may perform the hōyōn ceremony on the fifth day from the death. Two interesting ceremonies prelude the feast. When their meals are served to the guests, but before they begin eating, a wailing is heard and the widow or a son or a brother of the deceased plaintively exclaims," Other people live in [pools] full [of] water [bharal pāni] I am living in dried up [pool of] water [sukhal pâni]. The guests in reply say by way of consolation: "Why, friend, we are still alive. Why should we allow you to be swept away By this ritual wailing and consolation is the social tie that binds the surviving members of the deceased's family to the other families of the tanda renewed or cemented and strengthened. The next interesting ceremony that precedes the feast serves to incorporate the spirit of the deceased in the community of his ancestor-spirits (häprom). Before the guests have yet begun to eat the dinner placed before them, the Nāyā of the settlement and another elder of the tribe, who have both been seated side by side in a central position, take up in their hands a little rice from their plates and drop it on the ground by way of offering to the ancestor-spirits, saying: "Here we make rice-offering to ye all in the name of so-and-so (names the deceased). Do ye incorporate him in your herd (gōth). From to-day we shall offer rice and liquor to ye all". Then each of them drops a little water on the ground and says, " To-day we have performed 'Haribōl' of so-and-so (names).* Haribōl! • Haribol, means "utter the name of Hari or God". This is the customary exclamation of Bengali-speaking Hindus when a death occurs in a family and a corpse is carried. The Birhōrs like the Mundās appear to have borrowed this usage from the Hindus, Hariból! Haribōl!" The two men now sprinkle water with mango leaves on all present and bid them eat; and all fall to eating. Thus is the normal state of things in the settlement restored, the spirit of the deceased is incorporated in the community of ancestor-spirits, the death-taboos on the survivors are removed; and the people of the tanḍā resume their usual avocations, Ho Folk-lore* (III) B. Sukumar Haldar, B.A. 20.--THE STORY OF A FOX AND A BEAR. Once upon a time a fox left her little cubs in a hole at night and went on the prowl. While she was away a bear came and dug up the hole in search of white-ants, and in doing so fatally mauled the little foxes with his long sharp nails. When the fox returned home and saw her little ones lying dead she said to herself :-"You have taken advantage, Bruin, of my absence and slaughtered the dear innocents. You will have to rue for this." One day she was busily engaged, on the bank of a river, in stitching up a bag (porom) of Roong leaves and the bear passed that way. Said the bear:-"Well granny, what are you making this porom for?" The fox replied :—" O my dear grand-child, haven't you heard that a great cataclysm is impending? There will be a terrible storm, rain will descend in torrents, trees will be up-rooted and huge boulders of rock will slip off the hill-sides and will be carried headlong into the deep sea. I am making this porom as a life-saving apparatus. I will shut myself up in it snugly when the storm comes." On hearing this the bear said:" O my dear grandam, do make one for me also that I may be saved from the great deluge." "Certainly, my dear grand-child," said the fox, "I will prepare one for you first of all. I am only a small creature and it will not take me long to make one for myself." Then the fox made bear got into it a large-sized porom and when it was ready the and the fox stitched up the opening and secured the poros with strong straps and fastening to it a piece of rock she threw it into *¡Continued from Vol. II,|Part III, p. 803 of this Journal, the river. The bear thus met with a watery grave and the fox revenged herself for the destruction of her little ones.* 21.--A STORY OF THE HERO (SOWING) FESTIVAL. In ancient times there was a family of four brothers. The brothers were all unmarried and they lived together in com mensality. At some distance from their house there lived a man who celebrated the Hero or sowing festival. During this festival it was customary for people to grind rice into a fine powder which they made into cakes, and some of which they made into a thin paste wherewith they bedaubed the walls of their houses with figures of men and horses. One day the eldest brother strolled down to the village and saw these mural decorations. He then carved a human figure out of a piece of wood and placed it secretly in the course of the night against a wall decorated with rice-paste drawings and returned home unobserved. He spoke to no one about it. Next day his younger brother went round the village and observed the wooden fetish, and at night-fall he crept secretly to the place and gave it a coating of mud-paste. The third brother in like manner saw the figure on the following day and he too approached it secretly at night and painted it in different colours and bedecked it with jewellery so that it looked like a beautiful woman. The youngest brother went to went to the place on the fourth day and saw the figure and was so pleased with it that he prayed to God to endow it with life. So earnestly did he pray that his prayer was heard and God breathed life into the figure which was forthwith transformed into a handsome damsel. He brought her home and kept her in his own separate room in the common domicile. The young woman was seen by his brothers next morning and the third brother asked him if he had not found her in the house with the mural decorations where there was an effigy of a woman and whether the woman was not indeed that very effigy brought into life. The answers being in the Cp. Story No. 14 in Vol. II, Part III, p. 289 of this Journal and also Stories Nos. 22 and 23 post. |