Indian Antiquary Vol 05

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 32

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1876.
tribes of Gonds, Kolhs, &c. would he no unlikely happily married couples,-in fact, to do anything field; and it would be particularly interesting that is good or graceful,- is the delightsome vocato ascertain whether cognate legends are current tion of the village kannimdr or virgins, as they amongst the nations beyond India, Kabul, Af
wond India Kahl All are felicitously styled in ordinary country parghanistan, &c.|
lance. With the blooming grace of perpetual maid. It is necessary to distinguish between the
enhood, they are patrons of the village lassie af
flicted with the tender passion,' and watch with little beings of the popular creeds—the cunning
a motherly interest the progress of steadfast honDuergar and night-tripping Elves or popu
ourable loves; while, on the other hand, there is lar Fairies, and the Fays and Fairies of nothing which they hate so intensely with their romance, the full-sized fairy knights and ladies of righteous hatred as the violation of matrimonial Middle-Age romance and the "Faerie Queene," vows or the infringement of maidenly honour. such as were in Milton's mind when he wrote Rude statues of potters' work representing these "Of Faëry damsels met in forests wide
fair champions of virtue and youthful rewarders By knights of Logres or of Lyones,
of conjugal fidelity may be seen invariably under Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellinore,"
some pleasant shade by the side of a rippling
rivulet, or the placid surface of the village tank. are utterly different in appearance and attri
When the sun is at its greatest height, and man butes to the pygmy
and beast seek some friendly shelter to indulge "Faëry elves
in their midday siesta, languid and enervated by Whose midnight revels by a forest side the burning heat, these fair celestials, screened
Or fountain some belated peasant sees." from profane mortal sight, quietly perform their This confusion is chiefly owing to Shakspere,
ablutions in the tank or brook close by, divesting
themselves of their flowing ethereal robes. Their since whose time the name and attributes of
appearance to mortals in bodily form always porthe real Fays and Fairies of romance have been
tends something extremely good or evil; but as transferred to the still more poetical and ex
they are naturally inclined to acts of kindness quisite little beings of village popular imagina
and mercy, such interviews prove, in the majority tion. But the fairy ladies of the romances of cases, harbingers of prosperity and conjugal of chivalry-of 'Haon de Bordeaux,' Perce- felicity. Instances are not wanting of these sylvan forest,' and 'Parthenopex' - approach much beauties, through forgetfulness to bind the wood nearer the lovely Peris of Persian story and the with their magic spell, allowing themselves to be amiable Jinni ladies of the Arabian Tales; and,
surprised by the strolling cowherd ere they have allowing for diffe.ence of scene and associations,
risen from their midday bath. Every year, as
the husbandman sows his grain after the precursory the Apsaray of Sanskrit mythology seem to be
showers of the rainy season, he vows to set apart of the same lineage, and so do the Vanacharis
so much a kalam (twelve markals) as a thankor forest-nymphs, and Khanadacháras of the
offering if the out-turn should prove as abundant Mahabhárata.
as he prayed for. True to a farthing, the saleStill more nearly allied must be the beingsproceeds of the virgins' share is religiously laid described in the following extract from an by, to be made use of a month or two after the haraccount of Indian village superstition printed invest, when the ryot, now at leisure, thinks of rea Madras newspaper of the present year by a
deeming his vow at the shrine of the celestial fair native contributor :
one. At the appointed time, generally at night, “The spirits of the air are so numerous and of
the whole village wends in solemn procession to such different classes, that I cannot expect, in the
the sacred grove, with banners flying and drums compass of a single article, to treat of them with
beating, and with all the paraphernalia of Eastern anything like fulness. Foremost in their aërial
worship. Rice is boiled, sheep are slain, amateur ranky, and somewhat detached from all the rest,
theatricals improvised, and the light hearts of the stand those good-natured celestial vestals which
multitude rendered still lighter by potions of frequent cool shades and limpid streams, which
arrak, the country-prepared and country-bottled while away the live-long night in innocent frolio
brandy, the 'black house' as it is fondly termed and joyous dance, doing no ill to man or beast.
by these rustic votaries of Bacchus." To help the sick, to succour women in travail, to
Nothing else so poetical exists in Hindu guide the benighted traveller who has lost his
folk-lore. I was never so fortunate as to hear way, to shower blessings and flowers alike on anything of the belief and beings so pleasingly
|| See Dr. Leitner's paper on Dard Legends and Beliefs, Ind. Ant. vol. I. pp. 84-92.