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274
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1878.
But sad is the lot of poor women who have no family! When a man's ser (two lb. weight) is completed-that is, when his allotted time on earth is past-the king of death sends his messengers to convey him to his presence. He employs certain beetles as his spies. The beetle plucks out a hair from the head of his victim, and if it is not white with age he will wet it and roll it in white ashes, and then, showing it to the king, will say, " The owner of this hair is a very old man. Your Highness, is it not time you sent your messengers to fetch him ?" The king, not wishing perhaps to call such & one just yet, takes the hair, washes it, and says, "Take the hair back to the owner; he may remain a little longer, his ser is not yet completed."
When a Santal dies, all his possessions are placed by his bed, and some rupees too, if any are in the house, as it is supposed he will have to buy everything in the next world; and as he will have to provide himself with all kinds of necessaries he must take his weapons also with him, so his bow and arrows are carefully laid by his side.
If any one should enter the next world in a human form the inhabitants of that land would devour him. A child was in great troable, they say, at losing his mother. Every day he visited the place where her body had been burnt. The Sun (the Supreme Being of the Sântâls), seeing the boy's grief, asked him whether he would like to see his mother again. So he took him up, telling him not to speak or to show himself, or he would be devoured. He placed him in a hole, which he covered up so that the boy could see without being seen. Presently his mother passed by and began to sniff, saying to her companion, " I smell a man, where is he?" The Sun said to her, "You must be mistaken, how can there possibly be a man here?" The woman having left the place, the Sun asked the boy if he had seen his mother, to which he replied, "Yes, please take me away, I have seen quite enough." From that day he neven again longed for his mother.
The Såntâls are mortally afraid of a certain
class of women, believing that after death they are always on the watch for men. They are supposed to lick their victims to death, filing off the flosh with their rough tongues. When any of these women die, the survivors stick thorns into the soles of their feet, thus rendering them lame and powerless to pursue their victims, as they suppose. All whose bodies are properly burnt and whose bones have been thrown into the river Damud â (the Sântal sacred river) become good spirits, the others become demons. The funeral pyre, which is always placed near water, consists of a large heap of wood, upon which the body is placed; then the eldest son, or the nearest relative, sets fire to the wood, having first placed the torch near the dead man's mouth. If the hand or the foot move during the burning, it is a sure sign that others of the family will soon be called away. To propitiate the king of death, frogs are thrown on to the burning pile, and sometimes small images of clay in the shape of a man are placed beside the corpse. If the body is not consumed quickly, it is pierced with a spear or chopped in pieces with an axe. It is said that misers burn very slowly, but that generons men are quickly consumed. So, to avoid such a disgrace, the body of a rich man is smeared over with ghi and oil, to expedite its combustion. After the body is consumed, search is made for the collarbones. These are washed in turmeric water and deposited in a new earthen jar, and then taken to the Damuda. When the ceremony of throwing the bones into the river is completed, all the relations assemble at the village of the deceased to offer sacrifices to his memory. Goats and sheep are killed, and a feast is prepared. Several questions are asked of the departed spirit, such as "Are you angry with any of us? If so, please forget it. Did any one injure you in your lifetime ? if so, accept these sacrifices and forgive the offender." Then the sacrificer addresses the other spirits in these terms: "We consign the departed to your care, make him one of yourselves. We have now done our part, let us go in peace."
THE LATE F. W. ELLIS'S ESSAYS ON SOUTH-INDIAN LANGUAGES.
To the Editor of the Indian Antiquary. Library, in which, among a few remarks introduced SIR.-In the Indian Antiquary, vol. IV. p. 219, incidentally regarding that eminent Orientalist. you reprintod a letter I communicated to the the late F. W. Ellis, of the Madras Civil Service, I Atheneum on the Tamil MSS. in the India Office stated that he had written essays on the Tamil
