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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1893.
and sal10 resin incense. The priest deposits these articles in the midst of a plate of water, in the above-named order, ignites the incense and spice which occupy the top of the pile, stnd then chants the following short prayer :-“Hail Paramêśvara Nagaraja, Paramount King of Nagas, "and ye Nine Nâgas !! I pray you to receive these offerings and to bless us and our crops."
Frog-worship, on the other hand, is performed on the seventh day of the month of Kartik (October), and usually at a pool, which is known to be frequented by frogs ; although it is not essential to the efficacy of the rite that a frog be actually seen at the time of performing the ceremony. For this service also a Newâr priest is necessary, who, after careful ablution of face and hands, places in five brazen bowls a dole consisting respectively of rice, flowers, milk and vermillion, ghi and incense, and water. Lighting the pile of ghi and incense the priest says: "Hail Paramèsvara Bhûmînatha! I pray you receive these offerings and to send timely rain, and bless our crops !"
The title of Paramébvara is given to the Nagas, Frogs and all the other N& war divinities; but Bhaminatha, Lord or Protector of the Soil,' is specially reserved for the Prog. Owing to its sacred character, the Frog is held by the Newars in special reverence, and every care is taken not to molest or injure it. But despite its semi-divine nature the Newârs, like other Buddhists, believe that the frog, as well as the Naga, is within the cycle of re-births.
THE TRADITIONAL MIGRATION OF THE SANTAL TRIBE.
BY L. A, WADDELL, M.B., M. B. A, B. It seems to me that the current story preserved by the Bantals, or Saontars, of their advance from Ahirt or Abiri-pipri, via Chhal and Champs, to their present location is manifestly a record of actual tribal progress, not, As is usually believed, from one part of the Hazaribagh Hills to apother - wbere indeed there could have been practically no Hindu pressure exercised, - but from the central alluvial valley of the Ganges south-westwards to the hills, under presspre of the Aryan invasion of the valley from the porth. For, in this part of the Gapgetic valley, I find ancient territorial names in keeping with this story of migration,
Moreover, the names of the Hazaribagh pargonas, which have been indentified with certain of these legendary lapds, present many difficolties in the way of their acceptance in interpretation of the story, even as a record of recent hill-migration. Ahsri could never become corrupted into Ahariâ, or vice versa. The Chhai pargapa of Hazaribagh is a remote hilly tract, from which there could have been no desire on the part of the earlier Hindus to dispossess the Santâls. Besides, the greater part of it is still under primitive forest, ancultivated, and in the occupation of the Santâls. The name is more likely to be a transplantation to their new home of their old country name, from a desire to retain the old home associations, such as is observable in colonists of all nationalities. The Champå pargana of Hazaribagh is situated on the high central plateau oceppied by the semi-aboriginal Urions and Mundas, who seem to be the autochthones of that area, and to which location it is generally believed the Santál tribe never penetrated.
The tracts, which I would identify with those of the story, are the following. The Ahir, or herdeman-tribe, was the dominant race in the Bihar section of the Gangetic valley in the later pre-historic period. The Ahiri-country extended from about Benares eastwards to the Kust river, and lay mainly to the north of the Ganges. The greatest stronghold latterly of the Ahirs and Gwalâs was at Hardi in the Darbhanga District, where their heroic chief Lôrik is
30 Shorea robusta.
11 The Nine Nagarajas are usually given as (1) Ananta, (2) Vasuki, (8) Karköta, (4) Padma, (6) Mahápadma, (6) Kulika, (7) Takshaka, (8) Baikhya, and (9) Batta.
1 [Saontal seems to be the correct spelling.-ED.
