Indian Antiquary Vol 50

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 249

AUGUST, 1921)
FOLK-TALES OF THE CAR NICOBARESE
239
Tot-ta-rong did not know what to do, for the girl always gave him a persistent and most enphatic "No!” So he was utterly miserable, and felt inclined to commit suicide on account of his grief.
Now it happened to be the time of the great ossuary feast 21 in his village, and great crowds of people had come in from the other villages for the occasion. It had got on towards midnight in the bright moonlight ; and the people were coming in from their gardens in the jungle, and were carrying round the pigs, which were to be killed for food at the feast.
Töt-ta-rong went round too, and saw the people carrying the pige-a merry crowd and a pleasant sight, sufficient (one would have thought) to banish sorrow from any heart. But Töt-ta-rong found no pleasure in what he saw. On the contrary, he hated it all on account of his grief, and he could not endure it.
There was none among his friends either to comfort him ; for they were one and all busy, seeing to the comforts of their numerous guests.
He felt that he must do something to assuage his sorrow on account of that woman; he would kill himself and thereby perhaps work out her death too.
“However," he thought to himself, “I will go to that woman once more and try to win her. I will speak my final words to her.” So he went and spoke to her once more, but she never deigned to answer him a word.
After he had considered his course of action, he went home and took a long dah (or sword), and forthwith went out into the jungle. His intention was to cleave asunder the island, in the north-west portion of it, the part where the lady dwelt and where all that crowd of feasters were.
So he went on until he came to "Cleft Hill."22 He got up on to a rock in the midst of where the dancers were ; for, owing to the great numbers of guests, there was dancing going on in all the somewhat scattered groups of houses round about. Then Töt-ta-rong drew his sword and tried to cleave the earth with it. But the earth did not part asunder when he marked it with the point of the sword.
So he took a piece of ta-choi wood23; this he fashioned like a dah (a sword or chopper); and then, when he had marked the ground with the point of it immediately the earth rent asunder at his feet-from "Cleft Hill ” even to "Deep."24
When the ground was being thus cleft asunder, Tot-ta-rong was in two minds as to where he would like to be on the part which was moving off elsewhere. Ultimately, he decided to go away with the part of the island that was being rent off. But already there was a chasm formed, and when Töt-ta-rong tried to jump it, he slipped and fell.
Meanwhile, the portion of land that was moving away thought better of it, and decided to come back again, and join on to the main part of the island as before, and so Töt-ta-rong got crushed between the rocks.
21 [This is the most important of the festivals of the Car Nicobarose. It is known as kana-háuneat pig, and used to mean " when the remains of the dead are disinterred." The festival is observed every third or fourth year and consists of a course of ceremonies lasting from one new moon to another, in the middle of which, at full moon, the pigs are slaughtered and eaton. For detailed account of the ceremonies, see Census of India, 1001, Andamans and Nicobars, pp. 228-220.-R.C.T.1
> Rung T8-kachi, which lies a little to this side of the hamlet of Pasa, on Sawi Bay. The hill takes its name from Tot-ta-rong and his adventures.
33 See ante, p. 235, note 6. * T8-a-ru, somo rocks on the shore, quite close to the mission at Mas.