Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 166

158
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1924
3. In the Northern tribes and in the most Northerly of the Middle tribes, Bilik throws a pearl shell at the robber, and in the remainder of the Middle tribes and in both the Southern tribes he throws a firebrand. 4. In the Northern tribes Bilik is essentially inimical to man. In the Middle tribes and the Akar-Bale tribe in one version, he is at first perhaps friendly, but afterwards an end was made of Puluga's rule, and he himself was either chased away or killed. Among the Akar-Bale in another version, and also among the Aka-Bea, the people had no reason at all to depose the kindly generous Paluga and had sufficient veneration to keep them from doing so.
Here then it is shown that once in the Middle tribes a religious (and cultured) revolution must have taken place, when the people got weary of the severity and autocratic rule of the old Supreme Being and did away with it. What motives contributed towards this we shall see further on. The movement emanated probably from the middle tribes, whose belief is the myth of the fire theft. Its home is said both by the Aka Kol and the A-Puchikwar, and also in one version of the Aka Bea, to be Tol-loko-tima, while mankind in those days lived in Wota-emi to the south-west on the other bank of a Sea-route. Both places however lie in the A-Puchikwar region (II, p. 200; compare also the myth of Aka Bale, II, p. 201).
If we have to fix a more definite time, we notice that among the Aka-Bes, according to E. H. Man, the fire theft only took place after the great deluge. In those times the people were also enraged with Puluga on account of the destruction of all their fellow creatures, and made up their minds to kill him. Puluga frightened them away. He was as hard as wood, their arrows could not pierce him. He explained to them that the reason of the fate of those who had perished was that the race of that time disobeyed his commands which the primitive people had always observed. If they now became as ungodly, the same punishment would infallibly overwhelm them. This was the last time that Puluga was visible to mankind, but his warning was regarded and his commands were kept from that time.
All these myths I believe should be interpreted as follows: After a great flood, in which many Andamanese perished and much was destroyed, the belief in Puluga began to wane, starting among the A-Puchikwar, carrying with it the whole of the Middle tribes, and penetrat. ing even to the Southern tribes as far as the Aka Bea itself. But here the revolt was brought to a stop. The cataclysm was recognized as the punishment of Puluga, and in consequence the old obedience and the earlier reverence towards Puluga, which here also had been shaken, were re-established, perhaps in even greater strength. 4. There are also a number of myths about this great deluge in which a tribal
diversity is evident.
NORTHERN TRIBES.
AKA-JERU—1. The first man Mimi Chara made a noise one evening when the cicada was singing. Thereupon a great storm arose, which killed many people and turned others into fishes and birds. Mimi Chara and his wife Mimi Kota climbed up a hill to a cave, and hid the fire under & cooking pot till the storm had passed. 2. The people made a noise at night whilst the crcaas was singing. She went to her mother Biliku, who threw her pearl shell and sent a heavy rain storm, and destroyed the whole world, Maia Taolu saved the fire on this occasion,