Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 109

JUNE, 1930]
SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL LIFE OF THE SANTALS
97
groves; pigs, goats and fowls are saorificed by private families, and these sacrifices are round. ed up with debauchery and drunkenness. During the Sohrdi festival the greatest sexual license is allowed, and all codes of decency are forgotten. Every one not married takes part in the general orgy which follows; but adultery is not allowed, neither is any infringement of the interdiction against persons of the same sept. But even in these latter cases, if committed during the Sohrái, the culprits are punished less severely than at any other time.63 By these symbolic promiscuous relationships they probably attempt to increase the growth of vegetation in the following spring. A few days after the Sohrdi there is another festival of practising with bows and arrows, of performing sword dance, and of similar sports. This is known as the Sakrat, and it lasts for two days.64 The Játrá festival takes place about February, and lasts for two days. Eight men sit on chairs and are swung round the two posts placed outside of every Santal village. About one month after the Játra the Bahá or flower-festival comes round. This too lasts for two days. This is the time when the Ndeks or Naikki (nayaka, priest) is specially honoured by having his feet washed in every household; in return he distributes flowers. Ceremonies are performed in the groves of trees outside of each village. Four chickens are offered to Marang Buru, the great Santal god, one coloured chicken to Jahir-erâ, the primeval mother of the race, one black chicken to Gosain-era, a female divinity residing in the adl grove, and a goat or chicken to the Manjhi Haram, the late head of the village. Nearly all the festivals of the Santâls are in some way or other connected with either sowing or harvesting. Thus the festival of Ero-sim takes place in each house at seed-sowing time; Hariar-sim, when the dhan (rice) has somewhat grown; Horo, when the rice is ripening, and so on. During the last mentioned festival, Horo, the first fruits of the rice are offered to the Pargana Bonga (district deity), along with a pig, which the men of the village eat afterwards in the adl grove.67 Another festival, which has died out now, but used to be practised formerly, was the Carak Paja. Men used to put hooks through the fleshy part of their backs, and were swung round suspended by these hooks. Sometimes this swinging on hooks seems to have been intended to propitiate demons. Some Santals asked Mr. V. Ball to be allowed to perform it because their women and children were dying of sickness and their cattle were being killed by wild beasts: they believed that the misfortunes befell them because the evil spirits had not been appeased.$8
Coming now to the religious life of the Santâls, we can do no better than quote the words of an eminent and at the same time a sympathetic authority, who says: "Of a supreme and beneficent God the Santal has no conception. His religion is a religion of terror and deprecation. Hunted and driven from country to country by a superior race, he cannot understand how a Being can be more powerful than himself without wishing to harm him. Dis. courses upon the attributes of the deity excite no emotion among the isolated sections of the race, except a disposition to run away and hide themselves in the jungle, and the only reply made to a missionary at the end of an eloquent description of the omnipotence of God, was And what if that Strong One should eat me?'" 69 But this statement must not be taken
63 (Sir) H. H. Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, vol. ii, p. 253; (Sir) J. G. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, vol. ii, p. 303; B. Bonnerjea, L'Ethnologie du Bengale, p. 25.
64 (Bir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 463.
65 (Sir) W. W. Hunter, ibid. For swinging as a magical rite, see (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. ii, p. 52; B. Bonnerjea, A Dictionary of Superstitions and Mythology (London, 1928), p. 163, 8.v. "Maypole."
66 (Sir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 463.
67 (Bir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, pp. 463 f.
68 V. Ball, Jungle Life in India (London, 1880), p. 232; (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Dying God, p. 279, cf. ibid., Note B, "Swinging as a Magical Rite," pp. 277-285, where a large number of authenticated data has been collected. See note 66 above.
69 (Sir) W. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 181.