Indian Antiquary Vol 61

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

Page 258

232
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ DECEMDER, 1932
In Nadia thoy beat a winnowing fan with a jute stem ( 761, 0946-167) and recite the following doggerels :
(a) at af CTET ,
chant ses (6) 4 avant atfe dat ,
ও বাড়ীর লক্ষ্মী ঠাকরূণ এই বাড়ী আয়। in which the mosquitoes are conjured to depart from the house and betake themselves to another house or cross the village river, and the goddess Lakşmi is invited to enter. In the Hugli district children beat the winnowing fan to drive away the mosquitoes in the morning following the Kalî puja day. In Nadia and Faridpur another doggerel is recited on the occasion :
আশ্বিন যায় কার্তিক আসে, মা লক্ষ্মী পাটে বসে 99 999 ,
TRICHCE CON No produce of tillage is used. The cows and other animals of the villagers, e.g., sheep and goats, are well fed, bathed in the river and then made to cross it. Straw braids are hung on, or tied to, the jack-fruit trees, in the belief that this act promotes their fertility.
Although in other parts of the country the worship is regarded as that of Lakşmi, in eastern Maimansingh it is recognised as a sort of worship offered to the dead mother-in-law. The following account has been taken from the Bengali magazine, Pravde, of 1330 B:8. The vrata is performed on the Asvina samkránti day. In the courtyard of the house a small tank is dug, and on its eastern side a rice plant and a man-kachd plant (Alocasia indica) are planted. At the four corners and the four sides respectively are placed images of four crows and four kites made of rice-paste. On the western side is placed an effigy of a pig. Then a female figure with a baby on its lap is made of rice-paste and placed under the rice and man-kachu plants. This is regarded as the representation of the mother-in-law. On a large wickerwork platter are arranged eight kinds of vegetables and all kinds of pulse (dal), with the entire paraphernalia of cooking, and the platter is laid before the effigy. A naivedya (offering) is also placed there. The female votary then draws water from the tank and makes the effigy of her dead mother-in-law drink it. After the vrata katha is recited, the effigy of the pig is sacrificed, and it and all the images (of crows, kites and mother-in-law) are buried in the tank. The ddl and vegetables together with grains of chínd (Panicum miliaceum) are cooked and eaten by her.
The above proceeding is strongly reminiscent of the primitive Mother Goddess found in the neolithic graves, e.g., of Crete and neighbouring places. Crows and ravens are associated with death. Mackenzie remarks that "the ravens take the place of the doves as the birds of the Mother Goddess." Eagles and their congeners, the kites, are similarly associateu with her. The female figure with the baby in its lap reminds us of the terracotta figurine described by Jackson in his paper entitled "Archæological Research at Patna ": " With the possible exception of a single fragment, a small shaven head, it is noteworthy that every one of the terracotta human figurines or fragments which have come to light represents the
1 I do not understand the meaning of the second couplet. From my inquiries regarding the gay. dans festival at Warisaliganj in the district of Gay4, I came to learn that ol (Colocasia antiquorum) is given to the cows to eat. We have already seen (supra, vol. LX, p. 190) that the Oraons give slices of ol to their cattle on the occasion of the Sohorai festival.
2 Myths of Crete and pre-Hellenic Europe, p. 290.