Magic and Witchcraft on the Chota-Nagpur Plateau- A Study in the Philosophy of Primitive Life. Author(s): Sarat Chandra Roy Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 44 (Jul. - Dec., 1914), pp. 324-350 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2843358 . Accessed: 28/06/2014 12:53

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 324

MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT ON THE CHOTA-NAGPUR PLATEAU- A STUDY IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRIMITIVE LIFE.

BY SARAT CHANDRAROY, M.A., B.L., RANCHI.

A.-INTRODUCTION. THE man of the lower culture is, in a sense,more spiritually-mindedthan his fellow-manof a higher civilization. To him things are not what they seem; everything,animnate or inanimate,in this visible universe is to him merelythe receptacle-the "-pind " or seat as the Oraon of Chota-Nagpiircalls it-of a spiritual energy; and man's main concernis with this world of spiritual energiesor powers. As for the invisible world, it is, to the Ch6td-Nagp-araboriginal, as full of disembodiedspirits " as a tree is full of leaves." It is not onlyevery human being nor merelyall that we call living beings,but, in fact,all things either created by God or made by the hand of man, and even such immaterialthings as the spoken word,an expressedwish, a passino thought or emotion,a magic formula,certain propernames and class-names,and an odd numberor an even number,that possess each its individualsoul or its special spiritualenergy. Indeed, soul, spirit,energy, and power are generallyconvertible terms in the primitivevocabulary. To the Chotd-Ndgp-araboriginal the soul is not a purely) spiritualintelligence, absolutely formless and unsubstantial,but it is ratherwhat. may be called a spirit-substance. This spirit-substanceor soul-stuff,whether residingiii aerial or in human bodies,is believed to resemble the human shadow in its form,and to influencemen or cattle forgood or forevil by " overshadowing'" them. The soul-stuffresiding in otherbeincgs or natural objects resemblesanimal-, veoetable-,or mineral-poisonin its mode of action. It distilsparticles of its virtue which flow on into another person, animal, or object, either by contact or by sympatheticattraction. And the absorbingcare of the aboriginalof Ch6td-NdgptYr,. as of othercountries, is how best to defend himselfand his family,his cattle and his crops,his house and his other belongings,against the subtle influenceof such baneful.energies and the poisonousmalice inheringin most human and non-human souls and spirits. Althougheverything animate or inanimateis, for the primitiveman, instinct with spiritor spiritualeniergy, it is not everyenergy that is equally active. Some are intenselyactive, others less so, and yet othersare almost dormantbut liable to be aroused into helpful,or what is morecommon, harmful activity at any moment. It is only the more active energiesfor the time being that count.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Magic and Witchcqrafton the C7ht&-NdypvirPlateau. 325

In the human world,it is the differenthuman groups or village-communities and Pdrhi-federationsaround him, as also certainpersons with particularlystrong individualityor soul-power,or, in the wordsof the Oraon,men of " heavyshadow " (Jabar Chhdain),and personspossessing occutlt powers, as well as strangersin general, that the Oraon or Mulnda of Ch5ta-Ndgp-drtakes account of,and either avoids, defies,or formsceremonial alliances with. In the animal,vegetable, mineral, and planetaryworlds, and even with respect to the elementsand to certain artificialobjects such as weapons and implements, and intangiblethings such as name and number,such alliance with good powers and avoidance and control of evil powerstake the formof Totemism,cattle- and tree-worship,charms and amulets,and chh?2tor touch-tabus,food-tabus, and other tabus. In the super-physicalworld, it is the disembodiedspirits of the departed and the unembodiedspirits of various ordersof supernaturalbeings, which either hover about in the air or take their seats temporarilyor permanentlyin some natural objects,that have to be reckonedwith. Alliance with these is formedby sacrificesand ceremonialeating and drinkingwith them. A studyof the two principalaboriginal tribes of Ch6ta-Ndgpdr-the Mfindas and the Oraons-inclines one to thinkthat the same principles that underlietheir social and religioussystems, underlie, to some extent,their ideas as to magic and witchcraftas well. As the idea behind their social and tribal organizationis alliance with the helpfulvillage-communities around themfor protectionagainst hostile'communities, and the idea behind theirreligious system is allianicewith the highestand mosthelpful spiritual entities they know of, and, throughthem, control of the harmfulones, so the idea behindtheir magico-religious system appears to be the need of an alliance with the helpfulforces and powers,and avoidance and controlof the harmfulinfluences and energies,of theirphysical and super-physical environment. In thispaper I shall firstbriefly refer to a few points in the social and religioussystems of the Oraons to illustratethis proposition,and then proceed to noticesome of theirpractices regarding magic and witchcraft,and the principles that appear to underliethem.

B.-THE PRINCIPLE OF ALLIANCE. (I.) Direct Alliance. Of good powers, those of the invisibleworld-the world of spirits-are necessarilythe mostpowerful. The Oraons and the Muindasof Ch6td-Ndgp-drseek alliance with the good spirits or deities by periodical ceremonies,of which the most salient featureis the worshipperseating togetherthe liver of the animal or fowl sacrificedto the deity,and drinkingtogether rice-beer, after a portionof both the liver and the rice-beerhas been offeredto the deity. The liver is considered by the Chota-Nargpfraboriginal to be the seat of the vital principle,as is indicatedby the beliefthat the witches sornetimesmysteriously extract the liver of a person,and as soon as his liver is eaten tip the persondies. The blood,for

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 326 SARAT CHANDRAROY.-Magic and Witchcraft on which the rice-beeris apparentlya substitute-for on certainimportant occasions such as a purificatoryceremony sacrificial blood is actuallydrunk-is identified by the Qraon and the Mulnda with the soul or spirit, as is indicated by their beliefthat an evil spiritsometimes attacks a person by appearingas a blood-spot on his clothes. And this sacramenitaleating and drinkingwith theirdeities may not improbablybe a modificationof an older practiceof offeringup a memberof the tribe,and ceremoniallyeating with the gods the human meat and drinkingthe human blood by way of sealing a compact of alliance and friendship.' Toternistic ideas may have helped in identifyingthe man with the animal or the fowl sacrificed. The practiceof Ondkdtor human sacrifice,it may be noted,is said to linger to this date in out-of-the-wayplaces in Chota-NagpuYr. Whether this ceremonialeating of the sacrificialmeat be a case of eating with the god, or, as is not unlikely,of "eating the god,"the sacrificebeing considered as 'partakingof somethingof the natureof the deity,and the consumptionof the meat calculated to impartto the eaters somethingof the strengthand othervirtues of the god, such ceremonialcompact or alliance with the deities through a sacramientalmeal is renewedat stated intervalsby similarsacrifices and sacrificialmeals. Delay in renewinothe alliance may turn these supernaturalallies into temporaryenemies, and, in such a case, morethan the ordinarysacrifices is required to convincethem of your sincerity,and therebyplacate theirwrath and restore the old terms of friendshipand alliance. The principle of alliance with helpful powers may be furthertraced in the Orion's social system. Ceremonial alliances of one individualwith another,and one village-communitywith another village-communityor groups of village- communities,still forma characteristicfeature of the Oraon social system. The Oraon Parha system of federatedvillage-communities appears to have originated in a ceremonial alliance between differ.entlocal groups-originally,it seems, huntinggroups, and now agriculturalvillages-with the object of mutualhelp and protection. Although nowadays the men of differentvillage-communities of an Oraon Parha union do not join in commonsacrifices and ceremonialfeasts except on rare occasions,yet even to this day when sacrificesare offeredin any village of the Parha to the village-deityor Gaon-de6ti,portions of the sacrificialmeat are distributedto other villages of the Parha. The eating of this sacrificialmeat keeps up and cementsthe Parha alliance. Such meat is called khaonro,or sandes. Again, on the social side, when a memberof an Oraon Parha is finedby thevillage Panch forsome sexual or other offenceagainst tribal custom,goats or fowls are purchasedwith such fine,and the meat is distributedamongst the differentvillages that constitutethe Parha. Not long ago the members of a Parha generallyused

1 It may be notedthat on the occasionof the annual larctngBitrEt hunt of the Santals of Chota-Nagpuir,held on the ParasnathHill, the Dihri or priestand managerof the hunthas to dip grains of rice into blood drawn out of his own body and offersuch rice to the spirits believedto resideat differentspots on the hill. This rite,known as bail-bichchi,is probablya modifiedsurvival of the practiceof offeringhuman victims.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the ChuI-NTtgpfrPlateau. 327 to assemble on occasionsof such religious and social feastsof the villages of the Parhai,and cementtheir alliance by actually eating and drinking together. But, in these days,except for the discussion of matters of unusual inmportancefor the Parhba,such gatheringsare rarelyheld. It is not only the differentvillages of the same Parha that are bound together by a ceremornialalliance, but every Parha enters into such alliance with some village belongino to another Parha. Such a village is called the dftdh-bhdyd (foster-brother)village of the latterParha. The Oraon Bhitinhdrsof such a dutdh- bhtydvillage are regardedas blood-relationsof those of the villages of the Parha of whichit is a d2dh-bhtyCt,and, as such,are not pe-rmittedto enterinto matrimonial relationswith them,though otherwise competent to do so. The villages of a ParhM and theirdfidh-bhatyct village are requiiredto stand by each other as brothers,and allies in theirstruLggles and wars with otherParhas. In these days such stru,ggles or fightscan only take place over rights to game killed at the tribal hunting- excursions,and over the rightto use a flag of a particularpattern by a particular Parha, to the exclusionof otherParhas at theirinter-tribal dancing festivals, known as Jdtrds. If the rites and ceremoniesin connectionwith the formationand renewal of Parhd alliances have now fallen into practical disuse, elaborate rites are still observedin thecase of ceremonialfriendship between individuals, especially between married Oraon women. Such a ceremonial friendshipis not merely a matter of individual choice, but is regarded as a matter of tribal necessity. At the interval of three years or so, the ceremonyknown as Sahidro,or the selection of sahids or friends,is celebrated in the Oraon country. Informationis sent round by proclamation at the differentvillage-markets, where men frommany villages assemble,that in that year sahid alliances have to be formedor renewed amonast Oraon women. Each village then fixesits own day,preferably a Tuesday, for the ceremony. On the appointed day at least one female member of each Oraionfamily in a village must enter into sahid alliance with another Oraon woman. Either her relationshipwith a formersahidt has to be renewed,or a new sahit has to be selected. In the latter event,the relationshipwith a formersahid does not,however, cease. Both in the case of the formationof a new sahit and in the case of the renewal of an old sahia-sbip,the same elaborateand inlteresting rites and observanceshave to be gone through. The essenltialfeatures of this ceremonyare the ceremonialprocession with which each of the two would-besahias in turngoes to the house of her sahid-elect-blesses the house by sprinkling,with an auspiciousmango-twig, water on the roof of the house and the doorswhich are closed againsther-signifies her good-willand desire foralliance and friendshipby puttingon the door-sillmarks of rice-flour,and, over these, marks of vermilion and finallyfastens sheaves of paddy to the door-frameby way of wishingprosperity to the house; the sahid-elect,thus assured of the good intentionsof this candidatefor friendship,then openingher doorsand comingout to mzeether takingon her own wearingrcloth a fewdrops of thebenedictory water trickling down from the roof-the

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 328 SARAT CHANDRA ROY.-Magic and Witchcrafton two women salutinlgeach other and addressingeach other by the sweet name of "Sahita"; and on a subsequent day all the newly-madesahids of the village assembling,at the Devi-asthan,or shrine,of the village-deityknown as Devi-mai; and afterofferings to the deity,each womanexchanging her plate of flattenedrice and curdledmilk (dahi-chiurd) with hersahid's, and boththe sahits eatingtogether; and finally,the sahids entertainingeach otherto dinnerat theirrespective houses and exchangingpresents of new clothes. Thenceforththe names of the two sahids are tabu to each other,and there can be no inter-marriagebetween the familiesof the two sahias. The reason why so much importanceis attached by the Oraon to such artificialfriendship between women of his village appears to be the necessity forsuch alliances betweenwomen who have been taken in marriagefrom different vllages and differentsepts, and who are not,therefore, expected to be naturally friendlyto one another. Men, too, enter into ceremonialfriendship with each other,but in their case the ceremoniesare not so elaborate, nor the alliance considereda matterof tribalnecessity, although matrimonial relations between the families of two male friends are no morepermissible than betweenthose of two femalefriends. Judgingfrom an analogy Withthese ceremonialalliances between meanand the gods,and betweenhuman beingsinter se, one would be inclined to think that the institutionof Totemi'smhad also for its' basis' a similar principle of alliance. Ch6ta-Nagpuarfacts would'seem to indicate that when primitiveman foundby experiencethat certainanimals, plants, minerals, and otherobjects proved particu- larly helpful or inconvenientlypowerful and hostile, he sought by ceremonial alliance with such animal,plant, mineral, or otherobject to become" of one blood" withit, and therebyto secure its help and protection,or disarm its ill-will and hostility. It may be noted that accordingto Oraon tradition,no tigerwould in olden days harma man of the tiger-sept(Lakra gotra) as both the man and the tiger were "of one blood." but when men became untruthfuland whoevercame across a tigerwould aver that he belonged to the tiger-sept,tigers naturally grew suspiciousof the veracityof man,and ceased to spare even an Oriionof thbeLakrai, or tiger,gotra, for the simplereason that theycould not distinguisha true Lakra- g6traman fromthe merepretender. In Ch6td-Ndgpur,however, Totemism has long ceased to be a livinginstitution except in its relationto exogamy,and it would,therefore, be unsafeto hazard any- thing like a decisive opinion based on Chotd-Ndgptrfacts alone, especiallywhen such an eminentauthority as Dr. J. G. Frazer has on a considerationof Australian facts decided in favour of what lie calls the " Conceptional" originof Totemism. Besides Totemism,which may have originatedeither froman ignoranceof the physiologicalknowledge of paternityand mistaken notions as to conception,as Dr. Frazer opines, or fromthe primitiveman's recognitionof the necessityfor alliance with the helpfulor harmfulpowers of the animal,vegetable, and mineral kingdomsaround him, as Chota-Nagpuarfacts would seem to suggest,or fromsome other cause, the Oraon's recognitionof the need for such alliance finds further

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Ch6td-NegpitrPlateau. 329 expressionin his periodicalsacrifices to the beneficentcattle-spirit called Goensakoi bhiit,and in invocationsof tree-spiritsresiding in the -Karamtree (Naudleaparvi- folia), and the Jitiapipar-tree (Ficus religiosa),and the flower-spiritin the blossoms of the Sal tree (Shorea robusta). Such are a few illustrationsof the applicationof the principleof alliance with beneficentpowers in the social and religioussystems of the Ch6ta-Nagpuaraboriginal.

(II.) SymnpatheticAlliance. When we proceed to a considerationof magic and witchcrafton the Ch6ta- Nigp-irPlateau, we coine to anotheraspect of the same principleof alliance. Instead of enteringinto regular ceremonial alliance, man may enter into sympatheticrelations-or alliance by sympathy-with the powerfulforces of the animal, vegetable,and mineral kingdoms,the heavenly bodies,the elements,and so forth,and therebysecure theirhelpful influencefor his benefit. In the lower culturewe findalliance by sympathy,through actual contactor throughimitation or suggestion,even more extensivelyresorted to than direct ceremonialalliance. This processof sympatheticmagic, in its two branchesof imitativeor homceopathic magic and contagiousmagic, will be found to lie at the root of most of the quasi- relioious, social, domestic,and other ritual of the aboriginesof Ch6ta-Nagpudr, particularlythe Oraons. Such alliance may be either temporaryor permanent. Alliance by suggestionor imnitationis generallytemporary; alliance by contactis in some cases temporaryand in others permanent. The contact required for sympatheticmagic may be eitherdirect or indirect. The contactmay be with the whole or part of the beneficentpower with whichalliance is sought,or it may be with some otherobject whichhad at one time been in contactwith the beneficent power in question. In the ilnstancesthat followof differentkinds of magic,I have referredmore to Oraon than to Muindapractices, because the Oraon is a greaterbeliever in magic than the M-unda. Where the Muinda believes that a certain trouble is due to the wrath or malice of some spirit,the Oraon thinksthe spiritis merelya tool in the hands of some magician by whomit has been put up to the mischief. So, if a Mfundagets a suddenattack of headacheor griping in the stomach,or pain in thelegs, or falls down it a fitof epilepsy,he at once concludeshe musthave comein collisiQn with some spirit,that he must have troddensome spirit under his feet,or jostled against it while walking or workingon his fields or elsewhere. As a means of reconciliationwith the offendedspirit, he scatters a little powdered turmeric around himself. The Oraon,who suspects magic or witchcraftwhere the Muinda scentsa spirit,always takes particularsteps to ward offthe evil eye of witchesor the maliciousintentions of sorcerers. Such Oraons as know the properspells, when goingout on a journey,take up a handfulof dust,mutter the bandhni spell over it and scatterthe dust all aroundhis own body to fortifyit against the evil eye,and the " bdn,"or spiritualarrow-shot of the magicianduring the journeyor duringhis stay outsidehis village.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 330 SARAT CHANDRAROY.-ifctgic and Witchcrctfton

(a) Imitative Magic. A notable instanceof imitativemagic is the Oraon ceremonyof rain-making. When rain is badly wantedin any part of the Oraon country,the Ora(onsof each village fixa day forthe rain-makingceremony. On the morningof the appointed day, the Oraon womenof the village,with the wife of the village-priestor Pahan at theirhead, proceedto the village spring or tank,and there,after ablution, each woman fills her pitcher(lotd) with water,and all proceed in a body to a sacred pipar-tree(Ficus religiosa). Beforethese women have had their ablutions and are gone with theirlotds filled with water towardsthe sacredpipar-tree, no one else is allowed that morningto touchthe water of the tank or spring. On theirarrival at the sacred tree,all the women simultaneouslypour the waterin theirpitchers over the footof the tree,saying, "May rain fall on earth like this." The wife of the village-priestnow puts marksof vermilion,diluted in oil, on the trunkof the tree. Afterthis the women depart,and the Pahan or village-priestproceeds to sacrificea red cock to the god Baranda at the spot. It is firmlybelieved by the Oraons that withina day or two afterthis rain-makingceremony, rain is bound to fall. And in olden times,it is said, a heavy showerof rain would even overtake the women on their way home from the sacred tree. In this case, apparently, direct alliance,by sacrificeand by anointing the tree with vermilion,have been super-imposedon what was once,perhaps, purely a ceremonyof imitative magic. Such combinationof imitative magic with prayer and sacrificeis a prominent feature in the chief religious festivalof the Oraons. This festival,known as the Khaddi or Sarh'ifl,is celebratedwhen the sal-flowersare in blossom in the month of April,shortly before the time forsowing paddy in theirfields. Seasonable rain and plentyof it is a necessityto the agriculturist. And the Oraon is, above all, an agriculturist. Naturally,therefore, he leaves no expedient untried to ensure plentyof rain. Thus, when on the occasionof the Sarh'l festival,the village- priest or Pahan and his assistant,the Pujar, go in processionfrom house to house, the womenpour large jarfuls (ghards) of water over the head, firstof the village- priest,then of his assistant,and finallyover the head of anyone and everyone; and all the Oraons revel in water on that day and splash mud on each otherso as to presentthe mud-besmearedappearance of personssowing paddy-seedsin mud (making lewd,as it is called). By this theyhope to have plentyof seasonable rain fortheir agricultural operations. The furthercustom observed on the same occasion,of all the Oraon families of a village heapingrice on the sacred winnowing-basket(silp) which the Pahan carriesin procession,and the Pahan droppingrice fromhis sitpall along the route as he proceeds,and his assistant,the Pujar, continuallydropping water from his bdtdrior pitcherwith a tube attachedto it, all along the route,is anotherinstance of imitative magic forsecuring plentyof rain and crops. As a furtherinstance of imitativemagic performedon the occasion of the Sarhli festivalI may mention

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Ch5ta-NgypftrPlateau. 331 the customobserved in every Oraon house of puttinga live crab into the burning hearth. As the crab crackles in the burning hearth,the womenexclaim, " May our lentils and pulses bursttheir pods like this." Again, as the heat of the fire makes the crab hanging,over the hearth stiffenits legs and bring themtogether so as to presenltthe appearance of a clusterof pods, the women exclaim," May the pods of our lentils and pulses come out as thick and full as this." When the Oraon cultivatorsows his urid (Phiaseolqusroxburghii), he mixes with the urid seeds a little of the powderedlegs of this crab. If we turn fromreligious festivals to social ceremonieswe find imitative magic as extensivelyapplied. Thus, by a processof imitative magic the yoke of a plough,and threebundles of straw,on which the bride and bridegroomare seated at the Khiri-tengnzaceremony at an Oraon wedding,are calculated to bring the married pair prosperityin agriculture. Another instance of imitative magic in connectionwith an Oraon marriageis the practiceof keepingapart at the harvest precedingthe marriage a few of the best sheaves of paddy,carefully selected by a young bachelor who must be ceremoniallyclean during the process. These selectedsheaves of paddy are used in the benedictoryritual of the-marriage, and are calculated to bless the newly-weddedpair with agriculturalprosperity-with abundant sheaves of paddy as full and fine as those. A minorinstance of such imitativemagic is the practice,prevalent in somle Ord-onvillages, of an Oraon woman breaking a small thin reed (khacrilca) into one very small bit and two larger pieces, and throwing these on the open space (Cutgan)before her house,in the belief that this will cause the menstruousflow to cease after two days and a-half.

(b) Divination. The principleof sympatheticmagic appears to be furtherillustrate(d by the practice of omen-readingor divination. If an intentional imitationof some desired result produces that result by something like spiritual attraction,an unintentionaland accidental imitation,real or fanlcied,of something,fortunate or calamitous-of some humanevent, or physical phenomenon-may,it is believed, attractsuch thing,event, or phenomenonby a similarspiritual svympathy.Thus, during,the ceremonialablutions at the village spring or tank whereall the Oraon villagers assemblefor the purpose on the occasion of the Sctrhiilfestival, if the Pahan or his assistant,the Puijar, happen to touch any part of his body with the hand, it is apprehended that fleas and miiosquitoeswill prove particularly troublesometo tlhevillagers that year. The cawino of crows is an evil sound which bodes misfortunethrouah syrMpatheticattraction, So is the sight of a jackal crossinothe path of an Oraon or a Mfindaon a journey. Anythingabnormal is an evil power which sympatheticallyattracts some evil or misfortune. Thus, the birth of a child with one or more teeth portendsthe

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 332 SARAT CHANDRA PLOY.-Magic andl Witc1icrc-fton death of eitherof the parents in a short time. Oraons,it is said, generallyput such a baby to death by secretlymaking it swallow a large quantityof salt. An Oraon girl whose canine teeth grow out of the line, finds it difficultto get a husband,for the girl is fatedto be a widow withina shorttime of her marriage. If a presentevent or phenomenonattracts a like event or phenomenonin the near futureby sympathy,conversely does a futureevent or phenomenonsometimes cast its shadowbefore it in the shape of an analogousevent or phenomenon. Thus, at about 2 a.m.,on the morningof the SarhFtlfestival, the village-priest'sassistant has to carryto the sacred grove four earthen jars filled to the brimwith water from the sacred sprinigcalled Sarnadari. The jars are left there,arranged like a square, till aftersun-rise; the village-priestand othervillage-elders proceed to the sacred grove to read the omen indicated by the water in the jars. If all the jars are full to the brim there is sure to be plenty of rain in all directions for agriculturaloperations. If one or mioreof the jars are not so full, it is taken to be an augury that there will be insufficientrain-fall towards the points of the compassindicated by the position of such jar or jars. If the jar on the north is not full to the brim,there will be insufficientrain in the niorth, and so on.

(c) ContagiousMagic. If in some instancesof beneficentimitative magic, as in the case of the rain- makingceremonies, we perceivean attemptat controlof, rather than alliance with, the powerfulforces of Nature, the principleof alliance is iore clearlyin evidence in the case of beneficentcontagious magic. The Oraon and M-lnda practice of wearingrings and armlets(bera) made of iron previouslyexposed to the influence of an eclipse of the sun, so that the wearermay offerto the " evil eye" of witches, and the evil attentionof ghostsand spirits,a resistanceas strongas that of iron so hardened,is an instancein point. The person wearing the armlet is believed to acquire the strengthof the iron; and the iron itself is believed to have acquired greatervirtue through the sympatheticinfluence of the eclipse. Such rings aild armletsare believed to be most effectivein averting a thunder-stroke.A more strikinginstance of beneficentsympathetic magic is the Oraon practice of eating certainthings to imbibe theirvirtues. Thus, an Oraon sometimeseats the eye of a hare to obtain keenness of vision,and the liver of a fox to acquire a musical voice. The Oraon traditionas to the originof the power of the snake-charmersand snake-doctors(Nag-matis) of his country,furnishes us with another instance of a similarcontagious magic. The firstNag-mati, it is said, had twenty-twoeyes, and was a past-masterin his art,who could even restoreto life personsbitten to death by snakes. By a strange irony of fate, however,this father of snake-doctors himselfmet his deatn by snake-bite. Beforehe died,he instructedthe twenty-two discipleswhom he had taken underhis tuition,that on his death theyshould eat

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Chota-lNlgpftrPlateau. 333 his fleshto acquire the powershe possessedin life. Accordingly,on his death,his disciplescut his corpse to pieces,stewed the fleshand dividedit amongstthemselves in twenty-twoleaf-cups. When the disciplessat down,each with his own leaf-cup of meat,each asked the otherto begin eating. Now Dharmes (the Supreme God), when He saw the twenty-twodisciples about to eat the flesh of their deceased master,thought within Himself that if so many men acquired the powers of their late master,there would be no death by snake-bite,and the occupation of the serpent-kindwould be gone. To prevent the possibilityof such an undesirable state of things,Dharmes at this junctureapproached the disciplesof thelate snake- doctor in the guise of a venerableold man and inquired of them what theywere doing. On being told what they were about, the old man exclaimedwith an air of indignationand horror," Fie! fie! my sons,what a sin you are about to commit!" " No," added he, in a compellingtone of authority,"you must abstain fromthis unprecedentedact of impiety. Go, now,and committhe meat to the burningfire." The disciplesof the deceased Nag-mati,who had already felt a natural disinclina- tion to swallowingthis human meat,now thoughtthis old strangermust be right, and proceededto throwthe meat into the fire. One of the men placed his dona or leaf-cupon his head beforeconsig,ning its contentsto the fire,and a drop of meat- juice trickleddown his cheeks and enteredthe cornersof his mouth,and thus this man alone acquired a fractionof the powersthat his late teacherhad possessed. It is throughthis more fortunatedisciple that the Nag-matis of our days have inheritedwhat littleknowledge of snake-charmingand snake-bitecure they still possess. A similarstory is related of the powers of the present race of witches and sorcerers. To return from ancient traditionto modern practice. A furthercurious instanceof contagiousmagic is furnishedby the Oraon's belief in the effectsof wrestling. If a man, it is believed,engages in wrestlingexercises for twenty-one consecutivedays with anotherpossessing greater strength than himself,and on the twenty-firstday succeedsanyhow in bringingthe strongerman to the groundeven fora moment,all the strengthof his opponeintis forthwithtransferred to himself, and thenceforthhe becomes the strongerof the two. On a somewhatsimilar principle,Oraon childrenibesmear their own cast milk-teethwith cowdung and saliva, and then throwthese teeth on the roof of their own huts. As theythus throwaway the teeth,they call on the mice to exchauge their milk-whiteteeth with theirown cast milk-teeth,saying, "Nigh5i pachcha,enghdi puna "-[AMay] mine [be] new, [and] yoursold." The customof everypasser-by throwing with his feeta stone on certaincairns called pdthal-p'tnjis,appears to be an instance of ceremonialalliance with the spiritof the cairnto avoid swellingof the legs. Of such cairns,I maymention the one at the border-linebetween villages Sakra and Prayagui(thand Mandar), and anotheron the border-linebetween villages Darkana and Tigaidl(thaend Chainpur). The clotlhon the personof a man killed by a tiger,as also the hair or the bone of

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 3't114 SARAT CHANDRAROY.-Magic acnd Witchcrafton a person drowned in a rushing stream, are valued by the Muinda and the Oraon as powerfulremedies against certaindiseases of men and cattle. In these cases the fiercetiger and the turbulentstream are believed to have imparted their own powerfulenergy to the cloth,hair, or bone. And perhaps the touch of the mighty hand of Death has added to its efficacy. Death, as a most powerful ,energywhich imparts its powerto whatever it comes in contact with,is clearly illustratedby the followinginstances of contagiousmagic among,stthe Oraons and the Muindas. A fragmentof the charredremains of the funeral pyre on which a man dyingon a Sunday or a Tuesday has been cremated on the very day of his death,is valued as a powerfulcharm against many diseases. Such a piece of charcoalis hung on the neck of a sick man with freshthread which has nevercomiie in contactwith water or otherliquid. But such charm,to be efficacious,mlust have been broughtfrom the burningr-placethe very night followingthe cremation,and the person bringingit must have gone to the cremation place stark naked. Many Oraons do not observe these conditions. To them the charred remains of the wood used in cremationis efficaciousunder any circumstances,provided the thread with which it is suspended on the patient's neck is fresh from the spinningwheel. Again,a piece of bread baked that very night on the very spot on which such a corpse was burntis believedto be impregnatedwith great potency. The house in whichsuch a piece of bread or charcoal is preservedis believed to be immunefrom a varietyof diseases. Similarly,a mushroomgrowing on the remnant of a log of wood used in burninga corpseis believed to be a powerfulremedy for hysteria. Such mushroomsgathered from a burning-placeare pounded, and administeredto a hysteria-patientalong with molassesand a few other substances. There is a popular sayingin Ch6td-N gpur, " Jaha masan taha apsan,"-" Where there is a burning-placetheire is [the remedyfor] apsan or hysteria." A swordwith whichhuman blood has been shed and death caused,is believed to acquire a most powerfulenergy through contact with blood and death. In fact, the Oraons and the MuYndassay that a powerful spirit "rides" on such a sword. Thenceforththe sword becomes an object of religious awe. It is carefully suspendedagainst the inner wall of the owner'shouse, and at everyfestival a few drops of liquor are offeredto the sword. It is believedthat if the sword is taken out of the house,it will not rest until it has drunksome blood. Of all blood,it is the sacrificialblood that is believed to possess the greatest potency. A few dropsof the blood of an animal or fowl sacrificedto Dharmes or the SupremeDeity, have to be drunkby an Ordonor a Muindaoutcast by way of purificationwhen he is re-admittedinto the tribe. Such sacrificialblood has also to be drunk by a man returnedfrom jail, before he can be admitted even into his own house. The evil influencesof contactwith strangersduring his stayin the jail are thus removedby the strongerpower of the sacrificialblood. If, however, the theoryof the originaltotemnistic identification of the sacrificialanimal with the totem-spiritbe correct,such drinking of sacrificialblood may be regarded as a renewal of tribalkinship.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Ch6td-_NgpftrPlateaut. 335

Water and fire,are, like sacrificialblood, beneficent powers, with the aid of which the mischievousinfluences of many ail evil power maybe neutralized. Thus, people wlhohave toucheda corpseget rid of the evil influencesof such contact,first by bathingin the water of a spring,well, tank,or stream,and thenby the following, processof fire-lustrationor ratherfumigation: a fewhandfuls of husks and broken grainsof rice are placed on the ground,and over them a few pieces of burning charcoal; a little oil poured over it makes the husks quickly take fire,and over the wreaths of smoke thus produced,the persoinscontaminated by the touch of a corpsehold portionsof their garmentsby way of purification. Again, afterthe anniualhdrbord or bone-burialceremony in the monthof Pi2s (December-January), when the bones of all deceased persons of an Oraon village who died duringthe preceding year are ceremoniallyburied in the family burial place, the village- priestor Pahan has to purifyeach individual Oraon,by sprinklingwater on such personwith a few blades of a long grass known as phituchird.The Pahan has on this occasion to performa ceremonyknown as "village-purification5 or "padda- kamna." The principalfeature of this ceremonyis the ceremonialprocession, in whichthe Pahan, at the head of the whole body of villagers,traverses the village fromone end of it to the otherand ceremoniallysprinkles water froma pumpkini- gourd on everysuspicious-looking nook and cornerand everybend and turn on his way. Between the bone-burialceremony and this " village-purification,"no person in the village may undertake a journey,nor inay a wedding or other auspicious ceremonytake place in tlhevillage. There is a suggestiveresemblance between this death-tabuon the village-community,and a somewhatsimilar tabu observedin every Hindu familyfor a period of one year fromthe death of its masteror mistress. Water-lustrationis employedby the aboriginalsof Chota-Nagpu-ron various other occasions besides death. Thus, purificationby ablutions in cold water is requiredin the case of womenwho have attendeda delivery,in the case of a priest or otherperson who has to offersacrifices or mnakeother offeringsto a deity or spirit,and in the case of a bride and a bridegroomjust beforethe actual wedding cereinony. Such ablutionsare believed to removeall superniaturalevil influences. Even the ceremoniesof washingthe feetof guestsjust arrived,and of membersof the familyon their returnhome froma distantplace, thoughthese may appear to -usas only delightfulexhibitions of Oraon alnd MuYndahospitality and domestic affection,may not improbablyhave originatedin the supposed efficacyof water in removingall possible supernaturalevil influencesof strange places and strange roads. Water under certain circumstancesacquires more than ordinaryenergy or soul-power. Thus, rain-watercollecting in old hollow trees is a beneficentpower whichcures feverthat has baffledthe art of the medicine-man. An Oraon fever- patientgoes to such a tree with a handfulof rice,a pinch of red-lead,a few yards of thread,and a small new earthen pitcher (chi2ka). Arrived at the tree, the patient puts with his own fingersthree vermilion-markson the tree,sprinkles a handfulof rice on it, and ties the threadin threefolds round the trunkof the tree.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 336 SARAT CHANDRARIOY.-Magic and Witchcrafton

Finally he bathes in water taken in his earthenpitcher from the hole of the tree. Afterthis the man is expectedto get well in a short time. Here, again, we comne to directalliance with the energyor spiritof the water,or ratherof the tree. The red-leadmark is probablythe reminiscenceof a blood-covenant,and the tying of threadround the tree is evidentlymeant to symbolizethe bond of friendshipthus formed. It may be noted that in this case the power belongs to the hollow tree ratherthan to the water. For, among the Mulndas and the Oraons,any weed or otherplant growingon such a clefttree is used as a medicine forvarious diseases. The unusual appearanceof the tree invests it with such power in the minds of these people. On various occasions Oraon and MuYndawomen are required to renew their alliance with the village spring,well, or tank from which they ordin- arily draw water for drinking and cooking purposes. Thus, a few days after child-birth,the new motherhas to put threevermilion-marks with her fingerson the stone slab standingby the side of such spring,well, or tank. This ceremony apparentlysymbolizes the renewalof the woman'salliance with the spring,well, or tank,after the criticalperiod of deliveryand the perils of the blood connectedwith it have been tided over. Here, again, we come to the principle of Direct Alliance. On the same principlea newly-marriedgirl on her firstarrival at her husband's village,has similarlyto put threemarks of vermilionon the stone slab attachedto thevillage spring,well, or tank,the veryfirst time she goes to draw water fromit. If the new motheror the new wifedraws water fromsuch a spring,well, or tank, beforesuch ceremonialrenewal of her alliance with the spiritof the water,either mnaggotswill breed in the water or the water will otherwiseget polluted. Such unclean water is at once baled out,and the village-priest,on behalfof the village- community,renews their alliance with the spring,tank, or well by ceremonially puttingvermilion-marks on the stoneslab byits side. Such are a few illustrations of the applicationof the principle of alliance, both directand sympathetic,in the magico-religioussystem of the Oraons and the MuYndasof Chota-Nagpudr.

THE PRINCIPLE OF AVOIDANCE. As good powers help either throughactual alliance, or through contact or imitation,so do evil powersharm, either through contact or throughthe long-range influenceof sympathy. The contact necessary to produce harm may be either director indirect,it may be either with the person or other thing sought to be harmed, or it may be with somethingwhich has or had any real or supposed connexionwith that personor thing.

(L.) -DirectContact. As instancesof harm throughdirect contact with evil powers,I may mention the followingOrdion and Mfindasuperstitions. As a snake is an evil power,people wearingnecklaces made of snake-bones(ner klhocholpoon), as well as Nag-matisor snake-doctorswhose business is to handle snakes, become through contagious

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions thteCGhod-Ncgpit-r Plateau. 337 magic,themiselves evil powers. Necessarily,therefore, seed sown by such people will eithernot germinateat all, or, at any rate,yield an unsatisfactoryreturn. Some rootsand otherveaetable compounds are believed to possess power to attract,and othersto repel,men, beasts, and birds through contact. These sub- stances are brought into contact with a girl's clothes to make her love someone or hate someone,as may be desired. It is said that if you toucha dog withthis love-charm, and forthwithconceal yourself, the dogwill traceyou out where- ever you may go; and similarly,if you once touch a dog with the hate-charm,the dog will ri-naway fromyou howevermuch you may seek to approachit. Witches and sorcerers often harm through direct contact. Thus, they generally have with them small rag bundles in which they carry small thin knives and nail-parers,besides nails, bones, and legs of chickens and other birds and animals, as also small quantities of rice, urid pulse, mustard-seeds,oil- seeds, and some other grains. These are known as nas'ans or mischief-making agencies. A witch or sorcerer desirinc to cause harm to a person, manages unobservedto nmixwith such person'sfood a small piece of a leg or bone,or some nail-paringsfromn his ntsan bundle,over which spells have been pronounced. This bit of nail, or bone,or leg, is believed to growgradually inside the person'sstomach, and finallykill him,unless anothermauician is called in to counteractthe power of the nts'an. A magician,thus called in, stands face to face before the patient so that the mouthand navel of the sorcererrespectively touch those of the patient; and in this posturehe goes on recitinghis mantramnsor spells until the bone,leg, or nail-paringcomes ouLtof the miouthof the patientinto his own mouth. The tikli and the singhi which are employedby a sorcererto transferevil spiritsfrom the flameof his own nlagic-lamp,or from the body of a possessed individualto someone else, furtherillustrate the method of harming by direct contact. The tikli is a very small, thin,circular bit of silver or copper. Whell a mtti or ghost-doctoris engaged in exorcisinga spirit,he heats this tikli over burningfrankincense, fixes it on a coppercoin, and places the coppercoin withthe tikli on it in frontof the patient. When the evil spirit is exorcised,it is trans- ferredto this tikl4,or, as the Oraionwould say,it is given the tiklifor its seat. The tikli,thus chargedwith an evil power,is then secretlycarried by the rnttito some market,or fair,or jartrd,where crowds of people assemble. There he throws it unobservedon the garmentsof some unmarriedgirl. The mati slinks away from the place as quickly as he can forfear of detection. The girl on whose clothesthe tikli sticksis sure beforelong to be possessedby the evil spiritin the tikli. Some- tiinessuch a tikliladen with a disease-spiritis attachedto the winigsof a pigeon or otherbird belongingto an enemy. The bird carriesthe evil spiritto the house of the enemy,and some memberof the familyfalls dangerouslyill. The tikli affixed to a pice or othercopper coin is sometimesleft on a public road,so that the spirit may harmthe personwho takes up the coin. Sometimes when an Oraon or a Mutndaseeks the help of a mCttior sorcererto wreak his vengeance on an enemy, the mndtigives his client a singhi,or small tapering iron tube,in whichis confined VOL. XLIV. z

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 338 SARAT CHANDRAROY.-M6agic agnd Witchcraft omb eitheran evil spiritfrom the flameof his own magic-lamp,or an evil spiritexorcised fromthe personof one obsessed. The client secretlycarries the simbghtiat night to his enemy'shouse, and pins it down into the wall, plinth,or some other part of the house. Sickness and othertroubles are believedto followthis operation. Contact with a witch'ssoul movingabout at riightis productiveof the greatest misfortune. Whereas the soul of an ordinary human being leaves the body automaticallyin sleep, trance,or death,and wanders about like the wind,not as he choosesbut as other forces determine,the soul of the wizard or witch can assume a materialform, leave the body at will, and go whereverit chooses. It is, however,the night-timethat the wizard and the witch choose for their excursions out of the bodv,and the materialshape theirsouls generallyassume is eitherthat of a black cat or that of a human pigmyno higherthan the heightof the thumbof a man. Such a cat or pigmyis called a chor-deva,or thievishspirit, by the Ch6ta- Nagpuiraboriginal. The favouritemodus operandi of the cat-shaped ch6r-devais to entera bachelor'sdormitory in an Oraon village at the dead of night,and either lick up the saliva tricklingdown the cornersof the mouthof a sleepingperson, or niibbleat the dead skin on the soles of a person'sfeet, or bite offa portion of the hair ofa sleepingwoman. Not long afterwardsthe person concernedfalls ill, and sometimesthe illness caused by the magic' touch of the chor-devaproves fatal. But in case such a chor-devais caughtin the act, it is paid back in its own coin, for the injuryinflicted on the cat-shapedsoul or chor-devahurts its physicalbody, lyingat home,and if the cat is killed or woundedthe body of the wizard or witch lies dead or similarlywounded at home. Many aii instanceof such an occurrencehas been related to me withcircumstantial details by Oraonsand Muindaswho obviously believedin what they said. Thus does contagiousmagic, which is the favourite weapon of the wizard,recoil on his own head. The procedure adopted by the wizard or witch when it is intendedto cause harm to a man's propertyis different. In such a case the chMr-devaassumes the formof a pigmyno bigger than a man's thumb,and carriesa small carrying-polemade of the twig of a castor-oil (erndi) plant,with two carrying-netsmade of human hair suspendedat its two ends. On each carrying-netis placed a diminutivebasket in which the witch carries away grain frompeople's granaries. From the inomenta witch thus touches a man's granary,even thoughthe grain stolenbe but a mere handful,prosperity bids fare- well to the ownerof the stolen grain,his granaryis soon exhausted,and even his fields cease to yield their wonitedharvest. Such is the powerful sympathetic magic of the touch of the witch's hand. Such instances take us fromdirect to indirectcontact.

(II.) Indirect Contact. We have seen how throughcontact with their spittle or hair or dead scarf- skin, men are injured in health by a witch or sorcerer. Among ilnstancesof harm caused throughmore indirect contact may be mentioned the contagious mlagicof the dust of a man's feet,his blood,and his urine.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Ch5tai-NA1ipgjnPlateau. 339

The Oraons and the Muindasbelieve that some evil spirits are always on the look-outfor a drop of tbe blood or urine of a preglnantwoman, and thatwhen such blood or urine is foundand licked up by an evil spirit,the woman is sure to have difficultlabour, which may end in death. As forblood, not only a woman but also a man,promptly effaces with the feetor coverswith dust any blood that may fall fromany part of the body; forit is believed that if a witchlicks up such blood or a spiritovershadows it, or ants or some particular species of birds lick it up, the personwhlose blood is licked up is sure to fall sick. Blood fallingon the groundat midnightis particularlydangerous, as at that time evil spiritsroam about in all directions. Sometimesa witchor sorcererwishing to harma man secures a little dust of his footprintsand effectshis mischievouspurpose by utteringsome magic spell over such dust. A witch or sorcerer can, however, harm a man even without the instrumentalityof any such tangible thing. By the mere utteringof a man's name and pronouncingsome suitable spell or incantationover the name,a magician is able to effecthis mischievouspurpose. To the Oraon and the Mulnda,as to most people of the lower culture, a name is an integralpart of its owner anid consequentlyoffers a suitable handle to the sorcererfor his magical operations. This supposed intimateconnection of a name with its ownerexplains the reason why the Oraon and the Muinda avoid naming certainpersons and certain places at certain hours. Thus, after night-fall,any Ordon or a Mftnddwill not use the words"serpent'" or " tiger,"but describe a " serpent" as a " cord" (rassi) and a "tiger" as "the long-tailed things"(lam- pochhia). Should the actual names be used, their owners-the serpent and the tiger-would, it is believed,be attractedto the place. Again,in the morning,an Oraon avoids naming certain persons or certain villages-sometimes all villages except his own-for fear of ill-luckfollowing the utteringof such names. The chance of ill-luckmay, however, be avoided if he uttersthe magic words " lflpting lupuingai"before he pronounces those inauspicious names. It is probably to preventmagicians fromieasily findingout the real nam-iieof a person,that the Oraon parentsgive two names to each child. Onieis the name given to a baby at birth,and knownas thejanamn nagn or birth name, and the otherthe real namecalled the bichehalnacm or name selected by some supposedsupernatural process.' The janamtnn(tm is selectedaccording to the day or the week or the month of the year in whicha personis born. As, forexample, a baby born on a Monday is called Somra or Sumri,according as it is a male or a feinalechild; and a baby bornin the mointhof Aghan may be called Aghnfi or Aohni,according to its sex. There is reason to believe that the bichchalrnam, or real name was formerlyknown only to near relatives and friends,but, nowadays,the birth name or janam nam is very often droppedwhen the bichchalndm is selected,and an Oraonis knownto relatives as also to outsidersby the real name,

Comparethe rashindqn and the dctknC&m of Bengali Hindus. z 2

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 340 SARAT CHANDRA :RoY.-MAagic and WitchcraftonL

A remarkableinstance of contagiousmagic is the Oraon belief in the powers of the chhdtinor shadow. The soul or spirit of a man is indeed sometimes identifiedwith his shadow; and a man of strongindividuality is said to have a iabar chhdinor " powerfulshadow," and a weak or nervousperson to have a hdlakT chihdinor light shadow. The shadow of a man of the formertype falling even on a venomoussnake is believed to be able to hold the snake spell-boundat the spotand make it unable to budgean inch. An evil spiritoften harms a person,particularly a child,by what Oraons and Mfundascall " chhai-dnd" or over-shadowingit. As a furtherinstance of contagiousmagic I may mentionwhat is known in Chota-Nagpuras langhan. When an Oraon gets a pain and swellingin his legs,he ordinarilyattributes it to his having crossedeither some strayevil spirit(bhidd), or some mustardor otherthings impregnated with the force of some powerfulspell pronounced over it by a sorcerer. Again, if he happens to walk across a person sufferingfrom such pain, he becomesliable to a similar attack. Similarly if he happens to walk across a leaf-cup (dond) or leaf-plate (pdtrqi)from which some otherperson, particularly a strangeror a mianof anothercaste or tribe,has eaten or drunkanything, he runs the risk of contractingpain in his throat. The evil power with which all strangersand aliens are credited, has throughcontauious magic passed on to the remnantof his foodor drink,or to the plate or cup from whichthe foodor drinkwas taken,and is again transferredby sympatheticmagic to the throatof the personcrossing it. The idea of pollutionby contactwith the leavings of other people's food now widely prevalent all over India, may not improbablyhave its rootsdeep down in such primitivefear of contact with evil powers, and -may have been borrowedby the so-called Aryaii Hindu fromthe animistic aboriginal. Subsequently indeed the ideas of physical cleanliness, hygienicnecessity, and even internalpurity, have been super-addedso as to transform the originalidea beyondrecognition, but it is amongstsuch animistictribes as the Mundas and the Oraons of Chotd-Nagpfirthat we meet withthe beginningsof the idea of chhit-kator touch-tabuin its originalnaked simplicity.

(III.) Long-rangeInfluence of Evil Powers. To retraceour steps,then, and go back to the sorcererand the witchof Chotq- Nagpttr. We have seen that these magicians sometimesseek either direct or sympatheticcontact with their intended victims in orderto effecttheir mischievous purpose. But the evil touchis not more effectivethan the evil eye. The evil eye of witcheswho are particularlyaverse to the sightof the gaudy dress or ornaments of others,make the well-dressedOvaon beau or belle dancingat the village dk,hra, or dancingground, sometimes fall down in faintingfits. At times more serious consequencesflow from the evil eye of a witch. A drop of blood mysteriously appears on the gala dress of a youngman or woman-,and serious illness overtakes the personin a shorttime. Food, like dress,is a favouritetarget for the evil eye. Oraon womenare particularlyanxious about the rice-flourthey prepare on some

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions thteCh6td-Nagypiir Plateau. 341 festiveoccasions to make bread with. If the rice-flourhappens to attract the evil eye of a witch,or the " shadow" (chhdin)of a ghost,the bread preparedout of it will eitherbe imperfectlybaked, or emit a foul smell,or cause diarrhoeaor other sicknessto those who partake of such bread. Similarlythe evil eye of a witch or sorcererdirected against food or drinkis believed to poison it. It is, however,not witches and sorcerers,alone, that possess the " evil eye." Anyone may possess it by nature. The glance of some people has naturallya mischievouspotency in it whichcauses harm to other people's food, drink, cattle, and crops. A curious instanceof the power believed'toreside in the human eye is the followingcustom in vocrueamongst the Oraons. When two womenof the same Oraon village give birthto children in the same half of the moon,they are not allowed to see each otherfor the firsttwenty days afterdelivery. On the twenty-firstday, the two womenare led blind-folded fromopposite directions to a spot fixedbeforehand, and thenthe coveringsover the eyes of the two women are taken offsimultaneously. It is believed that if the cloth over the eyes of one of the womenis taken offbefore that over the eyes of the other,the glance of the formerwill forthwithattract to her own breastsall the milk in the breastsof the otherwoman, so that the child of the latter will pine to death for want of mother'smilk. If ever the eyes of either of the women are by chance uncoveredin this way before those of the other,the two families fall out at once. The help of sorcerersand witches is secured by each family to harmthe other; and thenceforthno love is lost betweenthe two families. It is, however,not human eyes alone that may possess such evil power. The eyes of some animals ald reptiles,too, are creditedwith the same mischievous energy. Thus the Dhora snake-a huge snake with black and white stripes on its skin-is believed to have a particularly" evil eye" which is able to cause disease and death throughits glances. The sightof this serpent in the month of Asarh (June and July) is particularlydreaded. Whenever an Oraon meets such a snake,he forthwithgoes home,takes a handful of paddy or urid-pulseand fries it with his own hands, so that the "evil eye," or rather its poison, may by sympatheticmagic burst as these grains do on the fryingpan. This fried grain is not eaten by any adult man or woman,but is distributedamong the children. If the evil touch (chha2t)and the evil eye (najar) are powerfulin working mischief,miost potent of all mischievousagencies is the evil sound,the word of power,the evil-workingqnaantram or spell. Unlike the evil eye and the evil touch, the evil sound or mantqam may be aimed at the intended victim from any distancein space and withoutthe least chance of detection. It is called the bawtor arrow-shotof the witchand the sorcerer. The Ordonsbelieve that with the help of a powerfulmantram, a magician is even able to extract unperceived the liver of an intended victim,wherever the victim may be. The liver is, as we have already noticed,regarded as the seat of the vital principle. The extracted liver is carefullypreserved anid watched by the magician for the following

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 342 SARATCHANDRA ROY.-Magic ancd Witcherctfton twenty-fourhours. If in the meanwhile the man whose,liver has been thus extracted calls in the aid of another magician,and if such magician by means of counter-spellssucceeds in keeping the ants fromtouching the extractedliver withinthe said period of twenty-fourhours, the liver at the end of thatperiod has to be restoredto its owner,in whichcase the lattergets well again. If, however, ants succeed in eating at the liver withintwenty-four hours from the momentit has been taken out, the patientgets worseand worse,and finallythe witch or the sorcerereats up the liver and the patientforthwith dies.

(IV.) Modes of Avoidagnce. The differentmethods by whichprotection against the various Evil Powers is sought by the aboriginalsof Ch6ta-Nagpudrare: (1) tabqt,or simple avoidance; (2) avoidanceby diversion; (3) avoidance by threatsor by mimeticrepulsion; and (4) avoidance by actual expulsionthrough the help of beneficentpowers.

(1) Simple avoidance,or tabqt. ]Tabit,or negative magic, furnishesus with numerous illustrations of the principleof simple avoidance. The best way to safety is to keep yourselfout of harm'sway-to avoid contact,direct or indirect, with the harmfulpowers. Such an idea appears to lie at the rootof the various tabus,or prohibitionswhich illen of the lower cultureimpose on theinselves-tabus in connectionwith names, birth, death,sex, food,blood, and a numberof otherthings. We have alreadyreferred to certaintabus, such as name-tabus,observed by the Oraons and the MuYndasof Ch6ta-Ndgp-dr.The idea of the perils and powersof blood appears to have given rise to the prohibitionagainst contactwith a womanat child-birthand fora few days afterit. By sympatheticmagic things used by her- thefurniture, utensils, and otherthings in the lying-inroom, and. in fact,the house itself--areunder a temporarytabt to personsnot belongingto the family. The reason for the supposed ceremonialuncleanness of persons who have toucheda corpse,or taken part in a funeralceremony, is apparentlythe supposedcontact with the disembodiedspirits of the dead. It is believed that when a person dies,the spiritsof his pre-deceasedkinismen crowd round the death-bed,in orderto takehim to theirabode in the underworld. The sexual act is a mysteriouspower, and is consequentlytabued duringand immediatelybefore such auspicious occasionsas a religiousfestival, the first sowing, of one's rice-field,and a huntingexpedition. It may be noted that amongstthe Mulndas and the Oraons,whereas in most religiousceremonies it is the sacrificer alone, and in sowingit -is only the man actually scatteringthe seeds, on whom continenceis obligatory,in the case of a huntingexpedition not only the men who have gone out to hunt but also all the stay-at-homemembers, male and female, of theirfamilies have to observethe sex-tabu. A furthertabu theyhave to observeis thatno animal or fowlmust be killed in the village, nor any fishor flesheaten in

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Chotd-NdgpitrPlateau. 343 thevillage by a Mundclor an Oraon,so long as the partyof huntersdoes not return lhome. An infringementof these tabluson sex, food,and killing, is calculated to preventsuccess in the chase. Some interestingillustrations of the Oraon's idea of tabmtare furnishedby certain observancesin connection with their principal religious festival-the Sarhull. Although the actual pilj' or sacrificial feast takes place on one day alone, the festivitiesand subsidiaryceremonies extend over about a week. All that time, no one in the village is permittedto engage in any agriculturalwork, or to dig the earth,climb a tree,pluck fruits,or gather edible roots and leaves. The reason the people assign for this tabu is, to use their own language," now that the duties are up, anyonedoing suich a thing is sure to sustainsome injury or meet with some mishap." Again, actual contact with a personin whose village the sarhul has been celebratedis tabu to the Oraons and the Mudndasof a village in which it has not been celebrated-such a personis not allowed to enterthe houses,or draw water fromor even touch the wells or springsof the village of the latter. If accidentally such a person touches the spring or well of the village, its water will have to be baled out beforeit can be used by the villagers,and if he has touchedany articleof foodor drink,or even such articlesas tobacco or lime,these articlesget contaminatedthrough his touch and have to be thrownaway. Even if a married daughterin whose husband'sfamily the sarhul festivalhas been celebrated,happens to visit her father'svillage beforethe sarhul has been celebratedthere, she is not allowed admittanceinto herfather's house, but is treatedlike a personof a different ,aste,accommodated in the outerveranda of a hut,and there someoneserves her with foodand drinkwithout touching her; and the mats and utensilsthat may be used by her are not taken inside the house until the sarhil festivalis celebratedin the village. Ordinarily,therefore, an Oraon or a Mulndawho has not yet had the sarhi2lcelebrated in his village,avoids going to a village whereit has alreadybeen celebrated. Even if urgentnecessity takes him to such a village, he leaves it as quicklyas he can, and rigidlyavoids touchingany foodor drinkfrom that village, or even sittinoon the same mat withthe peopleof that village. Any accidentalcon- tact is believedto entailsuch seriousconsequences as the failureof crops in his village wherethe sarhunlhas not been celebrated. It is no pollutionto people of the latter village to touchany personor thingbelonging to a village wherethe sarhilthas yet to come. The reason why personsand things belonging to a village where the sarhiulpfxjCt has been celebratedis avoided by personswhere it has not,appears to be the idea that throughthe renewal of theiralliance with the village-deitiesand other spirits,including the Spirit of Vegetation representedby the sal-flowers,the people of the formervillage have been investedwith a mysteriousspiritual energy whichmay harm the people or the thingsof anothervillage wherethe people have not yet similarlyassociated themselves with those spiritualagencies. Again, in some Oraon villages, a married woman during her visits to her father'splace is not allowed entrance into the cattle-shedof her father. The

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 344 SARAT CHANTDRAROY.-Magic ancd Witchtcrafton

reason forthis seems to be the fear of harm to the cattle throughsome spiritof her husband'svillage, which may have accoulpaniedher. As an instance of the tabu on number,I miaymention the Oraon custom of three,five, or seven womencoming out to wash the feet of guests at theirarrival at a house on a ceremonialbusiness, such as settling a marriage contract. If an even numberof womenhappen to come out of the house for the purpose,it is considereda bad omeli. As regardsfood-tabu, cooked food touched by a person not belongingto his tribeis tabu to a marriedOrion. The origin of this tabu is obviouslythe fear of evil powers connected with alien people. To a similarfear of strange gods or spiritsis to be attributedthe fact that meat of animals and fowlsoffered to the sept-spiritsof any one Oraon sept,is tabu to people of othersepts; foralthough such spiritsare helpfulto membersof the particular sept concernedthey may be harmfulto people ofother septs. That is again the reason why a marriedwoman, who necessarilybelongs to a sept other than her husband's,may not partake of the meat of the fowls and animals sacrificedat the sacred grove of her husband's village in honourof the gods and spirits of that village. Another circumstancethat may probablybe partlyresponsible for the exclusion of women froniparticipation in the pu-j'asor sacrificialfeasts in honourof genuine MuYnd-a and Oraon village deities,appears to be the frequentoccurrence of spiritobsession amongstwomen, which, together with the periodicaloccurrence of the menstruous flow,appears to have led to the beliefthat womenare by nature deficientin md'nda or spiritualenergy, and, consequently,it is not safe forthem to have dealingswith the spirit-world.

(2) Avoidance by Diversion. A second methodof avoidingevil powersis to diverttheir attention. Thus, to divert the " evil eye " of spirits or sorcerersand witches,and of maliciouspersons, the Oraon cultivatorplants in the middle of his standingupland crops a woodenpole, over whichis placed upside down an earthenvessel withits upturnedbottom painted black and white. The magic of the colour diverts the " evil eye " fromthe crops. Again, some of the amulets worn by Oraon childrein are meantto divertthe attentionof an evil spirit or of maliciouspersons, witches and sorcerers: such are the cowrie shells worn on the neck or waist of a child.

(3) Avoidance by Threat,or MimneticRepulsion. Another method of avoiding evil powers is to make a mimicryof driving themaway, not so much by physicalterrorism as by the cunmulativespiritual force of a body of personsacting ceremoniially.A most interestinginstance of this is the periodicaldevil-driving ceremony amongst the Oraons and the Muindaisof the Ch6ta-Ndgpfirplateau. Once in the year, in obedience to informationsent from one village to anotherthroughout the plateau, each village fixes its date for this

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Chwtd-NtypfirPlateaut. 345 ceremonyof driving away the evil spirits that cause cattle-disease. At about midnightof the date so appointed,all the youngbachelors of the village assemble at the village akhrt or dancingground. Bachelors,who are supposed not to have any carnal knowledge,are, it may be noted,believed to possess greatersoul-power than marriedmen. And that is why they are thus able to put disease-spiritsto flight. At the dtkhradthe pdthdtn, or village priest,hands over to them a chicken and a few annas of drink-money. The village Ahir or cattle-herd,too, comes there with a tharki or wooden cow-bell. The Ahir and the young men all now strip themselves naked,and the Ahir vith his cow-bellhanoing from the back of his waist, and the young Oraons and Mu-ndaseach with a stick in his hand,proceed towardsthe boundaryof an adjoining village. The Ahir runs ahead and the rest of the partyrun behindhim as if chasing him. As the youngmen run on, they go on uttering slhoutsof " HI9bimbd-hdmbCt"in imitation of cows, clapping their hands,and breakingto pieces with their sticks all the earthenpots, one or two of -whichevery fanmily has taken care to leave in frontof their house. All the time everyoneelse in the village must keep absolutelyquiet, and as far as possible remainindoors. Should any person be heard talking,or even laughing, these youngmen would belaboursuch a personwith their sticks,and the latter would have to submitto the floggilngwithout protest. As sooII as the Ahir reaches the limits of the adjoinino village,he silently drops his cow-bell and quickly retires. The young men then eiiter a few steps into the limits of the other village, and the fowl,on which marks of oil and vermilion(sindzir) are now put, and all the clubs, are left there,and the party returnto theirvillage, bathe in some tank or stream,and then put on theirclothes, drinkliquor, and return home. The village to which the disease-spiritis thus driven,in its turn,performs the same ceremony,and transfersthe spirits to the next village,and so on. To drive away disease-spiritsthat affecthuman beings,a differentceremony is gone through. Once everyyear, early in the monthof Magh (January),on a day appointed beforehand,the women of each Mulnda or Oraon familycleanse the floorsand courtyardof theirhouse with cow-dungand water, and then sweep the ground with their old brooms. This is done early in the morning. Then the women of each familytake up on the lower hall of a broken learthenvessel the sweepings,the earthenreceptacle in which the cow-dungdiluted in wateris kept,the old rag which is used as a brush to rub the groundwith diluted cow-dung,and the old broomwith which the floorsand courtyardhave been just swept. With thesethey all go in a body to the boundaryof an adjoining village and theredeposit the broken earthenvessels containingthe sweepings,old rags and brooms,saying " Eka tarti barchkeatram kalae, kirrabar anke," " Go to the directionfrom which you came; don't return to our village." But in reality the disease-spiritis sent to the directionopposite to that fromwhich it came. If the sweepings,etc., have been left in the limits of one village by the women of the village adjoining it on the west, then the women of the formervillage will leave the sweepingsof theirhouses in the limits of the village adjoiningtheirs on

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 346 SARAT CHANDRA iRoY.-Magic cznd Vitchcraftont the east. Again, when there is actually an epidemic in the Oraon country,the people of a village take a goat or a fowlto 'thelimits of the next village. Arrived there the feet of the fowl or goat are washed, a handful of arua rice is put down on the ground for it to eat, the foreheadof the fowl or the horns of the goat are besmearedwith rice-flourdiluted in water,and over it is put a mark of vermiliondiluted in a few drops of oil. The fowl or goat is leftthere with an admonition not to returnto the village: "Kale, enna bida nanalagdanennantim amke kirra. Atramnbedke mokhke." "Go, I aimbidding you farewell. Hence- forthdon't coiiie back. Search (foryour victims)in that directionand eat (what you get there)." In cases like these the fowlor goat is supposed to be chargedwith the spirit of the disease. There is another curious ceremonyalso known as WaCgKhednd, or disease driving,in vogutieamong the Oraons of Ch6td-Nagpgur.A rumouris set afloat, generallyin the winter months after the harvest,that in some distant village a woman has given birth to a baby-horseor a baby-giant(rdkscas ch5o), or some other monstrosity. Then a number of women (usually one fromneach famlily> leave theirvillage one inorningand go to as many villages lyingin one direction of theirvillage as faras theycan walk by noon that day. In everyvillage they go they beg rice,pulse, vegetables,etc., from house to house. By noon theycook the thingsthus collected,eat thenmand thenreturn to theirown village. A party of womenof the next village then followthe example thus set. In this way tlle evil spirit that has produced such an imagined monstrosityis supposed to be drivenaway fromthe country. Another ceremonyof mimetic repulsion of evil powers is the flea-driving cereimonyperformed by Oraon youiig men in the month of Soh6rai or Kartik (Septenmber-October).A numberof youngmen stripoff their clothes, cover over their body with straw from head to foot,and stick flowersall over the straw coveringand go fronmhouse to house in the village shouting" Masa dansa,ja ja,d' "Gnats and fleas,away, away." They get smiialldoles of rice,pulse and vegetables fromthe girls of the differenthouses. With these alms theyfinally go to somle open space outside the village basti,and thereboil the rice and cook thevegetables and pulse thus obtained,and enjoy a heartymeal. A furtherinstance of the magic of imitative repulsion is the following: When a baghott,or the mischievousghost of a personkilled by a tiger,is supposed to haunt its old home,a man belongingto a differentfamily is made to assumiethe shape of a tiger. He is providedwith a tail and his linmbsare painted to resemble the stripedappearance of an actual tiger. Thus disguised,he is made to walk on all fourslike a quadruped,and is led by two men with strings tied to his hands and legs. As he is thus led forward,the mdti goes on recitinghis mantrarnsancd miakesa show of chasingaway this sham tiger. While this counterfeittiger is being thus drivenaway, the b&qhontspirit is believed to take its flight. A minor instance of mimetic magic is the followinig:When an Oraon or a

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Ch6t-.A\T5tgptirPlateau. 347

M?iiindhas to pass througha village in wlhichsome epidemic is raging,he places on the road a twig of some thornyplant, and puts a piece of stone over it in order that the disease-spiritmay lie there similarlypressed down and unable to pursue him. The object of the thornmay also be to prick the feetof the spirit. A clearerinstance of mimeticmagic is what the Oraons call the neochaianarite. When a child is sick,and the sicknessis believed to have been caused by the " evil eye,"the motheror some other near relativeof the child takes up a fewiimustard seeds and threepeppers in her righthand, waves the hand roundthe head of the sick child,and then,in a broken bit of an -earthen-vessel,puts the nmustardseeds and peppers on the hearth. As the mustardseeds crackle over the fire,the woman exclaims." May the evil eye which has caused the harm burst like these mustard seeds! The last instance of mimetic magic that I shall referto is known as the _DanddKcttt or Bhelwd-phariceremony, observed particularlyby the Oraons at everyimportant agricultural operation and everyimportant socio-religious festival. An importantpart of the ceremonyis the splittingup the end of a bhelwatwig (Semicarpusanacardium) and the breakingup of an egg of a fowlinto two,so that the " teethand the mouth,"as the Oraons say, of the evil powersmay be deprived of theirvenom-that theirteeth may be broken as the egg has been broken and theirmouth may be rent asunderas the end of the bhelwttwig has been split. As an instanceof avoidance by threat,may be mentionedthe customby which the fatherof an Oraon bride puts a small iron spear with a handle made of the chdaplant, into the hands of his daughterbefore she startsfor her husband'sholuse. She carriesthe spear in her hands duringthe journeyto protectherself from evil spiritson the way. On reaching her husband's house, she inserts the spear into the roof of the house as a threat to such spiritsof her father'svillage as may have shadowed her. Here, agailn,we may probablytrace a survivalof the same customin the practiceof putting a knife (which is a sword in miniature),and a miniatureshield, into the hands of a Hindu bridegroomwhen he startsin marriage- processionfor his would-be father-in-law'splace, and of putting a knife into the hands of a Hindu bridewhen she is taken to her husband'shouse.

(4) Avoidance or Exorcismof Evil Powers with the Aid of BeneficentPowers. Of avoidance of evil powers throughthe help of beneficentpowers, I have alreadycited a fewinstances. Such are the use of the magic armletmade of iron hardenedthrough exposure duringa solar eclipse,and the cindersof logs of wood used in burninga corpse. Here is another typical instance. To avert mischief to his paddy crops throughthe evil eye or throughevil spirits,the Oraon cultivatorplants twigs of eitherthe bhelwc(Se)micarpms anacardiumz ) or thepial (Buchania latifolia) trees on each of his paddy fields on the morningof the Kaqwmfestival in the month of Bhado (August-September). To these twigs is fastened,enclosed in a leaf, a

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 348 SARATCHANDRA ROY.-Afagic and Witchcraftoni handful of rice-offeringmade at the Bhelwa-phdricerenmony. In son-e villages a handful of such rice is buried in one of the fields. This rice is evidently intendedto give fertilityto the fields. The aid of the mnantramn,or the word of power,is also soughtto avoid nmischief through evil powers. Thus, when an Oraon starts on a journey,he sometimes takes a little dust in the palm of his hand,pronounces over it a mantrarncalled the bandhni,blows with his mouth over this dust,and finallyscatters the dust all round his body. This is believed to protecthim against the evil eye of sorcerers and witchesand the evil attentionsof mzischievousspirits. Again, when an Oraon is afraidof the evil designs againsthimself of some witch or sorcerer,he fortifies his house not by any bulwark of earth or stone,but by the bdndhnim,antramn in the same way. But in these transitiontimes, it is not many Oraons and Mundds who know these qmarntramsor can use themproperly. When the attelmptat avoidance fails,and evil powers actually cautseharm to an Oraon or a Mutnda,he seeks the aid of some beneficentpower to remedythe harm and to deliverhim fromthe power of the spiritthat has caused the harm. We have already seen instancesof water,fire, and the sacrificialblood being employedas means of lustration. Amuletsare extensivelyused as a protection against evil powers. Thus, a small perforatedstone, called rdti-jara,is worn on the neck to cure feverbrought on by the evil eye of some witch or sorcerer. Before it is worni,its virtues are sometimesaugmented by placing it for a few minuteson the groundand puttingmolasses and burning-charcoal over it. The aid of the mantram,or wordof power,is invokednot only to forestallbut also to exorcise evil powers. In cases of such sickness as feverand rheumatism, the indti,or spirit-doctor,takes a peacock's featheror a broommade of the sohorai grass,and withthis featheror broommakes gentle passes over the patient'slimbs and goes on recitinghis mantrams. These mantramsare generallyin the dialect known as Gawar1 or Chotd-NdgptiriHindi; but some of them are in a jargon made up of Gawdr! and Orion words. They may be described as a curious combinationof suggestion,abjuration, coaxing, and threat. These mantramsreveal in the clearest light the Chotd-Ndaptiraboriginal's idea of a spirit. We shall describe brieflyhow exorcismis performedin the case of a female patient whose children all died very young-of course, under the evil influenceof some mischievousspirit. The processof exorcism in such a case consistsof several distinct stages. The firststage is known as stmtirdnad,or the invocationof helpfulspirits to expel the evil spirit concerned. Every good spirit, indigenous or foreign,that the mdti can thinkof-even spiritsof various places and of powerfulancient kings and sorcerers-are summonedto his aid. Among such names one findsthe Hindui-god, Mahadeo; the Hindu epic-heroes,Ram and Lachman, the " KTlikata Kali-mai," or the famous goddess of Kalighat (near Calcutta), " Dhantarguru "-apparently the Chota-Nagpudri'sname forDhannantari; the fatherof Hindu medicine,Basia tanr Raj-aapparently some ancestorof the Maharaja of Ch6ta-Nagpudr;and Peroa-Gha-g-a waterfall in the Ranchi district.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Chotc-NdypirPlateau. 349

The next stage after stumirtndis the rijhdnd or rasanda-,or tickling the spirit. Song aftersong is sung,in chorusby the irnti and his disciples in accomipaniment to music,to tickle the spiritinto self-revelation. This goes on forhours, until the spirit,being thoroughlypleased with the singers,manifests its presence in the patient by inaking her shake her head. When the woman thus begins to shake her head, the mrti declares that the spirit is now well pleased and is expressing its joy by dancing. Then the mattiinquires, " What is thy name ?" The patient, or rather the spirit throughthe mouth of the patient, says, "I am so-and-so. I require such and such sacrifices." Then she is asked, "Where will the singhi go ? " The answer may be, " To so-and-sowho set me on this woman at such and such a place." The next stage in this process of exorcismis known as rasn',-uthrnd,the exorcism proper. By singing strings of long-windedmantrams of a suggestive nature the spirit is conductedfrom the hair of the patient to his face,from the face to the neck,from the neck to the shoulders,from the shouldersto the armpits, fromthe armpits along the elbows and wtist down to the palms of the hand,and thenceout throughthe nails into the earthbelow. Lest any portionof the spirit- substancemay be left behind in otherparts of the patient'sbody, the same process is repeatedin anotherdirection, namely, from the head down into the collar-bone and thence through the ribs into the waist,and thence along the legs into the heels, thence along the toes and toe-nailsiiito the earthagain. The fourthstage is known as the singdr-saparnd,or gettinghold of the spirit. Again songs are suno,in which temptingpromises of sacrificesare made to the spirit,which is thus induced to enterthe flame of the nidti's lamp. The next, ceremonyis the bandhni,or confiningthe spirit. The mdtinow intentlyexamines the flameof his lamp to make sure that the spirit is there; and then,with a knowing look, as if to say " So, here you are," bringsan oiled wick into contact with the flameof his magic lamp. The new wick thus lighted is quicklyput into a new singhiwhich is at once closed up with an iron stopper. It is believed that the spiritpasses into the flameof the wick,and is thus imprisonedalong with the wick in the singhi. Some mud is then plastered over the stopperof the sitnghito make escape impossiblefor the spirit. The mdti and his disciples now go to the limits of an adjoiningvillage with the necessarysacrifices, and therea little blood of the fowlor animnalsacrificed is dropped on the singhi,which is then carried at dead of night to the house or a fieldof the personwho had instigated the spirits and there it is buried. The M-Yndasand Oraons believe that witchesand mdtis performtheir magic featswith the help of some powerfulspirits with which they have enteredinto compactand alliance. Such familiarspirits of the magicianand the witchare called their sCdhakcbhitts. And the control,exercised is really not, that of the magician over the evil spirit harming a client but of one powerful bh&t-namely,the magician's sadhak bhiut-over another. As the witch and the ntdtiexercise their art for their own benefitand for harmingothers, they are believedto die invariablya miserable death. The mtti's sJtdhalc,or familiar,is an.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 350 Magic andt Witchcrafton the Ch5ta NatgptarPlateca. evil spiritwhich he holds under control; as soon as this spirit gets out of hand it bringsruin on the mndtihimself. Whereas thepahd1n, or village-priest,the director of beneficentpublic magic,is respected and looked up to as the natural leader of the village,the sorcererand witch are shunned and looked down upon as enemies of humanity. Here we see the tribal conscienceof even such backwardtribes as the MuYndasand the Oraons of Ch6td-Nagp-dr,recognizing the immoralityof anti- social privatemagic. And the brutal persecutionof a suspectedor declaredwitch, of whichwe now and again hear rueful stories in Chota-Nagpur,however much we may condemnit, is due not to any perversityof nature but to a lamentable ignorance of the causes of phenomena,and to a laudable desire to punish the ailti-socialmischief-maker. At present,as we have seen, the Chota-Ndgp-draboriginal's conception of the universe is that of a battle-fieldwhere a ceaseless,though often silent, struggle is going on between himselfand the powersof Evil, where he has to ally himself with the powersof Good to contend successfullyagainst the powersof Evil, and wherethe evil powers are farmore numerous,though not indeed more powerful, than the good ones. The primecare of everyOraon or Muindais, as we have seen, how to avert,control, or conciliate these evil powers,not forany spiritual benefit to himself-in the sense in which the man of higherculture understands spiritual benefit-but forsecuring the only treasures he cares for-his crops and his cattle and his own health and that of his own wife and children-from everypossible harm. In this view of the matter,the man of the lowerculture may appear to be grosslymaterialistic, and his spirituality,to whichI referredat the outset,may seem to consistonly in Ihis theoreticalrecognition of the soul as the real man,his belief in the miysteriouspower of thoughts,words, and desires,and his haunting sense of the presenceof spiritualforces emanatinig from various beings and objects on earth,water, and sky,aiid of a spirit-worldsurrounding him on all sides. But we should rememberthat to him everything,including even his crops and his cattle,are centresof spiritualenergy-tlhat the Oraon and the Mu1ndabelieve that it is really the soul of the rice that gives them nutriment,and that,in theireyes, theircattle representthe cattle-deityto whomsacrifices are regularlyoffered once in the year. Thus we see that the man of the lower culture does not lose his essentialspirituality even in pursuing his materialisticdesires. Tholughmaterial welfarepleases himi,and poverty,want, and disease distresshim, as theyrespectively please and distresshis more civilizedfellow-men, his seriousthoughts rest on other things. As we have seen, the serious thoughts-the hopes and fears-of the ChUtd-Nagpfiraboriginal, centre round the invisible presences and powers that fill all space. And his magical rites--his religious practices-his ceremonial observancesas to periodicalfasting, abstinence, and purificatoryablutions-aild the special semi-religioustraining which an Oraon youno man has to undergo in the secretsociety of the Dhitm1ciriCt(now graduallyfalling into disuse) are all meant to augmeilthis own soul-powerthrough alliance with beneficentpowers.

This content downloaded from 92.63.101.107 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:53:50 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions