FOLKLORE OF ORISSA
By JOHN BEAMES, B.C.S., M.R.A.S., & c., BALASORE
Owing to the isolation in which their country sense, that these scraps of folk-lore are
has remained for so many ages, the worth recording at all.
peasantry of Orissa has retained old world Witches abound in Orissa and are
ideas and fancies to a greater extent than any called danani,( Sanskr. )
other Aryan people of India. They are shy of a word in use in all the Aryans languages of
imparting these ideas to strangers, and a India. They have the power of leaving their
man might live among them for years bodies and going about invisibly, but if you
without finding out the singular views and can get a flower of the pan, or betel-leaf, and
original processes of reasoning on which put it in your right ear, you will be able to see
many of their habits are based. This shyness the witches, and talk to them with impunity.
arises, I suppose, from the gradual The pan, however, never flowers, or rather
infiltration of modern ideas. The men are the witches always cause the flower to be
beginning to be ashamed of these antiquated invisible, and so you are not likely to find it.
fancies, and though in their hearts believing This is like the English peasants belief in the
in them, would rather not talk about them, virtues of fern-seed.
and would prefer to pass for men of the Witches congregate under banian or
world, blasé indifferent free-thinkers to pipal trees (in Oriya the first is bor,
whom all ideas of religion are childish ,Skr, – the second oshoth, skr.) which
inventions fit only to be smiled at. The grow on the margin of a tank, and if you sit
women, however, are still bigotedly attached under such a tree in such a position at either
to the traditions of the past, and the ruder of the dawns, that is in the grey of morning
peasantries are in the same primitive stage or at evening twilight, you will come to grief,
of credulity. especially if the day be Saturday, when the
I do not propose to classify these influence of the planet Saturn prevails, or
strange superstitions, but merely to string Tuesday when that of Mars is strong. On
them together as I hear them, noting here those days the witches are most powerful,
and there curious parallelisms between them and you will be struck with sickness, or
and those of our own English peasantry. idiotey, or suffer loss of property.
Students of comparative mythology may A favourite pastime of witches is to
draw their own conclusions, but as I do not get inside the body of a person, who then
feel convinced that every one we read of in becomes insensible. In this case you must
ancient history represents the sun, nor that repeat the following very powerful mantro or
all heathen religions are “myths of the spell, and then ask the witch her name,
dawn”. I do not wish to complicate my which she will be obliged to tell you. You
simple remarks by plunging into the misty may then go to her house, where you will
regions of the early Aryans, or those of Baal, find her walking about as usual. After a
Bel, Belus and so forth. Human nonsense, severe beating she will be obliged to leave
like human sense, is very much the same the body of her victim, who will then
everywhere, and it is only because in ruling recover.
men one must take their nonsense into This is the mantro, but care must be
consideration quite as earnestly as their taken never to speak it except when a witch
has actually taken possession of a person,
because if you repeat the spell to any one, all Gharodrushti, bahar drushti, mata
sorts of terrible things will happen ; for this pitadrushti, hatua batua drushti, ehi angora
reason my informant wrote it out for me. It je kiehhi thao chharo ! chharo !
looks quite harmless, not to say meaningless, Na charu boli kahar agya
to the uninitiated eye. Bir Churangor koti agya.
Then blow three times between the
joined hands into the afflicted person’s
Mantra mouth and face.
Take a handful of dust, and while
reciting the following, drop it softly on the
crown of the head of the person afflicted. Translation
Bhaj nam keutoni ta puo nam
Mahabira. The keut woman’s name is Bhaj, her
Hate gheni kati buli nisa bhagorati. son’s name is Mahabira,
Mo jala paila asi jojan ghoti Holding a dagger in his hand he walks
Oila gunia basila mari at mid-night.
Swargoru dui angulo chhari My net when dipped extends eighty
Ki chahunlo kumaruni peti yojans.
Lakhye Sib hoile ubha The power of the trident of Mahadev
Mote chharo nobdowar rushes into my body.
Alo ! danani raktokhai
Churang Raja mor bhai The exorciser has come, he sits
Debi parsuni mor mai crouching
Swargorn aila dela pai Two fingers breadths from heaven.
Loho loho jihbabhayangkor murti What wouldst thou, hag of a potter’s
To dekhi Hara Parabati wife ?
Jeinki pesibe teinki jibu
Amukai angora bhuto thau, peto thau,
danani thau, chirkuni thau.
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Mantras must be written in red ink on Keutuni a female kent or
the leaves of the bhojpatra. fisherman’s wife. This is the vulgar
It is not to be expected that anything form of the Sanskrit Kaivartta.
like connected sense should be made Peto, and fem. Peti, are from
of this rhapsody : the translation is as Skr. Preta. Nobodwar-the nine doors,
literal as the corrupted and vulgar are the nine orifices of the body-eyes,
nature of the Oriya will permit. ears, mouth & c.
Churang Raja is the celebrated
king of Orissa, who founded the In the transliteration o stands for or
Gangabansi dynasti in A.D. 1131. He is short a, as the Oriyas pronounce it. This
supposed to have been the son of the San short a is only sounded as o in unaccented or
Ganga or little Ganges i.e. the Godavari final syllabus. In all other respects the
river, and was a celebrated magician in his mantra is transliterated on the usual
life-time. Jonesian system, but allowance must be
Chirkuni is a little witch who lurks under made for many vulgarisms which would not
bushes in lonely places, and bewitches the be found in classical Oriya. is the
cows as they come home in the evening. anuswara.
Glance, of course, refers to the evil eye, the
look by which the witch has done the
mischief.
Siva standing by beholds thee. Dakhin ehore, uttar bere
Leave me by the nice doors, That is –
O blood-sucking witch ! East goose, west bamboo,
Churang Raja is my brother, South left, north hedge.
Par’suni Debi is my mother ;
She has come from heaven planting Which may be thus interpreted :-- on
her foot. the east of the house there should be a tank,
With wagging tongue, of fearful (hans is a goose, and geese swim in tanks),
shape on the west a grove of bamboos, the south
Hara and Parbati look at thee, should be left open, and the north enclosed
Whenever they shall send thee, there with a hedge. A rationalizing pandit of
thou shalt go. Balasore thus expunds : There should be a
tank on the east side of the house so as to
In so-and-so’s (naming the person catch the morning sun, and make it
afflicted) body be there bhut, be there pet, comfortable while you sit and scrub your
be there witch, be there chirkuni ; glance teeth with a stick, and wash yourself, and
outside, father and mother’s glance, glance rinse your rice, and so on. There should be
at market or road ; in his body whatsoever a grove of bamboos on the west to shelter
there may be, Leave ! Leave ! the house from the hot afternoon sun, and
the terrible dust-storms which come from
I won’t leave, it says, whose order is that quarter. The south should be open to
it ? allow the delicious sea breeze to blow from
The myriad orders of Bir Churang. the south, as it does all the hot weather, and
the north should be fenced and planted with
In building a house you must be trees to keep off the nasty raw north wind
careful to begin with the southern wall and which comes in the tains and gives every
build north-wards, and it is very unlucky to one fever and rheumatism. This is
add to a house on the south side. If you are ingenious prevails in upper India, where
obliged to do so you must leave a cubit and there are no tanks, and where the
a quarter of clear space between the new conditions of wind and seasons are very
house and the old. different ; moreover, the rhyme is not in
Oriya, but something which looks like bad
There is a verse about this, Hindi of Bihar.
Pubo hans, pachim bans
You must take care never to call a Witches object to be disturbed when
man back when he is leaving the house, or in possession of a victim, and are apt to turn
the business on which he was going will on the exerciser and revenge themselves on
come to naught. His mother may call him him. To prevent this it is advisable to
back without harm. If you ask why his repeat the following mantra before uttering
mother has this privilege, you are tole it is that mentioned in the last number :--
because when Krishna was setting forth to
kill Kans, his mother jasoda called him Bajra kilani bajra dwar
back, and gave him some curds, and as he Chau kuli chau dwar
was successful on that occasion, as Dahane Dahanchandi bame
everybody knows, a mother’s recall has khoetrpal
been harmless ever since. Age Narsingho, pachhe ashto betal
You must not leave empty water-jars Mo ange parila mahamudra
about in the front of a house, or else any bajrakapat
one who sees them when starting on a Koti aila goti na chharibu !
journey will suffer some accident. Kahar agya ?
If you knock your head against the Kaunri Kamakhyar koti agya.
lintel of the door when going out, you must Thunder-bolt bar, thunder-
sit down for a time before going on. This bolt door
you might be inclined to do naturally, Four sides, four doors.
especially if you got a hard crack. On the right Dahanchandi, on the
If you are hit by the pankha used to left Balram,
fan the fire, you must spit thrice, because he In front Narsigh, behind eight
who is hit by the pankha dies within the demons.
year, unless he transfers the curse to the The great seal, the thunder door, has
earth by spitting three times. fallen ! on my body,
In the same way, if you hit yourself if amyriad orders of Kaunri
on the foot with the chanchuni, a broom Kamakhya.
made of palm leaves, while you are
sweeping the house, you must break off a I do not attempt to make sense of all
piece of the leaf, chew, and spit it out. this rubbish. It is sufficient to observe that
When a man sneezes, his male there are human beings who believe in its
friends ought to say “Bhagwan rakhya efficacy.
karuntu,” i.e. “May God preserve you !” but Kaunri Kamakhya, Dahanchandi and
women say “Jiu,” i.e. “live !” or “achmar some others are deities who specially
ho,” a phrase whose meaning is not certain, preside over incantations, and have power
in consequence of which it is more used over sprites, hobgoblins, demons and
than the other. witches. The first named is said to reside
The ceremonies and precautions in Assam.
necessary to be observed by and towards The following rather diffuse mantra
ladies when in an interesting condition are is infallible as a cure for snake bites. It is
so numerous and complicated that they not quite such nonsense as the others :--
must be left for another article. I will
merely, in conclusion, observe that rice Rajani parbatre Surjyo jyoti,
when growing is also considered as a Kamal pushpa toil gole prabhu
pregnant woman, and the same ceremonies Dasaratha.
are observed with regard to it as in the case Kathau thoile Krushna Kadambari
of human females. mule,
Sudre sudre pad barhaila Jamunar His food tasted to him like poison.
jale. His history, I will tell, conqueror of
Jamuna jale thila ati nago maye the world !
murha, I tell thee O Lord of birds,
Bharat janila ; sankat kikat kili ; Rushing enter the Himalaya
Mailek toil bisho gola dwadasa mountain ;
anguli, In the mountain there was a pot of
Tebe na sulile prabhu chakradhar. nectar
Debtamane bicharo arambhile With swords and maces ten
Kahin achho ho ! Gorur aso ho ! thousand Kandarpas and Yakshas surround
bolile ; it
Ramyek dwipore Gorur charu thila Gorur spread his wings a little
Khaibar aharo taku lagila ki pita. He gave the nectar, the lord
Tahar charita kohibi jagjita Bhagwan arose.
Mu tote bolom ho ! khago pakhibar, Students bring in thy hand a gift to
Dhusai pasibu Himagiri parbatar ; the good guru.
Parbate thila amruto kundo goti I salute a myriad times Debi Bisti
Berhi khanda sabal lakhe kandarpo Maa.
jakhar thile.
Alpo kori Gorur dena bistarile ___________x_____________
Dela amruto, uthile prabhu
bhagwano. “Sankat, kikat, kili” are nonsense
Sadguru panoku sikhya kore ano words, which though they are just
Debi Bisti Maku koti koti namaskaro. translateable are stated to be here used in
some mystic sense.
Light of the sun on the mountain at
night, Gorur is the Oriya pronunciation of
The lord Dasaratha went holding a Garuda, Debi Bisti is another of the
lotus. goddesses who have power over demons.
Krishna put his sandals at the root of The short o is the equivalent of and is
the Kadambari tree, so pronounced in open unaccented
Slowly slowly he advanced his feet in syllables, through it sounds a in accented or
the Jamuna’s water. closed ones.
In the Jamuna’s water was a snake This spell for snakes is firmly
foolish with illusions, believed in, while it is being uttered the part
Bharata informed him ; Sankat- affected must be lightly rubbed by the hand
kikat-kili ; of the exorcist, and this is what is meant by
He bit holding him the poison went the expression “the exorcist swept many
twelve fingers deep, spells.” The continued belief in the efficacy
The exorciser swept many of this spell may be due to the fact that
incantations several of the Orissa snakes are not deadly,
Then the Lord chakradhar did not though their bite causes pain and swelling.
move. This is particularly the case with the grass-
The Gods began to consult snakes, as well as with the blue and yellow
Where art thou, ho ! Gorur come ho ! snake found on the sea-shore which is only
they said. really dangerous when in the water
Gorur was feeding in the Ramyak
Island
