July 28. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



59 



SHUBSHADUN : HASLAM S SERPENT AND CROSS. 



The following Hindoo rite, practised in Bengal, 

 is strikingly typical or prophetic of Christianity, 

 according to the view taken by Mr. Haslam of 

 heathen mythes. 



When a Hindoo, of higher caste than the 

 Chahrdl and Kolu castes, wishes to be absolved 

 from his sins through the power of the goddess 

 Kali^ he can attain his wish by undergoing the 

 following trial : 



He must first procure the body of a man of the 

 Chanral or Kolu caste, who died a violent death, 

 -on a Tuesday (Mongulbar), or a Saturday (^Sun- 

 Tiehar). The head must be secretly cut from the 

 body, and buried where three roads meet. For 

 three successive nights a light (pruddip) must be 

 burnt on the ground by the grave ; on the fourth 

 day the head is to be exhumed, and the teeth ex- 

 tracted, and a rosary (mdhdshunkher mala) made 

 of the teeth and preserved. At the first oppor- 

 tunity, another body of a man of the low castes 

 above mentioned, who died a violent death on a 

 Saturday or Tuesday, being the fourteenth or 

 fifteenth of the moon's decrease, or dark side, must 

 be procured ; and at midnight of the same day the 

 corpse taken to a Hindoo burning-ground and laid 

 on its back, with the arms and legs extended. 

 Five pegs are then driven into the ground, one 

 at the head, to which the hair must be fastened, 

 and one at each wrist and ankle, to which the four 

 extremities are to be attached. The penitent, 

 provided with a small quantity of any of the fol- 

 lowing alcoholic liquors, sits upon the breast of 

 the body. The liquors are gauri (a kind of rum), 

 madhee * (extracted from honey), and poistee f 

 {distilled from grain). In this position, and 

 wearing his rosary of teeth, the penitent begins to 

 repeat a muntroo (incantation or prayer). Pre- 

 sently the body acquires motion, and struggles, 

 gnashes its teeth, and attempts to bite him. The 

 intoxicating spirit should then be gradually 

 poured into the mouth of the corpse, and will sub- 

 due it. When this is effected, the penitent must 

 shut his eyes and go on with the muntroo, fixing 

 Lis mind all the while on the goddess Kali. Then, 

 by the will of Kali, will he see a vision of fierce 

 things, such as tigers and serpents, coming to 

 bite him, and flames of fire on all sides threatening 

 to consume him. 



If the penitent undergoes this without fear, and 

 with faith in Kali, then, at the last watch or dawn 

 of day, Kalee will appear to him, and say : " My 

 child, I am pleased with you ; take the boon that 

 you ask." He says, "Mother, I would go to 

 heaven." During the performance of this cere- 

 mony the spiritual guide (gooroo) of the penitent 



* Note the similarity of this word to mead. 

 t Quer}', can whiskey be derived from this ? 

 No. 300.] 



stays at a distance, and comforts and encourages 

 his disciple, saying "Ma bhai" (No fear). It 

 this ceremony be faithfully performed, the penitent 

 disciple and his teacher are both pardoned, and 

 their eternal happiness secured. This rite is 

 taught in the Tantra. G. Oc. Wrat. 



Calcutta. 



PUBLIC RECORDS OF IRELAND. 



In some of the earlier numbers of " N. & Q.," 

 mention is made of the existence of many of the 

 public records of Ireland, which, in some way or 

 another, had travelled from Dublin to the borders 

 of the Lake of Constance, in Switzerland. By 

 purchase, 1 became the possessor of those docu- 

 ments. It appears, however, by a letter which I 

 have recently received from Switzerland, that a 

 farther quantity of records is there still to be found; 

 and I subjoin a copy of the list of these documents, 

 which has been sent to me in the hope that some 

 effort will be made to restore them to their proper 

 place of deposit, or at least to place them in some 

 public record repository in either England or 

 Ireland : 



" JBrevis notitia de quibusdam pergamenis quondam 

 Dubline asservatis. 



Folia. 

 I. Placitarum Regis Anglie nomine actarum pier, 

 apud Waterford a fre Rogero Outlaw, priore 

 hospitalis S. Jobs vices agente Joh' Darcy le 

 Cousin Justiciarij Hibernie regesta in folils - 6 

 Similiter placitarum apud Dublin habitarum 

 circa annum 1345, in fronte ligata in calce 

 defecta exempligratia ' Anno regni nostri 

 (Edwardi III. regis xviii, die 10 April),' ita 

 fasciculus -------11 



Similiter non ligata folia ejusdem autoris et 



aetatis, prioribus prius adherentia - - 16 



Fragmenta Seculi xiv etiam placitarum regesta 

 apud Dublin continentia - - - - II 



II. Rotuli N. 17. E. 13. notati Escheator' s Accounts 

 de Edwardi III. temporibus quorum unum 

 perlongum -------3 



Eotuli fragmenta de provente regal, seculi 

 forse xvii in foliis dolendo modo laceratis - 5 

 III. Actarum recentiorum seculorum Angliam spec- 



tantium, No. ------ 4 



5S 

 N.B. Mandata regia pleraque in placitis notata sunt 

 alieque res ad historiam Anglie non spernende sunt et 

 quedam cartarum bene conservate et non difiiciles lectori, 

 minor pars autem igne, aque et muribus vulnerate." 



On one of the last-mentioned more recent 

 parchments there is written on the outside — 



* " Settlement of Maurice Power's Estate on William 

 Burke's marriage with his daughter (1687), deed of Con- 

 veyance." 



There are signatures and a seal attached to this 

 MS. 



"■ Another one is superscribed " Fitzsimmons 

 and Shaw : Mr. Shenan for the def*." Date 1799. 



