1894] Mitra, S. C.—N(oth Indian Fulh-lore about Thieves and Jiohher.^. 103 



jokes. Motliex''s brothers wife is i-egardcd as a superior in Bengal, but 

 sbe is not so regai^ded in Behar. 



To beat witli a broken cooking- vessel is regarded as a great insult 

 in Beliar and if the vessel be covered with soot it is doubly insulting. 



The Behari women, when they meet after a long time, give vent to 

 their feelings in loud lamentation and take each other in their arms. 



The Beharls greet their friends by saying "RiimRam." Tlie Hanu- 

 man, is regarded in Behar as a sacred animal, and is never molested 

 though it often commits mischief. 



They think that they get looseness of the bowels when these are 

 displaced, and the best remedy for looseness among them is rubbing the 

 abdominal parts. 



Behari women are foud of wearing brass ornaments. They often 

 have to invoke the assistance of ironsmiths to fit these on their person. 

 People suffering from severe illness often take a vow of measuring the 

 whole distance from their home to a sacred place with their person 

 and often raise a standard in honor of the Monkey-god. 



2. North Indian Folk-lore about Thieves and Robbers. — By Babu 

 Sakat Chandra Mitra, M.A., B.L. Comnmnicated by Pandit Hara- 



PRASAD SaSTRI, M.A. 



(Abstract.) 



The Thieves and Robbers in India are said to be under the special 

 protection of a female deity, who is known under various designations : 

 as Kdlt, in Bengal; BevI or Mdtd in Hindustan; and Bhavdiu among 

 the Thugs. The images of this goddess in the immediate neighl)our- 

 hood of Calcutta, namely, that at Kalighat and that at Chitpore, used to he 

 greatly honored by Dacoits before the English became the rulers of 

 Bengal. There are many protectresses of robbers known all over 

 Bengal as Dal-dte Kail; at Manasa Devi, near Kalka, a fair is still held in 

 honor of a robbers' deity though the fair has at present changed its 

 character very materially. The Bengal collection of proverbs are full 

 of allusions to thieves, dacoits. No fewer than fifteen have been given 

 in the paper. There was a curious way in which the tliieves used to 

 get the instruments of house-breaking made by the blacksmiths. They 

 used to go, secretly at dead of night, to the blacksmith's shop and 

 deposit a piece of iron and a few pice by way of wages, and, the next 

 night at that very hour they used to get the instrument deposited thci^e. 

 There is a proverb in Bengal that the thief and the blacksmith never 

 meet and yet the instrument for housebreaking is at work. 



Remarks : — In the Mriceha katika, the god Kartika, the General of 

 the Gods, is x^egarded as the patron of thieves and the originator of the 



