100 ON THE SANTHALS 



of their nakedness ; but this happiness was destroyed by 

 the evil spirit, Marang Burn. He announced himself us 

 their grandfather, and promised them still greater happi- 

 ness from the use of an intoxicating drink, which he taught 

 them to make. It is singular that, in this ancient tradition, 

 an intoxicating drink should be considered the root of all 

 evil to man, for all experience since has shown that it is a 

 principal one. By degrees they gave themselves and their 

 progeny up to this drink, and in their impurity the latter 

 sank to such a brutal condition that marriage was done 

 away with ; and when Thakur called them to account for 

 their sins, they so hardened themselves against his voice, 

 that he resolved to destroy the depraved race. There 

 came a rain of water or fire ^the tradition varies in this re- 

 spect), and all the race perished, except a single good 

 man and his wife, who were saved by Thakur's foresight, 

 with some animals, in a mountain cave (Harata). One 

 cannot fail to notice the resemblance here, both in name 

 and events, to the Mosaic Adam and Eve, the temptation 

 by the devil, the fall, the destruction of the race, and sur- 

 vival of a pair on Ararat ; but which tradition is the ante- 

 rior, it is not easy to decide. From these two survivors 

 sprang the present race of men. On the plain around 

 Harata, they dwelt and built for a time, but as their num- 

 bers multiplied they spread to the north and the south, 



.T' ' 



the east and .the west, and could not in their different 

 zones preserve the same language. The fathers of the San- 

 thai branch went to the east, and came after many years 

 to an insurmountable mountain, which prevented further 



. | ,;( j j: " . 



progress. Suffering from hunger, in their distress, they 

 called to the mighty spirit, who they thought dwelt in the 

 mountain, and was the cause of their misfortune. In the 



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morning the sun shone through a narrow pass, which they 

 had not discovered, so that they found their way out ; but 



