I 



40 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XIII. 



bachelors, remain inside their respective huts and observe the 

 profoundest silence. At about the middle of the night, when 

 all the earth and air are hushed in perfect silence, the young 

 Oraon bachelors gather together at the village-akhra and. 

 attiring themselves in nature's vestments [Note that this is a 

 nudity-spell meant to frighten away the spirit of the disease 

 from the village], arm themselves with cudgels. At a given 

 signal, the bachelors, in a state of perfect nuditv, give chase to 

 the village cowherd who is present there with a wooden cow- 

 bell hanging either from his neck or waist. While pursuing 

 the latter, they smash with their cudgels all the earthen vessels 

 eft m front of the huts of the village. They also belabour with 

 their cudgels whomsoever they may hear talking or making any ■ 

 sort of noise whatever. 1 [With the rest of the ceremony we are 

 not concerned, as it is outside the scope of this paper]. 



We have now finished our examination of the taboo against 

 speaking as it is observed in connection with various agricul- 

 tural ceremonies in Northern India. We should now try to 

 find out if any parallel to the aforementioned vow of silence 

 exists m European folklore. In our search for it we have been 

 successful, for we find that there is, at least, one European 

 practice in the performance whereof perfect silence Is main- 

 tained, namely, m the making of what is known as the dumb- 

 cake. Arabella Whimsey says in the Connoisseur, Xo. 56: " I 

 and my two sisters tried the dumb-cake together: von must 

 5m ™? mns * make *> *wo bake it, two break it| and the 



a word all the time) and then you will dream of the man you 



\Z% T 6 "?! I U i at I t0 ° k a Clean Shift " * nd *™> *> and 

 3 t P ni 6back ° f a Cbair; and ver y likelv my sweet- 

 heart would have come and turned it right again ; but I was 



Many similar practices prevail to this day »» 



fnlkwTvft ^T are numcr o«s instances, in European 



Sn i,m It b °t° agamst s l ,eaki "g being prescribed as a 

 can on? r kC V« H r° ° r heroine must f " lfil ^fore lie or she 

 fromttl 2 a i d ^ Ult task Set t0 him or ber. In a folktale 

 assS « Z Iand l 0f u Ru f n ; an old heathen king, who had am- 



Sledin n SS Tuf ° ] 'f We,S aml g° ld " ~I for his avarice, 

 hh Sp T? great 1 bla ? k d °g t™ keeping watch and ward over 

 a viSn ^ Can dlsenchan ted from his canine shape only 

 alone to hi ^^^repntationif shecan go, naked and 

 one o'cWk L K T *' J ° hn ' 8 N « ht h ^™ twelve and 



can bv stnris g w Ck US mUch 0f the hoarded wealth as she 

 can by sum.se without once looking behind her or speaking <> 



\£ l £>o 0r ~ U ° m ° f Chh ° ta Na ^ ur - By S.C.Roy. Ranchi : 191* 



pp. 2 



B-CS^T^Ts/.l." 6 ''ir ry ° f ,n '' ian Tm By H M " ■»*• **• • 



