Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/110

 96 of the birds has been considered prophetic. The crow is supposed to be a hing-chā-bi or witch (hing, alive, cha, to eat),—and therefore it knows the future, and, being frightened, foretells it. I suppose the bird which flies first is the most timid, and therefore the most likely to tell the truth. Gharib Nawaz also instituted the shooting at Rāvan, and combined it with the earlier festival, which is said to have taken place at about the same time as the Durga Puja. Gharib Nawaz also had an image of Ramchandra made, and placed it near to a large tank which he caused to be dug and consecrated, in the same year as he revised the Kwak Jatra. Some years back this tank was cleared out, and in the middle were found the images of Krishna and Kali the submersion of which is described in the Chronicle. It is interesting to note that Kali, who, it may be presumed, represented the sculptor's ideal female, was given the huge earrings which are worn now only by the hill tribes of Manipur, but, I infer, at that time were in common use by the Manipuri ladies of the highest degree.

The Manipur story of how Rāvan came to have ten heads is as follows. My Hindu friends say that it is new to them. Bissha Sharba, afterwards father of Rāvan, deserted his wife Nikasha, and joined certain saints in a forest. After nine months a hostile influence made itself manifest, and the saints informed Bissha Sharba that his wife, resenting his prolonged absence, was by charms interfering with their devotions, and they directed him to return home. On arrival at his house, Nikasha protested against his nine months' desertion. On the advice of the saints, Bissha Sharba gave a certain drink to Nikasha which had the effect of nullifying the spell she had thrown over them. Before returning to the forest Bissha Sharba stayed some time with his wife, and in due time Rāvan was born with ten heads, of which one was much bigger than the others.

By the time of Gharib Nawaz, Khui had come to be looked on as an arch fiend, and, therefore, to a convert to Hinduism, it would seem very appropriate to make a festival to commemorate his defeat, and also to commemorate the defeat of Rāvan.

Author:John Shakespear