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 192 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [July, 1873. house, for detecting a thief, for summoning the gods, for enchanting a person, for closing the mouths of snakes and dogs, and for curing snake¬ bite. The meaning is always obscure, and in many cases quite unintelligible, but some of them seem to have more connection than others and admit of translation. They are written in the worst possible Bengali, with numerous pro¬ vincial words, so that the task of translating them has been by no means an easy one. I have given rough translations of two as spe¬ cimens. The first seems to have been used to drive away evil spirits, and is as follows.— Listen, M e r i, my mother ! attend on my meditation whilst I play my play. I salute black Kali with her tawny locks ; From time to time my mother assumes divers dresses. Listen, Merit Ac. I salute the Dakini of the Dak quarter ; the Mechini of the Mech quarter; I salute the Bhutani of the Bhutia quarter; the Kochini of the Koch quarter. Listen, M e r i! Ac. Thy father rode on an ass, thy mother on a she-ass. You cannot bear the sound of the name of Brahma. Listen, M e r i! Ac. The Dakini repeats the name of Brahma, calling Brahma! Brahma! The old Rakshasas say, Gosain, forbear to repeat the name of Brahma. Listen, Meri! Ac. You cannot bear the influence of the name of Brahma. By repeating the name of Brahma, the great name, I moved the heavens. The seats of the gods moved in heaven. Listen, Meri! Ac. From the race of Brahma you are sprung; with Brahma you live. Leave heaven and come down, goddess : appear in the sky. Listen, Meri! Ac. Where do you linger, goddess ? In what are you entangled ? Cut the fastening, cut the knot, and come quickly. Listen, Meri! Ac. The name of Brahma is pure, his body is a cypher. Brahmachari, club-bearing! come run¬ ning swiftly. Come, Brahmachari! three times in my medi¬ tation I have called thee, praying with reve¬ rence. With my dread invocation I have shaken and moved the circle of the heavens. Come ! I have called many times. Make no answer but break thy doors, goddess, and come. I cannot doubt that the “ Meri” invoked in this mantra is our “ Mary”—the allusion to riding on an ass seems to prove it satisfactorily. I presume the name must have been picked up from some Roman Catholic Missionary.* It is carious to note how the mountain tribes the Meoh, Kochh, and Bhutiyas are regarded as a species of evil spirit and put in the same cate¬ gory with a Dakini. The word I have trans¬ lated “ pure ” is niranjan : it appears to mean here ‘ without colouring matter, ’ ‘ pure essence but I know of no parallel. The next mantra is one used by snake-charm¬ ers. It is supposed that when a person is suffer¬ ing from snake-bite it is necessary to discover what kind of snake has bitten him before he can be properly treated. The snake-charmers use a peculiar kind of cowrie for this purpose, called gdtiyd: it is distinguished from the com¬ mon kind by its wrinkled shell. This cowrie is supposed to move under the influence of the man¬ tra quoted below, and to go to the place where the snake is. The mantra is as follows .— The bird speaks, listening to the voice of his mate. He has flown away to the city of Kama- ksha (Kamrup). The bird, Ac. He has flown away to the southern city. The bird, Ac. He has flown away to the eastern city. The bird, Ac. He has flown away to the western city. Leaving all sadness, he mounts up to heaven. When he reached heaven he drank poison; When he had drunk six chittdks of poison, Tumbling, falling, he falls on the ground; Falling on the ground he flutters ; He returns to the city whence he came. Like a golden doll he rolls in the dust; He walks on foot but cannot go forward; He walks with his hands but cannot move ; He makes lamentation and beats his fore¬ head ;
 * But conf. /nd. Ant. ante, p. 169, and the Maru-devi of the Jaina.—Ed.