MISCELLANEA.
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A Rain Ceremony from the Murshidâbâd District of Bengal.
By Sarat Chandra Mitra, M.A., B.L., Superintendent of Survey and Settlement, Hatwa, Sâran District, Bengal.
(An Abstract of the Paper read at Meeting of 15th February, 1898)
At a place called Rudraganj, in the district of Murshidâbâd, on the banks of the Mayurâkshi river, a holy man, named Râmeswar Brahmachâri, was in charge of two idols representing the deities Rudradeva and Kâlarudradeva.[1] The reputation of these deities was much increased by a marvellous cure of an attack of colic, which was effected through them on Diwân Ganga Govind Sinh, a noted personage in the history of Bengal in the time of Warren Hastings.
At his death, the custodian of the idols made them over to his disciple, Rudrakantha Sinh, and made him promise that they should be taken annually to his grave, worshipped and bathed in Ganges water and the five sacred products of the cow. This ceremony is performed yearly in the Bengal month of Chaitra (May). The idols are kept there for a day and night ; the rite is performed towards midnight, and offerings of rice, boiled with pulse, are presented. The devotees, many of whom belong to the Râjbansi or fisherman caste, tie ropes round their waists and, diving into the river, catch various kinds of fish, which they offer to the gods.[2] The fish are cooked by the Brâhman priests and laid before the idols in an unbroken plantain leaf. The leaf is then
- ↑ The Vedic storm-god.
- ↑ At Delphi, according to Hegesander (Athenæus, Deipnos., vii., p. 325), they offered a mullet to Artemis at the Artemisia, because it appeared to hunt and kill the sea-hare, and thus bore some resemblance to Artemis, the huntress. For Greek fish-totems, see Frazer, Totemism, p. 15.
