jhades

Updated: May 2, 2025

So he asked his aunts whether it was true that he had no father and they told him that the Jhades jogi had carried off his mother, and how his father and uncles had gone in pursuit and had never returned. So the boy decided to go in search of his mother and he set off, and first he met some goatherds and he sang to them: "Ho, Ho, goatherds Have you seen the Jhades Jogi On this road?"

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas

And then he came to a squirrel which was chattering in a banyan tree, and he sang: "Ho, ho, squirrel, Have you seen the Jhades jogi On this road?" And the squirrel said "I have been calling you since yesterday. The jogi brought your mother this way, go on and you will overtake them. And your father and uncles also came this road."

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas

But they could tell him nothing. And then he met some shepherd boys, and he sang to them: "Ho, Ho, shepherds, Have you seen the Jhades jogi On this road?" But they could tell him nothing. Then he met some boys tending buffaloes and he sang; "Ho, ho, buffalo herds, Have you seen the Jhades jogi On this road?" But they could tell him nothing.

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas

Then he went on and came to a river and he decided to sit and have his lunch there; he did not know that his father and uncles had been turned into stones in that very place, but as he sat and ate, his eyes were opened and he saw the stones weeping, and he recognised them, and he dropt a little food on each that they might eat, and pursued his way, until he came to the Jhades jogi's kingdom, and he went to the old woman who kept the Jogi's garden and asked to be allowed to stay with her and help her to make the garlands.

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas

They told him that she was in child-bed and could not come out. Then he said: "Go and tell her that the Jhades Jogi has come and wants her arm tassel." So she sent out her arm tassel to him and he put it in his bag and got up and went away. Thereupon the bonga girl arose and left her baby, and followed him, and never came back.

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas

Then they planned how they could kill the Jhades jogi and escape! The mother agreed to find out in what lay the life of the Jogi. So she questioned him and worried him till he told her that his life lay in a certain pumpkin vine.

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas

Then he came to a thorn bush, with a number of rags fluttering on it, and he sang: "Ho, ho, plum bush, Have you seen the Jhades jogi On this road?" And the plum tree said "The Jhades jogi brought your mother this way, and I did my best to stop them. If you don't believe me see the rags as a proof." And he put his hand on the tree and went on.

Cecil Henry Bompas - Folklore of the Santal Parganas