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Gond
(a) Origin and History
10. He releases the Gonds shut up in the cave and constitutes the tribe

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Lingo then thought he had had enough of the four brothers, so he determined to go and find the other sixteen score Gonds who were imprisoned somewhere as the brothers had told him. The manner of his doing this may be told in Captain Forsyth’s version:51

And our Lingo redivivus

Wandered on across the mountains,

Wandered sadly through the forest

Till the darkening of the evening,

Wandered on until the night fell.

Screamed the panther in the forest,

Growled the bear upon the mountain,

And our Lingo then bethought him

Of their cannibal propensities.

Saw at hand the tree Niruda,

Clambered up into its branches.

Darkness fell upon the forest,

Bears their heads wagged, yelled the jackal

Kolyal, the King of Jackals.

Sounded loud their dreadful voices

In the forest-shade primeval.

Then the Jungle-Cock Gugotee,

Mull the Peacock, Kurs the Wild Deer,

Terror-stricken, screeched and shuddered,

In that forest-shade primeval.

But the moon arose at midnight,

Poured her flood of silver radiance,

Lighted all the forest arches,

Through their gloomy branches slanting;

Fell on Lingo, pondering deeply

On his sixteen scores of Koitūrs.

Then thought Lingo, I will ask her

For my sixteen scores of Koitūrs.

‘Tell me, O Moon!’ said Lingo,

‘Tell, O Brightener of the darkness!

Where my sixteen scores are hidden.’

But the Moon sailed onwards, upwards,

And her cold and glancing moonbeams

Said, ‘Your Gonds, I have not seen them.’

And the Stars came forth and twinkled

Twinkling eyes above the forest.

Lingo said, “O Stars that twinkle!

Eyes that look into the darkness,

Tell me where my sixteen scores are.”

But the cold Stars twinkling ever,

Said, ‘Your Gonds, we have not seen them.’

Broke the morning, the sky reddened,

Faded out the star of morning,

Rose the Sun above the forest,

Brilliant Sun, the Lord of morning,

And our Lingo quick descended,

Quickly ran he to the eastward,

Fell before the Lord of Morning,

Gave the Great Sun salutation—

‘Tell, O Sun!’ he said, ‘Discover

Where my sixteen scores of Gonds are.’

But the Lord of Day reply made—

“Hear, O Lingo, I a Pilgrim

Wander onwards, through four watches

Serving God, I have seen nothing

Of your sixteen scores of Koitūrs.”

Then our Lingo wandered onwards

Through the arches of the forest;

Wandered on until before him

Saw the grotto of a hermit,

Old and sage, the Black Kumāit,

He the very wise and knowing,

He the greatest of Magicians,

Born in days that are forgotten,

In the unremembered ages,

Salutation gave and asked him—

‘Tell, O Hermit! Great Kumāit!

Where my sixteen scores of Gonds are.

Then replied the Black Magician,

Spake disdainfully in this wise—

“Lingo, hear, your Gonds are asses

Eating cats, and mice, and bandicoots,

Eating pigs, and cows, and buffaloes;

Filthy wretches! wherefore ask me?

If you wish it I will tell you.

Our great Mahādeva caught them,

And has shut them up securely

In a cave within the bowels

Of his mountain Dewalgiri,

With a stone of sixteen cubits,

And his bulldog fierce Basmāsur;

Serve them right, too, I consider,

Filthy, casteless, stinking wretches!”

And the Hermit to his grotto

Back returned, and deeply pondered

On the days that are forgotten,

On the unremembered ages.

But our Lingo wandered onwards,

Fasting, praying, doing penance;

Laid him on a bed of prickles,

Thorns long and sharp and piercing.

Fasting lay he devotee-like,

Hand not lifting, foot not lifting,

Eye not opening, nothing seeing.

Twelve months long thus lay and fasted,

Till his flesh was dry and withered,

And the bones began to show through.

Then the great god Mahādeva

Felt his seat begin to tremble,

Felt his golden stool, all shaking

From the penance of our Lingo.

Felt, and wondered who on earth

This devotee was that was fasting

Till his golden stool was shaking.

Stepped he down from Dewalgiri,

Came and saw that bed of prickles

Where our Lingo lay unmoving.

Asked him what his little game was,

Why his golden stool was shaking.

Answered Lingo, “Mighty Ruler!

Nothing less will stop that shaking

Than my sixteen scores of Koitūrs

Rendered up all safe and hurtless

From your cave in Dewalgiri.”

Then the Great God, much disgusted,

Offered all he had to Lingo,

Offered kingdom, name, and riches,

Offered anything he wished for,

‘Only leave your stinking Koitūrs

Well shut up in Dewalgiri.’

But our Lingo all refusing

Would have nothing but his Koitūrs;

Gave a turn to run the thorns a

Little deeper in his midriff.

Winced the Great God: “Very well, then,

Take your Gonds—but first a favour.

By the shore of the Black Water

Lives a bird they call Black Bindo,

Much I wish to see his young ones,

Little Bindos from the sea-shore;

For an offering bring these Bindos,

Then your Gonds take from my mountain.”

Then our Lingo rose and wandered,

Wandered onwards through the forest,

Till he reached the sounding sea-shore,

Reached the brink of the Black Water,

Found the Bingo birds were absent

From their nest upon the sea-shore,

Absent hunting in the forest,

Hunting elephants prodigious,

Which they killed and took their brains out,

Cracked their skulls, and brought their brains to

Feed their callow little Bindos,

Wailing sadly by the sea-shore.

Seven times a fearful serpent,

Bhawarnāg the horrid serpent,

Serpent born in ocean’s caverns,

Coming forth from the Black Water,

Had devoured the little Bindos—

Broods of callow little Bindos

Wailing sadly by the sea-shore—

In the absence of their parents.

Eighth this brood was. Stood our Lingo,

Stood he pondering beside them—

“If I take these little wretches

In the absence of their parents

They will call me thief and robber.

No! I’ll wait till they come back here.”

Then he laid him down and slumbered

By the little wailing Bindos.

As he slept the dreadful serpent,

Rising, came from the Black Water,

Came to eat the callow Bindos,

In the absence of their parents.

Came he trunk-like from the waters,

Came with fearful jaws distended,

Huge and horrid, like a basket

For the winnowing of corn.

Rose a hood of vast dimensions

O’er his fierce and dreadful visage.

Shrieked the Bindos young and callow,

Gave a cry of lamentation;

Rose our Lingo; saw the monster;

Drew an arrow from his quiver,

Shot it swift into his stomach,

Sharp and cutting in the stomach,

Then another and another;

Cleft him into seven pieces,

Wriggled all the seven pieces,

Wriggled backward to the water.

But our Lingo, swift advancing,

Seized the headpiece in his arms,

Knocked the brains out on a boulder;

Laid it down beside the Bindos,

Callow, wailing, little Bindos.

On it laid him, like a pillow,

And began again to slumber.

Soon returned the parent Bindos

From their hunting in the forest;

Bringing brains and eyes of camels

And of elephants prodigious,

For their little callow Bindos

Wailing sadly by the sea-shore.

But the Bindos young and callow

Brains of camels would not swallow;

Said—“A pretty set of parents

You are truly! thus to leave us

Sadly wailing by the sea-shore

To be eaten by the serpent—

Bhawarnāg the dreadful serpent—

Came he up from the Black Water,

Came to eat us little Bindos,

When this very valiant Lingo

Shot an arrow in his stomach,

Cut him into seven pieces—

Give to Lingo brains of camels,

Eyes of elephants prodigious.”

Then the fond paternal Bindo

Saw the head-piece of the serpent

Under Lingo’s head a pillow,

And he said, ‘O valiant Lingo,

Ask whatever you may wish for.’

Then he asked the little Bindos

For an offering to the Great God,

And the fond paternal Bindo,

Much disgusted first refusing,

Soon consented; said he’d go too

With the fond maternal Bindo—

Take them all upon his shoulders,

And fly straight to Dewalgiri.

Then he spread his mighty pinions,

Took his Bindos up on one side

And our Lingo on the other.

Thus they soared away together

From the shores of the Black Water,

And the fond maternal Bindo,

O’er them hovering, spread an awning

With her broad and mighty pinions

O’er her offspring and our Lingo.

By the forests and the mountains

Six months’ journey was it thither

To the mountain Dewalgiri.

Half the day was scarcely over

Ere this convoy from the sea-shore

Lighted safe on Dewalgiri;

Touched the knocker to the gateway

Of the Great God, Mahādeva.

And the messenger Nārāyan

Answering, went and told his master—

“Lo, this very valiant Lingo!

Here he is with all the Bindos,

The Black Bindos from the sea-shore.”

Then the Great God, much disgusted,

Driven quite into a corner,

Took our Lingo to the cavern,

Sent Basmāsur to his kennel,

Held his nose, and moved away the

Mighty stone of sixteen cubits;

Called those sixteen scores of Gonds out

Made them over to their Lingo.

And they said, “O Father Lingo!

What a bad time we’ve had of it,

Not a thing to fill our bellies

In this horrid gloomy dungeon.”

But our Lingo gave them dinner,

Gave them rice and flour of millet,

And they went off to the river,

Had a drink, and cooked and ate it.


The next episode is taken from a slightly different local version:

And while they were cooking their food at the river a great flood came up, but all the Gonds crossed safely except the four gods, Tekām, Markām, Pusām and Telengām.52 These were delayed because they had cooked their food with ghī which they had looted from the Hindu deities. Then they stood on the bank and cried out,

O God of the crossing,

O Boundary God!

Should you be here,

Come take us across.


Hearing this, the tortoise and crocodile came up to them, and offered to take them across the river. So Markām and Tekām sat on the back of the crocodile and Pusām and Telengām on the back of the tortoise, and before starting the gods made the crocodile and tortoise swear that they would not eat or drown them in the sea. But when they got to the middle of the river the tortoise and crocodile began to sink, with the idea that they would drown the Gonds and feed their young with them. Then the Gonds cried out, and the Raigīdhni or vulture heard them. This bird appears to be the same as the Bindo, as it fed its young with elephants. The Raigīdhni flew to the Gonds and took them up on its back and flew ashore with them. And in its anger it picked out the tongue of the crocodile and crushed the neck of the tortoise. And this is why the crocodile is still tongueless and the tortoise has a broken neck, which is sometimes inside and sometimes outside its shell. Both animals also have the marks of string on their backs where the Gond gods tied their necks together when they were ferried across. Thus all the Gonds were happily reunited and Lingo took them into the forest, and they founded a town there, which grew and prospered. And Lingo divided all the Gonds into clans and made the oldest man a Pardhān or priest and founded the rule of exogamy. He also made the Gond gods, subsequently described,53 and worshipped them with offerings of a calf and liquor, and danced before them. He also prescribed the ceremonies of marriage which are still observed, and after all this was done Lingo went to the gods.


Gonds on a journey


51

This extract is reproduced by permission of the publishers, Messrs. Chapman & Hall, London.

52

Tekām the teak tree, Markām the mango tree, and Telengām the Telugu. These are the names of well-known exogamous septs.

53

See section on Religion.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 3

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