Читать книгу Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West - Rustom Pestonji Masani - Страница 7

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When owners of houses are asked to fill up their wells or to cover them, they generally apply for permission to provide a wire-gauze cover or a trap-door. In not a few of these cases the application is prompted either by a desire “to enable the spirits in the well to come out,” or by the fear “lest the spirits should bring disaster” if they were absolutely shut up.

Mr. Gamanlal F. Dalal, Solicitor, once wrote on behalf of a client, regarding his well in Khetwadi Main Road:—

“My client and his family believe that there is a saintly being in the well and they always personally see the angelic form of the said being moving in the compound at night and they always worship the said being in the well, and they have a bitter experience of filling the well or closing it up hermetically because in or about the year 1902 my client did actually fill up the well to its top but on the very night on which it was so filled up all the members of my client’s family fell dangerously ill and got a dream that unless the well was again re-opened and kept open to the sky, they would never recover. The very next day thereafter they had again to dig out the earth with which the well had been filled up and they only recovered when the well was completely opened to the sky.”

A Parsi gentleman, who owns a house on Falkland Road, was served with a notice to hermetically cover the well. He complied with the requisition. After about a month he went to Dr. K. B. Shroff, Special Officer, Malaria, complaining that he had lost his son and that he had himself been suffering from palpitation of the heart. This he attributed to the closing of the well.

Similarly, a Parsi lady in Wanka Moholla, Dhobi Talao, informed Dr. Shroff that since the closing of the well in her house her husband had been constantly getting ill. Likewise, a Parsi gentleman living in the same locality complained that he was struck with paralysis for having sealed his well hermetically.

These spirits are believed to influence not only the health and strength of their victims but also their fortunes. In Edwardes Theatre on Kalbadevi Road there was a well, which was filled in by its considerate owner of his own accord during the construction of the building. Subsequently, the owner went to the Malaria Officer and informed him that no Indian Theatrical Company would have his theatre as the proprietors had a sentimental objection pertaining to the well, and that it was believed that European Companies also did not make any profit, as the spirit in the well had been playing mischief. He therefore applied for permission to re-open the well, promising at the same time that he would cover it over again so as to let the spirit have “a free play in the water.” This request was granted and the work was carried out accordingly. “Recently I was informed,” says Dr. Shroff, “that the theatre was doing better.”

Sometimes the pent-up spirits are not so vindictive. Instead of ruining the owners of the wells in which they are shut up, they vent their ire by merely breaking open the barriers. A Parsi lady in Cowasji Patel Street, Fort, owned a large well about 25 to 30 feet in diameter. The Departmental deities ordered that the well should be covered over. After half the work of covering the well had been done, the concrete gave way. The lady went running to the Malaria Officer urging that that was the result of offending the presiding spirit of the well and imploring him to cancel the requisition.[4] The Malaria Officer, however, remained unmoved by the fear of rousing the ire of the water wraith and the dejected lady left his house greatly incensed and probably firmly convinced that the wrath of the spirit would soon be visited on that callous Officer. He is, however, still hale and hearty. What he did to appease the spirit or what amulet he wears to charm the water-goblins away, is not known. However, this much is certain, that he has not escaped the furious cannon-fire of all the well-worshippers in Bombay during the last four years.

Whatever may be the attitude of hardened scientists in this matter, there is no doubt that these well-spirits are everywhere held by the people in great reverence and awe. Whether one believes in their existence, or is inclined to be sceptical on that point, wells supposed to harbour spirits are scrupulously left undisturbed. Mr. Rustomji Byramji Jeejeebhoy, whose family is known both for munificence and culture, wrote in the following terms with regard to a well in Alice Building, Hornby Road:—

“There is a superstition connected with the well. It is well-known all over this part of the town that the well is said to be a sacred well and much sanctity is attached to it. Out of deference to this superstition, I had in designing Alice Building to so design it as to leave the well alone. To me personally the well is of no use, but those who believe in the superstition come and pray near the well and present offerings of flowers and cocoanuts to it.”

Not only owners of wells but also building contractors are averse to disturbing water-spirits. When the Parsi contractor who built the Alice Buildings had done work worth about Rs. 35,000, he was informed that it had been proposed that the well had better be filled up. He said he was prepared to give up the work and forego all his claims rather than lay irreverent hands on that sacred well.

Once you instal a natural object in the position of a deity, the idea that the deified power demands offerings and can be easily cajoled invariably follows, probably based on the conviction that every man has his price! Offerings to well-spirits are, therefore, believed to insure good luck and to avert calamities. One day a Parsi lady went to Dr. Shroff in great excitement and begged of him not to insist on the well of her house in Charni Road being closed. The well, she urged, was held in great reverence by people of all communities. Only the day previous, while she was driving in a carriage to the house to offer a cocoanut, sugar and flowers to the well, she narrowly escaped a serious accident, thanks to the protection offered by the well-spirit.

Two sisters owned a house in Dhunji Street near Pydhowni. They were served with a notice to cover the well of the house. One of the sisters went running to the Malaria Officer beseeching him to cancel the notice. She said that her invalid sister strongly believed in the efficacy of the worship of the well and never went to bed without worshipping it and offering it flowers. “My poor sister would simply go mad if she sees the well covered over,” she cried, and she would not leave Dr. Shroff’s office until that unchivalrous officer left her alone and slipped into another room.

Several wells are believed to harbour spirits possessing occult powers and faculties for giving omens. One such oracular well may be seen in Ghoga Street, Fort. The owner of the house, a Parsi, was allowed, in the first instance, to stock the well with fish so as to clear it of the malaria mosquitoes. This, however, failed to give satisfactory results and there was no alternative but to demand a covering. The owner on the other hand pleaded that the well had been held in great veneration by all classes of people and had so high a reputation for divination that many persons visited it at midnight to “enquire about their wishes.” “About eight to twelve ladies (of whom none should be a widow) stand surrounding the well at midnight and ask questions. If any good is going to happen, fire will be seen on the surface of the water.” The owner assured Dr. Shroff that he himself had been an eye-witness to these phenomena.

Indian folklore abounds in stories belonging to the same group. Neither are such stories unknown to the European folklorist. We shall notice in due course several oracular and wishing wells in India and other countries, but the ceremony described by the Parsi owner is purely local and typical. So far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no parallel for it in the literature of well-worship. Peculiar also is the hour fixed for the ceremony. Generally, visiting wells in the midnight or even midday is believed to bring disasters. It seems, however, from an account of a rite described by Miss Burne in Shropshire Folklore that anyone wishing to resort to St. Oswall’s Well at Oswestry had also to go to the well at midnight. The ceremony was of course different. It simply required that the votary had to take some water up in the hand and drink part of it, at the same time forming a wish in the mind, and to throw the rest of the water upon a particular stone at the back of the well. If he succeeded in throwing all the water left in his hand upon that stone without touching any other spot, his wish would be fulfilled.