A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A farmer annually sacrifices a pig to the bonga at his rich rice field, yet the spirit also takes part of the crop. Overhearing the bonga leave on a visit despite his wife’s warning that harvest is imminent, the farmer promptly makes the customary offering and cuts all the rice. His yield rises from twenty to sixty bushels. The returning bonga is scolded by his wife, who says childcare prevented her harvesting while he was away. This particular story depicts a spirit household with competing needs and imperfect foresight; it does not provide a uniform rule for Santal ritual practice or a common bodily form for boundary bongas.

Field-edge spirit household outwitted by timely reapingSpecific Santal narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Santal Parganas, eastern India; source-specific Santali storytelling

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant tale directly read with existing collection preface and narrator-chain record.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Folklore of the Santal Parganas

    Cecil Henry Bompas, translator; O. Bodding, collector; Sagram Murmu, principal Santali writer credited in preface · 1909

    CLVIII, The Boundary Bonga, pp. 395–396

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (1909)

Part IV, bonga narratives. CLVIII, The Boundary Bonga, pp. 395–396

Entire relevant tale read in retained primary transcription, including ending. Santal religious category retained; narrator’s particular transformations and family relations distinguished from general beliefs, ritual prescriptions or inferred outcomes.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translation of collected narrativesBompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (1909), CLVIII, The Boundary Bonga, pp. 395–396Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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