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

Overview

A quail hunter watches a woman summon Ramjit beside an ebony stump near a stream. The bonga knows that someone is watching and initially refuses to appear. Pressed by her repeated calls, he emerges from the watercourse, dark, enormous and shaggy. She asks him to bring about her sick nephew’s death on a specified day and to deflect the witch-finder’s blame onto someone else. He eventually gives a quiet promise and disappears.

The hunter later reports the meeting when the nephew worsens. Villagers torture the woman into confessing and naming others; the nephew recovers after several days, and she is compelled to serve as their healer. These are the source’s narrated accusations and coercive aftermath, not independently verified spirit activity or reliable proof supplied by a forced confession. Her address to Ramjit as brother-in-law does not establish a biological genealogy, and the tale does not say he takes human or tiger form.

Enormous shaggy stream spirit involved in a narrated death compactSpecific historical narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Santal Parganas, eastern India; source-specific Santali storytelling

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale directly read, including violent accusation aftermath; collection provenance retained.

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

    CLXXXIII, Ramjit Bonga, pp. 438–440

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 VI, historical witchcraft narratives. CLXXXIII, Ramjit Bonga, pp. 438–440

Full narrative and ending directly read; exact named bonga appearance and actions retained. Violent accusations and forced confession explicitly distinguished from independently verified facts.

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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), CLXXXIII, Ramjit Bonga, pp. 438–440Research 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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