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

Overview

Bompas’s account places a bonga headman in a banyan beside the Badi river at Sarjomghutu, near Barhait Bazar. Villagers bring a stool, invite the invisible headman to sit and discuss decisions, themselves voicing the answers attributed to him. The spirit is also said to lend plates and dishes for gatherings, which borrowers clean and return beneath the tree.

This is a historically localized account of public communal relations with a spirit, not a claim that every Santal village uses the same institution. The passage also makes an unsupported allegation of human sacrifice; that allegation is not adopted as established practice or used to characterize the community.

Invisible village authority associated with a banyan treeSpecific Santal narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Santal Parganas, eastern India; source-specific Santali storytelling

02

Records & interpretation

Complete Part IV tales CXLVIII–CLIX and preface directly read; exact relevant sections identified.

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

    CXLIX, The Bonga Headman, pp. 379–380

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. CXLIX, The Bonga Headman, pp. 379–380

Relevant tales completely read along with Part IV introduction and full preface. Bodding/Murmu/Bompas mediation explicitly retained; original Santali manuscripts not independently inspected. Narrative supernatural claims distinguished from independently verified history or medicine.

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), CXLIX, The Bonga Headman, pp. 379–380Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

FT·1469 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑