Add Or 3395

Two majestic figures with angular heads and skirts standing on either side of a slim female figure who is mounted on a stool. The figure to the left has a green face; the figure to the right a white one. Below them, a monkey seated on a string bed in front of a leafy tree behind which a small monkey crouches; the seated monkey addressing a large stork-like bird. At the bottom, a small human figure seated on a chair approached by a three-headed figure with four arms mounted on a goose.

Note: Although faintly based on the Puri Jagannatha trio, the three upper figures are claimed to represent from left to right, Maran Buru (the Great Mountain, chief protector of the Santals), Jaher Era (the Lady of the Grove, mother, sister or wife of the Five-Six) and Sin Cando (the Sun, frequently equated with the Creator, Thakur Jiu).

The monkey is said to be Harur bonga, and the stork-like bird Garur bonga - the former perhaps deriving from the Hindu monkey chief, Hanuman, the latter from Garuda, the bird vehicle of Visnu. Their encounter is reminiscent of the Santal Creation story (see Introduction to the printed catalogue, 18) in which Thakur Jiu orders the two birds, Has and Hasil (gander and goose), to settle on the primeval foam and hatch out the first Santal couple.

The small human figure in the bottom panel is identified as Indra Raja (one of the first Santal leaders). The three-headed figure on a bird, obviously modelled on the Hindu Creator Brahma, is termed Sengel bonga (the ‘fire’ or ‘flashing’ bonga) but is more probably intended to represent Moreko Turuiko (the Five-Six, one of the three major bongas celebrated at the festival), and as such, unlikely to have been omitted. For a discussion of Sengel bonga, see Introduction to the printed catalogue and Add.Or.3401-6, 3492-8.