The Kunbis perform a peculiar rite for checking the fall of rain
- Date of account
- Published 1915
- Source
- Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan
- Reference
- Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan · selected passage 7
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-25
Record summary
The Kunbis perform a peculiar rite for checking the fall of rain
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyThe Kunbis perform a peculiar rite for checking the fall of rain. They ask a person born in the months of Jyeshtha, Ashádh, Shrávan or Bhádrapad to fetch some rain-water in an alu leaf, and this is fastened to the eaves of thatched houses by means of a string. Note that, if this rite is to be performed in the month of Jyeshtha, a person born in that month only is required and no other; and so forth. [217] In order to check an excessive fall of rain the villagers sometimes ask a boy to take off his clothes and then to catch rainwater in the leaves of the alu plant. The leaves containing the water are then tied to the eaves of the house. [218] The people say that during the rule of the Peshwás there was a class of mantris who had the power of causing a failure of rain. [219] To check the fall of rain, some people ask naked boys to throw burning coals into the rain water.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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