Story 252 - How Maraya was put in the Bottle

IN a certain country, a woman without a husband in marriage bore a son, it is said.

At that time the men living in the neighbourhood having come, asked the woman,

“Who is thy husband ?”

Then the woman replied,

“My husband is Maraya.”^[1]

Maraya having heard this word and being much pleased, thought,

“I must get this woman’s son into a successful state.”

Having thought thus, after some time had gone, speaking to the son Maraya said thus, that is to say,

“Become a Vedarala. I will give you one medicine only. Should I stay at the head side of any sick person, by giving the sick person the medicine the sick person will become well. Should I be at the feet side you cannot cure the sick person.”

After that, this son having gone from place to place and having applied medical treatment, became a very celebrated doctor.

One day when this Vedarala went to look at a sick person whom he very greatly liked, Maraya was at the feet part of the sick person. At that time the Vedarala having thought, " I must do a good work,” told them to completely turn round the bed and the sick person. Then the head side became the part where Maraya stayed. Well then, when he had given him the Vedarala’s medicine the sick person became well.

Maraya having become angry with the Vedarala concerning this matter, and having thought,

“I must kill him.”

Maraya sat on a chair of the Vedarala’s.

Because the Vedarala had a spell which enabled him to perform the matters that he thought [of doing],^[2] he [repeated it mentally and] thought,

“May it be as though Maraya is unable to rise from the chair.”

Having thought thus,

“Now then, kill me,”

the Vedarala said to Maraya.

Well then, because Maraya could not rise from the chair he told the Vedarala to release him from it.

Then the Vedarala said to Maraya,

“If, prior to killing me, you will give me time for three years I will release you,”

he said.

Maraya, being helpless,^[3] having given the Vedarala three years’ time went away.

After the three years were ended Maraya went to the Vedarala’s house. The Vedarala having become afraid, did a trick for this.

The Vedarala said to Maraya,

“Kill me, but before you kill me, having climbed^[4] up the coconut tree at this door you must pluck a young coconut to give me,”

he said.

After Maraya climbed up the coconut tree, having uttered the Vedarala’s spell the Vedarala thought,

“May Maraya be unable to descend from the tree.”

Well then, Maraya, ascertaining that he could not descend from the tree, told the Vedarala to release him. At that time the Vedarala, asking [and obtaining] from Maraya [a promise] that he should not kill him until still three years had gone, having released Maraya sent him away.

The three years having been ended, on the day when Maraya comes to the Vedarala’s house the Vedarala entered a room, and shutting the door remained [there]. But Maraya entered straightway (kelimma) inside the room.

Then the Vedarala asked,

“How did you come into a room the doors of which were closed ?”

Thereupon Maraya said,

“I came by the hole into which the key is put.”

The Vedarala then said, it is said,

“If I am to believe that matter, be pleased to creep inside this bottle,”

he said.

Well then, after Maraya crept into the bottle the Vedarala tightened the lid (mudiya) of the bottle, and having beaten it down put it away.

From that day, when going to apply medical treatment on all days having gone taking the bottle in which he put Maraya, he placed the bottle at the head side of the sick person; and having applied medical treatment cured the sick person. In this manner he got his livelihood.

Western Province.

 

Notes:

In The Indian Antiquary, vol. i, p. 345, in a Bengal story by Mr. G. H. Damant, a shepherd discriminates a demon from a man whose form he has taken,—living with his wife during the man’s absence,—by boring through a reed, and saying that the true person must be the one who could pass through it. As the demon was passing through it he stopped both ends of the reed with mud, and killed him.

In the South Indian Tales of Mariyada Raman (P. Ramachandra Rao), p. 43, a husband was returning home on an unlucky day (the ninth of the lunar fortnight), with his wife, who had been visiting her parents. When he left her on the path for a few moments, " Navami Purusha,” the deity who presided over the ninth day, made his appearance in the form of the husband and went away with the wife. The husband followed, and took the matter before Mariyada Raman. The judge got a very narrow-necked jug prepared, and declared that he would give her to the claimant who could enter and leave the jug without damaging it or himself. When the deity did it the judge made obeisance to him, and was informed that the man’s form had been taken by him to punish him for travelling on an unlucky day against the Purohita’s advice.

In Folk-Tales of Bengal (Day), p. 182, when a Brahmana returned home after some years’ absence he was turned away by a person of his own appearance, and the King could not decide the matter. A boy elected as King by others in their play offered to settle it, and producing a narrow-mouthed phial stated that the one who entered it should have judgment in his favour. When the ghost transformed himself into " a small creature like an insect ” and crept inside, the boy corked it up and ordered the Brahmana to throw it into the sea and repossess his. home. The first part resembles a story in the Kathako9a (Tawney), p. 41, the interloper being a deity in it.

In the well-known tale in the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. i, p. 33), the receptacle in which the Jinni was imprisoned was " a cucumber-shaped jar of yellow copper ” or brass, closed by a leaden cap stamped with the seal-ring of Solomon. In vol. iii, p. 54, and vol. iv, p. 32, other Ifrits were enclosed in similar jars made of brass, sealed with lead.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mara, the God of Death, or Death personified.

[2]:

Compare the Kala spell in No. 245 of this vol., and the notes, p. 342, vol. ii. and p. 70 in this vol.

[3]:

Baeri taena, in a position of inability [to do anything].

[4]:

Bada gala, that is, by clasping his arms round it and rubbing his body on it, as he “swarmed” up it.