Note 56 — D

Various tattoo devices, borne by the Dōmbs examined by Mr. Fawcett, are figured and described by him. “These patterns,” he writes, “were said to be, one and all, purely ornamental, and not in any way connected with totems, or tribal emblems.” Risley, however,56 regards “four out of the twelve designs as pretty closely related to the religion and mythology of the tribe; two are totems and two have reference to the traditional avocations. Nos. 11 and 12 represent a classical scene in Dōm folk-lore, the story of King Haris-Chandra, who was so generous that he gave all he had to the poor and sold himself to a Dōm at Benares, who employed him to watch his cremation ground at night. While he was thus engaged, his wife, who had also been sold for charitable purposes, came to burn the body of her son. She had no money to pay her fees, and Haris-Chandra, not knowing her in the darkness, turned her away. Fortunately the sun rose; mutual recognition followed; the victims of promiscuous largesse were at once remarried, and Vishnu intervened to restore the son to life. Tatu No. 11 shows Haris-Chandra watching the burning-ground by moonlight; the wavy line is the Ganges; the dots are the trees on the other side; the strokes on either side of the king are the logs of wood, which he is guarding. In No. 12 we see the sun rising, its first ray marked with a sort of fork, and the meeting of the king and queen.”