ABSTRACT
The Baha and Karam ceremonies at once bring into motion various powerful forces. They ensure the continuing good wishes of the major bongas and tap the luck associated with the Karam tree. They provide, in fact, a fertilising background in terms of which each husband and wife must make their efforts. If a boy is permanently incapable, there are various prescriptions for effecting a cure. If medicines are tried but to no effect, the woman goes to an ojha who divines whether bongas are ‘blocking the way’. If in spite of medicines and offerings, a child still fails to come, the couple conclude that the Bidhi Bidhanta have willed it otherwise. Not every Santal however cares to risk a co-wife and a much more common remedy is adoption.
