The origin of the Shantal

Patua painting on paper narrating the narrating the myth of origin of the Shantal: "In the beginning, with blessings of Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra, the crab, the turtle, the snake and the fish went to Hades to collect soil. At that time, three cows were produced by Mother Earth. The cows were Ayen gai, Rayen gai, and Kapila gai./ From their saliva two birds came. From the eggs of the birds two humans were born, a man and a woman - Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Buri. / They had seven boys. Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Buri abandoned the seven sons and they went to the forest where they had seven daughters. / The boys grew-up, surviving on fruits and roots in the forest. They found seven girls in another forest where they had gone to hunt. They didn't know that these were their own sisters, so they exchanged sacred threads and got married. / Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Buri died from drinking too much haria. When they died, the sons thought that they must have sinned. Then one of the brothers, Jacob, became a scroll painter and painted eyes for his mother and tulsi leaves for his father."