?SI Major -General Sir J. Malcolm on the Bhills. 



which are kept by the priests and minstrels of the Rajputs, of every tribe of 

 Central India, to gratify the pride, and regulate the marriages, of the prin- 

 cipal families. 



. The language of the Bhills, of the Vindhya range, and those of Nemar, 

 differs, in no material degree, from that of the peasantry of the country ; but 

 from their being uneducated, and living (with the exception of the village 

 Bhills, who are described in the Memoir of Central India) amid wilds and 

 mountains, they speak a very rude dialect. The usages of this race merit 

 particular notice. The following account * of the ceremonies at the births, 

 marriages, and funerals, of the tribes on the banks of the Nermada, is be- 

 lieved to be accurate. 



Ceremonies at the Birth of a Child. 



When a Bhill child is born, it is bathed in warm water, and a name is 

 immediately given it, by the women who have acted as midwives on the 

 occasion. On the fifth day after the delivery, a great rejoicing takes place, 

 among the members of the family, and their relations. During the day, the 

 child and its mother are bathed in warm water ; and in the evening, all the 

 relations assemble. V\ heat, flour, arrack (distilled from the Mahuai tree), 

 some red lead, a mixtiu'e called lainhu, turmeric, and cocoa-nuts, are pre- 

 viously prepared. The ceremony commences by the mother of the child 

 plaistering a part of the floor, immediately outside of the threshold of the 

 hut, with cow-dung and turmeric, on which she places five small pebbles, 

 corresponding with tiie number of days, since the infant has been born, 

 and to these pebbles she performs piyd, or worship, by sprinkling them 

 with red lead, kiinlu, and grain, and breaking a cocoa-nut in pieces. She 

 next places some of that fruit near the five pebbles, on which a libation of 

 arrack is poured. After this, a repast of bread and cakes is prepared, of 

 which all partake ; and the night is passed in carousing and rejoicing. 

 During this festivity, the sexes do not intermingle, but remain separate ; 

 the men smoking and drinking, in one place, and the women singing, 

 beating the d'hul (a small drum), and drinking, in another, till morning ends 

 the merriment of the fifth day.;]; 



* I am indebted for this account to Capt. R. Shears (the officer who had the superintendance 

 of these tribes), 

 f Bassia latifolia. 



J This account of the woman joining in the ceremony, at so early a period after her continc- 



aienf, 



