150 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA. 



I believe the superior belief to be entirely derived 

 from the Hindus, with whom it is a prime article of 

 faith. 



None of these powers of nature are represented by 

 idols, nor have they any particular forms or ceremonies 

 of worship. They are merely localised by some vague 

 symbol ; the mountain god by a daub of vermilion on 

 some prominent rock ; the tree god by a pile of stones 

 thrown round the stem of a tree — and so on. At these 

 the simple savage pays his devotion, almost furtively, as 

 he passes in the gray of the morning to his day's labour, 

 by a simple prostration, or perhaps by the offering of a 

 handful of rice or an onion ! More elaborate acts of 

 worship are engaged in by the community at certain 

 seasons, and then these primitive powders may be joined 

 with the more personal deities derived from their 

 neighbours in the general act of worship. 



In the next stage the tribes have added certain 

 Fetishes to the list of powers. The principal of these is 

 an iron spear-head called Pharsa Pen, and he is sup- 

 ported by the Bell god, the Chain god, a god composed 

 of some copper money hung up in a pot, shapeless 

 stones, and many other objects, the power attributed to 

 which is purely arbitrary, and unconnected with any 

 natural agency. To this stage appears to belong the 

 medicine man and dealer in witchcraft, who still 

 possesses considerable power among the tribes. These 

 medicine men can scarcely be called priests, and are not 

 an hereditary caste. Their business is to exorcise evil 

 spirits, to interpret the wishes of the fetish, to compel 

 rain, and so on. Some of them seem to have acquired 

 the power of throwing themselves into a sort of trance 

 in which they are visited by the deity ; but in this 



