THE ABORIGIjSTAL TRIBES. 179 



groundless. No such thing could take place, here at 

 any rate, except in public among a dense crowd ; and 

 neither here nor at any other of the many shrines that 

 I have visited have I either seen or heard of such a 

 practice. It is undoubted that the small sects who 

 worship the Sakti, or female power of Siva, do indulge 

 in such obscenity. Their unholy rites are not, however, 

 practised at the public shrines, but in the dark seclusion 

 of their secret meeting-places ; and their existence 1 

 believe is wholly unknown to the great majority even 

 of the ordinary followers of Siva. 



There is one object which will attract attention near 

 this shrine of Siva, and which will receive a remarkable 

 explanation. Projecting from the edge of a sheer and 

 lofty cliff above the sacred brook is hung a small white 

 flag. Innocent-looking enough it is ; but it marks a 

 spot where, " in the days that are forgotten," human 

 victims hurled themselves over the rock as sacrifices to 

 the bloody Kali and Kal-Bhairava, the consort and son 

 of Siva the Destroyer. The British Government, which 

 cannot be accused of timidity in forbidding so-called 

 religious customs which are contrary to humanity, has 

 long since put a stop to these bloody rites. For 

 centuries, however, they were a regular part of the show 

 at these annual pilgrimages, both here and at other 

 principal shrines of Siva. They are connected with the 

 worship of the terrible mythical developments of the 

 god above mentioned — forms which have, with some 

 probability, been conjectured to be aboriginal deities 

 imported into the Brahminical pantheon. 



Far to the west of Puchmurree, in the district of 

 Nimar, is a rocky island in the Narbada river called 

 Mandhatta, on which is situated the shrine of Siva called 



N 2 



