THE ABOEIGINAL TRIBES. isi 



selves over that rock.' Whoever thus devotes hims(.'lf 

 to Kill Bbairavii will receive forgiveness, even thouojh he 

 had killed a Brahman. Let the devotee make a figure of 

 the sun on a cloth ; and take two flags, a club, and a 

 chawar* in his hands, and proceed joyously with music 

 to the rock. Whoever shall bodily cast himself down 

 and die, will be married to a Gandharva. But if he fall 

 faintheartedly, his lot will be in hell. Whosoever turns 

 back again in terror, each step that he takes shall be 

 equivalent to the guilt of killing a Brahman ; but he 

 who boldly casts himself over, each step that he takes is 

 equal in merit to the performance of a sacrifice. Let no 

 Brahman cast himself from the rock. A devotee who has 

 broken his vows, a parricide, or one who has committed 

 incest, shall by thus sacrificing himself become sinless." 

 In 1822, a European ofilcer of our Government 

 witnessed the death of almost the last victim to Kdl 

 Bhairava at this shrine. The island then belonged to 

 a native State (Sindia), and our Government had not 

 then begun to interfere with such bloody rites. The 

 political ofiicer who wrote the account of it was there- 

 fore unable to prevent it by force. I came on the 

 description a few years ago in MS., hidden away among 

 many other forgotten papers in the Government record 

 room of the Nimar district. The concluding portion 

 may be interesting, as perhaps the only account on 

 record, by an eye-witness, of such an occurrence. After 

 narrating how he vainly urged every argument on the 

 youth to dissuade him from his design, the writer proceeds 

 to relate how he accompanied him nearly up to the fatal 

 rock. " I took care." he sa3^s, " to be present at an early 

 hour at the representation of Bhyroo (Bhairava), a rough 



* A yak's tail used for fanning, etc. 



