THE SAL FORESTS. 377 



plains of Cliattisgdrh, furnishing them with abundant 

 and easy victims. The Byga has to proceed to the spot 

 where the death occurred — which is probably still fre- 

 quented by the tiger — with various articles, such as 

 fowls and rice, which are offered to the manes. A 

 pantomime of the tragedy is then enacted by the Byga, 

 who assumes the attitude of a tiger, springs on his prey, 

 and devours a mouthful of the blood-stained earth. 

 Eight days are allowed to pass ; and should the Byga 

 not, in the interval, be himself carried off by the tiger, 

 the spirit is held to be effectually laid, and the people 

 again resort to the jungle. The theory rests on the 

 superstition, prevalent throughout these hills, that the 

 ghost of the victim, unless charmed to rest, rides on the 

 head of the tiger, and incites him to further deeds of 

 blood, rendering him also secure from harm by his 

 preternatural watchfulness. To remove pestilence or 

 sickness, they have a pleasant notion that it must be 

 transferred to some one else ; and so they sweep their 

 villaiies, after the usual sacrifices, and cast the filth on 

 the highway or into the bounds of some other village. 



The real Byga medicine-man possesses the gift of 

 throwing himself into a trance, during which the afflatus 

 of the Deity is supposed to be vouchsafed to him, com- 

 municatinir the secrets of the future. 1 never saw the 

 performance myself, but persons who have affirm that it 

 is too severe in its physical symptoms to be mere acting ; 

 and there is sufficient evidence from other quarters to 

 prove that some persons can educate themselves into 

 the power of passing into such fits at will, to lead us to 

 credit the Byga at least with nothing worse than self- 

 deception in the matter. In religion the Bygas have 

 admitted a few of the Hindu deities of the destructive 

 type ; but their chief reverence is paid to the spirits of 



