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THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 169 



bell and the hum of a multitude of voices reached our ears, 

 as, surmountiDg the last shoulder of the hill, we entered the 

 narrow valley of the shrine. A long dim aisle, betwixt high 

 red sandstone cliffs, and canopied by tall mango trees, led 

 up to the cave. The roots of the great mangoes, of wild 

 plantains, and of the sacred Chumpun* were fixed in cracks 

 in the pavement of rock, worn smooth by the feet of the 

 pilgrims, and moist and slippery with the waters of the 

 stream that issues from the cave. 



The cave itself opens through a lofty natural arch in a 

 vertical sandstone cliff ; and for about three hundred feet runs 

 straight into the bowels of the hill. It is without doubt 

 natural ; and a considerable stream of clear cold water issues 

 from a cleft at its further end. Here is set up the little 

 conical stone (Lingam) which represents the God, and attracts 

 all these pilgrims once a year. No temple made with hands, 

 no graven image, nothing of the usual pomp and ceremony of 

 Brahminical worship, adorns this forest shrine. Outside on 

 a platform a Brahman sits chanting passages in praise of the 

 god, out of the local Sivite gospel (the Rewa Khanda) ; and a 

 little way off an old woman tolls the great bell at intervals. 

 But within there is no officiating priest, no one but a retainer 

 of the aboriginal Chief whose right it has been from time 

 immemorial to act as custodian of the shrine, and to receive 

 the offerings of the pilgrims. No pilgrim ever brings more up 

 the hill with him than he means to offer ; for he may take 

 back nothing his last rupee, and even the ornaments of 

 the women, must be left on the shrine of the god. Before 

 passing into the cave the pilgrim leaves with the Brahmans 

 outside (along with a sufficient douceur) his pair of small 

 earthen vessels for the receipt of holy water. These they 



* Michelia Champaca. 



