a9 
Kharrias under the name Bero, and every head of a family is. 
bound to offer to him five sacrifices in a lifetime, each oblation 
exceeding in value the last one. The Hos and Santals call 
the sun-god Sing Bonga. He is represented as being self- 
created and the author of the universe. He does not inflict 
suffering, but is sometimes invoked to remove it when appeals. 
to the inferior gods have proved ineffectual. The Hos 
observe a yearly festival in honour of him, at which a white 
cock and the first-fruits of the rice harvest are offered. 
Among the Santals, the head of the family, every third or 
fourth year, sacrifices a goat to Sing Bonga in an open space 
at sunrise. ‘I'he Mundas pray to him when selecting the site 
of a house. The Korwas worship him under the name 
Bhagavan, a Sanskrit word. The Muasis pay homage to 
both the sun and the moon. The Oraons reverence the sum 
as Dharmesh, the Holy One. They say that he created the 
world, and that he preserves men, unless thwarted by the 
malice of demons. No oblations are presented to him, since: 
his good-will is already secured. The Khonds are divided 
into two sects, if Major Macpherson’s statement can be 
trusted. One sect worship Bura Pennu, who manifests him- 
self in the sun, and is the creator and benefactor of man- 
kind. The other sect have chosen as their highest object of 
regard his wife, the bloodthirsty earth-goddess, Tari, who- 
demands a yearly offering of human victims. The Todas 
regard the heavenly bodies as gods, and address them in 
certain set phrases, but have no clear idea of their attributes 
or requirements. 
It seems plain, from the facts cited, that. most of the 
aboriginal tribes of India have some vague notion of a Power 
throned far above the world; who was concerned with its 
creation ; who manifests himself in the heavenly luminaries ;. 
whose disposition towards his creatures is benevolent, but is 
sometimes unable to reach its aim; and who demands from 
them only a distant and formal recognition, or none at all. 
Whether these are vanishing traces of a primitive revela- 
tion, or the result of their own reflections, or have been 
borrowed from the religion, particularly the Hari-worship, of 
the Hindus, we will not here inquire. It is, at any rate, 
certain that the contemplation of their highest god has little 
effect in regulating conduct. 
Another god of a similar character, but second in rank, is 
worshipped chiefly by the Kolarian tribes in Central India. 
This is Marang Buru, or Great Mountain. 
Remarkable peaks, bluffs, or rocks not unnaturally sug- 
gested to their simple minds an idea of Divinity, and called 
