56 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



often colored red to represent blood, and pour it before the image. 

 Offerings are then made, the chief one being a chicken. The head 

 goes to the headsman, and those who make the offering take the 

 body for the feast later in the day. 



It may be ten o'clock or later before all the houses have been 

 thus visited. The image is then taken to the grove and placed 

 in the booth. No fire is to be lighted in the village all day long. 

 It is said that the spirit of Kanaka Durgamma will again go 

 through the village, and seeing it deserted, will think that all the 

 people are dead and so will be glad to leave. 



The exercises in the grove are much like a great picnic. The 

 offerings of the morning are cooked, and a feast is prepared. 

 Each woman brings a double handful of food, and placing incense 

 on it, offers it to the goddess. After the feasting the votive offer- 

 ings are brought, fowls, sheep, goats, and buffalos.* Later there 

 is the procession of carts. There is nothing unduly terrifying in 

 the sacrifices, and there is no Sakti worship. The buffalo sacrifice 

 with the legs placed in the mouth is not made, as a usual thing. 



As the day declines the people come one by one before Kanaka 

 Durgamma and bow in worship. They then return quietly to 

 the village. A small procession now takes the image to the 

 boundary and leaves it there, after further sacrifices. By this 

 time it will be dark, and the procession is made with torches. At 

 the boundary these are suddenly extinguished, and the bearers slip 

 hurriedly away in order that she may not follow them.^ 



In Nalgonda in the Deccan, Kanaka Durgamma is not an inter- 

 loper, but is the village goddess. Her image and temple are per- 

 manent, and she is not left on the boundary. In this particular 

 instance a Brahman is pujari, but at the time the bloody sacrifices 



* At a festival for Kanakama Durgamma in Ramapatnam, Dec. 2, 1912, 

 only one sheep was offered in the grove, and no other animals. 



5 It is evident that the image is not regarded as sacred after the day of 

 worship, for it is not difficult to secure after being left on the boundary. 

 I found one and took it to America in 1909. For a small present I secured 

 the one worshiped at Ramapatnam, Dec. 2, 1912, and have it now in my 

 possession. Mr. Stait also secured an unusually fine one in connection with 

 the worship which he reports. 



56 



