ii8 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



head^ presents the theory of a totemistic origin of the present 

 sacrifices as one which will best explain the peculiar customs. He 

 says that this theory is only a hypothesis, but he feels that it is 

 the best hypothesis yet suggested. 



The argument for a totemistic origin is as follows. In the 

 primitive stage men wished to be brothers not only to the other 

 tribes, but also to the beasts, and often this was brought about by 

 an exchange of blood. In the Dra vidian sacrifices, especially the 

 buffalo sacrifice, the victim is often worshiped and garlanded. 

 There is a feast in the presence of the deity. The blood of the 

 sacrifice is often applied to the worshipers, their houses, and 

 cattle, and is sometimes mixed with rice and scattered on the 

 streets or boundaries. The entrails of the buffalo are placed 

 about the neck of a Madiga, and with the vitals in his mouth, he 

 goes to the boundaries. All this, it is thought, may be best ex- 

 plained, not by any gift theory of sacrifice, but as the remnants of 

 an original desire to come into close blood relations with the sac- 

 rifice itself. 



In the consideration of this question of totemism, an investiga- 

 tion of the meaning of the buffalo sacrifice will be useful. The 

 buffalo sacrifice in one of the most constant features of Dravidian 

 worship. Numbers of buffalos, sheep, goats, and chickens may 

 be offered, but there is but one offering to which the name of 

 devara potu, or " The Buffalo Sacrifice," is properly given. That 

 is the only buffalo which, in addition to being beheaded, has its 

 legs cut off and placed in its mouth and the fat from its abdomen 

 spread over its eyes. 



We are no doubt a long distance from having found any ex- 

 planation of the incident or custom from which this peculiar and 

 persistent rite has arisen. The legends concerning the buffalo 

 sacrifice will, however, give us some assistance in learning what 

 its fundamental ideas may have been. Some of these may now 

 be given. 



In former times there was a Brahman living in an agraharamu,^ 

 who had one daughter. One day a young man came, saying that 



1 Madras Government Museum, Bulletin, V, no. 3, pp. 179 sq. 



2 An agraharamu is a village set apart exclusively for Brahmans. 



118 



