120 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XII, 



It will thus be seen that, in this game, there is a clear 

 mimicking of the worship of the demon with all its customary 

 accompaniments. But in the European games and the North 

 Indian one named Ankh Mundaul, which have been described 

 there is no such travesty of demon- worship. The main inci- 

 dent, on which these latter are based, is that one of the players 

 who is blind-folded and, therefore, called the " blind man "tries 

 to catch the rest of his playmates. It has been suggested that 

 the ^ blind man represents the masked demon of German chil- 

 dren s games who tries to catch the rest of the players, while the 

 latter try to evade being caught by him. It has been further 

 stated that the mask was unprovided with eye-holes either for the 

 purpose of rendering the catching more difficult or for averting 

 the evi eye of the demon during the imitation of his activi- 

 ties. All this is plausible enough. But the demon's attempi 

 to catch the rest of the players and the latter's evasion of his 

 efforts to seize them, cannot certainly be called relics of demon- 

 worship. We, therefore, think that Professor Singer-Bern's 

 theory as propounded in the German Folklore Journal to the 

 effect that many of the children's games, as played in Europe, 

 are survivals ot demon-worship, requires modification. We 

 would suggest that they, as also the Ankh Mundaul of Northern 

 »*.&£!« S ame V inbod y in g ^stiges of the demon-lore of 

 HrZiJp ' aF a9 T in ™ sti gations go, the Mundari 



tS^lST aP r arS . t0 *? the ° nly ^*e, hitherto known, 

 w hich embodies a travesty of demon- worship 



rh. ^L°- fferingS re 9 uired /or &* propitiation of the demon in 

 the Mundari game are a white hen, a black goat and a buffalo. 



ttnn^ T T? 36 r tS an 1 biFd ° f the colours s P eci fied requisi- 

 ablP 1 . * er J? g °u a wMte COck or hen i3 ™V ac cept- 



tribal nnW m T «° Q £* T™™ ° f the Holi f «*ival, the 



r t! l?v • °fi * ™ ? USadh9 and ^hangars-two menial 

 £ b fn I V S m th f S 8 * 6 ™ districts of the Unit « d Provinces- 

 in * ft- .1 Up f a u H der made of wooden sword-blades by plac- 

 Z g a!lt f ?l hl8 feet ° n the ed g es of the weapons. When 

 conk Jh 1 l he / Qm ^ lt thereof, he has to decapitate a white 



wMtP S 1S d °« th /u° p - lt haS been suggested that the 

 B it I ?h ww r l?^ by Way ° f Propitiating the Sun-god. 

 a nZr* f * hat this M not P IaU8ible ^ough, for had it been 



a h?5ln g ? SUn ' g ° dj the sacrifici ^ cock would have been 

 North™ ?' 5 ^. S from o^ survey of the ceremonial customs of 



offer^ 1 hf a ' We f aVe f ° fi Und that a black fowl is invariably 

 ±Ll"? }J Z! y ,„°A aacnfic ! t0 the benevolent deities. An 



instance 



ritual of the Mundas of 



Chhota Nagpar wiU bear out the "pta,^ , ^"ticn 



\ 



