18 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XIII, 



supposed to take its seat. This form of the ceremony is per- 

 formed by the Canarese people of Mysore. Whenever small-pox, 

 cholera, or cattle- murrain breaks out in a grama or nad (village), 

 the inhabitants thereof set about to appease the wrath of the 

 village-goddess Mari-Amma. With this view, they collect con- 

 tributions of pigs, fowls, rice, cocoanuts, bread and plantains 

 from the different householders of the afflicted village, and 

 deposit the same at the Mandu. Thence they are carried in 

 procession with the beating of tom-toms. There is one basket 

 with some rice in it. As soon as it is taken to a particular 

 house, the members thereof bring out a little rice in the hand, 

 wave it round the head, and then throw it into the basket in 

 the belief that the disease-spirit will depart with the rice. 

 Last of all, the offerings are placed on the outermost boundary 

 of the village; the animals are sacrificed and their blood is 

 spilt over a stone ; the basket with the rice is left there; and 

 the remainder of the provisions is consumed by the persons 

 composing the procession. The people of the adjoining villages 

 repeat the same ritual; and thus the disease-spirit, which is 

 causing the epidemic, is supposed to be expelled from the 

 country. On occasions of still greater calamities, a flock of 

 sheep is driven from village {nad) to village {nad) and, at last, 

 banished from the country under the belief that the disease- 

 spirit is also expelled with the sheep. 1 



Then we come across an analogue wherein both the ' chariot 

 of the goddess'' and the basket, in which the disease-spirit is 

 supposed to be seated, have been done away with. This 

 variant of the ceremony is current in Northern India and that 

 among a people in a low plane of culture, viz. the Oraons of 

 Chota Nagpur. Whenever cattle-murrain breaks out among 

 them, the bachelors of this aboriginal people perform a ceremony 

 the object of which is to expel from the village the spirit which 

 is causing the disease. As soon as a date is fixed for its per- 

 formance, the village-kotwar informs all the villagers of it. 

 On the evening of the day so fixed, all the families in the village 

 leave one or more old earthen vessels in front of their huts. 

 After their evening meal has been partaken of, all the house- 

 holders, with the exception of the bachelors, shut themselves 

 up within their huts and maintain strict silence. [This is an 

 instance of the secrecy and tabu against speaking, which are 

 the characteristic features of many of the rural ceremonies of 

 Northern India.] At the dead of night, when the village is 

 hushed in profound silence, the young bachelors gather to- 

 gether at the village-aMra, denude themselves completely of 

 every stitch of clothing they have on, and take up, each of 

 them, a cudgel in his hands. The cowherd of the village is 



1 Vide The Madras Government Museum Bu in (Vol. V., So. 3) 

 Madras: 1907. p. 159. 



