Vol. I, No. 8.] . The People of Mungelt Tahsil,  . 197 
NE S23] 
of the mother is the Gorsi or roughly-made earthen pot in which 
are kept the slowly-burning cowdung cakes. The infant’s abdomen 
is first oiled and then the mother places one hand over the fire and 
the other over the child’s stomach, and thus with rapid movements 
ot the hands massages the. child with each hand alternately. 
Meantime she is singing some soothing lullaby. .This fomentation is 
intended to remove flatulence. But sometimes a much. severer 
process is adopted. The child is ‘said to be attacked with a 
complaint which is called Dhabha.. Iam unable to say whether this 
is merely a severe attack of flatulence or constipation or a specific 
disease. The stomach of the infant, it is said, becomes swollen and. 
hard. Ifit be amild attack of Dhabha, the abdomen is branded 
with the point of aniron sickle. The sickleis placed in the fire till 
it is red hot and the point is then applied to the stomach in eight 
or ten different places. Once when passing through a village at 
night I heard excrutiatmmg cries from a child ;.on inquiry I was 
casually informed that a child was suffering: from Dhabha and 
the parents were having it branded. If the disease assumes a 
severe form, what is called big Dhabha, then several double-pice are 
placed in the fire, they are then taken up with pinchers and applied 
to the surface of the abdomen leaving a burn the size of the face of a 
pice. I believe fully 99 per cent. of the natives of this Tehsil carry 
on their person the marks of this infantile branding. Some of them 
carry the marks for forty and fifty years. May we not ask if this 
practice of branding infants has not some connection with the 
widespread belief that changlings and witches are afraid of fire 
and also of iron. This belief may have originated the practice, 
which has continued because of the beneficial results due to counter 
irritation. Adults are also branded on the arms and legs in severe 
cases of rheumatism or in cases of sprains. 
80. Stone Heaps.—In certain parts of the Tehsil will be found 
a great pile of stones. A single heap of stones is called a Kuriha, 
from Kurhonia to heap. The people can tell nothing as to the origin 
of the practice, but they say it is considered fortunate to throw a 
stone on to the heap in passing and thus add to the accumulation of 
stones. In 2 Sam. xviii 17, with regard to the burial of Absolam, 
we read that he was thrown into a pit and they “‘ raised over him a 
very great heap of stones”’ (Revised Version). In Adam Clark’s 
commentary on the above passage I find the following remarks: 
“This was the method of burying heroes and even traitors .....The 
ancient cairns or heaps of stones in different parts of the world are 
of this kind.” In Col. Meadows Taylor’s novel Tara, a Maharatta 
Tale, 1 find the following passage descriptive of the country near 
Bijapore. “The heap of stones had been formed gradually by 
travellers who, coming from all sides, took up one from the path, 
and threw it with a prayer to the local divimty upon the pile. 
This had been done no doubt for centuries,” 
81. Ideas regarding Transmigration.—Some years ago I was 
quite intimate with a Satmani Chamar. He was fully eighty years 
of age. This man had many strange ideas, which, unfortunately, 
at that time I did not appreciate. With my present acquaintance 
