42 E. T. Atkinson — Religion in the Himalaya. [Feb., 



I trust this notice may be of use as a warning to intending pur- 

 chasers, although it may also prove a source of disappointment to those 

 who possess such specimens. I think it, however, my duty to make the 

 matter public through the Proceedings of this Society. 



The following paper was read — 

 Notes on the History of Religion in the Himalaya of the N. W. P. — 

 Bj E. T. Atkinson, B. A., B. C. S. 

 (Abstract.) 



The writer notices the flourishing state of Buddhism in the fifth and 

 seventh centuries, and that about the tenth century it appeared to cease 

 to be the faith of any considerable section of the Indian people. The 

 inquiry naturally arises how did Buddhism disappear, and what was its 

 nature and character at the time when it nominally ceased to be one of 

 the leading religious beliefs of India. The answer to this inquiry can- 

 not be found in the ordinary European works relating to the history of 

 religion in India. These are mainly compilations from local treatises 

 which, however valuable for the history of religion, have no share in 

 making or guiding the actual living beliefs of the masses. For this 

 reason a census of the temples in the tract between the Tons on the west 

 and the Sarda on the east in that portion of the Himalaya which lies 

 within the North- West Provinces was undertaken, with the result that 

 the popular religion comprised a curious blending of pre-Brahmanical, 

 Brahmanical and Buddhistic practices far removed from the ideal homo- 

 geneous Vaidik system popularly supposed to represent the Hinduism of 

 the present day. The object of this paper is to record these results, and, 

 for this purpose, the festivals usually observed in the Kumaon Himalaya 

 are first taken up and described, and then the domestic ritual in common 

 use. A second paper will take up the temples, the forms worshipped 

 therein and the history of these forms. 



The popular festivals in Kumaon are ruled either by the solar calen- 

 dar and Saka year or by the luni- solar and Vikramaditya year. The 

 general result shows that even at the present day the popular festivals 

 are by no means of Brahmanical origin. They are those held at the two 

 harvests, those in honour of the Nagas at the Jeth Dasahra and Naga- 

 panchami, the great S'aiva Sakti observances on the first nine days of 

 Chait and Asoj and the festivals in honor of Bhairava, Nagaraja and the 

 rural deities Ghantakarna, Govil, &c. The sacrifice of kids is a part of 

 almost all the ceremonies on these occasions, young male buffaloes are also 

 offered, and in former times human sacrifices were not uncommon at the 

 temples of the dark form of the consort of S'iva. All these facts mark 

 the non- Brahmanical origin of the existing form of worship. The Kha- 



