188 The “ Kols’ of Chota-Nagpore. 
I have already observed that the Pahan or village priest is in all 
probability an Oraon institution. The Rajmahali have a similar 
functionary called ‘Demam,’ who foretells events, offers sacrifices, 
regulates feasts and exorcises devils. In the Ho and Moondah villages, 
all priestly functions may be performed by the head of the family, or, 
if the occasion be one in which the village generally is concerned, by 
any elder of the requisite knowledge and experience. ‘They worship 
the sun, “Singbonga,” as the supreme being, the creator, the preserver ; 
and a number of secondary gods, all invisible; material idol worship 
they have none. The paganism of the Ho and Moondah in all 
essential features is shamanistic. 
The Oraons, in addition to the Pahan whose business it is to offer 
sacrifices for the benefit of the community, have recourse to a person 
called “‘Ojha” whom they consult regarding the proper spirit to be 
invoked and the nature of the sacrifice that is required of them, and 
whose functions appear to me to bear a strong resemblance to those 
of the medicine man of the African tribes. The Craons have wooden 
images or stones to represent the village and domestic spirits that they 
worship. ‘Thus a carved post in the centre of their dancing arena - 
represents the tutelary deity of the village, ‘‘ Daroo;” and they have 
objects of some kind to represent their domestic gods, penates. 
They never build a house, or select a new site for a village or even 
a new threshing-floor, without consulting the ojha and omens. When 
a new house is ready for the reception of its owners, an ojha is called, 
and he takes earth from the hearth and charcoal, and mixing them 
together, marks on the floor a magic circle. In the centre of this 
he places an egg, and on the egg a split twig of the Bel tree. The 
ege is then roasted and eaten by the people who are to occupy 
the house. ‘This is followed by a great feast and dancing—a regular 
house-warming—on the top of the house an image of a fish is hung 
to avert the evil eye. These peculiarities in the paganism of the 
Oraon, and only practised by Moondahs who live in the same village 
with them, appear to me to savour thoroughly of feticism: before 
affirming this positively, it would be advisable to examine more 
minutely the customs of the Rajmahal hill tribes; but the elephant 
gods, depicted by W. Sherwill as seen in their villages, are very fetish 
im appearance.* 
* Vide Journal, Asiatic Society Bengal, No. VII. 1851, page 553. 
