120 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



tlie morning to his day's labour, by a simple prostration, 

 or perhaps by the ofiering of a handful of rice or an onion ! 

 More elaborate acts of worship are engaged in by the com- 

 munity at certain seasons, and then these primitive powers 

 may be joined with the more personal deities derived from 

 their neighbours in the general act of worship. 



In the next stage the tribes have added certain Fetishes 

 to the list of powers. The principal of these is an iron 

 spear-head called Pharsa Pen, and he is supported by the 

 Bell god, the Chain god, a god composed of some copper 

 money hung up in a pot, shapeless stones, and many other 

 objects, the power attributed to which is purely arbitrary, 

 and unconnected with any natural agency. To this stage 

 appears to belong the medicine man and dealer in witchcraft, 

 who still possesses considerable power among the tribes. 

 These medicine men can scarcely be called priests, and are 

 not an hereditary caste. Their business is to exorcise evil 

 spirits, to interpret the wishes of the fetish, to compel rain, 

 and so on. Some of them seem to have acquired the power 

 of throwing themselves into a sort of trance in which they 

 are visited by the deity ; but in this respect they are far behind 

 the sorcerers of the Byga race further to the east, who will 

 be subsequently alluded to. 



In a stiU more advanced stage, the Gonds have resorted 

 to hero worship ; but it is curious that all the deified heroes 

 they reverence are of purely Hindu derivation. The chief 

 are Bhima, one of the five Pandii brethren, who is repre- 

 sented by his mythical club either in stone or wood ; Hardyal, 

 a Rajput hero of much later date ; Dulha Deo, the apotheosis 

 of a bridegroom, and many others. 



Lastly come the recognised divinities of the Hindu pan- 

 theon. Amongst a race whose blessings are few and hard- 

 ships many it is not surprising that the malevolent members 

 of the Huidii pantheon should have found more acceptance 

 than the benevolent deities. Vishnu is scarcely recognised 

 by them, except in his one terrible development of Narsingha 

 or the Man-Tiger ; while Siva the Destroyer, with his formid- 

 able consort Kali, and son Bhairava, are the favourite objects 

 of reverence among the more advanced of the tribes. These 

 are represented by rude idols, Siva himself in his usual Phallic 



