142 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



either seen or heard of such, a practice. It is undoubted 

 that the small sects who worship of Sakti, or female power 

 of Siva, do indulge in such obscenity. Their unholy rites 

 are not, however, practised at the public shrines, but in 

 the dark seclusion of their secret meeting-places; and 

 their existence I believe is wholly unknown to the great 

 majority even of the ordinary followers of Siva. 



There is one object which wiU attract attention near 

 this shrine of Siva, and which will receive a remarkable 

 explanation. Projecting from the edge of a sheer and 

 lofty chff above the sacred brook is hung a small white 

 flag. Innocent-looking enough it is ; but it marks a spot 

 where, " in the days that are forgotten," human victims 

 hurled themselves over the rock as sacrifices to the bloody 

 Kali and Kal-Bhairava, the consort and son of Siva the 

 Destroyer. The British Government, which cannot be 

 accused of timidity in forbidding so-called rehgious customs 

 which are contrary to humanity, has long since put a stop 

 to these bloody rites. For centuries, however, they were 

 a regular part of the show at these annual pilgrimages, 

 both here and at other principal shrines of Siva. They 

 are connected with the worship of the terrible mythical 

 developments of the god above mentioned — ^forms which 

 have, with some probability, been conjectured to be 

 aboriginal deities imported into the Brahminical pantheon. 



Far to the west of Puchmurree, in the district of Nimar, 

 is a rocky island in the Narbada river called Mandhatta, 

 on which is situated the shrine of Siva called Omkar — 

 one of the oldest and most famous in all India. Like that 

 at Puchmurree, it is situated among rugged hills and 

 jungles; but it has evidently at one time been the seat 

 of a great centre of Sivite worship. Ancient fortifications 

 surmount its scarps ; and the area of nearly two square 

 miles enclosed is piled up with the ruins of a thousand 

 gorgeous temples. The most ancient of the temples at 

 which worship is still paid are held by aboriginal Bheels 

 as their custodians, and the more recent by a Bhilala 

 family, who admit their remote derivation from the former. 

 A legend is here current, and based on writings of some 

 antiquity, that Kali and Kal-Bhairava were here wor- 



