144 THE HiaHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA 



(Sindia), and our Government had not then begun to 

 interfere with such bloody rites. The poHtical officer 

 who wrote the account of it was therefore unable to 

 prevent it by force. I came on the description a few 

 years ago in MS., hidden away among many other forgotten 

 papers in the Government record room of the Nimar 

 district. The concluding portion may be interesting, as 

 perhaps the only account on record, by an eye-witness, 

 of such an occurrence. After narrating how he vainly 

 urged every argument on the youth to dissuade him from 

 his design, the writer proceeds to relate how he accom- 

 panied him nearly up to the fatal rock. " I took care," 

 he says, "to be present at an early hour at the repre- 

 sentation of Bhyroo (Bhairava), a rough block of basalt 

 smeared with red paint, before which he must necessarily 

 present and prostrate himself, ere he mounted to the 

 lofty pinnacle whence to spring on the idol. Ere long 

 he arrived, preceded by rude music. He approached the 

 amorphous idol with a light foot, while a wild pleasure 

 marked his countenance. As soon as this subsided, and 

 repeatedly during the painful scene, I addressed myself 

 to him, in the most urgent possible manner, to recede 

 from his rash resolve, pledging myself to ensure him 

 protection and competence for Ms life. I had taken the 

 precaution to have a boat close at hand, which in five 

 minutes would have transported us beyond the sight of 

 the multitude. In vain I urged him. He now more 

 resolutely replied that it was beyond human power to 

 remove the sacrifice of the powerful Bhyroo; evincing 

 the most indomitable determination, and displaying so 

 great an infatuation as even to request me to save him 

 from the fell dagger of the priestess,^ should he safely 

 alight upon the idol. So deep-rooted a delusion could 

 only be surmounted by force ; and to exercise that I was 

 unauthorised. While confronted with the idol, his delu- 



^ The priestess here referred to was probably the Bheel custodian 

 of the shriae. There is nothing to prevent the hereditary custodian 

 from having been a female at that time; but priestesses, properly 

 speaking, have never existed in India. Her receipt of his collections 

 from the people also indicates this conclusion. 



