1876.] Bajendralala Mitra— On Human Sacrifices in Ancient India. 117 



that in the eastern districts of Bengal this sacrifice is frequently performed, 

 bnt the image, instead of being slaughtered by a single individual, is cut up 

 simultaneously by all the grown-up members of the family, either with 

 separate knives, or with a single knife jointly held by all. This is known by 

 the name of S'atrubali or " sacrifice of an enemy." The sacrifice, both in the 

 case of Nara- and the S'atru-bali, is performed secretly, generally at midnight. 

 The S'atrubali, however, is a distinct rite, apart from the Narabali of the 

 Kalika Purana, and authority for it occurs in the Vrihannila Tantra, in which 

 it is said, after performing certain other rites therein described, " a king 

 should sacrifice his enemy (in an e&igj) made with dried milk (hMra). 

 He should slaughter it himself, looking at it with a fiery glance, striking deep, 

 and dividing it into two with a single stroke. This should be done after in- 

 fusing life into it by the rite of Prdna-pritishthd, and repeating the name 

 of the person to be destroyed. consort of Mahesa, he doubtless destroys 

 thereby his enemies."* 



The offering of one's own blood to the goddess, to which reference has 

 been made above in the extract from the Kalika Purana, is a mediaeval 

 and modern rite. It is made by women, and there is scarcely a 

 respectable house in all Bengal, the mistress of which has not, at 

 one time or other, shed her blood, under the notion of satisfying the 

 goddess by the operation. Whenever her husband or a son is dan- 

 gerously ill, a vow is made that on the recovery of the patient, the 

 goddess would be regaled with human blood, and on the first Durga Piija 

 following, or at the temple at Kalighat, or at some other sacred fane, the lady 

 performs certain ceremonies, and then bares her breast in the presence of the 

 goddess, and with a nail-cutter (naruna) draws a few drops of blood from 

 between her busts, and oifers them to the divinity. The last time I saw 

 the ceremony was six years ago, when my late revered parent, tottering 

 with age, made the offering for my recovery from a dangerous and long- 

 protracted attack of pleurisy. Whatever may be thought of it by persons 

 brought up under a creed different from that of the Indo-Aryans, I cannot 

 recall to memory the fact without feeling the deepest emotion for the 

 boundless affection which prompted it. 



Of human sacrifices among the non- Aryan tribes of India, it is not 

 my intention to make any mention here, so I bring this paper to a 



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