1840.] On the Huli in Malwa. 317 



indeed prevails, and the zemindar frequently seizes, with success, this 

 favorable opportunity of bringing parties together, whom some trifling 

 quarrel may have estranged. " Let all ill blood," he will say, " be con- 

 sidered as burnt with last night's Huli, &c. &c." But all are getting impa- 

 tient for a change of fun. The potail therefore rises, and with the village 

 rabble at his heels proceeds to the extinguished Huli, with the ashes of 

 which every one makes a til uk 7 using a particular muntra (holy formula) 

 »n the occasion, and snatching them up by handsful, throws showers over 

 his own or his neighbour's head ; then with much noise, and indecent 

 mirth, they march in procession about the village by a fixed route, from 

 which year after year they never deviate (25), stopping before certain 

 houses, as that of the Chumar, Aheer, &c. who claim the distinction as 

 their privilege. Here they raise frantic shouts, bawl out obscene verses, 

 and abuse the inmates in the coarsest language ; presently out rushes 

 a woman, and begins belabouring them with a stick, returning the 

 abuse with interest ; snatching then some person's cloth, she pulls it 

 off, and the sufferer must pay a small fine of ghee, sweetmeats, &c. 

 before he can get back his garment ; or the woman will seize hold of 

 some individual, generally a poor relation of the potail, or the village 

 butt, and dragging him into the house, dress him up in women's clothes, 

 and set him before a chuki (hand-mill) to grind grain. Of course, as 

 before, he only gets liberated by purchase. The fines are the perquisite 

 of the house owners, which explains why the visit was desired by 

 them. 



The excesses committed during this procession are scarcely credible ; 

 extravagance seems to be considered a religious duty. Not content 

 with throwing about dust by handsfuel, they fill small baskets with it, 

 which they empty on the heads of all round them. All distinctions of 

 rank are levelled, any chance passenger, " be he hakim, old man, or raja" 

 is obliged to bow to the law of the Huli ; they must bear with a good 

 grace all the vulgar gali ; must submit to the clouds of dust and 

 ashes ; to having dirty water, and " gingerly oil" (as Hamilton 

 calls it) squirted in his face, and to be well pummelled with patlis 

 (little bags full of water ingeniously made on the spot, in a cor- 



parently unbridled licence, certain rules of propriety are religiously observed ; proces- 

 sions of females, for instance, would not be interfered with. This conventional decorum 

 is perhaps less strictly attended to here. 



25. To do so in the slightest degree, even by turning down a different lane, would, it 

 is supposed, entail some misfortune on the community, as was threatened to the 

 deserters of the lepa 0§0C of Eleusis. 



