322 



On the Huli in Malwa. 



[No. 99. 



some of the Mahrattas even till their new year's day, Ghori Prewar, a 

 day the tribe keep with a spirit quite unknown to their brethren of the 

 Ganges. 



It is I believe on the Jumgut, that in some parts of Malwa the 

 women collect round the burnt Huli, the charred wood of which 

 they pound into ashes, taking some home to be used as medicine. 

 A singular ceremony next takes place, it has from ancient times been 

 considered in the East, and especially in India, an act of the highest 

 indelicacy for a man to utter his wife's name, or a woman that of her 

 husband's ; (see Ward's Hindus i, 199 ; n, 529) on this occasion how- 

 ever the women alternately ask each other, What is your husband's 

 name ? The reply to which is given in a whisper. This mystery 

 is practised in most places at other times; as during the festival of 

 Gangore, of which Tod has given a slight sketch, but which as exactly 

 resembling the rites of the Bona Dea, deserves a more particular de- 

 scription. In the Deccan at the Nag Punchmi, the women ask each 

 other their husband's names, and the answer is given in rhyme. Bombay 

 Trails, in. ; 217. 



Many other are the curious and interesting superstitions which 

 might be elicited, by observing the customs of these rude tribes, who 

 have preserved many ancient usages, elsewhere abolished. Some of my 

 notes have been mislaid, but among my memoranda of superstitions to 

 be inquired into, I remark one regarding a Mahratta custom of wearing 

 a seal on the right breast during the Huli, of the nature and meaning 

 of which story I am perfectly ignorant. Of the different amusements of 

 this season, a favourite one is the making of April fools, the simi- 

 larity of which custom to our own has already been pointed out in the 

 Asiatic Researches, and in Mrs. Grahame's letters. 



As an example of the tricks, I select two which have classical parallels. 

 Imitation sweetmeats made of coloured mud or chalk are sent about 

 with due ceremony, as presents. " Vidi" (says Eacolpius in the supper of 

 Trimalchio) " Romse Saturnalibus ejusmodi (de luto) caenarum imagines 

 fieri." The other example will be more commonly recognised, as it is 

 exactly what Horace (epist. 1 : 16) adverts to. A rupee is made fast 

 to a chabutra by alum or some such stuff; and the different gestures 

 of the person taken in by it, joy and eagerness at the discovery, puz- 

 zled looks at being unable to pick it up "in triviis fixum cum te dimittis 

 ob assem," and disappointment and rage at detecting the trick, prove a 

 fertile source of laughter to the concealed wits. Persius also alludes 

 to the same deception, (Sat. 5) " Inque luto fixum possis transcendere 



