1840.] On the Huli in Malwa. 325 



Pudum Puran, they should continue till the end of spring, till the sun 



enters 



On the 13th, the last day of the Malwa Huli, a game is played which 

 has some resemblance to our village greased pole. A pole is erected, of 

 such a height that a man by standing on another's shoulders, can reach 

 the top of it. The women all assemble near him, each armed with a 

 castor plant ; a fowl, a piece of cloth, or some such trifle is placed on the 

 top, and is the perquisite of whoever can take it off, assisted only by 

 one other person. The women strike the candidates as hard as they 

 can with the pliant rods, hooting and shouting all the time, and fre- 

 quently contrive to drive them off, so that the contest is productive of 

 much amusement. The women on this occasion claim the privilege 

 of stopping every passer by, and making him pay toll, a custom which 

 will remind the reader of Strutt, of the rope laid across the roads at this 

 season by the ladies of Hackelay, and of " Binding Tuesday", in our 

 own country. In Booneer of Afghanistan at harvest time the Eusofzy 

 women have a somewhat similar privilege ; every one they meet they 

 compel to dance, or to pay them a fine. 



It was my intention to have concluded this sketch with select 

 specimens of the songs sung during the festival, and with extracts 

 from the Sanscrit books which speak of the Huli. This plan I must 

 of necessity in part abandon, being far removed from Hindu books and 

 Pundits. Some of the more common songs may be seen in the " Hindu 

 selections." Many of the purans, and other sacred books of the Hindus and 

 Jains, make some mention of the Huli, of these we may instance the 

 Pudum Puran, the Kulpa Drooma of Jey Sing, 4th Kund, the 3d Kund 

 of the Scanha Puran, the Mithy-at Kund, and the Brimha Vaiverta. 



To give some idea of the nature of the fables to be met with in 

 these authorities, a sketch is given of the story of the Huli as told 

 in the last named book, which however it must be remembered was 

 written only some four centuries ago. I know of no very ancient 

 Hindu authority on the subject. As the Brimha Vaiverta is devoted 

 to Pracrit worship, much indelicacy might have been expected, but the 

 gross indecency of its account of the Huli makes it impossible to 

 render it at all literal in English. 



In the Sutya Yug, Mahadeo caused the production of a female 

 demon called Holica, whose violent conduct was highly offensive and 

 terrifying to the gods, two of whom, Brimha and Indra, she caught 

 and kept prisoners, wandering about with them, delighted at the fear 

 of the gods. They addressed supplications to her calling her by 



