1849] Kdcch, Bodo and Dhimal people. 729 



in the same manner, the only difference in the ceremony being the in- 

 vocation of the Bodo gods instead of the Dhimal ones. 



Festivals. — -The great festivals of the year are three or four. The 

 first is held in December-January, when the cotton crop is ready. It 

 is called Shurkhar by the Bodo, Harejata by the Dhimals. The se« 

 cond is held in February-March. It is named Wagalend by the Bodo, 

 who alone observe it. The Bodo name for the third, which is cele- 

 brated in July- August, when the rice comes into ear, is Phiilthepno. 

 The Dhimals call it Gavi puja. The fourth great festival is held in 

 October, and is named Aihiino by the Bodo — Pochima paka by the 

 Dhimals. The three first of these festivals are consecrated to the ele- 

 mental gods and to the interests of agriculture. They are celebrated 

 abroad, not at home, (generally on the banks of a river) whence at- 

 tendance on them is call Hogron hiidong, or madai hudong, ' going 

 forth to worship,' in contradistinction to the style of the 4th great 

 festival, which is devoted to the household gods, and is celebrated at 

 home. The Wagaleno or bamboo festival of the Bodo I witnessed a 

 year or two since, and will describe it is a sample of the whole. 

 Proceeding from Siligori to Pankhabari with Dr. Campbell, we came 

 upon a party of Bodo in the bed of the river, within the Saul forest, 

 or rather, were drawn off the road by the noise they made. It was a 

 sort of chorus of a few syllables, solemnly and musically incanted, 

 which, on reaching the spot, was found to be uttered by thirteen Bodo 

 men, who were drawn up in a circle facing inwards, and each carrying 

 a lofty bamboo pole decked with several tiers of wearing apparel, and 

 crowned with a Chour or Yak's tail. Within the circle were three men, 

 one of whom, with an instrument like this ( I I ) in his hands 

 danced to the music, waving his weapon downwards on one side, so 

 over the head, and then downwards on the other side and again over 

 the head. He moved round the margin of the circle, in the centre of 

 which stood two others, one a Deoshi, or priest, and the other an attend- 

 ant or servitor, called Phantwal. The priest, clothed in red cotton, but 

 not tonsured or otherwise distinguished from the rest of the party, 

 muttered an invocation, whereof the burden or chorus was taken up by 

 the thirteen forming the ring above noticed. The servitor had a water 

 pot in one hand and a brush in the other, and from time to time, as 

 the rite proceeded, this person moved out of the circle to sprinkle with 



