730 Account of the Origin, etc. of the [Jul^, 



the holy water another actor in this strange ceremony, and a principal 

 one too. This is the Deoda, or the possessed, who when filled with 

 the god, answers hy inspiration to the questions of the priest as to the 

 prospects of the coming season. When we first discerned him, he 

 was sitting on the ground panting and rolling his eyes so significantly 

 that I at once conjectured his function. Shortly afterwards, the rite 

 still proceeding, the Deoda got up, entered the circle and commenced 

 dancing with the rest, but more wildly. He held a short staff in his 

 hand, with which, from time to time he struck the bedizened poles, 

 one by one, and lowering it as he struck. The chief dancer with the 

 odd-shaped instrument, waxed more and more vehement in his dance ; 

 the inspired grew more and more maniacal ; the music more and more 

 rapid ; the incantation more and more solemn and earnest ; till at last 

 amid a general lowering of the heads of the decked bamboo poles, so 

 that they met and formed a canopy over him, the Deoda went off in 

 an affected fit, and the ceremony closed without any revelation — a cir- 

 cumstance which must be ascribed to the presence of the sceptical 

 strangers ; for it is faith alone that worketh miracles, and only among 

 and for the faithful. This ceremony is performed annually by the 

 Rajah of Sikim's orders, or rather with his sanction of the usages of 

 his subjects ; is addressed to the sun, the moon, the elemental gods, 

 and above all, to the rivers ; and is designed to ensure health and 

 plenty in the coming year, as well as to ascertain beforehand, its promise 

 or prospect through the revelations of the Deoda. With regard to the 

 festival sacred to the national or homebred (nooni) gods, called Aihuno 

 by the Bodo and Pochima paka by the Dhimals, it is to be observed that 

 the rite, like the separate class of deities adored thereby, is more distinc- 

 tively Bodo than Dhimal. With both people the pre-eminence of water 

 among the elements is conspicuous : but, whereas the river gods of the 

 Dhimals have nearly absorbed all the rest, elementary or other, the 

 household gods of the Bodo stand conspicuously distinguished from the 

 fluviatile deities. The Prochima and Timang of the Dhimals are one or 

 both rivers : the Batho and Mainang of the Bodo are neither of them 

 rivers, and their interparietal rites are as clearly distinguished from the 

 rites performed abroad to the fluviatile and other elemental gods. How- 

 ever, the rites of Batho and Mainou are participated by deities of ele- 

 mentary and watery nature, and, on the other hand, the Dhimals assert 



