The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 189 



The Moondahs, without applying to an ojha or medicine-man, 

 consult auguries in choosing the site of a house, with prayer to 

 Singbonga. A small quantity of rice is placed in holes made at the 

 four corners of the selected site, where it is left all night ; and if found 

 undisturbed in the morning, the site is good. The same process is 

 gone through in selecting a new site for a village. Prayer is offered 

 to Singbonga twice, first, that the test applied may truly indicate 

 if the site be good or bad ; secondly, for a blessing on the chosen site. 



It is the fashion to call the religion of the Kols ' devil worship,' but 

 this is not strictly correct ; for although the minor deities may be mostly 

 of a malevolent nature and therefore devils who have to be propitiated, 

 still Singbonga is worshipped as a beneficent god. This worship 

 of the sun as the supreme deity is the foundation of the religion 

 of the Oraons as well as the Moondahs. By the former he is invoked 

 as Dhurmi, the holy one. He is the creator and the preserver, and 

 with reference to his purity, white animals are offered to him by his 

 votaries. He is not regarded as the author of sickness or calamity ; 

 but he may be appealed to to avert it, and this appeal is often made, 

 when the sacrifices to the minor deities have been unproductive. 



But besides these occasional sacrifices, all Moondahs who hold to 

 the faith of their ancestors, are especially bound to make a certain 

 number of offerings to Singbonga during their tenure of the posi- 

 tion of head of the family. He may take his own time about them, 

 but he will not be happy in his mind till he completes his comple- 

 ment and clears the account. I obtained this information from the 

 Kheriahs, and on speaking about it to some ancient Pahans and 

 Moondah elders, was told that it undoubtedly is the orthodox practice, 

 but it has been neglected. The sacrifices are five in number : 

 1st, fowls ; 2nd, a pig ; 3rd, a white goat ; 4th, a ram ; 5th, a buffalo ; 

 and they must be offered in the open plain in front of an ant 

 hill, or with an ant hill as an altar. Sacrifices to other gods are 

 generally offered in the " Saerna,"* the sacred grove of Sal trees, the 

 remnant of the primeval forest left for the spirits when the settlement 

 was first made. 



The names and attributes of the inferior deities are nearly the same 

 amongst the Hos in Singbhoom, the Moondahs and Oraons in Chota- 

 * Or ' Saran,' ' Charan.' 



