100 MR. C. A. SHERRING ON 



mourners present at the cremation bathe, and on their return are purified with cow's urine, 

 when they receive two loaves of bread each called chhak. On the tenth day the polution, 

 chhut or shutak, leaves the kinsmen, who then bathe and put on new or clean clothes. 

 A death in a village is considered unlucky, and people avoid undertaking any particular 

 ceremonies from which they hope that success will ensue. 



On the twelfth day the ceremony of godan is performed, and afterwards the kinsmen 

 touch the pipal tree and wear pithawa. 



The kinsmen abstain from flesh until the fifteenth day, but the eldest son abstains 

 for a whole year, that is, until the performance of the annual death-rites, or barsi. These 

 rites are repeated from year to year. 



After the touching of the pipal tree it is a common thing for the son to go on pilgrim- 

 age to the Mansarowar lake, or Hardwar, in order to cast the head-bone of his father into 

 the sacred waters. 



Worship. — As is to be expected, we find that some of these Hinduized Bhotias still 

 worship Tibetan deities. For instance, the Nikhurpas, who eat and drink with the Johar 

 Rawats and marry with them, worship the god Dhurma. This deity is specially sought 

 after in the rainy season when the people have tired of a long spell of wet weather and 

 hope by propitiation of the god to effect a change in the climatic conditions prevailing. 

 Two poles are fastened in the ground ; to the top of one is fixed an iron or brass trident 

 surmounted by a yak's tail, and to the top of the other an image (murtti) of a man's head. 

 Throughout the ceremony of worship music is played, and finally a goat is slaughtered. 

 Meanwhile the devotees are anxiously awaiting the moment when the god will manifest 

 himself by taking possession of one of the throng. Suddenly some man is seized by the 

 religious frenzy, and rushing forward drinks the blood of the goat, and in this ecstatic state 

 dances round the poles ; and finally climbing the pole, which holds the idol, he imprints a 

 bloody kiss on the mouth of the deity. A temple with rooms has now been built in 

 honour of Dhurma : this is a new departure, for hitherto he owned no habitation built 

 by men's hands. 



Similarly, at Burphu and Tola, the Tibetan god Lhamsal is worshipped. The people 

 fell a large tree, and carrying it to an open space fix it in the ground and make it firm 

 with three ropes. Strips of cloth of every description are then fastened to every portion 

 of it, and yaks' tails are tied in different parts of the tree ; after these preparations the 

 people sing and dance round the tree for three days on end. Persons who have had a 

 son born to them are especially devoted to the worship of this god, and once a year offer 

 a goat and liquor. 



One of the most remarkable deities worshipped in Garhwal is the god Ghantakaran 

 or the bell-god. It is common to find a large bell, sometimes one-and-a-half feet long, 

 suspended to a cross-bar supported by two uprights on the top of some lofty mountain. 

 The lonely goat-herd, or the zealous devotee, rings the bell when passing the spot. 

 The bell-god is very specially worshipped for nine days from Utraini in the month of 

 Magh ; and in this special and remarkable service there are associated with him three 

 other gods, viz., Kailas, the Tibetan deity ; Kumer ; and the deity Nanda Devi. The last 

 named is the loftiest mountain in the British Empire, 25,650 feet high, and is situated in 



