THE BHOTIAS OF ALMORA AND BRITISH GARHWAL. 115 



chase it to prevent return. In Chaudans it is allowed to roam free on the mountains, but 

 elsewhere low-caste Bhotias or Tibetans speedily despatch it and eat the flesh. So pleased 

 are the villagers that the spirit has departed, that they return singing and dancing and 

 distribute amongst themselves cakes with little ears attached {puris). This is called 

 rhashimo, from rha clean, i.e., purification. Men and women shave, cut their hair and wash 

 their heads and wear rings on their ears and hands. As to the bone, half is taken and 

 buried in some lofty spot, and the other half is tak en to some sacred place such as Kailas 

 or Mansarowar by one of the household, who remains unkempt until he has deposited the 

 bone in its final resting-place. Each of the mourners gets either some cloth or a vessel 

 as a present. Formerly, in patti Darma, if any onlooker wished his descendants to note 

 that he desired his own obsequies to be performed on a magnificent scale, he blew a 

 trumpet and announced the fact publicly, and woe betide any heir who failed after that 

 to do all honour to the spirit of the deceased. A widow throughout the whole of Bhot 

 leaves off all jewellery for a year or more, and also the nath (nose-ring). If she marries 

 again she reassumes the nose- ring ( nath ) A widower does not now, in any place in Bhot, 

 leave off the loin cloth ( langoti'ox dhoti) or any other garment, as noted in the Gazetteer. 

 In former times monuments and images used to be made in honour of deceased persons, 

 and can still be seen in Chaudans, but they are not made now. 



Religion It has been already described how the Bhotias erect saithans, or shrines, for 



their gods, but most frequently we find a simple stone, and by it a darcho (a tree-trunk with a 

 few branches left on the top ) fixed in the ground with strips of cloth ( daja ) floating in the 

 wind tied to it. The general form of worship consists in the cooking of puris ( cakes ) or 

 rice, and preparation of dalangs, which are offered with liquor. Sma 11 pieces of the 

 food are broken off and thrown with both hands towards the seat of the god ; bits of cloth 

 are torn up and similarly thrown ; the liquor is sprinkled with two pieces of grass, one in 

 each hand, towards the same spot ; and sometimes the worshippers offer burning lights. 

 Meanwhile a man brings water in a lota or glass ( called rhati, from rha pure and ti 

 water) and puts into it an old coin, which must on no account ever afterwards be spent; 

 and also a sprig from the dhupi tree, part of the sprig protruding from the glass. Fresh 

 dajas, or strips of cloth, are tied on to branches and put over the sai than, and prayers are 

 offered. Goats and sheep are often slaughtered in numbers, and the ceremonial is as 

 follows : A man sprinkles water on the animal, and as soon as it shakes its body to 

 throw off the drops, everyone realizes that the deity has accepted the sacrifice, and 

 immediately its hair is pulled out in tufts and thrown towards the shrine, and then the 

 animal is despatched. Fresh blood is taken from its breast by tearing open the skin, and 

 is sprinkled on the ling which is inside the shrine, and the horns are cut off and placed 

 on the shrine with some of the brains mixed with rice placed between the horns. Re- 

 moving the skin, the liver, diaphragm and lungs are taken out reeking, and are carefully 

 examined by the diviners for portents as to the future. The art of divination is in great 

 request, but diviners are few, and amateurs are chary of meddling with the terrible pos- 

 sibilites of the unknown. These rites are faithfully carried out before the annual exodus 

 to the lower hills and on return from below to their homes, and also at shankrant in the 

 month of Bhadon. Formerly the liver was torn from the living animal, but at the present 



