138 THE LATE REV. P. DEHON ON 



This is proved : — 



i. By the unanimous testimony of the best informed among the tribe. 



2. By the scrupulous use of their language in the preceding ceremonies, whilst they 

 use Hindi or rather the Sadari lingua franca of Chota Nagpur in all the other ceremonies. 



3. By their choice of Pahan or Baiga. 



In villages where there are people of Kolarian origin and Uraons living together, 

 a man of Kolarian origin will always be Pahan, and everywhere they will try to entice a 

 Kol to remain in their village to do the office. It is only when they cannot help it that 

 they choose a man of their tribe. 



In order to understand the whole system it is necessary to have an idea of the 

 organisation of the invisible world of parasites in which the Uraons are living. 



There are household bhuts, sept bhuts, village bhuts, village devtas, wandering 

 bhuts, common devtas. 



The household bhuts of the Uraons are Baranda, Chigrinod, Panchbal and Nasre. 



The sept bhut is Khunt Nasan. With the household bhuts and with the sept bhuts 

 the pahan or priest has nothing to do. 



The village bhuts are Khunt, Bhu/a, Churil. These are generic names which will be 

 explained afterwards. 



The village devtas are (a) Pat, with his chaprasi or chaukidar, Duharia, and (b) Chala 

 Pacho, or Sarna bur hi a or the lady of the grove, with her faithful attendant and dame 

 d'honneur, Deswali. 



The pahan or priest, acting always in behalf of the community, is in charge 

 especially of the village devtas, and through them of the village bhuts. 



To the village devtas should be added Mahadeo and Parbati his wife, but these are 

 specially worshipped by people of Kolarian origin— the Uraons have no devotion forthem. 



The common devtas are Dhartimai (the earth) and Surajmai or Bhagawan (the sun). 

 It should be noticed en passant that the earth is considered both as a devta and as a bhut, 

 Dhartimai — tutelary divinity, Dharti nasan — mischievous bhut. 



The authority of the village priest ox pahan, as has been said, extends over the village 

 devtas and village bhuts, whilst the Ojha, Mati or Dtwair has to deal with all the mischiev- 

 ous bhuts who are the cause of all kinds of sicknesses, and even with some devtas and 

 village bhuts who might punish the people, because they have been slighted by them or 

 because they have neglected their duties to them. 



Let us now examine the pahan or village priest— his office, his teachings and functions. 

 The office of pahan is hereditary, but if the pahan dies without male issue or if he is con- 

 verted to Christianity, a new pahan has to be elected — supernaturally elected. There 

 are different ways of ascertaining the will of the gods. The three principal are these :— 



(1) A round stone used to grind curry is thrown at random all about the village. 

 When it stops exactly before the door of a house the master of that house is elected. 



(2) A winnowing fan is introduced into a cleft bamboo so that it can move about in 

 every direction. All the eligible people are assembled, and the winnowing fan is pushed 

 forward in front of them. The man towards whom the winnowing fan turns will be 

 elected. 



