THE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE URAONS. 145 



cock-crow, the pan-bha> m steals out of his house, and, as stealthily as he can, he goes to the 

 sama dari or sacred fountain to fetch water in a new gagri or earthen pot. This water 

 contains all kinds of blessings for the crops. The pahan has prepared for it a place in 

 the middle of his house surrounded by cotton threads of different colours. There it 

 remains the whole day. The water is so sacred that it would be spoiled if any eye rested 

 on it before it reached the baiga' s house. The pan-bhara and the pujar in the morn- 

 ing go from house to house to collect the victims for the sacrifice. In the afternoon, at 

 about two o'clock, all the people are invited to be present at the sama, not only Uraons 

 and Kols but even Hindus. 



[The sacred fountain contains the rain pant. In that fountain there is a collection of 

 all the produce of the country — -rice, pulse, oilseeds, etc. etc., contained in small earthen 

 pots, hollow bamboos, sakhua leaves, etc. This has been there from time immemorial, 

 placed there by the first baiga of the village. If any of these seeds is taken away it is 

 looked upon as a great curse and the crops are sure to fail. But to every evil there is 

 remedy, and they have the means to find the lost seeds again by the gaon-sagi, a strange 

 ceremony which will be described afterwards.] 



Before beginning the puja the baiga puts on the sacred string of the brahmans. 

 Then ihepan-bhara brings him two victims — a white cock for the Sun-god {Bhagwan) and 

 a black hen for Dharti-mai or the Earth-goddess. As the feast is the celebration of the 

 marriage of these two, the binding ceremony of marriage is performed on these two 

 victims. The white cock is first marked with sindur and then the black fowl. The earth 

 is also marked with sindur at the place where the puja is to be offered. The victims 

 having then been fed with harwa rice are sacrificed. After this follows the sacrifice of a 

 red cock or a black goat to Pat. Then to Chala Pacho, Anna Kuari, Mahadco, Duharai, 

 Deswali. The other fowls are then sacrificed by the pujar to all the khunt bhuts of the 

 village, giving one to each of them, if there are enough, or one for two or three of them. 

 Dliarti-Nasa?i and Bhagat, being considered as very mischievous bhuts, get their sacrifice 

 from the hands of the ojha. 



The bodies of the victims are collected by the boys of the village who cook them on 

 the spot. All the heads go to the sacrificers. Meanwhile the pan-bhara has collected 

 flowers of the sal-tree around the place of sacrifice, and fetched the rais-pani or blessing 

 water from the house of the baiga. A procession is then formed and the pahan is carried 

 in triumph to his house. There his wife is watching for him, and they go through the 

 ceremony of marriage applying sindur to each other—this again to symbolise the 

 mystical marriage of the Sun-god with the Earth-goddess. By this time all the women of 

 the village are standing on the threshold of their houses, each with a winnowing fan con- 

 taining two leaf cups — one empty to receive the blessing water, the other with rice-beer 

 for the baiga. His reverence stops at each house, distributes flowers and blessing water 

 (this water is sprinkled on the seeds that have been kept for the new year), showers bless- 

 ings on every house saying, " May your rooms and granary be filled with paddy, that the 

 baiga s name may be great. " He does not forget his rice-beer, so that one can well 

 imagine the state he is in when he arrives at the end of the village. By that time every- 

 one has taken copious libations of rice-beer, and all the devils of the village seem to be 



