THE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE URAONS. 149 



the ground and gets up in a fright. Now, there is not the least doubt that at that 

 moment the winnowing fan moves by itself, raised as it were in the air by an invis- 

 ible hand. Most probably this is a phenomenon like that of turning the table. There is 

 no doubt either that the ojha sees vividly all these unreal beings. They have repeatedly 

 heard from the mouth of their guru most graphic and frightful descriptions of bhuts, 

 making their hair stand on end, and so impregnated are they with these thoughts that 

 their imagination is excited to the utmost by their efforts to discover the bhuts, and by the 

 effects of the monotonous incantations most readily yield to hallucinations. The fact is 

 that they do see. One can fancy how strong is their faith. Macbeth saw the dagger and 

 shouted in his fright : " Is this a dagger. My eyes are made the fools of the other 

 senses or else worth all the rest." He doubted in spite of the vividness of the apparition. 

 The poor aborigines does not reflect so far. For him his eyes are worth all the other 

 senses. He sees, and at once believes what he sees, is. It is therefore difficult to con- 

 vert an old ojha to Christianity, but when they are really converted they are the best. 



When the guilty bhut has, as they say, shaken the winnowing-fan, the ojha lights his 

 lamp to make sure that he has discovered the right bhut. This is called ras-batti-karna. 

 In the flickering flame he sees the shade of the bhut whose name he has repeatedly pro- 

 nounced. When the sick man gets all right after the first seance, the ojha asks for a fowl 

 which he sacrifices to the bhut. But when the man gets all right only after repeated 

 ghosnas, or when the other people of the house get sick also, the conclusion is that the bhut 

 has taken possession of the house and will not leave it without being expelled by force. 

 This is Niksari. But this expulsion is a very expensive business, and the people are 

 seldom ready to incur all the expenses at once. The least that can be offered is three pigs, 

 two goats, six fowls, and one rupee four annas to the ojha. Now, how to get rid of the bhut 

 till the man is able to collect all the victims for the sacrifice ? Again, let us put aside all our 

 ideas of mysticism and try to think like those people. The ojha can catch the bhut in 

 his lamp ; he has seen him, therefore it is there. The only thing is to imprison him 

 temporarily until steps can be taken to imprison him completely. He therefore begins 

 his ghosna, until he catches the bhut in his lamp. When he gets him there he itakes out 

 the wick and shuts it up in a cone of sakhua leaves. This is obviously rather a pis aller 

 of a prison, and the bhut might easily get loose. But the ojha is a man of expedients ; 

 and to prevent the bhut escaping he offers a sacrifice to his patron deota and asks him to 

 watch the bhut like a sentinel till the niksavi which he promises to perform after three or 

 six months. He then takes the cone with the bhut to the next ant-hill, bores a hole in it 

 and deposits the mischievous bhut inside and shuts the opening with a stone. The sacri- 

 fice to the patron deota is offered there, and the blood of the victim is spilt near the 

 opening. There the patron deota will sit and watch the bhut till the niksari is per- 

 formed. 



Niksari. — When the man has collected all the victims for the sacrifice he tells the 

 ojha that everything is ready. The ojha then goes to the blacksmith, as he wants this 

 time to secure the bhut well and put him in iron. He has, therefore, an iron cone made 

 just in the shape of a paper cone with one of the sides protruding. This is called 

 singhi. In the evening, armed with his singhi and accompanied by two of his pupils 



