THE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE URAONS. 153 



blessings for the crops. When any of those receptacles, containing either paddy or any 

 other produce, has disappeared from the sacred fountain, the crops are sure to fail, 

 and will continue to fail until they are found again and replaced in the fountain. The 

 gaonsaji is the ceremony performed to find out where the Shuts have hidden the pre- 

 cious pots, for no one but a bhut can be mischievous enough to commit such a crime. 

 When, therefore, the crops have failed for several years, the only possible cause is that 

 the sacred fountain has been desecrated by the disappearance of the blessing-producing 

 pots. The pahan and the ojhas of the place agree together, go to the fountain, take out 

 the pots, and hide them in ditches and ravines. They go then to the chief man of the 

 village and settle a day for the gaonsaji. Offerings for the sacrifice are collected, and on 

 the appointed day, ojhas from the surrounding villages are called. These and the village 

 ojhas and the pahans proceed to the sarna accompanied by the people. The ojhas with 

 their lamps sit in the middle, and the people squat around them. Lots of drummers tam- 

 tam, whilst the ojhas begin their incantations together to discover the bhut who is the cause 

 of the misfortune. Being sometimes ten or twelve in number, they soon find him out 

 and oblige him to come to their lamp, whence he is taken and shut up in a singhi as 

 in the niksari. The thief being now bound and secured, the difficulty is to find out the 

 stolen property, as the bhut will never confess his guilt. Only a powerful deota 

 can subdue him. They, therefore, begin working at the ghasna with a vengeance, 

 invoking all the deotas of the earth and entreating one of them to be so kind as 

 to cover one of the men present with his shade. The scene is well calculated to 

 hypnotise even worse subjects than the natives. All the ojhas are chanting their in- 

 cantations and turning the rice in their winnowing fans with frenzy. Moving their heads to 

 and fro, the drummers are beating the tam-tam, doing the same, and very soon the heads 

 of all the congregation are moving. This lasts sometimes a very long time, until one of 

 the assembly, or one of the ojhas, falls into convulsions. Then the incantations and noise 

 redouble, the ojhas repeating always the name of the deota they were pronouncing when 

 the man began to show signs of possession. On, on they go till the man falls into a real 

 trance. Then the singhi in which the ojhas have shut up the guilty bhut is put in his 

 hands, and he runs about as if in search of something, followed by the ojhas, the drummers, 

 and all the people vociferating imprecations against the bhuts and exciting the deota to 

 press him hard. But the bhut is not so easily subdued and very often takes the deota to a 

 different place from that in which he is credited with having hidden the sacred thing. 

 There they dig, and if nothing is found, their imprecations against the bhut and their in- 

 vocations to the deota redouble. At last, after several fruitless attempts at deceit, the bhut 

 takes the possessed man to the right place. This is repeated five or six times until all 

 the pots are found out. This ceremony sometimes lasts eight days. The sacred pots are 

 then replaced in the fountain by the pahan, and sacrifices are offered to Pat and other 

 deotas who have helped them. The singhi with the bhuts are thrown into the river. Now 

 we know that the pahan and the ojhas have hidden the pots, but the difficulty is to explain- 

 how the man who has fallen into a trance can find them out. The supposition of his be- 

 ing an accomplice cannot be held, as anyone can fall into a trance, and the ojhas do not 

 know who will be the man. It is, however, true that any mesmerist is able to make his 



