174 THE LATE REV. P. DEHON ON 



Christmas-tree. The whole night is spent in dancing round it, and the next morning it 

 is thrown in the river. 



The Nagmatia. — We now come to the last but not the least interesting of these per- 

 sonages who play such a great role in the inner life of the aborigines of Chota Nagpur, 

 viz., the nagmatia, or snake-conjurer. After all that we have described it might be 

 thought that they had taken all possible precautions to ward off sickness and protect 

 themselves against every evil inherent in human nature. But it is not so. There are 

 evils which evidently do not come from the bhuts, and these must be thwarted also. 

 Such are bites of venomous animals -snakes, scorpions, centipedes, etc. ; bites of dogs, 

 jackals, wounds, sore eyes, earache, abscess, toothache, etc. The healing of all these is 

 the work of the nagmatia. 



As there are schools for the ojhas, so there are schools also for the education of 

 nagmatias, but they are not nearly so numerous, The work of the nagmatia is still 

 more complicated than that of the oj/ia, and he has to learn many more mantras and 

 incantations. When a certain number of boys in a village have made up their mind to 

 learn the art, they set to work and build a house or school-room close to the house of the 

 guru. There they assemble every evening for several hours, and their education will last 

 for one or two years, according to their progress in learning. 



On the first day they have the ceremony called Simicharana. The guru prepares a 

 mixture of milk, til, gur, and arwa rice, and gives each pupil a handful to eat raw. On 

 that day they have to fast. Every day before beginning to learn they have an invocation 

 to the chief gurus and Deotas of the craft. The invocation is sung in chorus, and each 

 of the eight leading gurus or Deotas is invited one after the other to come and sit 

 among them. Kanru is invited to sit on a nag patia, i.e., a basket in which snake-char- 

 mers keep their cobras. So also is newra, or the mongoose, deified. The others are 

 invited to sit on a golden stool ; their different places are marked out in the school-room, so 

 that whilst they are singing the pupils can follow in mind each Deota, stepping in and 

 going across the room to take his seat. 



Here is the song ; it will be seen how graphic it is, and how likely to impress their mind. 



" Kawna guru mora awat hobain 



Duwaria, duara duara chhori na de. " 

 (Who is my guru that may be coming: duwaria (porter), do not let the door shut). 

 The invocation is supposed to take place just when the last pupil has stepped into the 

 school-room, and the porter has still one hand on the door to keep it open. These doors 

 are heavy planks, which of their own weight swing to with a bang. Hence the necessity 

 of someone holding it whilst the pupils are going in. This is repeated twice or thrice. 



" Kanru guru mora awat hobain 

 Duwaria, duara duara chhori na de." 



(It may be my kanru guru who is coming — porter do not let the door shut.) 



" Guruji baba ji ai gelain pahun 

 More Kanru guru de rakho 

 Baise ke nag phenik pitia." 



