236 THE SUPERINTENDENT OE ETHNOGRAPHY, BENGAL, ON 



to subdue it. When it leaves the patient, it is made to give its name, and to say why it 

 attacked him. It is often made to perform some task in token of subjection. It may then 

 be allowed to escape, when it takes refuge in a haunted tree, and lis afterwards secured 

 by the exorcist with further ceremonies, whilst an amulet is given to the patient to 

 prevent its return. In Chota Nagpur the Sokha induces the spirit by invocations to pass 

 from the body of the patient into a cotton wick, which is immediately put into an iron 

 tube, already closed at one end, and sealed up. As spirits cannot pass iron, the Bhut is 

 thus imprisoned. Sometimes the spirit is transferred to other persons. The exorcist, 

 after performing certain ceremonies at midnight, goes out and calls to the neighbours. 

 If anyone answers, the spirit leaves the patient and enters into him. In other cases cer- 

 tain articles are buried, and the disease is transferred to any person who walks over them. 

 Sometimes the exorcist claims to have received inspiration in dreams. He occasionally 

 prepares a meal of milk, plantains, and other food in a dark room in the patient's house. 

 Strange noises are heard, and he gives out that the spirits are coming. His audience is 

 terrified and leaves hurriedly, and he is then heard to address the spirits, who tell him 

 what remedies are required. An exorcist sometimes pretends that a chronic disease is due 

 to indigestion. The patient is made to lie on his back and a brass pot (presumably 

 smeared with some irritant) is filled with medicines and placed on his stomach. After an 

 hour or two the pot is removed and a swelling is found. The exorcist claims that some 

 indigestible substance has been extracted. 



The exorcist also works by divination, in order to ascertain who has bewitched the 

 patient or what spirit has possessed him. Sometimes this information is obtained from 

 the familiar spirits. Sometimes plantain leaves are placed in a row, to represent deities 

 and spirits. The exorcist takes a tuhi leaf in his right hand, and placing both hands on 

 a piece of stone mutters incantations until his hands move forward with the stone and 

 touch one of the leaves. The power thus indicated is then worshipped for the cure of the 

 disease. 



Niskandha, who is represented as a headless man with the face depicted on the body, 

 is worshipped in Jalpaiguri as a protection against evil spirits. Goats are sacrificed to 

 him in large numbers under a banyan tree, which is shunned by the people and regarded 

 as the home of all the devils. 



In the Orissa Tributary States figures of Durga and Ganesa are painted on the door 

 of every house in Bhadra. The mantras of Ghanta karna are written on a palm leaf, and 

 recited, whilst the leaf, together with twenty-one shoots oidurbba grass {Panicum dactylon), 

 is hung on the door. By this means the house is secured against the entry of evil spirits. 



Another form of worship which has a fixed date assigned to it is the Hanchra or Ita 

 Kumar Puja which is observed in Pabna and Bogra. It is performed in the last week 

 of Phalgun, or sometimes throughout the month, in order that the votaries, who in this 

 case are children, may be protected from measles and skin diseases. On the evening 

 before the commencement of the puja a plum twig is stuck in the ground, and a circular 

 platform of mud is built round it, on which a lighted lamp, fed with mustard-oil, is 

 placed. It is worshipped every morning with offerings of wild flowers, whilst rhymes are 

 recited. On the last day the children bathe early, and the deity is worshipped at the 



