22^ ■ ; ■ ,, STATISTICAL SKETCH 



blows from the surrounding crowd, until the animal is despatched, or rather 

 hacked to pieces. In villages dedicated to the protection of MaJiddeva^ propi- 

 tiatory festivals are held in his honor; at these, Bddis, or rope-dancers, are 

 engaged to perform on the tight rope, Lang, or to slide down an inclined 

 rope stretched from the summit of a cliff to the valley beneath, and made 

 fast to posts driven into the ground. The Bddi sits astride on a wooden 

 saddle, to which he is tied by thongs : the saddle is similarly secured to the 

 basty or sliding cable, along which it runs, by means of a deep groove ; sand- 

 bags are tied to the BddVs feet sufficient to secure his balance, and he is then, 

 after various ceremonies, and the sacrifice of a kid, started off. The velocity 

 of his descent is very great, and the saddle, however well greased, emits a vo- 

 lume of smoke throughout the greater part of his progress. The length and 

 inclination of the bast necessarily vary with the nature of the cliff, but as 

 the Bddi is remunerated at the rate of a rupee for every hundred cubits, 

 hence termed a tola, a correct measurement always takes place : the long- 

 est basi which has fallen within my observation was twenty-one tola, or 

 2100 cubits in length. From the precautions taken as abovementioned, the 

 only danger to be apprehended by the Bddi is from the breaking of the 

 rope, to provide against which, the latter, commonly from one and a half to 

 two inches in diameter, is made wholly by his own hand: the material used is 

 the bhdber grass. Formerly, if a Badi fell to the ground in his course, he 

 was immediately dispatched with a sword by the surrounding spectators, but 

 this practice is now of course prohibited: no fatal accident has occurred from 

 the performance of this ceremony since 1815, though it is probably celebrated 

 at not less than fifty villages in each year. After the completion of the sliding, 

 the Bartf or rope, is cut up, and distributed among the inhabitants of the 

 village, who hang the pieces as charms at the eaves of their houses. The 

 hair of the B'::di is also taken and preserved, as possessing similar virtues. 

 In being thus made the organ to obtain fertility for the lands of others, the 

 Bddi is supposed to entail sterility on his own | and it is firmly believed, that 



