42 



On the Language, Manners, and Rites, of the 



[July 



I may add as regards the name adverted to at the commencement of 

 this digest, that the hand writing sometimes leaves it uncertain 

 whether the word by which they are designated should be Cddulu, or 

 Codulu, but from the way in which the §" is sometimes written, I 

 think it is not meant to be introduced into the word, which is I believe 

 Codalu ; but I make the remark that I may not wilfully lead into error. 

 I am not sure if the she-buffalo often mentioned may not be a cow ; 

 which, however, a Hindu would not like to acknowledge. As to the 

 term Baji it is to me unintelligible. But I think the term may receive 

 some illustration from a passage which I extract from an account of a 

 visit to the Raj-mehal hills near Bhaugulpore in Upper Hindustan. 

 It is the following : 



"At 11 a. m. we set off to visit the neighbouring villages. On 

 reaching the former (Dundah-goddah) we found the inhabitants of both 

 villages assembled for pooja and drinking. — Nearly all the people, to 

 the amount of at least 100, were in a state of intoxication. The noise 

 of the drums, cymbals and singing almost prevented us from hearing 

 our own voices. We witnessed the Pooja which had just commenced, 

 — a fowl and a pig were sacrificed, and a part of the blood of the latter, 

 mixed with cooked grain and tuddee, drank by the Daimno." It is this 

 last preparation which seems to me to harmonize with the way in 

 which Baji is spoken of sometimes as a compound-food, sometimes as 

 a feast. I may remark that I have met with the above extract since 

 making the translation, consequently this was in no way influenced 

 thereby. The Daimno of the Raj-mehal people is apparently the Jani 

 of the Khoonds, and it seems to me that there is a close similarity be- 

 tween the customs of the two sets of mountaineers. Several coinciden- 

 ces appear in the account whence the above extract is made. I have 

 otherwise heard that the hill people of Raj-mehal speak a language 

 like Tamil. The name for village in the above extract goddah, or 

 gudi, is perfectly common in the south, and in parts of Mysore. Any 

 similarity of languages between insulated localities, so distant from 

 each other., argues in favour of an early general language throughout 

 India. 



In the translated paper there are some things that appear otherwise 

 curious, as the pouring out libations, a custom so familiar to the classic 

 scholar ; and an almost universal custom of heathen antiquity. The 

 placing sticks and causing people to pass under, or through them, re- 

 minds one of the Furca of the Romans ; though the import of the act 

 in either case differs. However not to dwell on such things, nor on re- 

 semblances to customs heretofoie among the South-sea-islanders, we 

 may advance to that sacrifice which is briefly alluded to at the close, 

 the merria sacrifice, on that of a human victim. This custom also pre- 



