41 
E. T. Atkinson — Notes on the history 
[No. 1, 
sliall first of all take up the festivals commonly observed by the Knmaon 
Khasiyas as the people of that country are commonly styled by their 
neighbours, then the domestic ritual, and then the various forms of the 
deity worshipped in the numerous temples that stud nearly every hill 
and valley of any importance throughout the Kumaon Himalaya. We 
shall then follow the historic method, and attempt to trace out the deve¬ 
lopment of the existing forms from the earlier Vaidik and Pauranik deities, 
and show how the pre-Brahmanical conceptions have not only been 
engrafted on the Vaidik ideas, but have practically swallowed them up 
and led to the existing rich confusion. 
Kumaon calendar .—Before proceeding with a description of the 
religious festivals observed in Kumaon, it is as well to note that there are 
two modes of computing time in common use, one founded on the sidereal 
divisions of the months, and the other on an intricate adjustment of the 
solar to the lunar year.* The local names of the months are Chait? 
Baisakh, Jeth, Asarh, S'aun, Bhado, Asoj, Karttik, Mangsir, Pus, Man 
and Phagun. The S'aka sanvat follows the solar year, and is used by the 
great mass of the Khasiya population, and in the calendar of festivals 
dedicated to the worship of the pre-Brahmanical forms and the indigen¬ 
ous local deities. The Vikramaditya satnvat is adapted to the luni-solar 
year. It is only used by the later and more orthodox rulers in public 
documents, and is confined amongst the peoj)le to the calendar of festivals 
borrowed from the use of the plains, the calculation of nativities by the 
fashionable Jyotishis and generally in all orthodox ceremonies. The 
gradual conversion of the Khasiya population to Brahmanism is a pheno¬ 
menon well marked in this portion of the Himalaya. The prosperous Dom 
(outcaste) mason becomes a Bajput and the so-called Khasiya Brahman, a 
Brahman, and both mark their advancement in the social scale—for here 
orthodoxy means respectability—by adopting the stricter forms in use in 
the plains. One conclusion we may safely draw that the use of the S'aka 
era in secular matters and the solar calendar in religious observances is 
characteristic of the non-Brahmanised populations, and may be adopted 
as a safe guide to the decision whether a given observance is of Brahmanical 
or other origin. 
Gliait .—The month Chait is considered the first month of the year 
in Kumaon. The eleventh of the dark half is known as the Papa-^mocltmii 
ekddaM, and is observed by those who keep the elevenths of every month 
sacred. The first nine nights of the siidi or liHit half are known as the 
Chait nava-rdtri and are sacred to the worship of the S'akti form of Sfiva 
* For an elucidation of these systems : see Thomas’ Prinsep, IT, 148 : H. H. 
Wilson’s works, II, 151 ; VII, 284 ; Calcutta lleview, I, 257 : Xlll, 65. 
