62 
E. T. Atkinson— Notes on the history 
[No. 1, 
and wear them in their head-dress and hence the name Ilarela. The 
Karh sanlcrdnta was the great day of the bagwdU or stone-throwing festival 
for Chamdyol in Patti Gnmdes, Ramgar in Patti Ramgar, at the Narayani 
temple in Siloti and at Bhim Tal in Chhakhata. It was also held at Debi 
Dhura on the full moon of S'ann, at Champawat, Patna in Sui and Siyal 
De Pokhar in Dwara on Bhayya duj or Karttik Sudi 2nd. The hagwdU 
was known as the siti in Nepal* and is said to have been established there 
at a very early period by Raja Gnnakama Deva, who received in a dream 
a command to that effect from Shi Skandaswami, the god of war. He ap¬ 
pears to have revived the custom of the hildtari game which was intro¬ 
duced by Bhuktamana, the founder of the Gwala dynasty, as a portion of 
the games held in the Sleshmantak forest, sacred to the Pasupati form of 
Sbva. Gunakama drew up strict rules for the conduct of the fray which 
were at first carried out with the greatest rigour, and the prisoners captured 
on either side were offered as sacrifices to Devi. The game was played 
from Jeth to Siti-shashti, and though the murder of the prisoners soon fell 
into abeyance, many grievous accidents occurred until at length the cus¬ 
tom was abolished by Sir Jung Bahadur on account of Mr. Colvin, the 
Resident, having been struck by a stone whilst looking on. In these 
districts it was the custom for several villages to unite and defend the 
passage across a river against a similar force from the other side. As the 
hill-men are good slingers injuries occurred and even fatal accidents, so 
that the custom was prohibited, and now the combatants amuse them¬ 
selves merely by pelting stones at some boulder or conspicuous tree. 
In Juhar, the Bhotiyas offer a goat, a pig, a buffalo, a cock and a 
pumpkinf which they call pancha bali to the village god, on the harJc 
sanhrdnta. The day is given up to feasting and drinking spirits and 
towards evening they take a dog and make him drunk with spirits and 
bhang or hemp, and having fed him with sweetmeats, lead him round the 
village and let him loose. They then chase and kill him with sticks and 
stones and believe that by so doing no disease or misfortune will visit the 
village during the year. The festivals on this day at Baleswar in Charal, 
and at Dhernath in Sui Bisang, are attended by all the neighbouring 
villagers. 
Bhado sanhranta. —The Simha or Bhddo sanhrdnta is also locally 
known as the GM or Ghyushgydn sanhrdnta^ because on this day even the 
poorest classes eat ghi or clarified butter, and has the name Walgiya 
because curds and vegetables are then offered by all persons to those in 
authority over them. There is a fair on this day at the temple of Vaish- 
navi Devi at Naikuni in Seti. 
* Wright, 108, 156. 
t Kumila or petha, Cuourbita pepo (Roxb.). 
