139 
remove it ? 203^. Is a sacred animal sacrificed and eaten 
as a means of communication with a deity ? 204. Is incense 
used ? and with what motive ? 205. Do people sacrifice 
objects that the deity may be pleased to obtain them ? 
or is there a notion that there is merit in the worshipper 
giving them up ? 206. Are human sacrifices made ? if so, are 
the victims captives or slaves, or the sacrificer’s own children, 
or who ? 207. Are the bodies burned or exposed or eaten ? 
208. Are the souls of the victims considered to go to the 
deity ? 209. Are substitutes in sacrifice used, such as part of 
an animal, an effigy, or imitation? 210. Do worshippers 
sacrifice parts of themselves, such as hair, tips of fingers, 
drops of blood, &c. ? 211. Are oblations and libations usual 
at meals ? and to whom? (Food, No. XXV.) 
Aitsterities. —212. Do priests, devotees, or the whole nation 
perform religious austerities, such as fasting, flagellation, ex¬ 
posure, &c. ? 213. What are the motives ? Are spiritual com¬ 
munications ever obtained by dreams, visions, &c. ? 214. Does 
the suffering of the worshipper give pleasure to the deity ? 
215. Is it a self-imposed punishment for offences ? 216. Are 
austere devotees considered holy ? and are they respected and 
supported by the people ? 217. Is public penance and morti¬ 
fication done on any solemn occasion ? 218. Can the divine 
anger be thus averted ? 
Pmiftcalion .—219. Are ceremonial purifications practised ? 
220. Are any persons at any time impure or unclean, and re¬ 
quiring purification, as after child-birth, during menstruation, 
after bloodshed or funeral, &c. ? 221. Do they purify them¬ 
selves, or is it the priest’s office ? 222. What is used for 
lustration—water, urine, herbs, fire, smoke ? 223. Does any 
kind of baptism exist ? how soon after birth, and connected 
or not with the naming ? 224. Is there an understood dis¬ 
tinction between physical, ceremonial, and moral purification? 
225. Are disease, ill-fortune, contamination by contact with 
the dead, violation of religious ordinances, and moral wicked¬ 
ness capable of being removed by purification ? 226. Is the 
cleaning of the household and lighting of new fire a part of 
the purification? 227. Is unchastity, &c., connected with 
