Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/409

Rh and told that he had been sold to them, that his sorrow would affect his parents only, and that he was to be sacrificed for the prosperity of the people. He was conducted to the spot where the god and goddess had been found, tied with ropes, and held fast by the Khonds. He was made to lie on his stomach on the wooden structure, and held there. Pieces of flesh were removed from his back, arms and legs, and portions thereof buried at the Khond's place of worship. Portions were also set up near a well of drinking water, and placed around the villages. The remainder of the sacrificed corpse was cremated on a pyre set alight with fire produced by the friction of two pieces of wood. On the following day, a buffalo was sacrificed, and a feast partaken of. Next day, the bamboo post was removed outside the village, and a fowl and eggs were offered to the deity. The following stanza is still recited by the Janni at the buffalo sacrifice, which has been substituted for that of a human victim : — Oh ! come, male slave; come, female slave. What do you say? What do you call out for. You have been brought, ensnared by the Haddi. You have been called, ensnared by the Domba. What can I do, even if you are my child. You are sold for a pot of food. The ethnological section of the Madras Museum received a few years ago a very interesting relic in the shape of a human (Meriah) sacrifice post from Baligudu in Ganjam. This post, which was fast being reduced to a mere shell by white-ants, is, I believe, the only one now in existence. It was brought by Colonel Pickance, who was Assistant Superintendent of Police, and set up in the ground near the gate of the reserve Police barracks. The veteran members of a party of Kondhs, who were brought to Madras for the purpose of performing before