Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/256

POROJA The Bondas worship Tākurāni in the months of Chaitra and Māgho, and the festival includes the sacrifice of animals. "Their religious ceremonies," Mr. May writes, "consist in offerings to some nameless deity, or to the memory of deceased relations. At each of the principal villages, the Bhondas congregate once a year in some spot conveniently situated for their orgies, when a chicken, a few eggs, and a pig or goat are offered, after which they retire to their houses, and next day assemble again, when the salop juice is freely imbibed till the intoxicating effects have thoroughly roused their pugnacity. The process of cudgelling one another with the branches of the Salop now begins, and they apply them indiscriminately without the smallest regard for each other's feelings. This, with the attendant drums and shrieks, would give one the impression of a host of maniacs suddenly set at liberty. This amusement is continued till bruises, contusions, and bleeding heads and backs have reduced them to a comparatively sober state, and, I imagine, old scores are paid off, when they return to their several houses."

The dead are, as a rule, burnt. By some of the Jhodia Porojas, the ashes are subsequently buried "in a pit a few feet deep, near the burning-ground, and the grave is marked by a heap of stones. A pole is set up in this heap, and water poured on it for twelve days. On the fourth day, cooked rice and fish are set on the way leading to the spot where the corpse was burned. The celebrants of the death rite then take mango bark, paint it with cow-dung, and sprinkle themselves with it. The ceremony concludes with a bath, feast, and drink. Among the Bonda Porojas, some of the jewelry of the deceased person is burnt with the corpse, and the remainder given to the daughter or daughter-in-law.