Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/159

Rh worshipped by the Bants and the Billavas are Kōti Baidya and Chennaya Baidya, who always have Billava pūjāris. These two Bhūtas are the departed spirits of two Billava heroes. The spirit of Kujumba Kānje, a Bant of renown, belongs to this class of Bhūtas. Amongst the most well known of the others, may be mentioned Kodamanitāya and Mundaltaya, and the jungle demons Hakkerlu and Brahmērlu. The Holeyas worship a Bhūta of their own, who is not recognised by any other class of the people. He goes by the name of Kumberlu, and the place where he is said to reside is called Kumberlu-kotya. Very often a stone of any shape, or a small plank is placed on the ground, or fixed in a wall, and the name of a Bhūta given to it. Other representations of Bhūtas are in the shape of an ox (Mahīsandāya), a horse (Jārāndāya), a pig (Panjurli), or a giant (Baiderlu). "The Bhūta worship of South Canara is of four kinds, viz., kōla, bandi, nēma, and agelu-tambila. Kōla, or devil dancing, is offered to the Bhūtas in the sthana of the village in which they are supposed to reside. The Sudras of the village, and of those adjacent to it, assemble near the sthāna, and witness the kōla ceremony in public, sharing the cost of it by subscriptions raised among all the Sudra families in the village in which the ceremony is held. Bandi is the same as kōla, with the addition of dragging about a clumsy kind of car, on which the Pompada priest representing the Bhūta is seated. Nēma is a private ceremony in honour of the Bhūtas, held in the house of anyone who is so inclined. It is performed once in ten, fifteen, or twenty years by well-to-do Billavas or Bants. The expenses of the nema amount to about Rs. 600 or Rs. 700, and are borne by the master of the house in which the nēma takes place.