Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/105

 COLLECTANEA.

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chief interest attaching to certain ceremonies performed in Manipur on the Bijoya Dhasami, the fourth day of the Durga Puja, lies in the manner in which customs prevalent before the conversion of the people to Hinduism have been adapted to the requirements of the new faith. I will begin by describing the ceremonies as I have just seen them performed.

The site of the performances is chosen after consultation with the Panji-sang or College of Soothsayers, who declare which direction is favourable to the Raja and the State. This year (1909) the west was declared to be the lucky direction, and so the ceremony took place at Gwa Kaithel (the Betel-nut Market), two miles from Imphal on the Silchar Road. The festival is known as the Kwak Jatra (Crow Festival). About 2 p.m. a procession started from the palace. First came a long line of litters, each containing some person of a certain amount of importance, carried by hill men, some five hundred of whom were summoned for this purpose. Each worthy was attended by various persons, carrying, one his hookah, and another his betel-nut dish, or, if the occupant be entitled to it, an umbrella. Each litter contained a looking-glass, which the occupant made frequent use of After the litters came a crowd of spearmen and swordsmen, and the pony of the State Arrow-thrower, last representative of the dreaded Manipur horsemen. Behind this motley crew came the Senaputti (Commanderin-Chief), on an elephant, and behind him came the Raja on another elephant. All along the route every householder stood at