Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/109

 Rh disturbances in the country, and lives lost in war and by the attacks of wild beasts; if east, happiness for the Raja. I have failed to ascertain why these meanings are attached to the particular directions.

As soon as the birds had flown, the horsemen galloped off to inform the Raja. The next performance was the shooting of Rāvan. Rāvan, the ravisher of Sita, was represented by ten be-turbaned earthenware pots placed on a long bar (Plate VII.). The fifth pot from the right was larger, and from it depended a white robe. The State police provided the firing party, each man firing in turn. A hit to count must be on the bigger pot, or in the region of the heart of the robe. A hit on the cheeks, throat, chin, or top of the head of the biggest pot, or in the heart, was considered to presage good luck, while a hit on the forehead, eyes, or mouth meant misfortune. In case of a hit on one of the lucky spots, the firer received a reward. While I was watching, no hits were scored, and, fearing that my presence might prevent the firers from approaching the figure, I left, and within a short time a satisfactory hit was achieved. The news was conveyed to the Raja by the horsemen, and the proceedings terminated, the procession was reformed, and the Raja returned to his palace.

The following is the explanation given me, by two of the most learned pundits in the state:—Pakhangba, the mythical ancestor of the Manipur Rajas, who is said in the Chronicle "to have assumed the form of God by day, and by night he used to be a man," had a son Khui, who rebelled against him, and for a time was successful, but eventually Khui was slain by his father in single combat in the palace, and his head cut off. His spirit entered a certain somewhat rare bird called wakhembam. To celebrate his victory, Pakhangba instituted a festival on the anniversary of the fight. Those skilled in warlike exercises showed off their skill before the Raja, while a wakhembam was shot at with arrows. In the year A.D. 1726-27, the Raja Gharib Nawaz, the first convert to Hinduism in spite of his Mohammedan name, altered the festival to its present form, and ordained that crows should be substituted for the wakhembam, on account of their being so common. It is only since this change that the flight