Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/193

 Hook-SwiftP'incr'' in India. 167

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some favour of the deity Kali, before whose presence this is performed. The performer of the ceremony should bathe early in the morning and be in a state of preparation either for a year or for forty-one days by worshipping the deity Bhagavathi. He must strictly abstain himself from meat, all kinds of intoxicating liquors, and from association with women. During the morning hours, the jierformer dresses himself in a garment tucked into the waistband, rubs his body with oil, and is shampooed particularly on the back ; a portion of the flesh in the middle is stretched for the insertion of a hook. He is also taught by his instructor to perform various feats, called payitta. This he continues till the festival, when he has to swing in fulfilment of the vow.

For kite-swinging, a kind of car resting on two axles provided with four wheels is used. On it there is a horizontal beam resting on two vertical supports. A strong rope tied to a ring attached to the beam is connected with the hook which passes through the flesh on the back. Over the beam there is a small roof which is tastefully decorated, and the inside of which is spacious enough for two or three persons to swing at a time. There is a different arrangement in some places ; instead of the beam and supports, there is a small pole, on which rests a horizontal beam provided with a metallic ring at one end. The beam acts as a lever so that one end of it can be either raised or lowered so as to give some rest to the swinger. The rope tied to the ring is connected with the hook and the waistband. For boat-swinging the same kind of vehicle without wheels is in use. For kite-swinging, the performer has his face painted green, and he has to put on artificial lips and wings similar to those of a kite. He wears long locks of hair like those of an actor in a Kadha kali and the feats are in harmony wifh the tunes of the musical instrument. As he swings, the car is moved three, five^ seven, nine, or eleven times round the temples. In boat-swinging he has to put on the same kind of dress, except the lij)s and the wings, and there is the covered car without the wheels. It is carried round the temple with the swinger performing his feats on it to the accompaniment of music, as above mentioned.

Pillayeduthu thookkam is a kind of swinging with a child by the swinger in fulfilment of a vow. The child, that has to be swung,