Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/77

 The Holi : a Vernal Festival of the Hindtis. 65

fire-walking took place at night, according to some at an auspicious time fixed by an astrologer ; but the Panda in his hut constantly passed his hand through the flame of a lamp, and, when this no longer burned his flesh, he declared that the hour had arrived. The fire was then lighted, and the villagers, armed with short clubs, circled round the fire, dancing and keeping the people away. The dry thorns blazed up fiercely, and, if the Panda passed through the flame at once, it would be a miracle if he escaped without severe burns. He leisurely disrobed, went to the tank, accompanied by an old woman, entered the water, and dipped two or three times, being dressed only in a turban and loin-cloth. The old woman preceded him on his return with a brass pot full of water, which she threw on the edge of the fire, and then the Panda jumped through it, sinking nearly to the knees in the burning cowdung, the flames of which, however, are not very severe. He is said to escape without singeing even the hair on his legs. He told Captain Hearn that he knew spells {mantra) which he communicates to his successor in office, but only on his deathbed. There was no suspicion that he was under the influence of drugs. ^^

The Bhils of Khandesh, at the Holi, dig a hole four feet long and eighteen inches deep, which is filled with live coals. The priest mutters an invocation, fans the coals till they grow bright, offers a chicken, waves a sword six times over the fire, and then orders a Bhil to walk upon it. He takes six steps in the fire three times in succession. Mr. Horst, a European officer who happened to be present, sus- pected trickery, but he found that the feet of the performer were not burnt or blistered, and the same was the case with his orderly, a Muhammadan from Oudh, who volunteered to walk through the fire.^

Similar accounts from other parts of the country are

3'.l/a;/, vol.'v. (1905), pp. 154-5. '^^ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. .'cii. (iS8o), p. 93 n. E