Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/186

 1 54 Jhtll-baitino\ Biill-racino-, BulI-fioJits.

as in the case of cattle-driving by the Ahirs, the object may be to stimulate and strengthen them, and thus fit them to be of use in the land of spirits.

A custom of driving cattle among the Bhils of Western India presents some features of special interest. At the Diwali festival, which seems to be the appropriate time for these practices connected with cattle, the ground in front of the shed is cleaned, and a small circle is marked out with grains of rice. In this circle a lighted lamp and seven balls of cooked rice or maize are placed on leaves. A fire is set alight and some butter is thrown upon it. A man, generally the house-master, lays his hand on five chickens — seven and five being sacred numbers — throws water over them and offers them to the god Indra, saying : " O Dharma Indra ! This sacrifice we oft'cr to thee. During the coming year keep our cattle free from disease, do not afflict them with sickness, increase them, and be kindly ! " At the same time a second man cuts the throats of the chickens, and a third sprinkles spirits on the ground, saying: " O Dharma Indra ! We pour this liquor to thee ! " Then the cattle, cows and oxen, are released from the shed, that of the headman being the first to be opened. When all the cattle are collected they are driven over the body of a Bhil, who lies at full length on the ground, with his face downwards. In consideration of his running the risk of being injured by the herd, he receives from the headman a gift of a sheet or a turban. ^'^

The object of this rite is obscure, and in the account from which I have quoted the people themselves give no explanation. It possibly may represent the commutation of a human sacrifice. In a case quoted by Sir James Frazer, which Mr. Sidney Hartland has kindly examined in the original authority, a newborn child in Madagascar is placed at the entrance of a cattle shed, and the herd is driven over it to ascertain whether they will trample it or

■'' Bombay Gazetteer, ix, part i. 306.