Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/287

Rh ment of horns and tom-toms; each man puts his left arm round his neighbour's waist, and when they are tired certain solo dancers come forward, these latter move in a more animated and rapid manner; it was thus, perhaps, that David may have danced before the ark.

When the excitement has arrived at its height, some of the temple attendants seize hold of various palanquins and dance them up and down violently, they also make the godlings in them salaam to each other, and to Rugonath; finally, the Raja himself leaves his tent, goes down the hill and takes part in a grand procession of all the gods; he grasps the rope attached to Rugonath's car at the place of honour, i.e., nearest to this ponderous wooden structure, and assists to drag it a considerable distance. As soon as the car arrives at a particular point, a large bonfire is lighted, this is the conclusion of the festivities. After this the gods and their various attendants disperse to their different homes.

At other times also it is not at all an uncommon sight to witness the male sex in Kulu dancing together hand in hand, to the number of five or six perhaps, to the accompaniment of their own voices; but they do not put as much energy into their movements as the people of the Spiti valley, whose dances we now propose to describe.

Spiti, a valley situated in the western Himalayas, is from 120 to 130 miles in length; its population is a purely Buddhist one. This valley lies between the valley of the Satlej and that of Lahoul. It has a mountain barrier at each end, viz. the Hangerung, a pass over 14,000 feet, and the Bara Lacha, 16,000 feet above the sea, which renders it impossible for its inhabitants to quit their country or to return to it during at least half the year, should they have wandered away from it in search of the means of subsistence. Very few strangers go thither, consequently the natives of this valley have very little intercourse with the outer world. Their character forms a marked contrast to that of the Hindú or the Musulman. They are what their surroundings have made them, a hardy, rude, and independent race of people. Though Spiti is under British rule its inhabitants are necessarily almost without European control. They have a head or chief of their nation, styled the Nono, whose office is hereditary. They are probably an almost pure Tibetan race. Their wants