Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 12 (Egyptian and Indo-Chinese).djvu/437

Rh is placed a square of red cloth which represents a turban. When any illness breaks out in the house or in the family, the coco-nut is inspected, the special points being that the water, or coco-milk, should not have dried up, and that the stalk should still be intact. If anything is amiss, a fresh nut is put in place of the one which is discarded. There is a suggestion that this use of the coco-nut is a reminiscence of head-hunting, or at any rate of the collection of skulls in ancient days. At all events it is recorded that as long as the feast was kept, sacrifices of animals and offerings of alcoholic liquor were made to the Mahāgiri Nāts. Burmese histories state that in December, 1555, of our era, the Hanthawadi Sinbyuyin, the Branginoco of the early European writers, reached Pagān in the course of his progress through his newly conquered dominions, and there he witnessed the festival held in honour of the Mahāgiri Nāt and his sister. Noticing that white buffaloes, white oxen, and white goats were slaughtered before the altar, and that libations of rice spirits were poured out, he declared that this was quite contrary to the spirit of Buddhism and commanded that it should cease forthwith, on penalty of the pains of hell for those who disobeyed.

New golden heads, fashioned in 1812, replaced the original models made at the command of Bodaw Payā. These later heads, presented by the same monarch, who was the great-great-grandfather of King Thibaw, the last sovereign of Burma, were larger and more finished in their workmanship than the first casts. It is these that are now preserved in Rangoon.

The Mahā Gītā Medanī, the handbook for the worship of the spirits, says that plays must be performed on the occasion of the festival. While these are going on, the spirit wives (Nāt-kadaw), dressed in the garments described in the chant, come forward with twigs of young leaves of the thabye-tree. They prostrate themselves three times, rising to their feet before each prostration, and then they lay down the twigs and begin to dance and sing the Nāt-than: