between her shoulders, and this remained covered with the cat's fur.1

The worship of the heroes of the Mahâbhârata does not prevail widely, unless we have a survival of it in the worship of the Pânch Pîr. At the last Census in the North-Western Provinces less than four thousand persons declared themselves worshippers of the Pândavas. The number in the Panjâb is even smaller.

WORSHIP OF THE LOCAL GODLINGS.

We now come to the local or village godlings, a most nondescript collection of deities, possessing very various attributes. There is good reason to believe that most of these deities, if not all, belong to the races whom it is convenient to call non-Aryan, or at least outside Brâhmanism, though some of them may have been from time to time promoted into the official pantheon. But Dr. Oppert,* writing of Southern India, remarks that "if the pure Vedic doctrine has been altered by the influx of non-Aryan tenets, so have also the latter undergone a change by coming in contact with Aryan ideas, and not only have males intruded into the once exclusive female circle of the Grâmadevatâs, but also a motley of queer figures have crept in, forming indeed a very strange gathering. The Grâmadevatâ-prathishtha mentions as Grâmadevatâs the skull of Brahma, the head of Vishnu, the skull of Renukâ, the figure of Draupadî, the body of Sîtâ, the harassing followers of of Siva (the Pramathas), the attendants of Vishnu (Pârishadas), demons, Yoginîs, various kinds of Sâktis made of wood, stone, or clay; persons who were unsuccessful in their devotional practice, Sunasepha, Trisanku, Ghatotkacha, and others; Devaki's daughter, multiform Durgâs and Sâktis; Pûtanâ and others who kill children; Bhûtas, Pretas, and Pisâchas; Kûsmânda, Sâkinî, Dâkinî, Vetâlas, and others; Yakshas, Kirâtadevî, Sabarî, Rudra, one hundred millions of forms of Rudra; Mâtangî,√ 1 Knowles, "Folk-tales from Kashmîr," 10.

In the hill country of manages the worship aggregate of the local

Syâmalâ, unclean Ganapati, unclean Chândalî, the goddess of the liquor pot (Surabhandeswarî), Mohinî, Râkshasi, Tripurâ, Lankhinî, Saubhadevî, Sâmudrikâ, Vanadurgâ, Jaladurgâ, Agnidurgâ, suicides, culprits, faithful wives, the goddesses of matter, goddesses of qualities, and goddesses of deeds, etc." Through such a maze as this it is no easy task to find a clue. The non-Brâhmanic character of the worship is implied by the character of the priesthood. In the neighbourhood of Delhi, where the worship of Bhûmiya as a local godling widely prevails, the so-called priest of the shrine, whose functions are limited to beating a drum during the service and receiving the offerings, is usually of the sweeper caste, Sîtalâ, the small-pox goddess, is very often served by a Mâli, or gardener. Sir John Malcolm notes that the Bhopa of Central India, who acts as the village priest, is generally drawn from some menial tribe.' South Mirzapur, the Baiga who of Gansâm, Râja Lâkhan, or the deities, known as the Dih or Deohâr, is almost invariably a Bhuiyâr or a Chero, both semi-savage Drâvidian tribes. Even the shrine erected in honour of Nâhar Râo, the famous King of Mandor, who met in equal combat the chivalrous Chauhân in the pass of the Aravalli range, is tended by a barber officiant. Though the votaries of the meaner godling are looked on with some contempt or pity by their more respectable neighbours, little active hostility or intolerance is exhibited. More than this, the higher classes, and particularly their women, occasionally join in the worship of the older gods. At weddings and other feasts their aid and protection are invoked. Every woman, no matter what her caste may be, will bow to the ghosts which haunt the old banyan or pîpal tree in the village, and in time of trouble, when the clouds withhold the rain, when the pestilence walketh in darkness, and the murrain devastates the herds, it is to the patron deities of the village that they appeal for assistance.

1 "Central India," ii. 206.

2 Tod. "Annals," i. 67; for other examples see Buchanan, "Eastern India," ii. 131, 352, 478; "Central Provinces Gazetteer," 110.

VILLAGE SHRINES.

The shrine of the regular village godling, the Grâmadevatâ or Ganwdevatâ, is generally a small square building of brick masonry, with a bulbous head and perhaps an iron spike as a finial. A red flag hung on an adjoining tree, often a pîpal, or some other sacred fig, or a nîm, marks the position of the shrine. In the interior lamps are occasionally lighted, fire sacrifices (homa) made and petty offerings presented. If a victim is offered, its head is cut off outside the shrine and perhaps a few drops of blood allowed to fall on the inner platform, which is the seat of the godling. These shrines never contain a special image, such as are found in the temples of the higher gods. There may be a few carved stones lying about, the relics of some dismantled temple, but these are seldom identified with any special deity, and villagers will rub a projecting knob on one of them with a little vermilion and oil as an act of worship.

1

Speaking of this class of shrine in the Panjâb, Mr. Ibbetson writes: "The Hindu shrine must always face east, while the Musalmân shrine is in the form of a tomb and faces the south. This sometimes gives rise to delicate questions. In one village a section of the community had become Muhammadan. The shrine of the common ancestor needed rebuilding, and there was much dispute as to its shape and aspect. They solved the difficulty by building a Musalmân grave facing south, and over it a Hindu shrine facing east. In another village an Imperial trooper was once burnt alive by the shed in which he was sleeping catching fire, and it was thought best to propitiate him by a shrine, or his ghost might become troublesome. He was by religion a Musalmân, but he had been burnt, not buried, which seemed to make him a Hindu. After much discussion the latter opinion prevailed, and a Hindu shrine with an eastern aspect now stands to his memory."

To the east of the North-Western Provinces the village shrines are much less substantial erections. In the Gangetic

1 "Panjâb Ethnography," 114.