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DECEMBER, 1876.]
CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEA.
855
from the English translation quoted by Sir Walter Elliot. That stands thus:"With many standards very splendid,
Song and music playing five times a day; Mounting ten thousand horses
With golden hoofs and jewelled trappings." But the text, as given by the translator himself, is as follows:
Ghan nisan bahu sadd, Nad sur panch bajat din. Das hazêr hay chaşhat
Hem nag jatit sâj tin. of which a literal rendering would be“Many instruments of various nott, A noise of the five kinds of music playing every
day. Mounting ten thousand horses,
Their trappings broidered with gold and jewels," which, it will be seen, is something very different.
Further I would observe that naubat, corresponding precisely to the Hindi pahra, certainly means originally a turn,' i.e. the time for changing guard, when the drums were beat and it is only secondarily that it comes to mean the drum itself. As its primary signification has thus no connection with music of any kind, it is highly improbable that its final syllable should be the same with the but in saclobut and barbut. The latter is probably the Greek BápBitov; though Râjâ Siva Prasad tells me that the frame of the instrument is shaped like a goose (vata), and that this is the origin of the name.
F. S. GROWSE.
then rubbed with oil, or butter, and turmeric, which operation is more important than would appear at first sight, as while it is going on the important question of the prospects of the crops is solved in the following way :-If the bullock, while its neck is being rubbed, passes dung, the crops are sure to be good ; if it passes urine, they will be moderate; and if it does neither, only the most scanty crops can be expected.
On the morning of purnima the cattle are washed, their horns and often their bodies are coloured with kdo (a kind of red earth), and they are decked with bells, silver and brass chains, and garlands of flowers. They are then worshipped and fed with cakes, and ambil-a kind of gruel mixed with turmeric, oil, and salt. The implements of husbandry are also besmeared with oil and káo, and worshipped. It should also be noted that the cattle are taken in procession to the river and bathed.
In the evening two bullocks belonging to the chief patil are decked out in ali sorts of ornaments, and taken round the old town to the spot near the temple of Maruti, where & gate formerly stood. Over the road at this place a toran is erected made of plantain stems and mango and pipal leaves. As the bullocks approach it they are urged on to fall speed, and their driver as he passes under the toran breaks it with his whip or a rope, after which the bullocks are taken home.
The final ceremony resembles the "French and English" game of one's childhood. The patil procures from a Mhang a leather rope some thirty or forty feet long, the ends of which are laid hold of by the assembled crowd, who divide themselves into two parties, and tug against one another till the rope breaks. It is then divided into numerous pieces, which are eagerly sought after : for happy is the man who is able to throw one of these pieces into his granary, as his store is sure not to fail.
E. W. WEST.
THE BENDUR CEREMONIES IN SÅNGLI.
In a former Part of this journal (vol. II. p. 335) I made a note of a custom prevailing in the Dharwad districts, the most prominent features of which were certain observances connected with cattle on a particular date, and an attempt to divine the prospects of the coming crops by means of the animals. I have remarked a similar practice here (Sangli), but there are points of difference which seemn sufficiently interesting to make the Bendur custom, as it is called in these parts, worthy of being noted.
The first point of difference is in the time. The Kari takes place on Jesht Purnima, while the Bendur is celebrated on Ashâd Purnimat just a month later. The practice here is as follows :On the previous evening the legs of the cattle are washed with water, and they are given for the nonce the names of certain propitious stars, such as Pusha, Ashlesha, and so on. Their necks are
• Nisan is from the root svan, 'to sound,' and is not the Persian nishan, 'a banner.' Sadd is for sabda, and not for Suddha, bright; sur is for svara, din for din prati, day by day' or every day i' and ma is not for nakh
A SORCERER'S PUNISHMENT. SIR-I send a note of a curious case which occurred lately in this (Krishna) district.
A Mála (or Paridh) weaver called Chinnadasari settled in the village of Petirpalem about a year ago. Soon after his arrival he began to be sus. pected of practising sorcery; and it was rumoured that he had the power of destroying men by causing devils to enter into them, and of bringing cholera and other diseases upon them. At length a woman died after a prolonged and painful delivery, and Chinnadasari was believed to have been the cause of (which, by the way, means not'a hoof, but 'a Dail' or claw'), but is a name for 'n precious stone.'
I find Bendori Purnima often used a synonym for Ash & Purnima.
