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104
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1880.
benevolent, and therefore not in need of propi- other light appendages that wave in the breeze. tiation. Their numerous inferior deities are the This is the general shrine for all common occaobjects of their dread, and they do sacrifice sions, and is referred to in all cases of sickness to them, whenever they believe that they have or scarcity. incurred their displeasure. Among the direct In time of sickness, the priest is sent for to objects of their worship are the sun and moon. offer sacrifice to the particular deity he may To ascertain which of the two they should wor- pronounce to have been offended. With his ship on any given occasion, the priest takes a peacock's feathers in his hair, and his official cup of water and some wheat; he then calls the sandals on his feet, and with little other covername of the sun, and drops a grain into the ing, he takes his seat on a low stool in front water; if it sinks, that is a sign that they should of the altar, and addresses it (there is no image) worship the sun; if not, he drops another grain in a low monotonous chant. Meanwhile another into the cop, in the name of the moon, and so person leads the victim round and round the on till one of the grains sinks.
shrine. It is taken away from time to time Their minor deities are so numerous that for lustration, and then led back to the priest, even the votaries themselves cannot tell their who caresses it and feeds it with salt; after names. Rishi is the chief of them. He is this has been repeated, the head is struck off, the same as the Hinda Siva, and is also called and the altar is smeared with the blood. If a Surjong. Rishi is said to preside over second blow should be needed, it would be crops and health, Sorjong over cotton. They thought of ill omer. The sufferer, in whose are one, but divided into two. Their .worship- behalf the sacrifice is made, lies near the priest pers do not know of what gender they are, or during the ceremony. At the burning of the where they live. Rishi is not displeased at dead, if the deceased was of rank, a bullock murder.
was sacrifioed, and the head buried with the Owing porhaps to their having no written body. If he was a chief of the upper Gáros, language, the mythology of the Garos varies the head of one of his slaves is cut off and with the age. In this way they have come to burnt with him. If he was of the first rank, it regard our gracious Queen, "the mother of all was formerly customary for a large body of his the Feringis," as one of their divinities. Un slaves to sally forth and seize a Hinda, and cut happily they have brought into the same pan- off his head, and burn it with their chief's. At theon the Hinda deity Mahadeva, whom they weddings & cock and a hen are slain by the consider the spirit of evil.
priest, but rather for augury than for sacrifice. They claim for themselves a divine origin, The dead are kept four days. They are then and practise hero-worship, making an offering buried at midnight. The pile is erected at to the newly-burnt ashes of the dead, and the distance of a few yards from the chaung, or preserving the images of the deceased in their house. The pile is adorned with stripes of red houses. They regard the higher mountains as cloth, and the head of the victim named above, the abodes of the blessed, the word Asuk, which and the remains are placed in a small boat, signifies mountain, signifying also heaven, the and laid on the top of it. It is fired by the abode of the gods. In the same way the Hindus nearest relation, and the ashes are buried near regard the Himalayas as the dwelling of their the spot, and covered with a small thatched deities.
building surrounded by a railing. A lamp is The first created man is believed by the Gáros lighted every night for a month in the building. to have been a priest, but their priesthood is not Moreover, the wearing apparel of the deceased hereditary. It is the duty of the priest to is hung on poles fixed at each corner of the perform certain rites at weddings and funerals, | railing, and left there for six weeks or two and at the investiture of chiefs; he also names months, after which they are broken and allowed children on the day of their births, but his to hang downwards fill they fall to pieces. most important ministrations are in time of The railed graves of chiefs are decorated with sickness. Every house has one or more altars rude representations of animals placed over the before it. The type is a certain fantastical dis- graves, and the railing is often decorated with position of bamboos, with festoons of cotton and fresh flowers.
