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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY, 1894.
and Chennaga Beidya. It is also said that a Bantle of the name of Kujumba Kasje died, and has since become a demon of the class to which the Beiderlu belong, and is, therefore, now included among them. The temple set apart for the Beiderlu to reside in is called a garudi.
There is another kind of demon called Brahmara, Berma, or Brahmarakshasa. He is said to reside in forests, or amidst a group of trees, and sthanas are built for him in such places. These are called Berma-sthånas. The difference between this demon and the other Bhūtas lies in the fact that the officiating priest must be a Brâhman, whilst for all the other Bhûtas, any Billavar is entitled to become an officiating priest, if he is so inclined. This Berma-demon does not receive néma, kola, or any such kind of worship; but the Brahman goes to the Berma-sthåna occasionally - at the new-moon and such festivals and offers puja there, just as he would at the shrine of any other Hindu god. People of other castes bring offerings of fruits and flowers and cocoanats and plantains, etc., at the same time.
There are also Bhatas connected with temples, and the place set apart for them is called a gudi. These are considered to be the attendants of the god of the temple, and receive no kind of worship. But the officiating priest of the god pours some holy water (tirtha, i, e., the water in which the god has been washed) and puts some flowers and sandalwood paste (i. e., the prasáda)20 on the stones representing them. In some places the priest does this daily, in others it is done once & fortnight or on special occasions only.
The Holeyns, or Pariahs of South Canara, worship a Bhata of their own, who is not recognised by any other class of the people. He goes by the name of the Kumberly, and the place where he is said to reside is called Kamberlu-kotya.
The Bhatas who reside in sthånas, and the Beiderlu who resides in the garudi, receive homage and worship from all the the "Sudras of the village where the sthana is. The worship offered to these demons is of four kinds, viz., kola, bandi, nôma and agelu-tambila.
Kola is offered to the Bhatas in the sthána of the village, in which they are supposed to reside. The Sadras of the village, and of those adjacent to it, assemble near the sthana, and witness the kola ceremony in public, sharing the cost of it by subscriptions, raised among all the Südra families in the village in which the ceremony is held.
Bandi is a kola, with the addition of dragging about a clumsy kind of car, on which the pombada, or priest, representing the Bhuta, is seated.
Nema is a private ceremony in honor of the Bhutas, held in the house of any one who is so inclined. It is performed once in ten, fifteen or twenty years by well-to-do Billavars or Banțs. The expenses of the néma amount to about Rs. 600 or Rs. 700, and are borne by the master of the house in which the néma takes place. The giver of the feast is obliged by custom to feed all the people of his caste who assemble at his house during the whole time that the ceremony lasts, which is usually from three to five days. He is also obliged to give presents of ancooked food and fruits, etc., to all who are prohibited from partaking of his food by their caste-customs. But he is partly, and sometimes fully, compensated by the presents, which are given to him by his fellow-castemen, and by the offerings brought to the Bhatas.
During the nema, the Bhutas, i.e., the things representing them, are brought from the stháng to the house of the man giving the feast, and remain there till it is over.
The rites and ceremonies, eto., in all the three kinds of worship, known as koļa, néma, and bandi, are similar.
19 The Bant, Bapti and Başta of those texts appear to mean a man of the Balijo or trading caste. See Kitts, Compendium of Castes.
20 Flowers are used in adorning the god, and sandalwood rubbed on flat stone and formed into & paste is applied to it. The paste and the flowers are afterwards considered to be sacred and are given to the worshippers, who reverently put them on their heads. The whole, flowers and paste, are called prasada.
