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OCTOBER, 1907.)
A REPORT ON THE PANJAB HILL TRIBES.
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(2). The following things are regarded as necessary, both at the time of sowing and of harvest :
The people generally are very careful of panchak jog, Tuesday, Saturday; amavas puranmishi (full moon) and shankránt at the time of seed sowing and harvesting, but they do not care for evil stars and jogs. If it rains a day or two after seed sowing it is considered ominous. The same is thought of rain at harvest, or of excessive rain at the time of planting a corn-field or one or two days after it, or of rain on the night of janamashtami or puranmashi in Hâr or amdvas in Bhadon.
Ordinarily, land is ploughed twice, but good farmers plough it thrice, i.e., first in lines parallel to the length of the field ; secondly, crosswise from one corner to the other; and thirdly, also crosswise from the third corner to the fourth. The advantage of this is that the soil which remains unturned by the first ploughing is turned by the second, and thus the whole of the field is uniformly made fit for the crops to grow.
A long post is fixed in the field and a bone, or the skin of some animal, is hoisted on this post as a scare crow. Beasts being afraid of it, do not come near and injure the crops. It is also believed to be a safeguard against ghosts or the evil eye.
248. Feasts are given to the Brahmans at the time of digging a well, or a water-channel, or harvest. When a well or a water-channel is ready, the Brabman is made to offer prayers, and after this they are used for watering purposes. When the harvest has cominenced a big wheaton loaf is brought to the field and distributed among all the men present, or a goat is sacrificed and taken home. When corn is separated from the chaff it is collected in a large heap and worshipped, and a portion of it is set aside for the gol. The scrapings are stored in bags or boxes. The people do not use fresh corn without feeding a Brahman with it. Also some grain is devoted to the deceased ancestors, with which Brahmans are fed: At the end of the year -. e., at the end of the kharif season, when all the crops have been garnered - the people of the village bring their god from his temple with great éclat and worship him and sacrifice to him a goat. All the persons accompanying the god and saints and mendicants are fed. Generally this entertainment is given by several villages from the month of Bh idon to Magla, and is called bhadrânja, halan, jágra, panila pehrd or mághoji.
247. Sowing for the rabi crops begins in Asôj and ends in Poh, and that for the kharif continues from Chêt to Hâr. The reaping of crops begins in Baisakh and ends in Hûr for the rabi, and that for the kharif begins in Asôj and ends in Maghar. Sowing and reaping not done at the proper time is defective, and excess or want of rain on both these occasions is harmful.
248. There are no special gods for special seasons.
249. No tribe has any particular god, nor is caste of any importance in becoming a disciple. People can worship any god they choose.
LXXV. - Food and Drink.
250. A detail is given below of the use, or otherwise, of wine, beef, the flesh of a monkey, pork, eloven-Hooled or vacloven-hoofed animals' flash, fowls, fish with or without scales, shark, snake, mice, and other insects, and food of which another person has been eating.
