Indian Antiquary Vol 55

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 18

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JANUARY, 1928
front of it I found a motley group of spectators and devotees--half a dozen Brahman women, besides others of apparently high caste, and a similar number of men of the same classes, a band of native musicians and about thirty aboriginal" and low caste men, women and children-all standing in a rough ring. In the centre were three figures under "possession," one man and two girls--the Pajari's younger son and the two girls already mentioned. They were dancing. The man was jumping about in a convulsive, furious, ferocious, wild way: the girls in a slow hesitating manner. I pitied the poor girls, who seemed tired out after a few minutes and moved their bodies very slowly. After a time they stopped, and one of them left the place.
She soon returned with five or six other girls, and they began moving round the one girl still " possessed ", singing songs and keeping time with the drum by clapping their hands all bending towards the erected figure. On the other side the possessed man was getting more and more furious. He strained his eyes, distorted his features by making awful grimaces, jumped and limped about, and shouted. The Pajari himself then gave a signal to some of the female spectators, who went to a little spring in the vicinity and brought some water in brass pots. This his son, as the male god, poured over his own head, and then he began to dance 80 violently that those who valued their clothes had to stand back. The ring naturally widened, and the stout gymnastic young fellow got more space for his antics. At last the possessed girl, who was still performing, became quite exhausted and began to lose her balance. The women present supported her, and some of them poured water over her feet, being careful to spare her new eddi, and made her an obeisance. She then moved as an ordinary human being and looked on as a spectator.
The man now had the whole field to himself, and presently he began to speak, and we all listened most attentively :-" There is a man here who thinks I am an impostor and that there is no divinity in such dancing. I will convince him. I will show him a miracle."
At this point the Paj@ri and his friends brought a blunt scythe from the hut and held it up, edge upwards. The young man, i.e., the God, supported himself on the shoulders of these men and stood on the edge of the soythe. This was the miracle. He came off the scythe and began to move round the ring, ejaculating. : "I will show him. I will show my power. I will convince the sceptic." He then stopped in front of a man who had on a European coat and said: "You think I am an imposter. You said so on your way here. You want to test me. All right. I will show you what I am". The poor fellow beat his cheeks with his fingers in token of confession and submission, and was given a flower and blessed. I did not think he was an accomplice. He was merely lacking in moral courage.
The possessed man, as the God, then threw a searching glance at my perfectly blank countenance, moved a little and stopped near the Brahmanis and other high-caste women present and spoke to one of them, who stood forward : “You want a certain thing. I know it. You will soon get what you want ". And then he gave a flower. He went through the same performance with one after another of them. To each he made the same statement in different words, always using guarded language in a vague manner. He never refused the requests.
After several journeys round the ring, the 'God' stopped in front of me and had the effrontery to ask me what I wanted. I replied: "Nothing". But the question was repeated in Several forms -
"Don't you want something for your property?" "No". "Don't you think of your family that you have left so far away?" "No". "Don't you want something you can't get?" "No"