Bulletin ..., Volumes 4-5

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Superintendent, Government Press, 1901 - Ethnology
 

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Page 51 - On the day before the sacrifice the victim, dressed in a new garment, was led forth from the village in solemn procession, with music and dancing, to the Meriah grove, a clump of high forest trees standing a little way from the village and untouched by the axe.
Page 133 - I saw a man bearing away upon his back something enveloped in an ample covering of scarlet cloth ; he was surrounded by twenty or thirty young fellows, and by them protected from the desperate attacks made upon him by a party of young women.
Page 174 - Nayres never look upon any of the children born of their mistresses as belonging to them, however strong a resemblance may subsist, and all inheritances among the Nayres go to their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, born of the same mothers, all relationship being counted only by female consanguinity and descent. This strange law prohibiting marriage was established that they might have neither wives nor children on whom to fix their love and attachment ; and that, being free from all family...
Page 53 - Government to help in putting an end for ever to the inhuman and barbarous practices, writes * that " one of the most common ways of offering the sacrifice in Chinna Kidemy is to the effigy of an elephant, + rudely carved in wood, fixed on the top of a stout post, on which it is made to revolve. After the performance of the usual ceremonies, the intended victim is fastened to the proboscis of the elephant, and, amidst the shouts and yells of the excited multitude of Khonds, is rapidly whirled round,...
Page 115 - directly the woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places on his forehead the mark which the women usually place on theirs,, retires into a dark room, where there is only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When the child is born it is washed and placed on the cot beside the father, assafoetida, jaggery, and other articles are then given, not to the mother, but to the father.
Page 174 - By the laws of this country, these nayres cannot marry, so that no one has any certain or acknowledged son or father ; all their children being born of mistresses, with each of whom three or four nayres cohabit by agreement among themselves. Each one of this confraternity dwells a day in his turn with the joint mistress, counting from noon of one day to the same time of the next, after which he departs, and another comes for the like time. They thus spend their lives without...
Page 52 - He is then anointed with oil, ghee, and turmeric, and adorned with flowers; and a species of reverence, which it is not easy to distinguish from adoration, is paid to him throughout the day. And there is now infinite contention to obtain the slightest relic of his person ; a particle of the turmeric paste with which he is smeared, or a drop of his spittle, being esteemed, (especially by the women,) of supreme virtue.
Page 174 - ... each of whom three or four nayres cohabit by agreement among themselves. Each one of this confraternity dwells a day in his turn with the joint mistress, counting from noon of one day to the same time of the next, after which he departs, and another comes for the like time. They thus spend their lives without the care or trouble of wives and children, yet maintain their mistresses well according to their rank. Any one may forsake his mistress at his pleasure ; and in like manner, the mistress...
Page 147 - The sons, when mere children, are married to mature females, and the father-in-law of the bride assumes the performance of the procreative function, thus assuring for himself and his son a descendant to take them out of Put.
Page 116 - The husband learns from his wife the probable time of her confinement, and keeps at home awaiting the delivery. As soon as she is confined, he goes to bed for three days, and takes medicine consisting of chicken and mutton broth spiced with ginger, pepper, onions', garlic, etc. He drinks arrack, and eats as good food as he can afford, while 115 his wife is given boiled rice with a very small quantity of salt, for fear" that a larger quantity may induce thirst.

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