thing
not to see a drop of blood come from tin's cut flesh, and not to see a
sign of it even on the hook, and in two days they are entirely cured by
the drugs which the Brahmans give them. There are others at this
festival who make beds for themselves with points of iron and lie upon
them ; these points enter deep into the flesh, and while both are doing
these penances their relatives and friends bring them presents, such as
betel, money, or pieces of calico. When the penance is finished the
penitent takes all these presents and distributes them to the poor, not
wishing to profit by them himself.1 I asked some of these
people why they gave this feast and underwent this penance, and they
said it was in memory of the first man, whom they called Adam like us.2
I
shall relate also an example of a strange kind of penance which I saw
when sailing up the Ganges on the 12th of May 1666. A clean place on
the margin of the river had been prepared, in which one of these poor
idolaters was condemned to place himself on the ground many times
during the day, supported only on his hands and feet, and to kiss the
ground three times before rising, without daring to touch it with the
rest of his body. When he rose it was necessary for him to do so on the
left foot, with the right foot in the air, and every morning during a
whole month, before drinking or eating, he was obliged to place himself
in this position fifty times in succession, and kiss the ground one
hundred and fifty times. I was told that the Brahmans had inflicted
this penance on him for having allowed a cow to die in his house, not
having taken it to the margin of the water according to custom, in
order that it might be bathed while dying.3
in
British India. On one occasion, in the Rajmahal hills, a deputation of
Santals waited on Ball to ask for his intercession with the Government
to permit its revival, on the ground that their neglected deities, out
of revenge, caused injury to their families and flocks. See a full
acco'unt of the rite by J. H. Powell, Folk-Lore, xxv. 147 ff., with photographs. It is not peculiar to the Malda District. On swinging as a magical rite see Frazer, The Golden Bough, The Dying God, 277 ff.
1 For the penance of lying on a spiked bed see Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-lore, i. 92 ; Id., The People of Northern India, 128 ; Greaves, Kashi, 54, with photographs.
* Tod (Annals of Rajasthan, iii. 1754) heard a Rajput call Siva-Mahadeva Bate, or Father, Adam. 3 See vol. ii. 169.
