Diseases and Remedies. — For external wounds they resort to a poultice of warm mud, made of the earth of the ant-hills. They also cauterize with a hot sickle over a wet cloth. For internal ailments they have no medicines. They consider all diseases to be supernatu- ral, and the priest, being the physician, must discover the deity that is displeased. He divides rice into small heaps, ^\•hich he dedicates to sundry gods ; then he bal- ances a sickle with a thread, jjuts a few grains upon each cud of it, and calls upon the names of the gods, who answer by agitating the sickle, whereupon the grains are counted, and if the number of them be odd he is offended. The priest becomes " fidl of the god," shakes his head frantically, utters wild and incoherent sentences, etc. Deceased ancestors are invoked in the same way, when offerings of fowls, rice, and liquor are made, which subsequently become the priest's portion.
Marjical ami Swpersiitious Usarjes. — Spells, charms, incantations, etc., are substituted for medicines; wiz- ards, witches, ghosts, sorcerers, augurs, astrologers, con- jurors, and all like means are in constant use. Death is not a necessity, not the appointed lot of man; it is a special penalty of the gods, who destroy through war, or assume the shapes of wild beasts to destroy mankind. Magicians may take avvay life.
Mythnlngij. — (I.) The catalogue of gods worshipped among the Khonds is extensive. (1.) At the head of
the pantheon is the Earth-Goddess, who, with the sun, receives the principal worship. The Earth-Goddess is the superior power, and presides over the productive energies of nature. She is malevolent, and is invoked in war. Slie controls the seasons, and sends the period- ical rains. To her human sacrifices were offered. There are, besides her, (2.) a (iod of Limits, who fixes bounda- ries, and whose altar is on the highways. (3.) The sun and moon ; ceremonially worshipped. (4.) The God of Arms, to whom a grove is devoted. (5.) The God of Hunting, worshipped by parties who hunt in companies of thirty or forty, and siuround their game, (G.) The God of Births, worshipped in case of barrenness. (7.) The God of Small-pox, who ''sows" that disease as men do the earth with seeds. (8.) The Hill-god, without formal worship. ('J.) The Forest-god, to whom birds, hogs, and sheep are offered. (10.) The God of liain. (li.) Of Fountains. (12.) Of Elvers. (13.) Oi' Tanks ; and (1-i.) the village gods, who are the guardians of lo- calities, and of domestic and familiar worship.
(II.) Besides the above principal gods there are infe- rior local or partially ackno-wledged gods, worshipjied under sj'mbols of rude stone smeared with turmeric, etc. The great conservative principle is worshipped.
Priesthood.— The abbayas are the priests, but tliis of- fice may be assumed by others. Priests eat only with priests ; take part in marriages, elections, political coim- cils, etc. They are of about the same level of culture as those of other tribes among Turanian races.
Religious Rites and iSac?-iJices. — Nothing was definite- ly known of the tribes of Gumsur until the British army was brought into colUsion with them in 1836, subse- quently to which the custom of human sacrifices was discovered to exist among them. The British govern- ment, after a long series of efforts, succeeded in abolish- ing it. ]\Iajor Campbell says, " The Khonds generally propitiated their deity (the Earth-Goddess) with human offerings (p. 38, 30). This had been handed down through successive generations, and was regarded as a national duty. In Giimsur it is offered mider the effigy of a bird, in other locrlitics as an elephant (p. 51). The victim, called Ahriuh, must be purchased, may be of any age, sex, or caste, adidts being best, and the more costly the more acceptable. These are purchased from relations in time of famine or poverty, or are stolen from other regions hy professed kidnappers of the Panoo caste (p. 52). In some cases Jleriah women -were al- lowed to live until they had borne children to Khond fathers, the children being reared for sacrifice. . . . The sacrifice, to be efficacious, must be public (p. 53). In Giimsur it was offered annuallj'. The priest officiates. For a month previous there is much feasting, dancing, intoxication, etc. One day before, the victim is stupe- fied with toddy, and bound, sitting, at the bottom of a post bearing an effigy. The crowd dance, and say, 'O god, we offer this sacrifice to you ; give us good crops, seasons, and health.' To the victim they say, 'AVe bought you with a price, and did not seize you ; now we sacrifice you according to our custom, and no sin rests with us' (p. 55). Various other ceremonies are performed, after which they return to the post near the village idol, always represented by three stones, a hog is sacrificed, the blood tlows into a pit, the human vic- tim, having been intoxicated, is thrown in and suffoca- ted in the bloody mire. Tlie priest cuts a piece of the flesh and buries it ; others do likewise, carrying the flesh to their own villages. In some cases the flesh is cut wliile the victim is yet alive, and buried as a sacred and supernatural manure."
Cognate Tribes. — These and other aboriginal races have received so much attention from ethnographers, philologers, and other scientific men that furtlicr details are not needed here. The prominence given to these aboriginal races of late years might justify full articles on the kindred tribes, but, as they are of substantially of the same level, we have chosen to make a tolerably full sketch of the Khonds, as typical of the aboriginal