Note 50 — B (continued 2)

I gather50 that some Bōyas in the Bellary district “enjoy inām (rent free) lands for propitiating the village goddesses by a certain rite called bhūta bali. This takes place on the last day of the feast of the village goddess, and is intended to secure the prosperity of the village. The Bōya priest gets himself shaved at about midnight, sacrifices a sheep or a buffalo, mixes its blood with rice, and distributes the rice thus prepared in small balls throughout the limits of the village. When he starts out on this business, the whole village bolts its doors, as it is not considered auspicious to see him then. He returns early in the morning to the temple of the goddess from which he started, bathes, and receives new cloths from the villagers.”