Note 85 — Chapter III · DISEASE DEITIES.
Reading edition
When a new bhuvā is to be initiated into the profession, he is made to sit before an image of the mātā, where he goes into convulsive fits while the dānklān vagādnārs beat the drums and loudly recite hymns in honour of the deity. Afterwards he is taken to a cemetery accompanied by the drummers and an expert bhuvā, where the latter marks out a square on the ground with the edge of a sword. The novice is asked to lie prostrate within the area thus marked out and to get up and lie again, doing the same four times, each time with his head towards each of the four quarters. The bhuvā who initiates the novice and who is thenceforth considered to be the guru or preceptor of the latter, ties a rākhadi (a piece of silk thread) round the elbow of the pupil.85