Note 56 — Chapter II · THE HEROIC GODLINGS.

At Kolhápur, dancing is not used in exorcism, but the people suffering from evil spirits sometimes dance and cry out loudly. Some of them loose their hair while dancing, and even strike their heads. Some quarrel like combatants, and some of them try to make speeches like orators. There is a temple of the god Shri Dutta at Narsinhwádi in the Kolhápur State, to which people suffering from evil spirits are brought for a cure. These people cry out loudly when the palanquin of the Swámi Maháráj is carried through the village, and spirits usually quit the bodies of their victims at this time, for it is said that they cannot bear the proximity of the Swámi Maháráj. Patients are also cured by residing in the village for a certain period. On this account the village of Narsobáchiwádi is considered very holy. A big festival is celebrated in this village annually on the twelfth day of the dark half of Ashvin (October). Feasts are given to the Bráhmans, the expenses being borne by the Kolhápur State.56