Note 62 — Chapter II · THE HEROIC GODLINGS.

At Chauk in the Kolába District the villagers perform a special púja or worship of the god Krishna in order that the village cattle may be protected.62 At Sasawane a fair called pále jatra is held in the month of Bhádrapad (September) in order that the villagers may have a good harvest, and that their cattle may be protected against tigers and disease.63 At Akol, on the day which follows the Ganesh-Chaturthi, people throw parched rice over their fields and houses so that the rats may not run over them.64 At Málád in the Thána District, for the protection of cattle, the god Wághoba is worshipped at night on the 12th of Ashvin which is called the Wágh-báras.65 In some villages of the Thána District the deity Wághoba or Wághya is worshipped on the 12th day of the dark half of Kártik. On that day the cowherds collect a quantity of milk and prepare a kind of food known as Khir by mixing jágri and cooked rice. They then proceed to the stone image of the deity in the jungle, and besmear it with new red-lead or shendur. They pour a portion of the sweet milk over the stone, and offer prayers for the protection of their cattle. They then partake of the remaining milk.66 At Agáshi and other neighbouring villages, before the fields are ploughed, the villagers assemble and collect a certain sum of money, with which they buy goats, fowls, red-powder, cocoanuts and parched grain. A goat and some cocks are then sacrificed to the spirits residing in the cemeteries and at the boundary of the village. Cocoanuts besmeared with gulál red powder are also offered to these ghost godlings. A goat decorated with garlands and red powder is then made to walk round the village three times at night, accompanied by the villagers, who throw láhya parched rice while passing. This rite is called Siwa Bándhane or binding the boundary, and is supposed to protect the village crops and cattle. No farmer dares to sow his seed unless this rite has been performed. After this rite has been performed, every farmer appeases his family deity, i.e. Khandoba, Bahiroba, Kankoba, etc., by performing a ceremony at home called Deopan or Devaśki, which relates to the worship of ancestors. Most of the farmers regard one of their dead ancestors as their chief deity, and represent him in their house by a cocoanut. They do not enter on any new business without first offering prayers to this cocoanut, and they also believe that they can bring evil upon their enemies by simply cursing them before the deified cocoanut. The only materials generally required for the worship of this cocoanut are red powder, incense and flowers. On rare occasions, goats and fowls are sacrificed. It is believed that the ancestor in the cocoanut likes to be worshipped by the wife or husband (as the case may be) of the person represented by the cocoanut. Some farmers, in addition to the cocoanut, worship a stick or cap of their ancestor along with the cocoanut, and offer prayers for the protection of their cattle, for good rain and harvest, and also for the destruction of their enemies.67