Note 1 — Chapter IV · RELIGION

Sherh.—This term is used to describe the portions of the animal sacrificed, which are reserved for the god or Huai. These portions vary slightly in different sacrifices, but, generally speaking, they are the extremities and some of the internal organs, such as the heart, liver, or entrails. In every case the extremities are included. I believe the Khasis offer these to the “thlen.”1 I have found the Manipuri iron-workers when about to work a new deposit, also offer the hair from the end of the tail and from the fetlocks, and a little blood drawn from the ear of the buffalo, to the local god. Having become Hindus, they can no longer kill the animal as their forefathers did, but still make this offering of the “sherh.” “Sherh” is also used in the sense of tabu. Thus a house in which a sacrifice has been performed may be said to be “sherh,” meaning that no one outside the household may enter it. Portions of the animal killed are kept for certain periods, during this time are “sherh,” and cannot be touched by outsiders. A woman is “sherh,” for some days after her confinement, and during that time must not go to the water supply.