Note 41 — Chapter II · THE HEROIC AND VILLAGE GODLINGS.

In parts of the Panjâb41 Khera Devatâ or Chânwand is identified with Bhûmiya; according to another account she is a lady and the wife of Bhûmiya, and she sometimes has a special shrine, and is worshipped on Sunday only. To illustrate the close connection between this worship of Bhûmiya as the soil godling with that of the sainted dead, it may be noted that in some places the shrine of Bhûmiya is identified with the Jathera, which is the ancestral mound, sacred to the common ancestor of the village or tribe. One of the most celebrated of these Jatheras is Kâla Mahar, the ancestor of the Sindhu Jâts, who has peculiar influence over cows, and to whom the first milk of every cow is offered. The place of the Jathera is, however, often taken by the Theh or mound which marks the site of the original village of the tribe.