Note 29 — Chapter II · THE HEROIC AND VILLAGE GODLINGS.

Among the semi-Hinduized Drâvidian races of the Vindhyan range, many of whom worship Gansâm or Râja Lâkhan, the shrine usually consists of a rude mud building or a structure made of bamboo and straw, roofed with a coarse thatch, which is often allowed to fall into disrepair, until the godling reminds his votaries of his displeasure by an outbreak of epidemic disease or some other misfortune which attacks the village. The shrine is in charge of the village Baiga, who is invariably selected from among some of the ruder forest tribes, such as the Bhuiya, Bhuiyâr or Chero. Inside is a small platform known as “the seat of the godling” (Devatâ kâ baithak), on which are usually placed some of the curious earthen bowls already described, which are made specially for this worship, and are not used for domestic purposes. In these water is placed for the refreshment of the godling, and they thus resemble the funeral vases of the Greeks. In ordinary cases the offering deposited on the platform consists of a thick griddle cake, a little milk, and perhaps a few jungle flowers; but in more serious cases where the deity makes his presence disagreeably felt, he is propitiated with a goat, pig, or fowl, which is decapitated outside the shrine, with the national and sacrificial axe. The head is brought inside dripping with blood, and a few drops of blood are allowed to fall on the platform. The head of the victim then becomes the perquisite of the officiating Baiga, and the rest of the meat is cooked and eaten near the shrine by the adult male worshippers, married women and children being carefully excluded from a share in the offering. The special regard paid to the head of the victim is quite in consonance with traditions of European paganism and folk-lore in many countries.29 Lower south, beyond the river Son, the shrine is of even a simpler type, and is there often represented by a few boulders near a stream, where the worshippers assemble and make their offerings.