Note 43 — Chapter IV · THE WORSHIP OF THE SAINTED DEAD.

Even the thieving and nomadic tribes have as their godlings deified bandits. Such is Gandak, the patron of the Magahiya Doms, and Salhes, who is worshipped by the Doms and Dusâdhs of Behâr. He was a great hero and the first watchman. He fought a famous battle with Chûhar Mâî of Mohâma, and is the subject of a popular epic in Tirhût. With his worship is associated that of his brother Motirâm, another worthy of the same kind.43 At Sherpur near Patna is the shrine of Goraiya or Gauraiya, a Dusâdh bandit chief, to which members of all castes resort, the higher castes making offerings of meal, the outcastes sacrificing a hog or several young pigs and pouring out libations of spirits on the ground. But even here the primitive local cultus is in a state of transition, as in the case of Salhes, who, according to some, was the porter of Bhîm Sen.44 Doubtless he and his comrades will some day blossom forth as manifestations of one or other of the higher gods.