Note 109 — Chapter III · TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM.

A fire was next made of cowdung and the wood of the Mango and Ber tree. All the articles deposited on the brass plate, with the exception of the cocoanut, were thrown into the fire, and when the flame rose the Thag priest passed the pickaxe with both hands seven times through the fire. The cocoanut was then stripped of its husk and placed on the ground. The officiant, holding the axe by the point, asked: “Shall I strike?” The bystanders assented, and he then broke the cocoanut with the blunt end of the weapon, exclaiming, “All hail, Devî! Great Mother of us all!” The spectators responded, “All hail, Devî, and prosper the Thags.” If the cocoanut was not broken at one blow, all the labour was lost; the goddess was considered unpropitious, and the entire ceremony had to be repeated. The broken shell and kernel of the cocoanut were then thrown into the fire, the pickaxe wrapt in white cloth was placed on the ground towards the west, and all present prostrated themselves before it.109