Note 52 — Chapter IV · ANIMAL-WORSHIP.

In Pûna, Dattâtreya is guarded by four dogs which are said to stand for the four Vedas, and at Jejuri and Nâgpur children are dedicated to the dogs of Khandê Râo. The Ghisâdis, on the seventh day after a birth, go and worship water, and on coming back rub their feet on a dog. At Dharwâr, on the fair day of the Dasahra at Malahâri’s temple, the Vâggayya ministrants dress in blue woollen coats and meet with bell and skins tied round their middles, the pilgrims barking and howling like dogs. Each Vâggayya has a wooden bowl into which the pilgrims put milk and plantains. Then the Vâggayyas lay down the bowls, fight with each other like dogs, and putting their mouths into the bowls, eat the contents.52 In Nepâl, there is a festival, known as the Khichâ Pûjâ, in which worship is done to dogs, and garlands of flowers are placed round the neck of every dog in the country.53 Among the Gonds, if a dog dies or is born, the family has to undergo purification.54