<SPAN name="ch7"></SPAN>
<h2 class="label">VII</h2>
<h2 class="main">Human Sacrifice</h2>
<div class="blockquote">
<p class="first">“The best known case,” Mr Frazer
writes,<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3431src" href="#xd20e3431" name="xd20e3431src">1</SPAN> “of human sacrifices systematically offered
to ensure good crops, is supplied by the Khonds or Kandhs, a Dravidian
race in Bengal and Madras. Our knowledge of them is derived from the
accounts written by British officers, who, forty or fifty years ago,
were engaged in putting them down. The sacrifices were offered to the
earth goddess, Tari Pennu or Bera Pennu, and were believed to ensure
good crops, and immunity from all diseases and accidents. In
particular, they were considered necessary in the cultivation of
turmeric, the Khonds arguing that the turmeric could not have a deep
red colour without the shedding of blood. The victim, a Meriah, was
acceptable to the goddess only if he had been purchased, or had been
born a victim, that is, the son of a victim father, or had been devoted
as a child by his father or guardian.”</p>
</div>
<p class="first">In 1837, Mr Russell, in a report on the districts
entrusted to his control, wrote as follows<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3442src" href="#xd20e3442" name="xd20e3442src">2</SPAN>:—</p>
<div class="blockquote">
<p class="first">“The ceremonies attending the barbarous rite
(Kondh human sacrifice) vary in different parts of the country. In the
Māliahs of Goomsur, the sacrifice is offered annually to Thadha
Pennoo, under the effigy of a bird intended to <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb200" href="#pb200" name="pb200">200</SPAN>]</span>represent a peacock, with the view of
propitiating the deity to grant favourable seasons and crops. The
ceremony is performed at the expense of, and in rotation, by certain
mootahs (districts) composing a community, and connected together from
local circumstances. Besides these periodical sacrifices, others are
made by single mootahs, and even by individuals, to avert any
threatening calamity from sickness, murrain, or other causes. Grown men
are the most esteemed (as victims), because the most costly. Children
are purchased, and reared for years with the family of the person who
ultimately devotes them to a cruel death, when circumstances are
supposed to demand a sacrifice at his hands. They seem to be treated
with kindness, and, if young, are kept under no constraint; but, when
old enough to be sensible of the fate that awaits them, they are placed
in fetters, and guarded. Most of those who were rescued had been sold
by their parents or nearest relations, a practice which, from all we
could learn, is very common. Persons of riper age are kidnapped by
wretches who trade in human flesh. The victim must always be purchased.
Criminals, or prisoners captured in war, are not considered fitting
subjects. The price is paid indifferently in brass utensils, cattle, or
coin. The zanee (or priest), who may be of any caste, officiates at the
sacrifice, but he performs the poojah (offering of flowers, incense,
etc.) to the idol through the medium of the Toomba, who must be a Khond
child under seven years of age. This child is fed and clothed at the
public expense, eats with no other person, and is subjected to no act
deemed impure. For a month prior to the sacrifice, there is much
feasting and intoxication, and dancing round the Meriah, who is adorned
with garlands, etc., and, on the day before the performance of the
barbarous rite, is stupefied with toddy, and made to sit, or, if
necessary, is bound at the bottom of a post bearing the effigy above
described. The assembled multitude then dance around to music, and,
addressing the earth, say ‘Oh! God, we offer the sacrifice to
you. Give us good crops, seasons, <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb201"
href="#pb201" name="pb201">201</SPAN>]</span>and health.’ After
which they address the victim. ‘We bought you with a price, and
did not seize you. Now we sacrifice you according to custom, and no sin
rests with us.’ On the following day, the victim being again
intoxicated, and anointed with oil, each individual present touches the
anointed part, and wipes the oil on his own head. All then proceed in
procession around the village and its boundaries, preceded by music,
bearing the victim and a pole, to the top of which is attached a tuft
of peacock’s feathers. On returning to the post, which is always
placed near the village deity called Zakaree Pennoo, and represented by
three stones, near which the brass effigy in the shape of the peacock
is buried, they kill a pig in sacrifice, and, having allowed the blood
to flow into a pit prepared for the purpose, the victim who, if it has
been found possible, has been previously made senseless from
intoxication, is seized and thrown in, and his face pressed down until
he is suffocated in the bloody mire amid the noise of instruments. The
Zanee then cuts a piece of the flesh from the body, and buries it with
ceremony near the effigy and village idol, as an offering to the earth.
All the rest afterwards go through the same form, and carry the bloody
prize to their villages, where the same rites are performed, part being
interred near the village idol, and little bits on the boundaries. The
head and face remain untouched, and the bones, when bare, are buried
with them in the pit. After this horrid ceremony has been completed, a
buffalo calf is brought in front of the post, and, his forefeet having
been cut off, is left there till the following day. Women, dressed in
male attire, and armed as men, then drink, dance, and sing round the
spot, the calf is killed and eaten, and the Zanee is dismissed with a
present of rice, and a hog or calf.”</p>
</div>
<p>In the same year, Mr Arbuthnot, Collector of Vizagapatam, reported
as follows:—</p>
<div class="blockquote">
<p class="first">“Of the hill tribe Codooloo (Kondh), there are
said to be two distinct classes, the Cotia Codooloo and Jathapoo
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb202" href="#pb202" name="pb202">202</SPAN>]</span>Codooloo. The former class is that which is in
the habit of offering human sacrifices to the god called Jenkery, with
a view to secure good crops. This ceremony is generally performed on
the Sunday preceding or following the Pongal feast. The victim is
seldom carried by force, but procured by purchase, and there is a fixed
price for each person, which consists of forty articles such as a
bullock, a male buffalo, a cow, a goat, a piece of cloth, a silk cloth,
a brass pot, a large plate, a bunch of plantains, etc. The man who is
destined for the sacrifice is immediately carried before the god, and a
small quantity of rice coloured with saffron (turmeric) is put upon his
head. The influence of this is said to prevent his attempting to
escape, even though set at liberty. It would appear, however, that,
from the moment of his seizure till he is sacrificed, he is kept in a
continued state of stupefaction or intoxication. He is allowed to
wander about the village, to eat and drink anything he may take a fancy
to, and even to have connection with any of the women whom he may meet.
On the morning set apart for the sacrifice, he is carried before the
idol in a state of intoxication. One of the villagers officiates as
priest, who cuts a small hole in the stomach of the victim, and with
the blood that flows from the wound the idol is besmeared. Then the
crowds from the neighbouring villages rush forward, and he is literally
cut into pieces. Each person who is so fortunate as to procure it
carries away a morsel of the flesh, and presents it to the idol of his
own village.”</p>
</div>
<div class="figure xd20e3461width" id="p202"><ANTIMG src="images/p202.jpg" alt="Meriah Sacrifice Post." width-obs="590" height-obs="627">
<p class="figureHead">Meriah Sacrifice Post.</p>
<p class="first">(<i>Hatti mundo.</i>)</p>
<p class="xd20e138">To face p. 202.</p>
</div>
<p>Concerning a method of Kondh sacrifice, which is illustrated by the
wooden post preserved in the Madras Museum, Colonel Campbell
records<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3474src" href="#xd20e3474" name="xd20e3474src">3</SPAN> that “one of the most common ways of
offering the sacrifice in Chinna Kimedi is to the effigy of an elephant
(hatti mundo or elephant’s head) rudely carved in wood, fixed on
the top <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb203" href="#pb203" name="pb203">203</SPAN>]</span>of a stout post, on which it is made to revolve.
After the performance of the usual ceremonies, the intended victim is
fastened to the proboscis of the elephant, and, amidst the shouts and
yells of the excited multitude of Khonds, is rapidly whirled round,
when, at a given signal by the officiating Zanee or priest, the crowd
rush in, seize the Meriah, and with their knives cut the flesh off the
shrieking wretch so long as life remains. He is then cut down, the
skeleton burnt, and the horrid orgies are over. In several villages I
counted as many as fourteen effigies of elephants, which had been used
in former sacrifices. These I caused to be overthrown by the baggage
elephants attached to my camp in the presence of the assembled Khonds,
to show them that these venerated objects had no power against the
living animal, and to remove all vestiges of their bloody
superstition.”</p>
<p>It is noted by Risley<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3481src" href="#xd20e3481" name="xd20e3481src">4</SPAN> that, while the crowd hacked the
body of the victim, they chanted a ghastly hymn, an extract from which
illustrates very clearly the theory of sympathetic magic underlying the
ritual:—</p>
<div class="lgouter">
<p class="line">“As the tears stream from thine eyes,</p>
<p class="line">So may the rain pour down in August;</p>
<p class="line">As the mucus trickles from thy nostrils,</p>
<p class="line">So may it drizzle at intervals;</p>
<p class="line">As thy blood gushes forth,</p>
<p class="line">So may the vegetation sprout;</p>
<p class="line">As thy gore falls in drops,</p>
<p class="line">So may the grains of rice form.”</p>
</div>
<p class="first">In another report, Colonel Campbell describes how the
miserable victim is dragged along the fields, surrounded by a crowd of
half intoxicated Kondhs who, shouting and screaming, rush upon him, and
with their knives cut the flesh piecemeal from the bones, avoiding the
head and <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb204" href="#pb204" name="pb204">204</SPAN>]</span>bowels, till the living skeleton, dying from
loss of blood, is relieved from torture, when its remains are burnt,
and the ashes mixed with the new grain to preserve it from insects. Yet
again, he describes a sacrifice which was peculiar to the Kondhs of
Jeypore.</p>
<div class="blockquote">
<p class="first">“It is,” he says, “always succeeded
by the sacrifice of three human beings, two to the sun in the east and
west of the village, and one in the centre, with the usual barbarities
of the Meriah. A stout wooden post about six feet long is firmly fixed
in the ground, at the foot of it a narrow grave is dug, and to the top
of the post the victim is firmly fastened by the long hair of his head.
Four assistants hold his outstretched arms and legs, the body being
suspended horizontally over the grave, with the face toward the earth.
The officiating Junna or priest, standing on the right side, repeats
the following invocation, at intervals hacking with his sacrificing
knife the back part of the shrieking victim’s neck. ‘Oh!
mighty Manicksoro, this is your festal day. To the Khonds the offering
is Meriah, to the kings Junna. On account of this sacrifice, you have
given to kings kingdoms, guns, and swords. The sacrifice we now offer
you must eat, and we pray that our battle-axes may be converted into
swords, our bows and arrows into gunpowder and balls; and, if we have
any quarrels with other tribes, give us the victory. Preserve us from
the tyranny of kings and their officers.’ Then, addressing the
victim, ‘That we may enjoy prosperity, we offer you as a
sacrifice to our god Manicksoro, who will immediately eat you, so be
not grieved at our slaying you. Your parents were aware, when we
purchased you from them for sixty rupees, that we did so with intent to
sacrifice you. There is, therefore, no sin on our heads, but on your
parents. After you are dead, we shall perform your obsequies.’
The victim is then decapitated, the body thrown into the grave, and the
head left suspended from the post till devoured by wild beasts. The
knife <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb205" href="#pb205" name="pb205">205</SPAN>]</span>remains fastened to the post till the three
sacrifices have been performed, when it is removed with much
ceremony.”</p>
</div>
<p>The Kondhs of Bara Mootah promised to relinquish the Meriah rite on
condition, <i>inter alia</i>, that they should be at liberty to
sacrifice buffaloes, monkeys, goats, etc., to their deities, with all
the solemnities observed on occasions of human sacrifice; and that they
should further be at liberty, upon all occasions, to denounce to their
gods the Government, and some of its servants in particular, as the
cause of their having relinquished the great rite. The last recorded
Meriah sacrifice in the Ganjam Māliahs occurred in 1852, and there
are still Kondhs alive, who were present at it. The veteran members of
a party of Kondhs, who were brought to Madras for the purpose of
performing their dances before the Prince and Princess of Wales in
1906, became widely excited when they came across the relic of their
barbarous custom at the museum. Twenty-five descendants of persons who
were rescued by Government officers, returned themselves as Meriah at
the census, 1901.</p>
<p>It is noted by Mr W. Francis that<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3518src" href="#xd20e3518" name="xd20e3518src">5</SPAN> “goats
and buffaloes nowadays take the place of human meriah victims, but the
belief in the superior efficacy of the latter dies hard, and every now
and again revives. When the Rampa rebellion of 1879–80 spread in
this district, several cases of human sacrifice occurred in the
disturbed tracts. In 1880, two persons were convicted of attempting a
meriah sacrifice near Ambadāla in Bissamkatak. In 1883, a man (a
beggar and a stranger) was found at daybreak murdered in one of the
temples in Jeypore in circumstances which pointed to his having been
slain as a meriah; and, as late as 1886, a formal enquiry <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb206" href="#pb206" name="pb206">206</SPAN>]</span>showed that there were ample grounds for the
suspicion that the kidnapping of victims still went on in
Bastar.”</p>
<p>Even so recently as 1902, a European magistrate in Ganjam received a
petition, asking for permission to perform a human sacrifice, which was
intended to give a rich colour to the turmeric crop.</p>
<p>The flowers with which the sheep and goats which take the place of
human beings are decorated are still known as meriah pushpa in
Jeypore.<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3528src" href="#xd20e3528" name="xd20e3528src">6</SPAN></p>
<p>In an account<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3533src" href="#xd20e3533"
name="xd20e3533src">7</SPAN> of a substituted sacrifice, which was carried
out by the Kondhs in the Ganjam Māliahs in 1894, it is stated
that, “the Janni gave the buffalo a tap on the head with a small
axe. An indescribable scene followed. The Khonds in a body fell on the
animal, and, in an amazingly short time, literally tore the living
victim to shreds with their knives, leaving nothing but the head,
bones, and stomach. Death must mercifully have been almost
instantaneous. Every particle of flesh and skin had been stripped off
during the few minutes they fought and struggled over the buffalo,
eagerly grasping for every atom of flesh. As soon as a man had secured
a piece thereof, he rushed away with the gory mass, as fast as he
could, to his fields, to bury it therein according to ancient custom,
before the sun had set. As some of them had to do good distances to
effect this, it was imperative that they should run very fast. A
curious scene now took place. As the men ran, all the women flung after
them clods of earth, some of them taking very good effect. The sacred
grove was cleared of people, save a few that guarded the remnants left
of the buffalo, which were taken, and burnt with ceremony at the foot
of the stake.” <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb207" href="#pb207"
name="pb207">207</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p>The buffalo sacrifice is not unaccompanied by risk, as the animal,
before dying, sometimes kills one or more of its tormentors. This was
the case near Balliguda in 1899, when a buffalo killed the sacrificer.
In the previous year, the desire of a village to intercept the bearer
of the flesh from a neighbouring village led to a fight, in which two
men were killed.</p>
<p>Like the Kondhs, the Koyis of the Godāvari district believe in
the efficacy of a sacrifice, to ensure good crops. In this connection,
the Rev. J. Cain writes<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3543src" href="#xd20e3543" name="xd20e3543src">8</SPAN> that “the Koyi goddess
Māmili or Lēle must be propitiated early in the year, or else
the crops will undoubtedly fail; and she is said to be very partial to
human victims. There is strong reason to think that two men were
murdered this year (1876) near a village not far from Dummagudem as
offerings to this dēvata, and there is no reason to doubt that
every year strangers are quietly put out of the way in the Bastar
country, to ensure the favour of the bloodthirsty goddess.”</p>
<p>Mr Cain writes further<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3548src" href="#xd20e3548" name="xd20e3548src">9</SPAN> that a langur monkey is now
substituted for the human victim under the name of erukomma potu or
male with small breasts, in the hope of persuading the goddess that she
is receiving a human sacrifice.</p>
<p>On the site of the old fort at Rāmagiri in the Vizagapatam
district, a victim was formerly sacrificed every third year.</p>
<div class="blockquote">
<p class="first">“The poor wretch was forced into a hole in the
ground, three feet deep and eighteen inches square, at the bottom of
which the goddess was supposed to dwell, his throat was cut, and the
blood allowed to flow into the hole, and afterwards his head was struck
off and placed on <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb208" href="#pb208"
name="pb208">208</SPAN>]</span>his lap, and the mutilated body covered
with earth and a mound of stones until the time for the next sacrifice
came round, when the bones were taken out and thrown away. At
Malkanagiri, periodical sacrifices occurred at the four gates of the
fort, and the Rāni had a victim slain as a thank-offering for her
recovery from an illness.”<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3560src"
href="#xd20e3560" name="xd20e3560src">10</SPAN></p>
</div>
<p>The nomad Koravas are said to have formerly performed human
sacrifices, one effect of which was to increase the fertility of the
soil. The following account of such a sacrifice was given to Mr C.
Hayavadana Rao by an old inhabitant of the village of Asūr near
Walajabad in the Chingleput district. A big gang of Koravas settled at
the meeting point of three villages of Asūr, Mēlputtūr,
and Avalūr, on an elevated spot commanding the surrounding
country. They had with them their pack-bullocks, each headman of the
gang owning about two hundred head. The cow-dung which accumulated
daily attracted a good many of the villagers, on one of whom the
headman fixed as their intended victim. They made themselves intimate
with him, plied him with drink and tobacco, and gave him the monopoly
of the cow-dung. Thus a week or ten days passed away, and the Koravas
then fixed a day for the sacrifice. They invited the victim to visit
them at dusk, and witness a great festival in honour of their caste
goddess. At the appointed hour, the man went to the settlement, and was
induced to drink freely. Meanwhile, a pit, large enough for a man to
stand upright in, had been prepared. At about midnight, the victim was
seized, and forced to stand in the pit, which was filled in up to his
neck. This done, the women and children of the gang made off with their
belongings. As soon as the last of them had quitted the settlement, the
<span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb209" href="#pb209" name="pb209">209</SPAN>]</span>headmen brought a large quantity of fresh
cow-dung, and placed a ball of it on the head of the victim. The ball
served as a support for an earthen lamp, which was lighted. The man was
by this time nearly dead, and the cattle were made to pass over his
head. The headmen then made off, and, by daybreak, the whole gang had
disappeared. The sacrificed man was found by the villagers, who have,
since that time, scrupulously avoided the Koravas. The victim is said
to have turned into a Munisvara, and for a long time troubled those who
happened to go near the spot at noon or midnight. The Koravas are said
to have performed the sacrifice, so as to insure their cattle against
death from disease. The ground, on which they encamped, and on which
they offered the human sacrifice, is stated to have been barren prior
thereto, and, as the result thereof, to have become very fertile.</p>
<p>A similar form of human sacrifice was practised in former days by
the nomad Lambādis, concerning which the Abbé Dubois writes
as follows<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3569src" href="#xd20e3569" name="xd20e3569src">11</SPAN>:—</p>
<div class="blockquote">
<p class="first">“When they wish to perform this horrible act, it
is said, they secretly carry off the first person they meet. Having
conducted the victim to some lonely spot, they dig a hole, in which
they bury him up to the neck. While he is still alive, they make a sort
of lamp of dough made of flour, which they place on his head. This they
fill with oil, and light four wicks in it. Having done this, the men
and women join hands, and, forming a circle, dance round their victim,
singing and making a great noise, till he expires.”</p>
</div>
<p>It is recorded by the Rev. J. Cain<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3578src" href="#xd20e3578" name="xd20e3578src">12</SPAN> that the
Lambādis <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb210" href="#pb210" name="pb210">210</SPAN>]</span>confessed that, in former days, it was the
custom among them, before starting out on a journey, to procure a
little child, and bury it in the ground up to the shoulders, and then
drive their loaded bullocks over the unfortunate victim. In proportion
to their thoroughly trampling the child to death, so their belief in a
successful journey increased. I am informed by the Rev. G. N. Thomssen
that, at the present day, the Lambādis sacrifice a goat or
chicken, in case of removal from one part of the jungle to another,
when sickness has come. They hope to escape death by leaving one
camping ground for another. Half-way between the old and new grounds,
the animal selected is buried alive, the head being allowed to be above
ground. Then all the cattle are driven over the buried creature, and
the whole camp walk over the buried victim.</p>
<p>In the course of an interview with Colonel Marshall on the subject
of infanticide<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3585src" href="#xd20e3585"
name="xd20e3585src">13</SPAN> among the Todas of the Nīlgiri hills,
an aged man of the tribe remarked that<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3591src" href="#xd20e3591" name="xd20e3591src">14</SPAN>
“those tell lies who say that we laid the child down before the
opening of the buffalo-pen, so that it might be run over and killed by
the animals. We never did such things, and it is all nonsense that we
drowned it in buffaloes’ milk. Boys were never killed—only
girls; not those who were sickly and deformed—that would be a
sin; but, when we had one girl, or in some families two girls, those
that followed were killed. An old woman used to take the child
immediately after it was born, and close its nostrils, ears, and mouth
with a cloth. It would shortly droop its head and go to sleep. We then
buried it in the ground.”</p>
<p>The old man’s remark about the cattle-pen refers to the
Malagasy custom of placing a new-born child at the <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN id="pb211" href="#pb211" name="pb211">211</SPAN>]</span>entrance to a cattle-pen, and then driving the
cattle over it, to see whether they would trample on it or
not.<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3599src" href="#xd20e3599" name="xd20e3599src">15</SPAN></p>
<p>It is recorded by Bishop Whitehead,<SPAN class="noteref" id="xd20e3604src" href="#xd20e3604" name="xd20e3604src">16</SPAN> in a note
on offerings and sacrifices in the Telugu country, that
“sometimes, when there is a cattle disease, a pig is buried up to
its neck at the boundary of the village, a heap of boiled rice is
deposited near the spot, and then all the cattle of the village are
driven over the head of the unhappy pig.... When I was on tour in the
Kurnool district, an old man described to me the account he had
received from his ‘forefathers’ of the ceremonies observed
when founding a new village. An auspicious site is selected on an
auspicious day, and then, in the centre of the site, is dug a large
hole, in which are placed different kinds of grains, small pieces of
the five metals, and a large stone called boddu-rayée
(navel-stone), standing about three and a half feet above the ground,
very like the ordinary boundary stones seen in the fields. Then, at the
entrance of the village, in the centre of the main street, where most
of the cattle pass in and out on their way to and from the fields, they
dig another hole, and bury a pig alive.”</p>
<p>It is suggested by Bishop Whitehead that the custom of thus burying
a pig may be connected with the worship of an agricultural goddess, or
a survival of a former custom of infanticide or human sacrifice, such
as prevailed among the Lambādis.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />