Modifications of Human Sacrifice.
There are also many instances of the transition from human sacrifices to those of a milder form. Thus, when Ahmadâbâd was building, Mânik Bâwa, a saint, every day made a cushion, and every night picked it to pieces. As he did so the day’s work fell down. The Sultân refrained from sacrificing him, but got him into a small jar and kept him there till the work was over.81 The Villâlis of Pûna on the fifteenth day after a death shape two bricks like human beings, dress them, and lay them on a wooden stool. They weep by them all night, and next day, taking them to the burning ground, cremate them. Among the Telugu Brâhmans of Pûna, if a man dies at an unlucky time, wheaten figures of men are made and burnt with the corpse. The Konkani Marâthas of Kanara on the feast of Raulnâth get a man to cut his hand with a knife and let three drops of blood fall on the ground.82 Formerly in Hoshangâbâd, men used to swing themselves from a pole, as in the famous Bengal Charakh Pûjâ. In our territories this is now uncommon, as the village headmen being afraid of responsibility for an accident, generally, instead of a man, fasten up a white pumpkin, which they swing about.83
At the installation of a Bhuiya Râja, a man comes forward whom the Râja touches on the neck, as if about to cut off his head. The victim disappears for three days; then he presents himself before the Râja, as if miraculously restored to life. Similarly, the Gonds, instead of a human sacrifice, now make an image of straw, which they find answers the purpose. The Bhuiyas of Keunjhar used to offer the head of their prime minister to Thakurânî Mâî. She is now transformed into the Hindu Durgâ and accepts a sacrifice of goats and sheep.84 In Nepâl, after the Sithi Jâtra feast, the people divide into two parties and have a match at stone-throwing; formerly this used to be a serious matter, and any one who was knocked down and fell into the hands of the other side was sacrificed to the goddess Kankeswarî. The actual killing of the victim, as in the case of sacrifices to the goddess Bachhlâ Devî, has now been discontinued under the influence of British officers.85 We shall meet later on in another connection other instances of mock fights of the same kind.