Abstract
Buffalo Sacrifice.—The sacrifice of a buffalo at an annual festival in honour of one of the two chief village deities of Manakaddu, Salem City, Aladras Presidency, is described by Mr. F. J. Richards in the Indian Antiquary for August. The festival is held in February or March in each year and usually lasts for some weeks. The sacrifice here described took place on March 7–8, the seventeenth day of the festival, which had begun on February 19. In the evening the processional images of the two deities, Mâri-amman and Solli-amman, are brought to the temple of Kâli, with whom Selli-amman is identified, and after the sacrifice of a sheep the images of the goddesses are carried in procession around the village, Selli-amman's vehicle being a lion and that of Mari a horse. In front walks the pariah whoso privilege it is to slay the buffalo, carrying tho sacrificial knife on his shoulder. His torch-bearer is also a pariah, whose office is hereditary. The goddesses are then carried clockwise around the temple. A plaintive hymn is sung while two men rock tho images of each goddess. After the singing of the hymn all females must go home. The buffalo victim is then led to the edge of a pit 50 yards in front of tho temple. It must be male. After offerings have been made to the victim by the priest and it has been garlanded and sprinkled with red-ochre, sandal and saffron on tho forehead, tho pariah awaits tho signal that the goddess accepts the victim. This is signified by the shivering of the beast. The victim is held by the people and the pariah severs the neck with two or three blows. The attendant then mixes the blood with boiled rice, which ho hands to the executioner, who conveys it to his mouth and then rushes like a madman around the village, at each comer throwing a few grains of blood-sodden rico into tho air. The pariahs at the graveside throw the body into the pit, and it must be completely buried before the pariah returns from his circuit of the village. The pariah returns in front of tho temple and after a few ecstatic screams, the spirit of the goddess loaves him. The festival closes with tho sacrifice of sheep and a general feast on the 8th or 16th day after.
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Research Items. Nature 130, 631–633 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130631a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130631a0