The reader will doubtless recognize the similarity of these marriage rites to those which are practised by savage tribes in many parts of the world.
In the account of the wedding, the propitiation of the demons is mentioned. This is the key to their religious system, such as it is, and explains the reason for the absence of caste. The Sowrahs of the Plains seem to have a rather better religious system, but that of the Hill Sowrahs is simply demonolatry. They seem to have but little notion of worship, the only ceremonies which have been observed taking place at harvest time. When the crops reach maturity, the owners set small stones upright in the earth as emblems of the presiding demons, and lay before them little heaps of each crop. After the offerings have remained there for some little time, they are consumed at a feast to which the proprietor of the crops invites his relatives and friends.
When a Sowrah dies, his body is burned, the ashes buried, and a small building erected over the spot. Five days after the burial a pot of toddy is laid on the grave, round which are placed a number of leaves representing the ancestors of the deceased. A little toddy is poured upon each leaf, and the remainder is drunk by the people who have assisted at the ceremony. A somewhat similar rite, but accompanied with feasting, is celebrated at the end of the first and fourth years after burial.
According to General Campbell, they do not destroy their female infants, as is done by too many of the Indian tribes, neither do they practise human sacrifice. Yet they will sometimes participate in the remarkable Meriah sacrifice, which will presently be described, and will travel some distance to do so. They do not, however, seem to attach very great importance to the rite, and when General Campbell remonstrated with them on the subject, they at once promised to abandon it, and not even to be present as spectators.
Perhaps the most characteristic trait of the Sowrahs is their absolute truthfulness, which, according to Mr. Hooper, is the result from their want of capacity to invent a lie.
THE KHONDS.
In the now renowned district of Orissa live the remarkable tribes called Khonds, who, like the Sowrahs, appear to be immediately descended from the aboriginal inhabitants, and to have retained, though in a somewhat modified form, several of the customs of their savage forefathers, the chief of which will be briefly described.
The Khonds are active, wiry, and of much darker complexion than the inhabitants of the plains, and neither sex trouble themselves much about clothing. The men wear a few yards of coarse cotton round their waists, a separate piece dyed red hanging down behind like a tail. Their hair is allowed to grow to its full length, and is twisted round and round the head, and fastened in a knot in front, in which the Khond always keeps a few cigars made of tobacco rolled in a green leaf. He generally decorates this top-knot with a piece of red cloth and feathers.