In Chinna Kimeday a grotesquely cruel mode of sacrifice is employed. In lieu of the peacock which is used at Goomsur, a large wooden figure of an elephant is placed on the post, and revolves on a pivot. The Meriah is tied to the extended proboscis of the elephant, and, amid the yells of the spectators, is whirled round as fast as the figure can be turned. In this case the Meriah is not drugged. At a signal from the officiating zani, the crowd rush on the Meriah with their knives, and in a few moments hack him to pieces as he is tied, still living, on the elephant.
General Campbell, while executing his mission of mercy in Khondistan, saw as many as fourteen of their elephant images, all of which he caused to be pulled down and destroyed by the baggage elephants attached to his force, so that the Khonds might see that those venerated emblems of a cruel worship were powerless even against the animals which they simulated. His task was naturally a difficult one, as it involved the abolition of a rite which had existed from time immemorial, and which no amount of reasoning could persuade them to be wrong, much less criminal. So deeply was it ingrained in their nature, that their only idea of his object in setting free so many hundred Meriahs was, that he might sacrifice them on his own account, in order to bring back water into a large tank which he was thought to have constructed for the use of his elephants.
In this very place, a most singular circumstance occurred. The English officer was told that a sacrifice was being actually performed, the victim being a young and handsome girl, only fifteen or sixteen years old. He instantly started off with an armed party, and found the offering of the Meriah already complete, and nothing wanting but the actual sacrifice. The aged priest was ready to give the signal, and the surrounding people were mad with excitement, when the armed party came to the rescue, and demanded the girl. The Khonds, furious as they were, found that they dared not risk a collision, and so the party retired with the rescued victim.
The remainder of the story has yet to be told. Scarcely were the English soldiers out of sight than the assembled Khonds broke out into loud murmurings at their disappointment. At last one of them hit upon a happy thought. “Why,” said he, “should we be debarred from our sacrifice? See our aged priest. Seventy summers have passed over his head—what further use is he? Let us sacrifice him.” And forthwith the old man was tied on the elephant, spun round, and cut to pieces.
In Maji Deso another mode of sacrifice is employed. They do not keep a large supply of Meriahs, as do most of the tribes, but buy them immediately before the sacrifice. The consequence is, that it is very difficult to detect them, except in the very act of offering the victim. Their mode of killing the Meriah is as follows. The Khonds surround the victim, and beat him on the head with the heavy metal bracelets, which they are in the habit of wearing. Mostly they kill him in this way, but if they fail in doing so, they strangle him with a split bamboo, as has already been described. The flesh of the back is then cut into long and narrow strips, and each person carries off a strip and suspends it on a pole, which he thrusts into the bed of the stream which waters his fields.
In Patna, the mode of sacrifice varies exceedingly. In some cases the victim is stoned, in others beaten to death with bamboos, together with other barbarous modes of putting to death. General Campbell remarks, that in this district there are places where sacrificing and non-sacrificing tribes inhabit the same village. They live harmoniously together until the time of sacrifice, when the non-sacrificing tribes retire to their houses, and never pass through the front door of their dwellings until seven days are over, and the remains of the Meriah buried. After that time, all goes on as usual, until the next sacrifice takes place.
Bundari appears to be the place where the people adhere most firmly to the Meriah system. When General Campbell visited this district, they refused to give up the Meriah, and on the near approach of his force, fled to their hiding-places in the mountains. As he approached Bundari, he found that the people had been actually offering a sacrifice, and that they had gone off in such haste that they had left behind them the sacrificial post with the head of a victim hanging to it by the hair, and the fatal knife suspended beside it. The mode of sacrifice employed in this district is thus described:—
“The sacrifice which had taken place, and which is called Junnah, is performed as follows, and is always succeeded by the sacrifice of three other human victims, two to the sun to the east and west, and one in the centre, with the usual barbarities. A stout wooden post 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 zani, 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:—
“‘O mighty Manicksoro, this is your festal day (to the Khonds the sacrifice is Meriah, to the Rajahs, Junnah). On account of this sacrifice you have given to Rajahs countries, guns, and swords. The sacrifice we now offer, you must eat; and we pray that our battle-axes may be turned into swords, and our bows and arrows into gunpowder and balls, and if we have any quarrels with other tribes, give us the victory, and preserve us from the tyranny of Rajahs, and other officers.’
“Then, addressing the victim, he added, ‘that we may enjoy prosperity, we offer you 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 gunties (articles) that we did it with intent to sacrifice you; there is, therefore, no sin on our heads, but on those of your parents. After you are dead, we shall perform your obsequies.’”