A ceremonial implies a priesthood. Under this class come the Deoshi, the Dhami, the Ojha, and the Phantwal.
The first of these is the village, the second the district, priest.
The Ojha is the village exorcist; and the Phantwal a subordinate of the Deoshi. The influence of this clerical body, although probably higher than Mr. Hodgson places it, is, evidently, anything but exorbitant.[118]
I cannot find anything in the Bodo and Dhimal superstitions higher than what was found in Africa. Nor yet is anything essentially different. Similar intellectual conditions develop similar creeds, independent of intercourse; a fact which, the more we go into the natural history of religions, the more we shall verify. We read indeed of oaths and ordeals; but oaths and ordeals are by no means, what they have too loosely been supposed to be, appeals to the moral nature of the Divinity. The dhoom test, in Old Calabar, is an ordeal. The criminal tests of the Fantis are the same. Indeed, few, if any tribes, are without them. What the real ideas are which determine such and such-like ceremonies is difficult for intellectual adults to understand. The way towards their appreciation lies in the phenomena of a child's mind; the true clue to the psychology of rude populations.
If we take the Bodo and Dhimal religions in detail we find ourselves in a familiar field, with well-known forms of superstition around us.
Diseases are attributed to supernatural agency; and the medicine-man, exorcist, or Ojha, is more priest than surgeon.
The feticism of Africa re-appears; at least such is my inference from the following extract. "Batho is clearly and indisputably identifiable with something tangible, viz., the Sij or Euphorbia;[119] though why that useless and even exotic plant should have been thus selected to type the Godhead, I have failed to learn."
Euhemerism, or the worship of dead men deified, is to be found either in its germs or its rudiments; at any rate, one of their deities bears the name of Hajo, a known historic personage. But this may be referable to Hindú influences unequivocally traceable in other parts of the Pantheon.
It is the rites and ceremonies of a country that give us its religion in the concrete. All beyond is an abstraction. These, with the Bodo and Dhimal, are numerous. Invocations, deprecations, and thanksgivings are all mentioned by Mr. Hodgson; and they are all attended by offerings or sacrifices; libations attend the sacrifices, and feasting follows the libations.
The great festivals of the year are four for the Bodo, three for the Dhimal.