At the ti dairy salt is given to the buffaloes on certain other occasions and with a far more elaborate ritual. The ceremony is then called ponup, or ‘festival salt,’ and takes place soon after the migration from one dairy to another. At the Nòdrs ti the salt is given on the Wednesday following the Sunday on which the migration has occurred, and at the Kars ti and the Pan ti, on Sunday, a week later than the procession.
On the night before the ceremony the palol shuts up the buffaloes in the special pen called the pon tu.
On the morning of the appointed day, when the churning is finished, but before the buffaloes have been milked, each palol brings six sprigs of the shrub called puthimul, each sprig having on it five or six leaves. Three of these sprigs [[178]]are put on one side, and the other three are used as follows:—Rice has been previously prepared and placed either on the leaf called kakuders or on that called katers. The palol makes a hole in this food in which he puts butter, and, taking the first sprig of puthimul, he plucks from it one leaf and, using it as a spoon, takes up some of the food and puts it on the fire in the fireplace called tòratthwaskal, saying the name of the chief teu or god of the ti. He then takes some of the butter, and holds it over the fire till it drops, when he utters the name of the same god. He repeats this with a second leaf of the puthimul, saying the name of the second most important god of the ti, and so on with the other leaves. I obtained the fullest account of ponup from Koboners, who had been palol of the Kars ti, and here food and butter were put on the fire six times, saying the names of Anto, Nòtirzi, Kuzkarv, Kulinkars, Onkomn, and Karmanteu.
The kaltmokh then brings water taken from the ordinary stream in the vessel called mòrkudriki, and gives it to the palol, who sits in the outer room facing towards the inner room, and throws some of the rice in front of him once, some behind him once, and the rest outside the dairy. He puts some salt on the fire, and taking the water brought by the kaltmokh, he sprinkles it before and behind him as he had done with the food.
Then follows kaizhvatiti, i.e., the kaltmokh pours out buttermilk for the palol. This is the only occasion on which this act takes place before the buffaloes have been milked, the ceremony of drinking buttermilk on every other occasion taking place when the morning’s work is over. The palol gives food to the kaltmokh, and here, again, there is a feature peculiar to this day, for the kaltmokh eats his food sitting in the place in the hut where the palol usually sits.
The buffaloes are then milked, after which the palol fetches three sticks of the kind ordinarily called kwadrikurs, but at the ti, kakul. Each is used for a special purpose and has a corresponding name, one being called irpasthkakul, the second kwarkul, and the third parkul.
The palol takes buffalo-dung in both hands and the irpasthkakul in the right hand, and separates certain buffaloes [[179]]from the rest by knocking their backs three times with the dung and stick. At the Kars ti two buffaloes are separated in this way; at the Nòdrs ti five buffaloes are set apart, one of each kind, three by the ti palol, and two by the wars palol. These buffaloes are known as ponir. The dairy is then purified with the dung and water. The irpasthkakul is laid on one side, and the palol puts salt in the basket called ponmukeri, and takes it with the water-vessel called karpun to the place where salt is to be given, taking also the remaining sprigs of puthimul and a bundle of fern.
At the place for the ceremony there is a stone called ponkars (when there are two palol there will be two stones), and at the stone the palol makes a vessel of clay and water so as to resemble a milking-vessel. This clay vessel is called teukwoi (teu, god, and kwoi, milking-vessel).
The palol then takes two perfect tudr leaves, and fastens them together with the petioles of other leaves, so that they form a cup which is called püvup. Salt is placed in this leaf vessel, which is laid down by the side of the teukwoi. One such vessel is made for each buffalo, two at the Kars ti and five at the Nòdrs ti.
The palol then takes the stick called kwarkul, and with it makes a hole in the middle of each teukwoi, saying (at the Kars ti) “antok teukwoi ûrîj, paln!” (“To Anto in teukwoi make hole, O palol!”). He then makes other holes round the sides of the clay vessel, saying the names of the other gods in the same manner. (At the Kars ti those which have already been given. At the Nòdrs ti the names of five gods are mentioned—Anto, Kulinkars, Nòtirzi, Kuladrvan, and Kuzkarv.) Two pieces of tudr bark and a sprig of puthimul are then placed in each hole, saying for the first, “Antok teukwoi et, paln!” (“To Anto in teukwoi put, O palol!”), and this is repeated with the name of a different god for each hole.