and foliage. The bullock of the village proprietor leads the way,
and has flaming torches tied to his horns. The bullocks of the other
cultivators follow according to the status of each cultivator in
the village, which depends upon hereditary right and antiquity of
tenure, and not on mere wealth. A Kunbi feels bitterly insulted if
his bullocks are not awarded the proper place in the procession. A
string across the arch is broken by the leading bullock, and the
cattle are then all driven helter-skelter through the arch and back
to the village. The rite would appear to be a relic of the communal
sacrifice of a bullock, the torches tied to the proprietor's bullock
signifying that he was formerly killed and roasted. It is now said
that this bullock is full of magic, and that he will die within
three years. The rite may be compared to the needfire as practised
in Russia when all the horses of the village were driven between two
fires, or through fire, and their bridles thrown into the fire and
burnt. The burning of the bridles would appear to be a substitute
for the previous sacrifice of the horse. [235] The Pola ceremony of
the Kunbis resembles the Roman Suovetaurilia inasmuch as all the
cultivators participate in it according to their status, just as
the rank of Roman citizens was determined by their position at the
ceremony. Formerly, if a bull was sacrificed and eaten sacramentally
it would have been practically an exact parallel to the Roman rite.

93. The caste _panchayat_ and its code of offences.

The tribunal for the punishment of caste offences is known as the
_panchayat_, because it usually consists of five persons (_panch_,
five). As a rule a separate _panchayat_ exists for every subcaste over
an area not too large for all the members of it to meet. In theory,
however, the _panchayat_ is only the mouthpiece of the assembly,
which should consist of all the members of the subcaste. Some castes
fine a member who absents himself from the meeting. The _panchayat_
may perhaps be supposed to represent the hand acting on behalf of
the subcaste, which is considered the body. The _panchayat_, however,
was not the original judge. It was at first the god before whom the
parties pleaded their cause, and the god who gave judgment by the
method of trial by ordeal. This was probably the general character
of primitive justice, and in some of the lower castes the ordeal is
still resorted to for decisions. The tribe or sub