ns in the
tribe (each child is declared by the priest to be N.N. deceased and
returned), or is re-born and suffers punishments, or is
annihilated.[14] The god of judgment lives on Grippa Valli, the
'leaping rock,' round which flows a black river, and up the rock climb
the souls with great effort. The Judgment-god
decides the fate of the soul); sending it to the sun (the
sun-soul), or annihilating it, etc. The chief sins are, to be
inhospitable, to break an oath, to lie except to save a guest, to
break an old custom, to commit incest, to contract debts (for which
the tribe has to pay), to be a coward, to betray council. The chief
virtues are, to kill in battle, to die in battle, to be a priest, to
be the victim of a sacrifice. Some of the Khonds worship the sun-god;
some the earth-goddess, and ascribe to her all success and power,
while they hold particularly to human sacrifice in her honor. They
admit (theoretically) that Bella is superior, but they make Tari the
chief object of devotion, and in her honor are held great village
festivals. They that do not worship Tari do not practice human
sacrifice. Thus the Civaite sacrifice of man to the god's consort is
very well paralleled by the usage that obtains among them. The Khond
priests may indulge in any occupation except war; but some exercise
only their priestcraft and do nothing else. The chief feast to the
sun-god is Salo Kallo (the former word means 'cow-pen'; the latter, a
liquor), somewhat like a _soma_-feast. It is celebrated at harvest
time with dancing, and drinking, "and every kind of licentious
enjoyment." Other festivals of less importance celebrate the
substitution of a buffalo for human sacrifice (not celebrated, of
course, by the Tari worshippers). The invocation at the harvest is
quite Brahmanic: "O gods, remember that our increase of rice is your
increase of worship; if we get little Rice we worship little." Among
lesser gods the 'Fountain-god' is especially worshipped, with a sheep
or a hog as sacrifice. Female infanticide springs from a feeling that
intermarriage in the same tribe is incest (this is the meaning of the
incest-law above; it might be rendered 'to marry in the tribe').

Of the Or[=a]ons, or Dhangars,[15] we shall mention but one or
two good parallels to what is found in other religions. These
Dravidians live in Bengal, and have two annual festivals, a harvest
feast and one celebrating the marriage of heaven and earth. Like the
Khonds, the