All treasure e,oncealed underground for a length of time is said to become the property of demons, who take charge of and only part with it to those who satisfy their desire for blood ; tho greater the demon, the higher is tho kind of sacrifice he demands.
The Gond worship many deities, t,o whom they offer fowls, goats, fruit, rice, grain, spirita, and whatever the country affords.
The Woon district in East Berar came under tho care of the British about the middle of the 19th century, when Berns was assigned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. Before the assignment, searchers for treasure used to offer human beings in sacrifice, but the victims there are now con fined to buffaloes, sheep, goats, and fowls. A buffalo is sacrificed in every village in the Dassorah festival, to tho goddess of kine, Gaodevi, and the buffalo is led up to the house of the head-man of the village, who makes to it oblations of flowers, etc. He then strikes it on the muzzle with a sword, and allows the blood to fall on the ground as a libation t,o the goddess, to appeaste her anger. It is then led to the door of every house in tho village ; each householder makes a money present to the leader ; in the evening the victim is killed by its throat being cut, and at the south boundary of the village a drop of its blood is applied to the foreheads of the head-man, of the potail, tho deshpandi, and desiunukhs. Outside of every Woon village is a shrine of the smallpox goddess, called there Sitla Devi. It is merely a few stones coloured with red lead ; and after recovery from this ailment, the family in which the disease has been visit the shrine, offer a goat as a victim, and prepare food for this oblation.
With the Kol, ono or two of the IIindu gods are reverenced, but they have many of their OW11 non-Aryan deities, to which they mostly resort They sacrifice fowls, and pour libations before eating. Colonel Tod describes a lofty three peaked mountain in the Nindbya range on which vs a temple dedicated to Aya-mata, also called leant, the tutelary divinity of the Kol, and he mentions that Isani and the effigy of the horse aro the only objects worshipped among this aboriginal race. Ile mentions that Isani means mother - earth, from Tea, goddess, and Annul, earth. The chief divinity of the Larka Kol is the sun, anntj ; and next to the run ranks tho moon, chanda ; and then the antra, which they believe to be the children of the moon. Besides
the eun and moon, there are apirits esdled bhonga which inhabit the trees and grovel! In and around the village, and Om trees are never denuded of their branches or cut down. When labour paine come on, the women are slhut up in a lonely hut, offerings are hung up near to propitiate the bhonga, and no one ventures to approach till the labour is over.
The Kandh hail long been addicted to eacrifIce human beings to the earth goddess. Tho victim was always purchased, and was destroyed with mueh ceremony, in the midst of assembled Kandhs, each of whom tore off a portion of the body to bury in his field as a propitiation.
The Indian Government became aware of the ICandh custom about the year 1834, and took immediate measures to induce them to discontinue it, and the year 1860 passed by withont a single meriah. Captain MacVicear and Colonel Camp be,ll exerted themselves to suppress it. Among the Kandhs, when performing this meriah sacri fice, which was quite common up to the year 1850, a stout stake was driven into the soil, and to it the victim was fastened, seated, and anointed with ghi, oil, and turmeric, decorated with flowers, and worshipped during the day by the assembly. At nightfall the licentious revelry was resumed, and on the third morning tho victim got some milk t,o drink, when the presiding priest implored the goddess to shower her blessings on the people, that they might increase and multiply, prosperity attend their cattle and poultry, fertility their fields, and happiness to the people generally. The priest recounted the origin and advantage of the rite, and concluded by stating that the goddess bad been obeyed and the people assem bled. Other softening expressions were recited to excite the compassion of the multitude. Aft,er the ceremony, the victim was taken to the grove where the sacrifice was to be carried out ; and to prevent resistance, the bones of the arm and legs were broken, or he was drugged with opium or datura. The Janni wounded his victim with his axe, and this act was followed up by tho crowd, who pressed forward to obtain a piece of his fleeh t,o bury in their fields, and in a moment he WAS stripped to the bone.