KHONDS. The Khonds or Kandhs are a Dravidian tribe found in the Uriya-speaking tract of the Sam balpur District and the adjoining Feudatory States of Patna and Killahandi in India. The Khonds used to offer human sacrifices to the Earth-Goddess. Tari Pennu or Bern Pennu, which were believed to insure good crops. " The mode of performing these tribal sacrifices was as follows. Ten or twelve days before the sacrifice, the victim was devoted by cutting off his hair, which, until then, had been kept unshorn. Crowds of men and women assembled to witness the sacrifice: none might be excluded, since the sacrifice was declared to be for all mankind. It was preceded by several days of wild revelry and gross debauchery. On the day before the sacrifice the victim, dressed in a new garment, was led forth from the village in solemn procession, with music and dancing, to the Meriiih grove, a clump of high forest trees standing a little way from the village and untouched by the axe. Here they tied him to a post, which was sometimes placed between two plants of the sankissiir shrub. He was then anointed with oil, ghee and turmeric, and adorned with flowers: and a species of reverence, which it is not easy to distinguish from adora tion,' was paid to him throughout the day. A great struggle now arose to obtain the smallest relic from his person; a particle of the turmeric paste with which he was smeared, or a drop of his spittle, was esteemed of sovereign virtue, especially by the women. The crowd
-danced round the post to music, and addressing the Earth said, 0 God, we offer this sacrifice to you: give us good crops, seasons, and health.' On the last morning the orgies, which had been scarcely interrupted during the night, were continued till noon, when they ceased, and the assembly proceeded to consummate the sacrifice. The victim was again anointed with oil, and each person touched the anointed part, and wiped the oil on his own head. In some places they took the victim in procession round the village, from door to door, where some plucked hair from his head, and others begged for a drop of his spittle, with which they anointed their heads. As the victim might not be 'bound nor make any show of re sistance, the bones of his arms and, if necessary, his legs were broken; but often this precaution was rendered unnecessary by stupefying him with opium. The mode of putting him to death varied in different places. One of the commonest modes seems to have been strangula tion, or squeezing to death " (J. G. Frazer, G.B.). See E. Thurston: and R. V. Russell.