When they have expended all their energies the revellers bring the festival to a
close, and each village-company bears back its patron-goddess to her own little
sanctuary.
Whether, as some surmise, this ceremony is associated with any tradition of
Noah’s Ark, we cannot pretend to determine. But it is certain that some legends
of the Flood still linger among the hillmen. There is a popular myth which tells
of a mighty ship built by Manu and the Seven Sages, in which they stored the
seed of all kinds of life, and of its being rescued by Brahma when the Deluge
overwhelmed the primitive earth. Brahma, it says, drew the great vessel for
many days until he reached a high peak of the Himalayas, where he moored it
securely. In memory whereof, the peak has ever since borne the name of
Naubandhana.
Mr. W. Simpson, who has seen much of India and the Indians, describes an Ark-
festival which he witnessed in a Himalayan valley. After indulging in the usual
ceremonial ablutions, the people of the district assembled at the village of
Coatee to do honour to its patron-goddess. The Khuda was brought out, and with
dance and music, conducted in noisy procession through the deep shades of the
forest and its lonesome glens, until they reached a certain grove, in which a
small temple was situated. The Khuda was then deposited on the paved space in
front; and an aged priest washed all the brazen faces with mint leaves and water
previous to offering up incense, flowers, fruit, and bread.
A number of playful young kids were next brought forward. The priest sprinkled
them with water. On the ground lay a large flat brazen dish, and one of the
villagers stood beside it with a sacred hatchet, rudely ornamented. At a single
blow he struck off the head of a kid. The priest’s assistant raised the head, and
muttering certain words, presented it to the Khuda. Dipping his finger into the
blood, he flicked some drops upon the carven image, and placed the head with
the other offerings. Meanwhile, the kid’s body had been so disposed that all its
blood dripped into the brazen vessel; and when two or three animals had been
sacrificed and the dish was full, one of the men lifted it up, and, first presenting
it to the Khuda, turned round, and swang the body against the whitewashed wall
of the temple, so as to empty it of blood. This ceremony was thrice repeated.
The festival is known as the Akrot-ka-pooja, or Walnut Festival, from the
pastime that follows the sacrificial scene. The priest, with a few companions,
takes his place in the balcony of the temple, and all the young men present pelt
them liberally with walnuts and green pine-cones, which the group in the