DEVIL-DANCING IN INDIA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 137, 28 September 1876, Page 2

DEVIL-DANCING IN INDIA.

(Contemporary Review.) It is an extremely difficult thing for a; European to witness a devil-dance. As a rule lie must go disguised, and he must be able to speak the language like a native before he is likely to .be admitted without suspicion into the charmed circle of fascinated devotees. Let me try once more to bring the whole scene vividly before the reader. Night, starry and beautiful, with a broad low moon seen through palms. A still solemn night, with few sounds to mar the silence, save the deep, muffled boom of breakers bursting 011 the coastfull eight miles distant. A lonely hut, a huge solitary banyan tree, grim and lonely. All round spread interminable sands, the only vegetation on which is composed of lofty palmyran and a few stunted thorn-trees and wild iigs. Now the low, ricketty door of the hut is quickly dashed open. .Tue devil-dancer staggers out. Between the hut and the ebon shadow of the sacred banyan lies a strip of moonlit sand, and as lie passes this the devotees can clearly see their priest. He is a tall, haggard, pensive, man, with dsep-simken eyes and matted hair. His forehead is smeared with ashes, and there are streaks of vermilion and saffron over his face. He wears a high conical cap, white, with a red tassel. A long white rob, or angi, shrouds him from neck to ankle. On it are-"worked, in red silk, representations of the goddess. of small-pox, murder, and cholera. Round his ankles, are massive silver spangles. In his right hand he holds a staff or spear, that jingles harshly, every time the ground is struck by it. Tlie same hand also holds a bow, which, when the strings are pulled or struck, emits a cliill booming sound. In.the left hand the devil-priest carries his sacrificial knife, shaped like a sickle, with quaint devices engraved on its blade. The dancer, -with uncertain, staggering motion, reels slowly into the centre of the crowd, and then seats himself. The assembled p-ople show him the offerings they intend to" present, but he appears unconscious. He croons an Indian lay in the low, dreamy voice, with drooped eyelids and head sunken on his breast. He sways slowly to and fro, from side to side. Look? You can see bis lingers twitch nervously. His head begins to wag in a strange, uncanny fashion. His sides heave and quiver,arid'" huge, drops of perspiration exude from his skin. The tomtoms are beaten faster, the pipes and reeds wail- out more loudly. There is* a sudden yell, a stinging, stunning cry, an ear-piercing shriek, a Hideous, abomi vable, gobble-gobble of hellish laughter, and the clevil-clancer has sprung to his feet,, with eyes protruding, • mouth foaming, chest, heaving, muscles quivering, and_ outstretched arms swollen and straining as they were crucified. Now, ever and anon, the quick, sharp words are . jerked out of the saliva-choked mouth—"lam Grod ; lam the true God !"

Then all around him, since he and no idol is regarded as the present diety, reeks the blood of sacrifice. The devotees crowd round to offer oblation and to solicit answers to their questions. "Shall I die of cholera during this visitation?" asks a grey-headed farmer of the farmer of the neighborhood. " O God, bless this child, and heal it, 3 ' cries a poor mother froui the adjoining hamlet, as she holds forth her diseased' babe toward the gyrating priest. Shrieks, vows, imprecations, and exclamations of thankful praise rise up, all blended together in one infernal hubbub. Above, all rise the ghastly guttural laughter of the devil-dancer Jtnd liis stentorian howls—" I am God!: lam the only true God !" He cuts and hacks and; hews himself, and not Very unfrequently lulls -himself there-and then. His answers to the, queries put to him are generally incoherent... Sometimes he is sullen and silent, and sometimes, while the blood from his SBlf-ir_flicted wounds mingles freely with that of his sacrifice, he is most benign,, and showers, his divine favors of health a,rid. prosperity all around him.. Hours pass byv The trembling crowd stand rooted, to feiiei.spofc. Suddetfly tae dancer gives a great.b<>nnd in the air ; when lie descends he is mytiontess. The fiendish look has vanished from his eyes, His demoniacal laughter is still. He speaks to this and triat neighbour quietly and reasonably. He lays aside his garb, washes his fac3 at the nearest rivulet, and walks soberly home, a r mod©3t } well-conducted man.