Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-06-28
A WEIRD SCENE.
Devil Dancing I'm India-The Sacred
Banyan Tree-A Wild and Outlandish

Banyan Tree-A Wild and Outlandish
Ceremony.
It is an extremely difficult thing, says
a traveller, for European to witness a
devil dance. As rule, he must 90 dis
guised, and he must be able to speak
tbs language like native before he is
likely to be ad nitted without suspicion
into the charmed circle of fascinated
devotees, each eager to press near the
possessed priest to ask him questions
about the fortune while the divine affla-
tus is in it's full force upon him. Let
me try once more to bring the whole
scene wildly before the reader. Night,
starry and beautiful with 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 on the coast
full eight miles distant. A lonely hut
huge solitary banyan tree grim and
gloomy. All round spread intermin-
able sands, the only.vegetation on which
is composed Of lofty palmyran and a
few stunted thorn trees and wild figs.
In the midst of this wilderness rises,
specter like, that aged enormous tree,
the banyan, haunted by most ruth
less she devil. Cholera is abroad in the
land, and the natives know it is she who
has sent them the dreaded pestilence.
The whole neighborhood wakes to the
determination that the malignant
power must be Immediately propitiated
in the most solemn and eHectual man.
ner. The appointed night arrives, out
of the village and hamlet and hut pours
the wild crowd of men and women and
children. In vain the Brahmins tinkle
their bells at the neighhoring temple;
the people know what they want, and
the diety which they must reverence as
supreme lust now On flows the crowd
to that gloomy island in the star-lit
waste-that weird, hoary banyan. The
circle is formed; the fire is lit; the off
springs are got ready-goAts and fowls,
and rice, and pulse, and sugar, and
ghee, and honey.
The white chaplets of oleander
blossoms and jasmine buds. The tom
toms are beaten more loudly and rapid
ly, the hum Of rustic converse is stilled,
and a deep hush of awe-stricken ex-
pectancy holds the motley assemblage.
Now the low, rickety door of the hut is
quickly dashed open. The devil
dancer staggers out. Between the hut
and the ebon shadow of the sacred
banyan lies strip of moonlit sand, and
as he passes this the devotees can
plainly see their priest. He is tall,
haggard, pensive man. with deep
sunken eyes and matted hair. His
forehead is smeared with ashes and
there are streaks of vermillion and
saffron over his face. He wears a high,
conical cap, white, with red tassel
A long white robe, or angi, shrouds
him from neck to ankle. On it are
worked in red silk representations OF
the goddesses of smallpox, murder and
cholera. Round his ankles are massive
silver bangles. In his right hand he
holds a staff or spear that jingles harsh
" every time the ground is struck by
it. The same hand also holds a bow
which, when the strings are pulled or
struck, emits dull, booming sound.
In his left hand the devil priest carries
his sacriticial 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 people show
him the offerings they intended to pre-
sent, but he appears wholly uncon-
scious. He croons an Indian lay IL a
low, dreamy voice, with dropped eye
lids, and head sunden on his breast.
He sways slowly two and fro from side
to side. Look You can see his fingers
witch nervously. His head begins 10
wag in a strange, uncanny fashion. His
sides heave and culver, and huge droJs
of perspiration exude from his skin.
The tom-toms are beaten faster, tie
pipes and reeds wall out more loudly.
There is sudden yell, a
shrek, a hideous, abominable gobbe-
gobble of hellish laug liter, and the devil
dancer has sprung to his feet, with eyes
protruding, mouth foaming, chest
heaving, muscles quivering, and out
stretched arms swollen and straining as
if they were crucifed. Now, ever ard
anon, the quick, sharp words alt jerked
out of the saliva choked mouth" an
God am the true God p Then all
around him, since he and no idol is re-
garded as the present deity, reeks the
blood of sacrifice The devotees crowd
round to offer oblations and to solicit
answers to their questions. "shall |
die of cholera during this visitation p
asks gray haired farmer Of the neigh
borhood. Oh, God, bless this child,
and heal it," cries a poor mother from
the adjoining hamlet, as she holds forth
her diseased babe toward the gyrating
priest. Shrieks, vows, imprecations,
prayers and EXPLANATIONS of thankful
praise rise up, all blended together in
one internal hubbub. Above ali rise the
CHASTITY cultural laughter of the devil
dancer, and his stentorian howls-"I
am God I am the only true God p
He cuts and hacks and heWs himself,
and not very unfrequently kills himself
there and then. His answer to the
queries put to him are generally inco-
herent. Som etimes he is sullenly silent
and sometimes, while the blood from
his self inflicted wounds mingles freely
with that of his sacrifice, he is most
benign, and showers his divine favors
Of health and prOsperity all round him