Although the Binjhwar subcaste now profess Hinduism, the religion of
the Baigas is purely animistic. Their principal deity is Bura Deo, [92]
who is supposed to reside in a _saj_ tree (_Terminalia tomentosa_); he
is worshipped in the month of Jeth (May), when goats, fowls, cocoanuts,
and the liquor of the new mahua crop are offered to him. Thakur Deo
is the god of the village land and boundaries, and is propitiated
with a white goat. The Baigas who plough the fields have a ceremony
called Bidri, which is performed before the breaking of the rains. A
handful of each kind of grain sown is given by each cultivator to the
priest, who mixes the grains together and sows a little beneath the
tree where Thakur Deo lives. After this he returns a little to each
cultivator, and he sows it in the centre of the land on which crops
are to be grown, while the priest keeps the remainder. This ceremony
is believed to secure the success of the harvest. Dulha Deo is the
god who averts disease and accident, and the offering made to him
should consist of a fowl or goat of reddish colour. Bhimsen is the
deity of rainfall, and Dharti Mata or Mother Earth is considered to be
the wife of Thakur Deo, and must also be propitiated for the success
of the crops. The grain itself is worshipped at the threshing floor
by sprinkling water and liquor on to it. Certain Hindu deities are
also worshipped by the Baigas, but not in orthodox fashion. Thus it
would be sacrilege on the part of a Hindu to offer animal sacrifices
to Narayan Deo, the sun-god, but the Baigas devote to him a special
oblation of the most unclean animal, the pig. The animal to be
sacrificed is allowed to wander loose for two or three years, and is
then killed in a most cruel manner. It is laid across the threshold of
a doorway on its back, and across its stomach is placed a stout plank
of _saj_-wood. Half a dozen men sit or stand on the ends of this, and
the fore and hind feet of the pig are pulled backwards and forwards
alternately over the plank until it is crushed to death, while all
the men sing or shout a sacrificial hymn. The head and feet are cut
off and offered to the deity, and the body is eaten. The forests are
believed to be haunted by spirits, and in certain localities _pats_
or shrines are erected in their honour, and occasional offerings are
made to them. The spirits of married persons are supposed to live in
streams, while trees afford a shelter to the souls of the unmarried,
who become _bhuts_ or malignant spirits after death. Nag Deo or the
cobra is supposed to live in an ant-hill, and offerings are made to
him there. Demoniacal possession is an article of faith, and a popular
remedy is to burn human hair mixed with chillies and pig's dung near
the person possessed, as the horrible smell thus produced will drive
away the spirit. Many and weird, Mr. Low writes, are the simples
which the Baiga's travelling scrip contains. Among these a dried bat
has the chief place; this the Baiga says he uses to charm his nets
with, that the prey may catch in them as the bat's claws catch in
whatever it touches. As an instance of the Baiga's pantheism it may
be mentioned that on one occasion when a train of the new Satpura
railway [93] had pulled up at a wayside forest station, a Baiga was
found offering a sacrifice to the engine. Like other superstitious
people they are great believers in omens. A single crow bathing in
a stream is a sign of death. A cock which crows in the night should
be instantly killed and thrown into the darkness, a custom which some
would be glad to see introduced into much more civilised centres. The
woodpecker and owl are birds of bad omen. The Baigas do not appear to
have any idea of a fresh birth, and one of their marriage songs says,
"O girl, take your pleasure in going round the marriage-post once and
for all, for there is no second birth." The Baigas are generally the
priests of the Gonds, probably because being earlier residents of
the country they are considered to have a more intimate acquaintance
with the local deities. They have a wide knowledge of the medicinal
properties of jungle roots and herbs, and are often successful in
effecting cures when the regular native doctors have failed. Their
village priests have consequently a considerable reputation as skilled
sorcerers and persons conversant with the unseen world. A case is
known of a Brahman transferred to a jungle station, who immediately
after his arrival called in a Baiga priest and asked what forest gods
he should worship, and what other steps he should take to keep well
and escape calamity. Colonel Ward states that in his time Baigas were
commonly called in to give aid when a town or village was attacked
by cholera, and further that he had seen the greatest benefit to
result from their visit. For the people had so much confidence in
their powers and ceremonies that they lost half their fright at once,
and were consequently not so much predisposed to an attack of the
disease. On such an occasion the Baiga priest goes round the village
and pulls out a little straw from each house-roof, afterwards burning
the whole before the shrine of Khermata, the goddess of the village,
to whom he also offers a chicken for each homestead. If this remedy
fails goats are substituted for chickens, and lastly, as a forlorn
hope, pigs are tried, and, as a rule, do not fail, because by this
time the disease may be expected to have worked itself out. It is
suggested that the chicken represents a human victim from each house,
while the straw stands for the house itself, and the offering has
the common idea of a substituted victim.