The agricultural year begins on Akti or the 3rd day of Baisakh
(April-May). On that day a cup made of _palas_ [73] leaves and filled
with rice is offered to Thakur Deo. In some villages the boys sow
rice seeds before Thakur Deo's shrine with little toy ploughs. The
cultivator then goes to his field, and covering his hand with
wheat-flour and turmeric, stamps it five times on the plough. The
malguzar takes five handfuls of the seed consecrated to Thakur Deo and
sows it, and each of the cultivators also sows a little. After this
regular cultivation may begin on any day, though Monday and Friday
are considered auspicious days for the commencement of sowing. On the
Hareli, or festival of the fresh verdure, which falls on the 15th day
of Shrawan (July-August), balls of flour mixed with salt are given to
the cattle. The plough and all the implements of agriculture are taken
to a tank and washed, and are then set up in the courtyard of the house
and plastered with cowdung. The plough is set facing towards the sun,
and butter and sugar are offered to it. An earthen pot is whitewashed
and human figures are drawn on it with charcoal, one upside down. It is
then hung over the entrance to the house and is believed to avert the
evil eye. All the holes in the cattle-sheds and courtyards are filled
and levelled with gravel. While the rice is growing, holidays are
observed on five Sundays and no work is done. Before harvest Thakur
Deo must be propitiated with an offering of a white goat or a black
fowl. Any one who begins to cut his crop before this offering has
been made to Thakur Deo is fined the price of a goat by the village
community. Before threshing his corn each cultivator offers a separate
sacrifice to Thakur Deo of a goat, a fowl or a broken cocoanut. Each
evening, on the conclusion of a day's threshing, a wisp of straw is
rubbed on the forehead of each bullock, and a hair is then pulled
from its tail, and the hairs and straw made into a bundle are tied
to the pole of the threshing-floor. The cultivator prays, 'O God
of plenty! enter here full and go out empty.' Before leaving the
threshing-floor for the night some straw is burnt and three circles are
drawn with the ashes, one round the heap of grain and the others round
the pole. Outside the circles are drawn pictures of the sun, the moon,
a lion and a monkey, or of a cart and a pair of bullocks. Next morning
before sunrise the ashes are swept away by waving a winnowing-fan over
them. This ceremony is called _anjan chadhana_ or placing lamp-black
on the face of the threshing-floor to avert the evil eye, as women put
it on their eyes. Before the grain is measured it must be stacked in
the form of a trapezium with the shorter end to the south, and not in
that of a square or oblong heap. The measurer stands facing the east,
and having the shorter end of the heap on his left hand. On the larger
side of the heap are laid the _kalara_ or hook, a winnowing-fan, the
_dauri_, a rope by which the bullocks are tied to the threshing-pole,
one or three branches of the _ber_ or wild plum tree, and the twisted
bundle of straw and hair of the bullocks which had been tied to the
pole. On the top of the heap are placed five balls of cowdung, and
the _hom_ or fire sacrifice is offered to it. The first _katha_ [74]
of rice measured is also laid by the heap. The measurer never quite
empties his measure while the work is going on, as it is feared that if
he does this the god of abundance will leave the threshing-floor. While
measuring he should always wear a turban. It is considered unlucky for
any one who has ridden on an elephant to enter the threshing-floor,
but a person who has ridden on a tiger brings luck. Consequently
the Gonds and Baigas, if they capture a young tiger and tame it,
will take it round the country, and the cultivators pay them a little
to give their children a ride on it. To enter a threshing-floor with
shod feet is also unlucky. Grain is not usually measured at noon but
in the morning or evening.