The Parjas worship the class of divinities of the hills and forests
usually revered among primitive tribes, as well as Danteshwari,
the tutelary goddess of Bastar. On the day that sowing begins they
offer a fowl to the field, first placing some grains of rice before
it. If the fowl eats the rice they prognosticate a good harvest,
and if not the reverse. A few members of the tribe belong to the
Ramanandi sect, and on this account a little extra attention is paid
to them. If such a one is invited to a feast he is given a wooden
seat, while others sit on the ground. It is said that a few years
ago a man became a Kabirpanthi, but he subsequently went blind and
his son died, and since this event the sect is absolutely without
adherents. Most villages have a Sirha or man who is possessed by
the deity, and his advice is taken in religious matters, such as
the detection of witches. Another official is called Medha Gantia or
'The Counter of posts.' He appoints the days for weddings, calculating
them by counting on his fingers, and also fixes auspicious days for
the construction of a house or for the commencement of sowing. It is
probable that in former times he kept count of the days by numbering
posts or trees. When rain is wanted the people fix a piece of wood
into the ground, calling it Bhimsen Deo or King of the Clouds. They
pour water over it and pray to it, asking for rain. Every year, after
the crops are harvested, they worship the rivers or streams in the
village. A snake, a jackal, a hare and a dog wagging its ears are
unlucky objects to see when starting on a journey, and also a dust
devil blowing along in front. They do not kill wild dogs, because
they say that tigers avoid the forests where these reside, and some
of them hold that a tiger on meeting a wild dog climbs a tree to get
out of his way. Wednesday and Thursday are lucky days for starting on
a journey, and the operations of sowing, reaping and threshing should
be commenced and completed on one of these days. When a man intends
to build a house he places a number of sets of three grains of rice,
one resting on the other two, on the ground in different places. Each
set is covered by a leaf-cup with some earth to hold it down. Next
morning the grains are inspected, and if the top one has fallen down
the site is considered to be lucky, as indicating that the earth is
wishful to bear the burden of a house in this place. A house should
face to the east or west, and not to the north or south. Similarly,
the roads leading out of the village should run east or west from
the starting-point. The principal festivals of the Parjas are the
Hareli [423] or feast of the new vegetation in July, the Nawakhani
[424] or feast of the new rice crop in August or September, and the
Am Nawakhani or that of the new mango crop in April or May. At the
feasts the new season's crop should be eaten, but if no fresh rice has
ripened, they touch some of the old grain with a blade of a growing
rice-plant, and consider that it has become the new crop. On these
occasions ancestors are worshipped by members of the family only
inside the house, and offerings of the new crops are made to them.