The Sansias never committed a dacoity on moonlight nights, but had five
appointed days during the dark half of the month, the seventh, ninth,
eleventh, thirteenth and the night of the day on which the new moon
was first seen. If they did not meet with a favourable omen on any
of these nights, no dacoity was committed that month. The following
is a list of omens given by one of the caste: [614] "If we see a cat
when we are near the place where we intend to commit a dacoity, or we
hear the relations of a dead person lamenting, or hear a person sneeze
while cooking his meal, or see a dog run away with a portion of any
person's food, or a kite screams while sitting on a tree, or a woman
breaks the earthen vessel in which she may have been drawing water,
we consider the omens unfavourable. If a person drops his turban or
we meet a corpse, or the Jemadar has forgotten to put some bread into
his waistbelt, or any dacoit forgets his axe or spear or sees a snake
whether dead or alive; these omens are also considered unfavourable
and we do not commit the dacoity. Should we see a wolf and any one
of us have on a red turban, we take this and tear it into seven
pieces and hang each piece upon a separate tree. We then purchase a
rupee's worth of liquor and kill a goat, which is cut up into four
pieces. Four men pretend that they are wolves and rushing on the four
quarters of the meat seize them, imitating the howl of these animals,
while the rest of the dacoits pelt them with the entrails; the meat
is afterwards cooked and eaten in the name of Bhagwan."
It would appear that the explanation of this curious ceremony must
be that the Sansias thought the appearance of the wolf to be an
omen that one of them would furnish a meal for him. The turban
is venerated on account of its close association with the head, a
sacred part of the body among Hindus, and in this case it probably
served as a substituted offering for the head, while its red colour
represented blood; and the mimic rite of the goat being devoured
by men pretending to be wolves fulfilled the omen which portended
that the wolves would be provided with a meal, and hence averted
the necessity of one of the band being really devoured. In somewhat
analogous fashion the Gonds and Baigas placate or drive away a tiger
who has killed a man in order to prevent him from obtaining further
victims. Some similar idea apparently underlay the omen of the dog
running away with food. Perhaps the portent of hearing the kite scream
on a tree also meant that he looked on them with a prescient eye as
a future meal. On the other hand, meeting a corpse and seeing a snake
are commonly considered to be lucky omens, and their inclusion in this
list is curious. [615] The passage continues: "Among our favourable
omens are meeting a woman selling milk; or a person carrying a basket
of grain or a bag of money; or if we see a calf sucking its mother,
or meet a person with a vessel of water, or a marriage procession;
or if any person finds a rupee that he has lost; or we meet a bearer
carrying fish or a pig or a blue-jay; if any of these occur near our
camp on the day we contemplate a dacoity, we proceed forthwith to
commit it and consider that these signs assure us a good booty. If
a Fakir begs from us while we are on our way to the place of dacoity
we cannot give him anything." Another Sansia said: "We think it very
favourable if, when on the way to commit a dacoity we hear or see
the jackal; it is as good as gold and silver to us; also if we hear
the bray of the ass in a village we consider it to be lucky."