The Khond pantheon consists of eighty-four gods, of whom Dharni Deota,
the earth god, is the chief. In former times the earth goddess was
apparently female and was known as Tari Pennu or Bera Pennu. To
her were offered the terrible human sacrifices presently to be
described. There is nothing surprising in the change of sex of the
divine being, for which parallels are forthcoming. Thus in Chhattisgarh
the deity of the earth, who also received human sacrifices, is either
Thakur Deo, a god, or Thakurani Mai, a goddess. Deota is an Aryan term,
and the proper Khond name for a god is Pennu. The earth god is usually
accompanied by Bhatbarsi Deota, the god of hunting. Dharni Deota
is represented by a rectangular peg of wood driven into the ground,
while Bhatbarsi has a place at his feet in the shape of a piece of
conglomerate stone covered with circular granules. Once in four or
five years a buffalo is offered to the earth god, in lieu of the human
sacrifice which was formerly in vogue. The animal is predestined for
sacrifice from its birth, and is allowed to wander loose and graze on
the crops at its will. The stone representing Bhatbarsi is examined
periodically, and when the granules on it appear to have increased,
it is decided that the time has come for the sacrifice. In Kalahandi
a lamb is sacrificed every year, and strips of its flesh distributed
to all the villagers, who bury it in their fields as a divine agent
of fertilisation, in the same way as the flesh of the human victim
was formerly buried. The Khond worships his bow and arrows before
he goes out hunting, and believes that every hill and valley has its
separate deity, who must be propitiated with the promise of a sacrifice
before his territory is entered, or he will hide the animals within
it from the hunter, and enable them to escape when wounded. These
deities are closely related to each other, and it is important when
arranging for an expedition to know the connection between them all;
this information can be obtained from any one on whom the divine
afflatus from time to time descends.