In his Ethnographic Notes in Southern India Mr. Thurston states:
[517] "The last recorded Meriah sacrifice in the Ganjam Maliahs
occurred in 1852, and there are still Khonds alive who were present at
it. Twenty-five descendants of persons who were reserved for sacrifice,
but were rescued by Government officers, returned themselves as Meriah
at the Census of 1901. The Khonds have now substituted a buffalo
for a human being. The animal is hewn to pieces while alive, and the
villagers rush home to their villages to bury the flesh in the soil,
and so secure prosperous crops. The sacrifice is not unaccompanied
by risk to the performers, as the buffalo, before dying, frequently
kills one or more of its tormentors. It was stated by the officers
of the Maliah Agency that there was reason to believe that the Raja
of Jaipur (Madras), when he was installed at his father's decease
in 1860-61, sacrificed a girl thirteen years of age at the shrine
of the Goddess Durga in the town of Jaipur. The last attempted human
sacrifice (which was nearly successful) in the Vizagapatam District,
among the Kutia Khonds, was, I believe, in 1880. But the memory of
the abandoned practice is kept green by one of the Khond songs, for a
translation of which we are indebted to Mr. J. E. Friend-Pereira: [518]
At the time of the great Kiabon (Campbell) Sahib's coming, the
country was in darkness; it was enveloped in mist.
Having sent paiks to collect the people of the land, they, having
surrounded them, caught the Meriah sacrificers.
Having caught the Meriah sacrificers, they brought them; and
again they went and seized the evil councillors.
Having seen the chains and shackles, the people were afraid;
murder and bloodshed were quelled.
Then the land became beautiful; and a certain Mokodella
(Macpherson) Sahib came.
He destroyed the lairs of the tigers and bears in the hills and
rocks, and taught wisdom to the people.
After the lapse of a month he built bungalows and schools; and
he advised them to learn reading and law.
They learnt wisdom and reading; they acquired silver and gold. Then
all the people became wealthy.