Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 552

KILLING THE RAM
512
the meanwhile the purohita recites mantrams in a loud
voice, scraps of which are loudly repeated by the spec-
tators.
The ram is then brought into the midst of the
assembly, rubbed with oil, put in a bath, and then stained
with akshatas. The body and horns are garlanded with
flowers, and cords made of darbha grass are tied, or rather
tightly bound, round the animal.
All the time the puro-
hita is repeating mantrams, the supposed object of which
This obviously inadequate proceed-
is to kill the victim.
ing, however, is supplemented by closing the nostrils, ears,
and mouth of the animal while the Brahmins present deal
heavy blows on the beast, and finally one of them suffocates
it by pressing his knee on its throat.
The purohita and his
attendants meanwhile repeat mantrams in a loud voice,
and these are supposed to ensure a quick and painless
death for the victim. It would be a very inauspicious
omen if the ram uttered the slightest cry while it was
enduring these tortures *.
As soon as the animal is dead, the Brahmin who presides
at the ceremony cuts open the stomach and tears out the
entrails along with the fat.
These he holds suspended
over the fire, the fat dropping into it as it melts. At the
same time liquefied butter is poured over the fire as a
libation.
The victim is skinned and hacked in pieces, which are
then fried in butter. A portion is thrown into the fire as
an oblation, while the rest is divided between the Brahmin
who has presided at the sacrifice and the person who bears
the expense of it. These in their turn distribute their
portions to the Brahmins present, who scramble wildly for
the scraps and devour them as something sacred and aus-
picious.
This is particularly remarkable, because it is the
only occasion on which the Brahmins may, without com-
mitting sin, eat of that which has had life or the germ
of
life.
They then
offer to the fire, as neiveddya, boiled and raw
the latter husked and well washed.
All these ceremonies and a great number of others being
over, betel, which has previously been placed all round the
rice,
1
any sound it is believed that the family of the
Ed.
the yagnam will gradually become extinct.
If the victim utters
Brahmin who
offers