Khambesavri puujaa with Buffalo sacrifice

[N. Ganesan]

Let me describe a buffalo sacrifice to a Southern goddess:

"1. a disaster occurs (either epidemic disease,
draught or death of cattle etc.) [...]
7. a final 'heated' sacrifice is offered: a most
precious animal, the buffalo. The head is severed
and its front paw is cut off and placed i7:52 AM 2/17/01n the animal's
mouth; this indicates total submission. [I learn that
this practice is in the Vedic also -NG]. A lamp is
placed on the buffalo's head, the fat from the abdmomen
serving as oil for the flame which should appease
the goddess and induce her to leave the village.
[animal fat, blood get replaced with oil, kunkuma
for daubing later. -NG]
[...]
For such goddesses a temporary image is made by the
potter. Often its worship is held in the night while
the villagers hide inside the house. Women are afraid
of the envious eye of the goddess that may fall on
them, and never participate in these rites. The procession
of the goddess takes a gruesome aspect: to prevent
Her looking at the village and its houses with a
discontented, enviuous eye she is propitiated once
more at midnight after the sacrificial buffalo was
killed. An Outcaste man is brought to the scene
of the sacrifice. He smears his body with blood from
the beheaded buffalo, winds the intestines around his neck,
and takes the liver in his mouth. A pot containing
food soaked in blood is placed in his hands, and accompanied
by men armed with sticks and old swords, he starts to
go to the boundaries of the village. As this weird
procession moves along they shout Bali! Bali! 'The
sacrifice, the sacrifice!', and flourish their swords
and sticks, to keep off evil spirits. The man carrying
the bloody offering is held up by ropes, and even then
often falls to the ground, saying that he sees the
spirits. When he thus falls, limes are cut in two and
thrown into the air, and lambs are sacrificed on the
spot. The man recovers from his pretended swoon, and
the procession goes forward. Sometimes the procession
continues around the village while bloody rice is scattered
to keep out the sakthis.
  The worship of the pEys ('devils, demons, ghosts') is considered
even more dangerous. ..."
Kersenboom, Nityasumangali, p. 52 paraphrasing Western
accts (19th cent.).

The bali offerings with meat, liquor and blood are
well represented in Sangam literature.

Regards,
N. Ganesan

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