1 148
2 Ndgsin Chamba.
3 trees around a temple may not be cut down, and are regarded as the property
4 of the deity in their midst. Sometimes a temple is erected within the
5 interior of a forest or in some mountain ravine, standing quite alone.
6 The usual pattern is a square resting on a raised platform of stone
7 The building itself may be entirely of wood, or of the wood and stone
8 style of architecture so common in the hills. It generally consists of a
9 central cella with an open verandah around it and a small door in front.
10 The whole is covered in with a pent-roof of wood which either slopes on
11 two sides from a central ridge, or on four sides from a surmounting ca])
12 or ball. This roof is supported on cross beams resting on wooden, or wood
13 aoid stone, pillars one at each ‘corner of the platform, with intermediate
14 supports if necessary. Sometimes the verandah is entirely closed in, with
15 only a doorwav opposite the door of the cella. The cella remains the
16 same from age to age, and is not renewed unless it becomes ruinous, but
17 the roof is frequently renewed as a mark of respect to the deity within.
18 This, however, is not now done as often as was the custom in former times,
19 and in many cases repairs are carried out only when absolutely necessary.
20 The wood-work of the verandah is covered in parts with carvings of a
21 grotesque character, while hanging around are the horns of animals
22 which have been offered in sacrifice, with bells suspended over the door-
23 way, and sometimes a pole in front, called dhuj. The image is inside
24 the cella. The temples have probably remained much the same in shape
25 and structure since the earliest times. Occasionally they consist of a small
26 cella only of the simplest kind, with no verandah. Often too the image may
27 be seen resting in the open, under a cedar tree, with little to indicate its
28 character except the paint and oily appearance from the ghi with which it
29 is besmeared.
30 The rites of worship are similar at both Nag and Devi temples.
31 Bloody sacrifice holds the foremost place. On ordinary occasions incense
32 is burned, and circumambulatiou of the cella within the verandah is
33 performed by the priest. There is also the ringing of bells, and the
34 sounding of the conch shell, accompanied by the beating of drums. A
35 mela is usually held once a year at each temple, when a great concourse
36 of people takes place on the green near the shrine, and all are seated in
37 prescribed order according to ancient custom — a special place being reserved
38 for the officials of the pargana in which the temple is situated. Music
39 and dancing, and often didnking, play an important part at these melas.
40 Each temple has a pujdra or priest, who may be of any caste, and a chela
41 who is usually a low caste man. The god or goddess is supposed to speak
42 through the chela, who is believed to become inspired by the deity.
43 Seated at the door of the temple, he inhales the fumes of burning cedar
44 wood from a vessel held before him, while he is fanned by a man stand-
45 ing near. The drums are beaten furiously ; soon he begins to quiver and
46 tremble, and this trembling increases till the entire body shares in the inces-
47 sant motion, this being the recognised sign of the god having entered
48 into him. Continuing to work himself into a frenzy, he springs to his
49 feet and dances madly, scourging himself all the time with the sangal or
50 tirsul which he holds in fis hand, sometimes with such severity as to
51 draw blood. The harsh and discordant music gets^ louder and ^ wilder,
52 and others join in the dance, forming a circle with the chela in their