| Temples & Legends of Assam |
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| Temples & Legends Of India |
TEMPLES IN KAMRUP DISTRICT |
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| "It is the
custom of the Assamese that when ever they engage in a war they perform some sacrifices a
day previous to the battle in the following way: -They send some magic object floating
down the river towards the enemy’s side. If it floats to wards the enemy’s side,
they take it as a good omen. If it travels upstream out of its own accord, they take it as
foreboding something against them and consider it as a sign of their defeat and they do
not go out to battle. In short (at the time of war of Hajo), according to that custom, they built one raft of plantain tree which is a well known fruit in India, and performed Pujas, i.e., worship of devils on it in the following manner. They sacrificed a black man, a dog, a cat, a pig, an ass, a monkey, a he goat and a pigeon, all black. Their heads were collected together and placed on the raft along with many ripe bananas, pan betel-leaf), betel-nut, chuwa (acantho- phyllum squarrosum), various kinds of scents, rice-paste coloured red, yellow and green, cotton seeds, mustard seeds, mustard oil (raughan-i-talkh), ghee, (raughan-i-zard), and sindur (vermillion), and then the raft was pushed adrift. Though they tried to make it float down the stream it did net go and every time it returned towards them. Their augury proved to be inauspicious, and it was therefore inadvisable on their part to come to the battle."11 11. M. I. Borah: Five Lectures on the History of Assam as Told by Moslem Historians; p. 49. |
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