of a future life in heaven; but in the case of people killed in a certain way they believe in a sort of metempsychosis; thus, for instance, a man eaten by a tiger becomes a tiger.  In the case of unfortunates they believe that they will live as unhappy ghosts; in the case of other men they assume only annihilation as their fate.[16] It is among this tribe that the mouse-totem is found, which is Civa’s beast and the sign of Ganeca.[17]

THE KOLARIANS.

The Sunth[=a]ls:  These are immigrants into the West Bengal jungles, and have descended from the North to their present site.  They are called the finest specimens of the native savage.  The guardian of the tribe is its deceased ancestor, and his ghost is consulted as an oracle.  Their race-god is the ‘Great Mountain,’ but the sun represents the highest spirit; though they worship spirits of every sort, and regard beasts as divine; the men revering the tiger, and the women, elephants.  The particularly nasty festival called the bandana, which is celebrated annually by this tribe, is exactly like the ‘left-hand’ cult of the Caktas, only that in this case it is a preliminary to marriage.  All unmarried men and women indulge together in an indescribable orgie, at the end of which each man selects the woman he prefers.[18]

The Koles (’pig-stickers’):  Like the last, this tribe worship the sun, but with the moon as his wife, and the stars as their children.  Besides these they revere Manes, and countless local and sylvan deities.  Like Druids, they sacrifice only in a grove, but without images.[19]

All these tribes worship snakes and trees,[25]] and often the only oath binding upon them is taken under a tree.[21] The sun-worship, which is found alike in Kolarian and Dravidian tribes, may be traced through all the ramifications of either.  In most of the tribes the only form of worship is sacrifice, but oaths are taken on rice, beasts, ants, water, earth, etc. (among some P[=a]h[=a]riahs on the arrow).  Some have a sort of belief in the divinity of the chief, and among the Lurka Koles this dignity is of so much importance that at a chief’s death the divine dignity goes to his eldest son, while the youngest son gets the property.  In regard to funeral rites, the Koles first burn and then bury the remains, placing a stone over the grave.

Besides the Or[=a]ons’ totem of the mouse, the Sunth[=a]ls have a goose-totem, and the Garos and Kassos (perhaps not to be included in either of the two groups), together with many other tribes, have totems, some of them avatars, as in the case of the tortoise.  The Garos, a tribe between Assam and Bengal, are in many respects noteworthy.  They believe that their vessels are immortal; and, like the Bh[=a]rs, set up the bamboo pole, a religious rite which has crept into Hinduism (above, p. 378).  They eat everything but their totem, immolate human victims, and are divided into ‘motherhoods,’ M[=a]h[=a]ris, particular M[=a]h[=a]ris intermarrying.