Sequence of the Ritual

The ritual actions at this location consist of three sequences. 1. The activities begin with the sacrifice of a he-goat and a rooster for pat kanda and the presentation of the tsoru to the gods. 2. The division, preparation, and consumption of the sacrificial animals follow. Here, three categories of food, three groups, and three places have to be distinguished. The “head meat” is consumed next to the shrine by the agnates as tsoru, and the animal’s neck is consumed by the af- fines, who sit somewhat further away. All the other groups cook and eat the meat from the animal’s body at a distance from the shrine, in front of the village boundary. 3. The ritual ends with a common entry into the village and a procession to the dignitaries’ houses.

Sacrifices

The village pujari and randan are the first to set out for the shrine in early afternoon, after bathing. Gradually, more and more Gadaba men gather at the shrine, repair the roof, clear the area around the shrine of branches and leaves, and ring the area with garlands (toron) of mango leaves, unripe mangos (aer*), and white flowers.^{[1] [2]} The pujari prepares the three sacrificial sites, spreading a mixture of dung and water (gobor pani) on the ground and drawing a white pattern (bana), and some Gadaba begin to drum.^M

Along with flowers, an egg, and numerous individually given coconuts, a he- goat (cheli, gime*) and a rooster (ganja, gi’sing*) are sacrificed for the village as a whole (matam). The he-goat can be red-brown (koira, sera*) or black (kala, ide*); the rooster should be white (dobla, pile*) or red-brown. The observance of these rules is stressed.

The pujari makes an invocation in front of the shrine house with each individual coconut, naming the giver. The rooster and the he-goat are then led in turn in front of the sacrificial sites by the pujari, the randan, and several senior Sisa and are consecrated to pat kanda by an invocation. The sequence is as follows: 1. elder brother, 2. younger brother, 3. seven sisters. After the sacrifice of the coconuts and the egg, the rooster is killed in the usual way, the sacrificer clamping a knife between his toes so as to be able to hold the animal with both hands. Its head is cut off and immediately placed before the stone under the roof. Care is always taken that the heads positioned in this way do not fall over, because that would be a bad omen. The pujari lets the blood drip onto a platter of hulled rice, but also onto the posts of the shrine, both stones, and the patterns on the three sacrificial sites. Immediately thereafter, the he-goat is beheaded with an ax (tang) by a Sisa, the head is placed before the stone in the shrine, and the animal’s blood is caught. The body is dragged away from the shrine to the place where it will soon be butchered.

The randan first prepares a small amount of tsoru for the betisong. For this purpose, the goat’s liver is first removed via a small slit, and the opening is roughly sewn up again. In a new clay pot, the randan cooks first rice, then a small amount of liver and meat from the gullet (sok). As soon as the cooking is done, the betisong takes place. Tsoru is offered to the gods first by the chief actors (pujari, randan, sacrificer of the he-goat), then by all others present. The sequence here is the same as in the invocations, beginning with the elder brother.^{[3] [4]} All men who have fasted offer the gods tsoru and bow down on their knees (duli kori) in front of the three sacrificial sites, which are soon overflowing with leaves and tsoru. They also give themselves blood tika on the forehead with the bloody rice from the platter.

• [1] Garlands of these flowers - together with mango leaves and mangos - are fastened to everythreshold of the village’s houses and yards in chait porbo. The tree is called hojar phul gocho(“thousand-flower tree”) or sohe tonka gocho (“one-hundred-rupees tree”) by the Desia.
• [2] Normally, the Dombo musicians play on such occasions. One year, music was also playedfrom a cassette tape. In any case, music is an important component of the ritual. In 2000, a briefdispute arose between some older and younger Gadaba at the conclusion of the ritual. There hadbeen no music of any kind during the sacrifice, and the older people lamented that the youngpeople today no longer knew how to conduct a ritual of this kind beautifully (sundoro). One ofthe older women began to lament loudly, and she explained to me later that without music “thegod does not listen” (maphru sunbo nai). The young men did not accept the criticism, being ofthe view that they did know how such things are done.
• [3] Unlike in the case of offerings to the dead, leaves of the jackfruit tree are not used as“plates” for the gods, but instead those of the jam koli tree.
• [4] A portion (bag, kundra) includes some meat from each category. Seven to ten men - the“cutters,” katkia - each cut specific parts of the goat into small pieces and then distribute thepieces across the leaf plates containing the individual portions. The individual parts are the frontlegs (podia), rear legs (sati), ribs (buk), intestines (atin), stomach (pet, pota), vital organs (liver