The Music of Hindostan c6.273

c6.273

After they had been fed they gave their performance. Seven of them took part, each provided with a *kokkara*. On this the tunes were accompanied in trochees. The headman of the village picked up his *kokkara*, bowed his head over it, and murmured a prayer. Another, likewise, and another followed, scraping them up and down with growing excitement. The leader recited a list of twenty or thirty divinities,¹ in no particular order, repeating some more than others. After five minutes or so one of the men began to tremble violently, and holding his *kokkara* with both hands straight out in front of him tapped it rhythmically on the ground. The leader was the next to tremble, and his access was more violent. He flung himself about, his *pagrī* fell off and his hair fell down. A third leapt, when the fit was on him, from his sitting posture about three feet into the air, and dropped again into his original cross-legged position. The whole service was interspersed with shouts and yells from individual performers. When it was over the *mantizomenoi* bent forward sobbing vehemently, and took a minute to recover. One felt ashamed to have been merely an interested spectator amongst so much sincerity.