Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.3.2

c48.s6.3.2

The usual form of religion is that of the worship of nature or spirits, with the accompaniment of spells, witchcraft and exorcism generally. Among the more Brāhmanised tribes there is the outward acceptance of some manifestation or other of a member of the Purānic pantheon, but from the practical side of devotion and propitiation, the belief in the efficacy of the older system remains unshaken; and it is worth noting that the older the tribe in the locality the higher the reputation of the priests it furnishes. In regard to occupation, the greater part of this population lives by cultivation, a few tribes on the plateau of Cūtiā Nāgpur having attained to a fair degree of skill in their calling, and making use of the plough. The bulk, however, still pursue the primitive and wasteful system of clearing a patch of jungle, burning the vegetation thereof for manure, and raising two or three years’ harvest off it. They then leave it fallow for some years, moving off meanwhile to another patch. Where this is the practice, the village is migratory, within a certain range, or consists merely of detached hamlets; but in the more open country, cultivation being permanent, the village site is so too, and the huts or houses are built more solidly. In a few of the wilder tribes the whole village is apt to flit when untoward events have proved the locality or its deities to be unpropitious.