A History of Assam c11.76

c11.76

This is an Ahom ceremony for obtaining long life (from rik, “revive,” and khvān, “life”). It was generally performed at the installation of a new king, or in time of danger, or after a victory. The procedure was as follows. The king sat in full dress on a platform, and the Deodhāi, Mohan and Bāilong pandits, i.e., the tribal priests and astrologers, poured holy water, purified by the recitation of sacred texts, over his head, whence it ran down his body through a hole in the platform on to the chief Bāilong, or astrologer, who was standing below. The king then changed his clothes, giving those which he had been wearing and all his ornaments to the chief Bāilong. The same ceremony, on a smaller scale, was also frequently performed by the common people, and still is, on certain occasions, *e.g.*, when a child is drowned.