him up. They tie branches of a small shrub to a stick and
pour milk over the stone which is his emblem, and sing, 'Wake up,
Khila Mutha, this is the night of Amawas' (the new moon). Then they
go to the cattle-shed and wake up the cattle, crying, 'Poraiya,
god of the door, watchman of the window, open the door, Nand Gowal
is coming.' Then they drive out the cattle and chase them with the
branches tied to their sticks as far as their grazing-ground. Nand
Gowal was the foster-father of Krishna, and is now said to signify a
man who has a lakh (100,000) of cows. This custom of frightening the
cattle and making them run is called _dhor jagana_ or _bichkana_, that
is, to wake up or terrify the cattle. Its meaning is obscure, but it is
said to preserve the cattle from disease during the year. In Raipur the
women make an image of a parrot in clay at the Diwali and place it on
a pole and go round to the different houses, singing and dancing round
the pole, and receiving presents of rice and money. They praise the
parrot as the bird who carries messages from a lover to his mistress,
and as living on the mountains and among the green verdure, and sing:

"Oh, parrot, where shall we sow _gondla_ grass and where shall we
sow rice?

"We will sow _gondla_ in a pond and rice in the field.

"With what shall we cut _gondla_ grass, and with what shall we
cut rice?

"We shall cut _gondla_ with an axe and rice with a sickle."

It is probable that the parrot is revered as a spirit of the forest,
and also perhaps because it is destructive to the corn. The parrot
is not, so far as is known, associated with any god, but the Hindus
do not kill it. In Bilaspur an ear of rice is put into the parrot's
mouth, and it is said there that the object of the rite is to prevent
the parrots from preying on the corn.

16. Omens.

On the night of the full moon of Jesth (May) the Ahirs stay awake
all night, and if the moon is covered with clouds they think that
the rains will be good. If a cow's horns are not firmly fixed in
the head and seem to shake slightly, it is called Maini, and such an
animal is considered to be lucky. If a bullock sits down with three
legs under him and the fourth stretched out in front it is a very
good omen, and it is thought that his master's cattle will increase
and multiply. When a buffalo-calf is born they cover it at once with
a black cloth and remove it from the mother's sight, as they think
that if she saw the cal