e deemed suitable, it was customary for the Raja to present him
with a golden anklet, and to give him permission to live as he chose,
and to do whatever be pleased, compensation for any damage done by
him being paid from the royal treasury. But this enjoyment of these
privileges was very short. On the Navami day of the Durga Puja, the
_Bhoge khaora_, after bathing and purifying himself, was dressed in
new attire, daubed with red sandal-wood and vermilion, and bedecked
with garlands. Thus arrayed, the victim sat on a raised dais in front
of the goddess, and spent some time in meditation (_japa_), and in
uttering mantras. Having done this, he made a sign with his finger,
and the executioner, after uttering the usual sacrificial mantras,
cut off his head, which was placed before the goddess on a golden
plate. The lungs were cooked and eaten by such _Kandra Yogis_ as
were present, and it is said that the royal family partook of a small
quantity of rice cooked in the blood of the victim. The ceremony was
usually witnessed by large crowds of spectators from all parts of
the Jaintia pardganas.

"Sometimes the supply of voluntary victims fell short, or victims
were needed for some special sacrifice promised in the event of some
desired occurrence, such as the birth of a son, coming to pass. On
such occasions, emissaries were sent to kidnap strangers from outside
the Jaintia Raj, and it was this practice that eventually led to the
annexation of the country by the British. In 1821, an attempt was made
to kidnap a native of Sylhet proper, and while the agents employed
were punished, the Raja was warned not to allow such an atrocity to
occur again. Eleven years later, however, four British subjects were
kidnapped in the Nowgong district, and taken to Jaintia. Three of
them were actually sacrificed, but the fourth escaped, and reported
the matter to the authorities. The Raja of Jaintia was called on to
deliver up the culprits, but he failed to do so, and his dominions
were in consequence annexed in 1835."

There seems to be an idea generally prevalent that the Raja of Jaintia,
owing to his conversion to Hinduism, and especially owing to his
having become a devotee of the goddess Kali, took to sacrificing human
victims; but I find that human victims were formerly sacrificed by
the Jaintias to the Kopili River, which the Jaintias worshipped as a
goddess. Two persons were sacrificed every year to the Kopili in the
months _U' naiwing_