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The Bhoonda
The custom was largely prevalent in Mahasu and Kulu regions and seems
to have its earliest roots in human sacrifice performed every twelve years.
The last Bhoonda (at Vibhai in the Sutlej valley) is said to have
been performed in the following manner
A man belonging to the Beda community was chosen for the ceremony, a few
days prior to it. For three months he was housed in the village temple
with great respect. During this period, he wove a rope with grass-measuring
some four to five hundred Hath (a Hath is the length between the elbow
and the tip of the middle finger of a mature human arm). On the fixed
day a procession of the gods was brought out ceremoniously. The Beda led
this procession holding aloft an umbrella made of blue cloth, and supported
on each side by his two wives. He wore only one article of clothing and
a red thread around his neck. As the precession reached the spot where
the Bhoonda was to be performed one end of the grass rope was tied to
the pillar on the top of the hill and the other to another pillar, at
the bottom of the same hill.
The procession then took the Beda into the
temple and sacrifices a goat. In the temple the Beda was offered to the
gods and then the procession returned to the spot where the Bhoonda was
to be performed. Here on the top of the hill a woolen seat was laid on
the rope with bags of sand suspended on both sides to keep it balanced.
The Bhoonda was seated on that and at a signal from the priest he was
pushed down hill. The seat flew down with the Beda. His survival depended
purely on chance. If the Beda survives he is paid a sum of some 80/- to
90/- rupees from the temple fund. The observers also give him money. The
last Bhoonda took place in 1902 at a village near Nirat. The custom is
nearly obsolete now. |
