others are deposited in different places in the Bastar State. Principal They all have names of their own, but are also known by the generic term Ádama Rázu.
Both the gatta and family vélpus are worshipped only by members of the sept or family to which they appertain. They are taken round the country at intervals to receive the reverence and gifts of their adherents. The former are brought out once in every three or four years, especially during wide-spread sickness, failure of crops or cattle-disease. The vélpu is washed, and a flag is then planted beside it. An animal (generally a young bullock) is stabbed under the left shoulder, the blood is sprinkled over the deity, and the animal is next killed, and its liver is cut out and offered to the deity. A feast, which sometimes lasts for two days, takes place and the vélpu is then put back in its hiding-place. The flag is taken round the villages where members of the gatta or family reside, and these make a feast and offer gifts. The flag of a family vélpu is a large three-cornered red cloth on which are stitched a number of figures roughly cut out of bits of cloth of other colours to represent various ancestors. Whenever any important male member of the family dies, a new figure is added to commemorate his services.
Like other hill tribes, the Kóyas are firm believers in the black art and the power of wizards. In some parts whenever any one falls ill the professional sorcerer (vezzugádu) is consulted, and he reads both the cause and the remedy in a leaf-platter of rice which he carries thrice round the invalid. Whenever a man dies he is supposed to have been the victim of some sorcerer instigated by an enemy. An enquiry is then held as to who is guilty. Some male member of the family, generally the nephew of the deceased, throws coloured rice over the corpse as it lies stretched on the bed, pronouncing as he does so the names of all the known sorcerers who live in the neighbourhood. It is even now solemnly asserted that when the name of the wizard responsible is pronounced the bed gets up and moves towards the house or village where he resides. Suspected wizards have to clear themselves by undergoing the ordeal of dipping their hands in boiling oil or water. Sometimes they flee in terror rather than attempt this Reputed wizards and witches are held in the greatest abhorrence; and one of the old complaints against British rule was that it prevented these people from being put to death. Mr. Cain mentions a case in which a Kóya was compelled (in 1876) to murder a woman of his family because she was thought to be a witch,
