given for this being that, as there are only a limited number of men qualified to insert the hooks, the same official is in demand in several places. This office is said to be an hereditary one, devolving upon a member of the blacksmith (lohar) caste.
For three days prior to the "hook-swinging," the victim is in a state of tabu. During this period he is not allowed to eat, and may drink water only once a day. He is required to absent himself from his wife and family, and may speak to no-one. As soon as the hooks have been withdrawn after the ceremony the first thing allowed is a drink of water sweetened with sugar.
The rite was explained in the neighbourhood as having been instituted by the god Siva and his wife Durga. As given to me, the story goes that Siva and Durga were not born as children, but came into the world as grown man and woman, in a place called Kailas-parbad. This supernatural arrival was made known only to a poor Brahman and his wife who were childless. Siva told them he was a god and that they must worship him, a statement the Brahman was inclined to disbelieve, and asked for some proof of it to be shown. Siva correctly informed him that although he had been married fifteen years he had no children, and would continue childless until he carried out his (Siva's) wishes. He said that he was the god who gave children and rice crops. The Brahman replied that if he would give him a child as well as rice he would be his follower, to which Siva consented, and told him that he would have to perform the charak-puja ("hook-swinging") according to the methods which he then showed him. The Brahman thereupon returned to his own village, and told the people that a god, Siva, and his wife, Durga, had appeared to him, and related all that the former had said. The people of the village decided to make trial of Siva's power, so erected a staging and carried out the instructions given as regards hook-swinging, the Brahman acting as priest while
