the king of Kîkata. Griffith says "The Kikaṭas : the non-Aryan inhabitants of a country (probably Kosala or Oudh) usually identified with South Bihar. The meaning is that the cows bestowed by Indra are unprofitable when in the possession of men who do not worship the Aryan Gods. Pramaganda: the prince of the Kikaṭas; according to Sayaṇa the word means the son of the usurer.

None of the authorities refers to Nirukta. The authority of Yâska is greater than that of Sâyana and in explaining the word Pramaganda we cannot overlook the fact that Yâska does not mention any king of Magadha.

Then as to the identity of Kîkata, Nirukta is conclusive. Whether we take Pramaganda as the prince of Kîkata, or as the people or a section of the people of that province, there cannot be any doubt that the word is inseparably connected with Kíkața The Nirukta tells us Pramaganda is Pra+Maganda, the basic word being Maganda. The similarity between Maganda and Magadha is so great that it will be no violent assumption to say that a tract of the country that had been inhabited by usurious money-len lers or Magandas in Vedic times came to be known as Magadha in the Mahâbhârata period.

We can also easily imagine that a large part of Shahabad and Gaya districts and a portion of Bihar Subdivision were covered over with forests even as they now are and there were immense pasture lands over which numberless cattle used to graze. Local tradition places the hermitage of Viśvâmitra near about Buxar and the Rik above quoted gives a strong verification of that tradition. It is quite natural for the descendants of Visvamitra to cast a wistful eye upon the numberless cattle of the Kìkatas, the original dwellers of Magadha, and to wish for their possession for the performance of Vedic sacrifices.

Who could the Kîkaṭas be who gave their name to the land? Are they the ancestors of the Goalas of the present day, who owned cattle and did not co.ne under the Brahmanical influence? Does this fact account for the large population of Goalas in

the province ? In this connection, it is interesting to note the lingering custom amongst the Goalas of the province to kill pigs on the day after Dewali. This must be the remnant of a non-Aryau custom. The Dewali is the new moon night of the month of Kârtika.

The Goddess Kali is worshipped on this night.

The next day is sacred to the cows in Bihar, when the Godanr or Gaidanr festival is observed. On this day the Dosada brings his pigs and the Goala his cows and buffaloes and the pigs are made to be killed by the cows and buffaloes. The tradition is that in former days the Goalas used to partake of the pig but now, of course, the pig is taken away by the Dosads. It may fairly be presumed that the Goalas and the Dosads were the original dwellers of South Bihar and they formed friendly tribes, one tending the cattle and the other tending the pigs and there was an annual festival when the cows and buffaloes of one tribe were pitched against the pigs of another tribe, then there was a general feast over the slaughtered pigs which was partaken of by both the tribes, or there might be separate feasts of the two tribes.

There is another significant fact. The Goraya is the deity proper of the Dosadas. In towns and villages in South Bihar, wherever there is a Devisthana there is generally the deity of Goraya also. The Devi or Goddess is generally installed inside a hut and the image is made of mud while Goraya is placed outside the hut and is generally made of stones. While the Devi is worshipped with milk and offerings burnt in ghee, Goraya is worshipped in addition with wine. I have said above, Goraya is the deity proper of the Dosadas. But the Goalas also make vow to that deity specially when cows fall ill. This shows a past intimacy between the Goalas and the Dosadas. When I speak of Goalas, I do not certainly include in the list the Kanaujia Goālas, who form a separate class and among whom the Sagai form of marriage does not prevail. They evidently migrated from Kanauj and have a separate history of their own, Fam doubtful about the Ghoshi sect too, as there is no Sagai

form of marriage in this sect. My remarks apply to the Krishnaut, Majhrautia and Goria sects, which abound in the Patna Division. The Krishnauts, I believe, form the largest proportion of the Goalas in the Province. There is one sect of Goālas, known as Jatha, rare in the Patna Division, inhabiting only some parts of Gaya. But I am told the sect is to be found mostly in the Chota Nagpur Division. I am also told that the Jatha Goalas call themselves Tikit as well. This is only a bare information and it requires verification. If the information be true Tikat is a very near approach to Kikata. The Kikatas and the Magandas, whoever they might be, must not be identified in any way with the aboriginal hill tribes of Bihar. Even in the Vedic times the former were a wealthy people lending money to others and having some form of civilization of their own. They did not believe in the Vedic Gods and they did not take any part in Vedic sacrifices. They perhaps kept themselves aloof from the Brahmanas. But it cannot be said that they had no religion as Yaska seems to indicate. Possibly Goraya and it may be even the Goddess occupied some place in their religion. It may be that the Ghora or Aghora aspect of Siva or Mahadeva is a development of Goraya and an attempt was made here as elsewhere to assimilate a non-Aryan deity. It may also be that the Dosadas are called Goraits as they are followers of Goraya, just the Lingayats aralled after Linga in the South. word Goraya may have something to do with gorena or agorena, to watch, as the Gorayats are perhaps watchmen since their early existence, and Gorava in that case may be a God of watch in the first instance and a God of protection generally in later development. But I must not pursue the subject further.

as

The

See Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index, 1, p. 159, for reference to opinions of European schools on the KIKÁTÁS.

III.-On a Muhammadan Folk-Tale of the

Hero and the Deity Type.

By Sarat Chandra Mitra, M.A., B.L.

In my paper on " A Folk tale of a New Type from North Bihar and its Variants,"* I have published three Hindu folktales of a new type which I have named "The Hero and the Deity Type" and fixed the story-radical thereof as follows:1. A hero goes to a deity to beg a boon.

2. On the way, he meets with several suffering persons and beasts, and a tree, all of whom importune him to enquire from the deity the causes and the remedies of their respective troubles.

3. The hero obtains his own boon and learns from the deity the causes and the remedies of their respective troubles.

4. He communicates the same to them, all of whom adopt the remedies and are, at once, relieved of their troubles.

Since the publication of the aforementioned article, I have come across a Muhammadan folk-tale of a type which is similar to the aforesaid one in all respects except in its finale, which is quite different. It appears to have been recently collected and translated into English. It has been named by its collector as "The Man Who Went to Wake His Luck." The gist of this aberrant form of the folk-tale of the Hero and the Deity Type is as follows:

Once upon a time, there were two brothers one of whom was very rich and the other very poor. Going to the mountains on one occasion, the latter found that his brother's herds of horses were being grazed by a man with a black felt coat on. When

*Vide J. B. O. R. 8, September 1917, pp. 378-405.

+It was narrated to Mr. D. L. R. Lorimer by a Bakhtiari named Mulla Ilahi, translated into English and published by the former in Indian Ink for Xmas 1917 (Printed at No. 1, Garstin's Place, Calcutta, 1917), pages 10-11.

the latter enquired from the horseherd as to who he was, he gave the latter to understand that he was his brother's Luck. Thereupon the latter enquired from his brother's horse-grazer whether he had seen his own Luck anywhere and, if so, whether or not he was asleep. The horseherd replied that his Luck would wake up soon. Thereafter learning from the horse-grazer that his Luck was asleep in a certain cave, the poor brother went in search of him and, in the course of his journey, arrived at a garden where the gardener, seeing him, asked him as to whither he was going. He replied that he was going to search out his Luck and wake him up from his sleep.

Thereupon the gardener rejoined: "Please tell your Luck that I have got an orchard whereof the trees bear no fruit, and enquire from him the cause of this trouble."

Having agreed to do so, the poor brother wended his way and, after some time, arrived in a country which was ruled by a king who was really a woman in disguise. But the people of that kingdom were not aware of their sovereign's femininity. The king, having been apprised of the poor man's mission, summoned him to his own presence and requested him to enquire from his Luck as to why his subjects did not obey him.

Having agreed to do so, the poor brother resumed his journey and, after he had gone a little way, came across a wolf who inportuned him to ascertain from his Luck the reason as to why he could not procure any food to subsist upon.

Having consented to make the desired enquiry, he wended his way and, in the course of his journey, fell in with a cutter of brushwood who importuned him to enquire from his Luck the reason of his having been doomed to earn his livelihood by the performance of such a hard work as that of cutting brushwood. Having agreed to carry out his request, the poor brother resumed his journey and, after some time, reached a cave where he came across his Luck lying fast asleep

The poor brother kicked his Luck with his toe, who thereupon woke up and enquired from the former as to what he want. ed. The former told him that he had come to awaken him. To