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CHAPTER III

Agriculture

" Go about the fields with me."- SHAKESPEARE.

Checking and Producing Rain.

T has already been stated that the people of Bilas-pore are largely agricultural, and that one of theirprincipal crops is rice. The success or failure of therice harvest depends very much on the rainfall, for riceneeds rain well distributed. Now the farmers have afirm belief that certain individuals have the power tocause the rain to cease. It is said that the grain- dealer,who has stored quantities of grain, will gather somerain- water from the eaves of his house in an earthenvessel. This he buries under the grinding- mill, andfrom that time forward, it is said, thunder will be heardrumbling in the distance like the grinding of the flour-mill, but there will be no more rain, for the grain- dealerhas bound the rain.

In order to produce rain the people resort to manystrange practices. One of these is to build a hugeearthen image of Bhimsen, one of the heroic gods.This is usually an obscene figure, and cannot bedescribed. On seeing the obscenity of the image, it issaid that the gods will send rain. One year, when the

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