'Memoirs and Recollections of An Officer of the Indian Political Service' [‎52r] (103/156)

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Hyderabad, Mysore, Kashmir and Gwalior. No Kathiawar State, apart from Cutch (17)
was entitled to more than 13, and there were only five of these. The remainder were
small beer indeed. The Gaekwar was the titular head of one of the great Mahratta Clans,
and his state was large, prosperous and well governed. The greater part of it lay in
Gujerat, but it also owned numerous enclaves of territory and sometimes even villages
only, scattered around in the northern districts of the Bombay Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. ,.and in
Kathiawar itself. On the western tip of the peninsular, Baroda owned the important sea
port of Okha Mandal.
But where Rajkot, our former headquarters, had the edge on Baroda, was in its climate
and situation. That of Baroda was humid and sticky, and my wife and I did not relish
the change to the new location. My work as Secretary to the Resident had now greatly
increased as he was, by reason of the integration, now looking after the equivalent
of two units of a normal Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. 's charge. Our new house was not nearly
as comfortable or as labour-saving as that of Rajkot. Under the new dispensation, I
did not get as much touring with my chief as before, as someone had to remain behind
to deal with the everyday work at headquarters, when he was away in his secondary
headquarters at Rajkot, or on tour elsewhere. But one tour I did make in his company
and that of the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bulsar (the same Terence Craigh-Coen, whom I have
already mentioned, and who was a good friend of mine) was memorable. We visited the
aboriginal tracts known as "The Dangs", which lay in deep mountainous jungle country
at the northern tip of the Bombay Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. . The inhabitants of the Dangs were primi
tive aborginals, not unlike the Gonds and the Bhils about whom Rudyard Kipling used to
•A Wv
write. They were not Hindus, but Aqaiflists in that they worshipped not divinities but
things; trees and animals, and the spirits they associated with them. Their way of
life was such that they really needed to be protected from the sophistications of
modern society. They enjoyed special treatment and a modified legal code designed to
preserve their social customs and culture. Permits to enter the tract were difficult
to obtain, and there were no missionaries and only the occasional visiting anthro
pologist. The Superintendent of the area was a specially selected official, who
interfered as little as possible with the tribal elders. My Resident, in whose juris
diction the Dangs lay, was received by the chiefs with much courtesy and jubilation.
Witchcraft was tenet of the faith of these tribes, and one night we witnessed an
extraordinary manifestation of it. Surrounded by a bevy of elders in a village clearing,
illuminated by the flames of a large bonfire we were treated to a feat of levitation,
the like of which I have witnessed never before, or since. A youth in a trance-like
condition was laid on a string bed or 'charpoy* a few yards from where we sat. The fire
light was strong and we could detect no signs of trickery. A witch-doctor, for want
of a better name, stood over the boy, intoning charms and prayers against a background
of drumming and chanting by the bystanders who were gathered in the darkness at some
dist&nce from the ’charpoy’. After these rites had continued for perhaps 15 minutes,