S^ SOME ASSAMESE PROVERBS.
- '0' Hastiness.
Bhukutot kal napake. By means of a blow the plantain does not ripen. ^^^t'5=with one blow. 171. BhaTcats, Nakat Mgil pdk ; Mahd bhakatar cbidra l%il, Meihi p^tim kak. An unexpected thing has happened j The head bhakat has been found fault with. Whom shall I make a medhi ? The saying is ironically meant. The head " bhakat " is next to the gosain, the most powerful person at the Sastra. He is a ' person who is generally supposed to be above suspicion. A CJf^ is a person of much less importance, being only the gosain' s agent at a village. The medhis are entitled to receive, I believe, a small portion of the offerings or of the gosain's " kar" or tax, as commis- sion for collecting the same. These officers exist all over Assam, and through them the gosain and the bhakats at the Sattra keep touch with the people. Medhis are sometimes known by the title of " sajtola^ There are also ranks of medhis, e.g.^ " bor *' medhi (head medhi ) and raj medhi ( the chief officer of the gosain outside the sattra), Medhis at village feasts generally receive what is called Tt^ {man), which literally means honour or obedience. The " man, however, often takes a more tangible form in the way of a gift of an earthenware ** charu '* ( vessel) and a patidhdrd, i.e., a seat covered with a pati or mat, by the man who gives the feast.
