Numerous instances of the sacrifice of the corn-spirit have been adduced by Sir J.G.Frazer in _The Golden Bough_, and it was he who brought this custom prominently to notice.

One of the most important cases in India was the Meriah-sacrifice of the Khonds, which is described in the article on that tribe.
Two features of the Khond sacrifice of a human victim as a corn-spirit appear to indicate its derivation from the sacrifice of the domestic animal and the eating of the totem-animal, the ties uniting the clan and tribe: first, that the flesh was cut from the living victim, and, second, that the sacrifice was communal.

When the Meriah-victim was bound the Khonds hacked at him with their knives while life remained, leaving only the head and bowels untouched, so that each man might secure a strip of flesh.

This rite appears to recall the earliest period when the members of the primitive group or clan tore their prey to pieces and ate and drank the raw flesh and blood.

The reason for its survival was apparently that it was the actual life of the divine victim, existing in concrete form in the flesh and blood which they desired to obtain, and they thought that this end was more certainly achieved by cutting the flesh off him while he was still alive.