The Popular Religion And Folk-Lore Of Northern India - free ebook by William Crooke

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The Popular Religion And Folk-Lore Of Northern India

William Crooke

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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Many books have been written on Brâhmanism, or the official religion of the Hindu; but, as far as I am aware, this is the first attempt to bring together some of the information available on the popular beliefs of the races of Upper India. My object in writing this book has been threefold. In the first place I desired to collect, for the use of all officers whose work lies among the rural classes, some information on the beliefs of the people which will enable them, in some degree, to understand

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The Deva.

The Deva.

But in the present survey of the popular, as contrasted with the official faith, we have little concern with these supremely powerful deities. They are the gods of the richer or higher classes, and to the ordinary peasant of Northern India are now little more than a name. He will, it is true, occasionally bow at their shrines; he will pour some water or lay some flowers on the images or fetish stones which are the special resting-places of these divinities or represent the productive powers of n

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The Deotâ.

The Deotâ.

These godlings fall into two well marked classes—the “pure” and the “impure.” The former are, as a rule, served by priests of the Brâhman castes or one of the ascetic orders: their offerings are such things as are pure food to the Hindu—cakes of wheaten flour, particularly those which have been still further purified by intermixture with clarified butter ( ghî ), the most valued product of the sacred cow, washed rice ( akshata ) and sweetmeats. They are very generally worshipped on a Sunday, and

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Godlings Pure and Impure.

Godlings Pure and Impure.

The first and greatest of the “pure” godlings is Sûrya or Sûraj Nârâyan, the Sun godling. He is thus regarded as Nârâyana or Vishnu occupying the sun. A curiously primitive legend represents his father-in-law, Viswakarma, as placing the deity on his lathe and trimming away one-eighth of his effulgence, leaving only his feet. Out of the blazing fragments he welded the weapons of the gods. Sûrya was one of the great deities of the Vedic pantheon: he is called Prajapati or “lord of creatures:” he w

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Sûraj Nârâyan, the Sun Godling.

Sûraj Nârâyan, the Sun Godling.

The village worship of Sûraj Nârâyan is quite distinct from this. Many peasants in Upper India do not eat salt on Sundays, and do not set their milk for butter, but make rice-milk of it, and give a portion to Brâhmans. Brâhmans are sometimes fed in his honour at harvests, and the pious householder bows to him as he leaves his house in the morning. His more learned brethren repeat the Gâyatrî, that most ancient of Aryan prayers: “ Tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhîmahi, Dhiyo yo nah prachoda

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Village Worship of Sûraj Nârâyan.

Village Worship of Sûraj Nârâyan.

The Aheriyas, a tribe of jungle-livers and thieves in the Central Duâb of the Ganges and Jumna, have adopted as their mythical ancestor Priyavrata, who being dissatisfied that only half the earth was at one time illuminated by the rays of the sun, followed him seven times round the earth in his flaming car, resolved to turn night into day. But he was stopped by Brahma, and the wheels of his chariot formed the seven oceans which divide the seven continents of the world. In the lower ranges of the

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Sun-worship among the non-Aryan Races.

Sun-worship among the non-Aryan Races.

It is needless to say that the custom of walking round any sacred object in the course of the sun prevails widely. Thus in Ireland, when in a graveyard, it is customary to walk as much as possible “with the sun,” with the right hand towards the centre of the circle. 20 Even to this day in the Hebrides animals are led round a sick person, following the sun; and in the Highlands it is the custom to make the “deazil” or walk three times in the sun’s course round those whom they wish well. When a Hi

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Sun-worship in the Domestic Ritual.

Sun-worship in the Domestic Ritual.

The fate of Chandra or Soma, the Moon godling, is very similar. The name Soma, originally applied to the plant the juice of which was used as a religious intoxicant, came to be used in connection with the moon in the post-Vedic mythology. There are many legends to account for the waning of the moon and the spots on his surface, for the moon, like the sun, is always treated as a male godling. One of the legends current to explain the phases of the moon has been already referred to. According to a

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Moon-worship.

Moon-worship.

“Sow peason and beans, in the wane of the moon. Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soon; That they with the planet may rest and arise, And flourish, with bearing most plentiful wise.” The same rule applies all over Northern India, and the phases of the moon exercise an important influence on all agricultural operations. Based on the same principle is the custom of drinking the moon. Among Muhammadans in Oudh, “a silver basin being filled with water, is held in such a situation that the full m

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Eclipses and the Fire Sacrifice.

Eclipses and the Fire Sacrifice.

Eclipses are of evil omen. Gloucester sums up the matter: 47 “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us; though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects; love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide; in cities mutinies; in countries discord; in palaces treason; and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father.” The Hindu authority 48 writes much to the same effect. “Eclipses usually portend or cause grief; but if

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Eclipse Observances.

Eclipse Observances.

The worship of the other constellations is much less important than those of the greater luminaries which we have been discussing. The Hindu names nine constellations, known as Nava-graha, “the nine seizers,” specially in reference to Râhu, which grips the sun and moon in eclipses, and more generally in the astrological sense of influencing the destinies of men. These nine stars are the sun (Sûrya), the moon (Soma, Chandra), the ascending and descending nodes (Râhu, Ketu), and the five planets—M

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Star-worship.

Star-worship.

There is much curious folk-lore about the rainbow. By most Hindus it is called the Dhanus or bow of Râma Chandra, and by Muhammadans the bow of Bâba Âdam or father Adam. In the Panjâb it is often known as the swing of Bîbî Bâî, the wife of the Saint Sakhi Sarwar. The Persians call it the bow of Rustam or of Shaitân or Satan, or Shamsher-i-’Ali—“the sword of ’Ali.” In Sanskrit it is Rohitam, the invisible bow of Indra. In the hills it is called Panihârin or the female water-bearer. So with the Mi

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The Milky Way.

The Milky Way.

Next in order of reverence to the heavenly bodies comes the Earth goddess, Dharitrî or Dhartî Mâtâ or Dhartî Mâî, a name which means “the upholder” or “supporter.” She is distinguished from Bhûmi, “the soil,” which, as we shall see, has a god of its own, and from Prithivî, “the wide extended world,” which in the Vedas is personified as the mother of all things, an idea common to all folk-lore. The myth of Dyaus, the sky, and Prithivî, the earth, once joined and now separated, is the basis of a g

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Earth-worship.

Earth-worship.

The worship of Mother Earth assumes many varied forms. The pious Hindu does reverence to her as he rises from his bed in the morning; and even the indifferent follows his example when he begins to plough and sow. In the Panjâb, 57 “when a cow or buffalo is first bought, or when she first gives milk after calving, the first five streams of milk drawn from her are allowed to fall on the ground in honour of the goddess, and every time of milking the first stream is so treated. So, when medicine is

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Worship of Mother Earth.

Worship of Mother Earth.

The same principle, also, appears to be at the bottom of many similar practices. Thus the Hindu always uses earth to purify his cooking vessels, which he regards with peculiar respect. Mourners of the Jaina creed on going home after a funeral rub their hands with earth and water to remove the death impurity. In his daily bath the pious Hindu rubs a little Ganges mud on his body. The Pârsis cover the parings of their hair and nails with a little earth so that demons may not enter into them. The M

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Earth-worship among the Drâvidians.

Earth-worship among the Drâvidians.

We shall meet other instances in which secrecy is an essential element in these rural rites. This condition prevails almost universally. Notable, too, is the rule by which married women are excluded from a share in offerings to the Earth goddess. As is natural, thunder and lightning are considered ill-omened. In the old mythology lightning ( vidyut ) was one of the weapons of the Maruts, and Parjanya was the deity who wielded the thunderbolt. Many legends tell that the soul of the first man came

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Thunder and Lightning.

Thunder and Lightning.

Earthquakes are also naturally an object of terror. Pythagoras believed that they were caused by dead men fighting beneath the earth. The common explanation of these occurrences in India is that Varâha, or the boar incarnation of Vishnu, who supports the earth, is changing the burden of the world from one tusk to another. By another account it is due to the great bull or elephant which supports the world. Derived from a more advanced theological stage is the theory that the earth shakes because

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Earthquakes.

Earthquakes.

High on the list of benevolent deities of Northern India are the great rivers, especially the Ganges and the Jumnâ, which are known respectively as Gangâ Mâî or “Mother Ganges” and Jumnâ jî or “Lady Jumnâ.” Gangâ, of course, in the mythologies has a divine origin. According to one account she flows from the toe of Vishnu, and was brought down from heaven by the incantations of the Saint Bhâgîratha, to purify the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of King Sâgara, who had been burnt up by the angry

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River-worship.

River-worship.

Many famous springs are supposed to have underground connection with the Ganges. Such is that of Chângdeo in Khândesh, of which Abul Fazl gives an account, and that at Jahânpur in Alwar. 79 It was at the village of Bastali in the Karnâl District that the sage Vyâsa lived, and there the Ganges flowed into his well to save him the trouble of going to the river to bathe, bringing with her his loin cloth and water-pot to convince him that she was really the Ganges herself. 80...

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Springs Connected with the Ganges.

Springs Connected with the Ganges.

When two sacred rivers combine their waters the junction ( Sangama ) is regarded as of peculiar sanctity. Such is the famous junction of the Ganges and Jumnâ at Prayâg, the modern Allahâbâd, which is presided over by the guardian deity Veni Mâdhava. The same virtue, but in a lesser degree, attaches to the junction of the Ganges and the Son or Gandak. In the Himâlayas cairns are raised at the junction of three streams, and every passer-by adds a stone. At the confluence of the Gaula and Baliya ri

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Sacred River Junctions.

Sacred River Junctions.

But all rivers are not beneficent. Worst of all is the dread Vaitaranî, the river of death, which is localized in Orissa and pours its stream of ordure and blood on the confines of the realm of Yama. Woe to the wretch who in that dread hour lacks the aid of the Brâhman and the holy cow to help him to the other shore. The name of one stream is accursed in the ears of all Hindus, the hateful Karamnâsa, which flows for part of its course through the Mirzapur District. Even to touch it destroys the

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Ill-omened Streams.

Ill-omened Streams.

It is perhaps worth considering the possible origin of this river-worship. Far from being peculiar to Hinduism, it is common to the whole Aryan world. The prayer of the patient Odysseus 88 to the river after his sufferings in the deep is heard in almost the same language at every bathing Ghât in Upper India, from the source of Mother Ganges to where she joins the ocean. The river is always flowing, always being replenished by its tributary streams, and hence comes to be regarded as a thing of li

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Origin of River-worship.

Origin of River-worship.

There is, again, the water-horse, with whom we are familiar in the “Arabian Nights,” where he consorts with mares of mortal race. This creature is known in Kashmîr as the Zalgur. 94 The water-bull of Manxland is a creature of the same class, and they constantly appear through the whole range of Celtic folk-lore. 95 Such again is the Hydra of Greek mythology, and the Teutonic Nikke or Nixy, who has originated the legend of the Flying Dutchman, and in the shape of Old Nick is the terror of sailors

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Floods and Drowning People.

Floods and Drowning People.

But besides these water spirits and local river gods, the Hindus have a special god of water, Khwâja Khizr, whose Muhammadan title has been Hinduised into Râja Kidâr, or as he is called in Bengal, Kâwaj or Pîr Badr. This is a good instance of a fact, which will be separately discussed elsewhere, that the Hindus are always ready to annex the deities and beliefs of other races. According to the Sikandarnâma, Khwâja Khizr was a saint of Islâm, who presided over the well of immortality, and directed

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Khwâja Khizr, the God of Water.

Khwâja Khizr, the God of Water.

In this connection some of the folk-lore of wells may be mentioned. The digging of a well is a duty requiring infinite care and caution. The work should begin on Sunday, and on the previous Saturday night little bowls of water are placed round the proposed site, and the one which dries up least marks the best site for the well, which reminds us of the fleece of Gideon. The circumference is then marked and they commence to dig, leaving the central lump of earth intact. They cut out this clod of e

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The Folk-lore of Wells.

The Folk-lore of Wells.

Sacred wells, of course, abound all over the country. Many of them are supposed to have underground connection with the Ganges or some other holy river. Many of these are connected with the wanderings of Râma and Sîtâ after their exile from Ayodhya. Sîtâ’s kitchen (Sîtâ kî rasoî) is shown in various places, as at Kanauj and Deoriya in the Allahâbâd District. 114 Her well is on the Bindhâchal hill in Mirzapur, and is a famous resort of pilgrims. There is another near Monghyr, and a third in the S

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Sacred Wells.

Sacred Wells.

Hot springs are naturally regarded as sacred. We have already noticed an example in the case of Sîtâ’s well at Monghyr. The holy tract in the hills, known as Vaishnava Kshetra, contains several hot springs, in which Agni, the fire god, resides by the permission of Vishnu. The hot springs at Jamnotri are occupied by the twelve Rishis who followed Mahâdeva from Lanka. 119 Waterfalls, naturally uncommon in the flat country of Upper India, are, as might have been expected, regarded with veneration,

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Waterfalls.

Waterfalls.

There are also numerous lakes which are considered sacred and visited by pilgrims. Such is Pushkar, or Pokhar, the lake par excellence , in Râjputâna. One theory of the sanctity of this lake is that it was originally a natural depression and enlarged at a subsequent date by supernatural agency. “Every Hindu family of note has its niche for purposes of devotion. Here is the only temple in India sacred to Brahma, the Creator. While he was creating the world he kindled the sacred fire; but his wife

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Sacred Lakes.

Sacred Lakes.

In the Chânda District of the Central Provinces is the lake of Taroba or Tadala, which is connected with an interesting series of folk-lore legends. A marriage procession was once passing the place, and, finding no water, a strange old man suggested that the bride and bridegroom should join in digging for a spring. They laughingly consented, and after removing a little earth a clear fountain gushed forth. As they were all drinking with delight the waters rose, and spreading over the land, overwh

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The Lake of the Fairy Gifts.

The Lake of the Fairy Gifts.

A lake at Shâhgarh in the Bareilly District is the seat of another legend which appears widely in folk-lore. When Râja Vena ruled the land, he, like Buddha, struck by the inequality of human life, retired with his young wife Sundarî or Ketakî to live like a peasant. One day she went to the lake to draw water, and she had naught but a jar of unbaked clay and a thread of untwisted cotton. In the innocence of her heart she stepped into the lake, but the gods preserved her. After a time she wearied

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The Shâhgarh Lake.

The Shâhgarh Lake.

The number of lakes and tanks associated with some legend, or endued with some special sanctity of their own, is legion. Thus, the tank at Chakratîratha, near Nîmkhâr, marks the spot where the Chakra or discus of Vishnu fell during his contest with Asuras. 128 That near the Satopant glacier is said to be fathomless, and no bird can fly over it. Bhotiyas presents offerings to the lake, requesting the water spirit to keep the passes open and aid them in their dangerous journeys. As they are denied

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Other Sacred Tanks.

Other Sacred Tanks.

“He who thinks of Himâchal (the Himâlaya), though he should not behold him, is greater than he who performs all worship at Kâsi (Benares); as the dew is dried up by the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of Himâchal.” 138 Such was the devotion with which the early Hindus looked on it as the home of the gods. Beyond it their fancy created the elysium of Uttara Kuru, which may be most properly regarded as an ideal picture created by the imagination of a life of tranquil felicity,

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Mountain-worship; the Himâlaya.

Mountain-worship; the Himâlaya.

But, deeply rooted as the veneration for mountains is in the minds of the early Aryans, there is reason to suspect that this regard for mountains may be a survival from the beliefs of non-Aryan races whom the Hindus supplanted or absorbed. At any rate, the belief in the sanctity of mountains widely prevails among the non-Aryan or Drâvidian races. Most of these peoples worship mountains in connection with the god of the rain. The Santâls sacrifice to Marang Bura on a flat rock on the top of a mou

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Mountain-worship among the Drâvidians.

Mountain-worship among the Drâvidians.

The Kaimûr and Vindhyan ranges also enjoy a certain amount of sanctity. On the latter the most famous shrines are those of Asthbhuja or “the eight-armed Devî,” Sîtâkunda or the pool of Sîtâ, and the temple of Mahârânî Vindhyeswarî, the patron goddess of the range, built where it trends towards the Gangetic valley. She has travelled as far as Cutch, where she is worshipped under the corrupted name of Vinjân. 147 Her shrine has evil associations with traditions of human sacrifice, derived from the

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Respect Paid to the Vindhya and Kaimûr Ranges.

Respect Paid to the Vindhya and Kaimûr Ranges.

A mention of some other famous hills in Northern India may close this account of mountain-worship. At Gaya is the Dharma Sila, or “rock of piety,” which was once the wife of the saint Marîchi. The lord of the infernal regions, by order of Brahma, crushed it down on the head of the local demon. 150 The hills of Goghar kâ dhâr, in the Mundi State, have a reputation similar to that of the Brocken in the Hartz mountains on Wulpurgis night. On the 3rd of September the demons, witches, and magicians f

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Other Famous Hills.

Other Famous Hills.

“Aerial spirits or devils are such as keep quarter in the air, cause many tempests, thunder and lightnings, tear oaks, fire steeples, houses, strike men and beasts, make it rain wool, frogs, etc. They cause whirlwinds on a sudden, and tempestuous storms, which though our meteorologists refer to natural causes, yet I am of Bodin’s mind that they are more often caused by those aerial devils in their several quarters.” 153 This statement of Burton is a good summary of current Hindu opinion on this

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The Spirits of the Air.

The Spirits of the Air.

Bhîmsen, of whom more will be said later on, is regarded by the Gonds as a god of rain, and has a festival of four or five days’ duration held in his honour at the end of the rainy season, when two poles about twenty feet high and five feet apart are set up with a rope attached to the top, by which the boys of the village climb up and then slide down the poles. This is apparently an instance of rude sympathetic magic, representing the descent of the rain. 158 TANK OF BHÎMSEN, HARDWÂR....

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Bhîmsen, a Weather Godling.

Bhîmsen, a Weather Godling.

It is an idea common to the beliefs of many races, that the spirits of the wind may be tied up in sacks and let out to injure an enemy and assist a friend. To this day the Lapps give their sailors magic sacks containing certain winds to secure them a safe journey. 159 Another side of the matter may be illustrated from Marco Polo. “During the three months of every year that the Lord (Kublai Khân) resides at that place, if it should happen to be bad weather, there are certain crafty enchanters and

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Demoniacal Control of the Weather.

Demoniacal Control of the Weather.

One very curious custom of rain-making has a series of remarkable parallels in Europe. In Servia, in time of drought, a girl is stripped and covered with flowers. She dances at each house, and the mistress steps out and pours a jar of water over her, while her companions sing rain songs. 161 In Russia the women draw a furrow round the village, and bury at the juncture a cock, a cat, and a dog. “The dog is a demonic character in Russia, while the cat is sacred. The offering of both seems to repre

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Rain-making and Nudity.

Rain-making and Nudity.

Connected with the same principle it may be noted that in India, as in many other places, there are rites of the nature of the Bona Dea, in which only women take part, and from which males are excluded. In some of these rites nudity forms a part. Thus, in Italy, La Bella Marte is invoked when three girls, always stark naked, consult the cards to know whether a lover is true or which of them is likely to be married. 168 A number of similar usages have been discussed by Mr. Hartland. We have alrea

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Rites Special to Women.

Rites Special to Women.

The nudity rite for the expulsion of disease is also found in Madras. “The image of Mariyamma, cut out of Margosa wood, is carried from her temple to a stone called a Baddukal , in the centre of the village, on the afternoon of the first day of the feast. A rounded stone, about six inches above the ground and about eight inches across, is to be seen just inside the gate of every village. It is what is called the Baddukal or navel stone; it is worshipped in times of calamity, especially during pe

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Other Rites to bring Rain.

Other Rites to bring Rain.

In England when rain is in excess the little children sing, “Rain! Rain! Go away! Come again on a Saturday!” In India there are many devices intended to secure the same object. One is the reverse of the nudity charm which we have already discussed. In Madras, a woman, generally an ugly widow, is made to dance, sometimes naked, with a burning stick in her hand and facing the sky. This is supposed to disgust Varuna, the sky god, who shrinks away from such a sight and withholds the rain. 191 Other

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Devices to Cause Rain to Cease.

Devices to Cause Rain to Cease.

The hail and the whirlwind are, like most of the natural phenomena which we have been discussing, attributed to demoniacal agency. The Maruts who ride on the whirlwind and direct the storm hold a prominent place in the Veda, where they are represented as the friends and allies of Indra. Another famous tempest demon was Trinâvartta, who assumed the form of a whirlwind and carried off the infant Krishna, but was killed by the child. Mr. Leland 193 tells a curious Italian story of a peasant who kil

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Hail and Whirlwind.

Hail and Whirlwind.

Among the Mirzapur Korwas, when a dust-storm comes, the women thrust the house broom, which, as we shall see, is a demon scarer, into the thatch, so that it may not be blown away. The Pankas in the same way make their women hold the thatch and throw the rice mortar and the flour-mill pivot into the courtyard. The wind is ashamed of being defeated by the power of women and ceases to blow. All over the world people say that if when a meteor or falling star darts across the sky they can utter a wis

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Aerolites.

Aerolites.

Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes. Stant terrâ defixæ hastæ, passimque soluti Per campum pascuntur equi. Æneid , vi. 652–654. Next to these deities which have been classed as the godlings of nature, come those which have a special local worship of their own. The number of these godlings is immense, and their functions and attributes so varied, that it is extremely difficult to classify them on any intelligible principle. Some of them are pure village godlings, of whom the last Census ha

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The Heroic Godlings.

The Heroic Godlings.

First among the heroic godlings is Hanumân, “He of the large jaws,” or, as he is generally called, Mahâbîr, the “great hero,” the celebrated monkey chief of the Râmâyana, who assisted Râma in his campaign against the giant Râvana to recover Sîtâ. Hardly any event in his mythology, thanks to the genius of Tulasî Dâs, the great Hindi poet of Hindustân, is more familiar to the Hindu peasant than this. It forms the favourite subject of dramatic representation at the annual festival of the Dasahra. T

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Hanumân.

Hanumân.

But whatever may be the origin of the cult, the fact remains that he is a great village godling, with potent influence to scare evil spirits from his votaries. His rude image, smeared with oil and red ochre, meets one somewhere or other in almost every respectable Hindu village. One of his functions is to act as an embodiment of virile power. He is a giver of offspring, and in Bombay women sometimes go to his temple in the early morning, strip themselves naked, and embrace the god. 8 Mr. Hartlan

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Hanumân as a Village Godling.

Hanumân as a Village Godling.

Another of these beneficent guardians or wardens is Bhîmsen, “he who has a terrible army.” He has now in popular belief very little in common with the burly hero of the Mahâbhârata, who was notorious for his gigantic strength, great animal courage, prodigious appetite and irascible temper; jovial and jocular when in good humour, but abusive, truculent and brutal when his passions were roused. 14 He is now little more than one of the wardens of the house or village. In parts of the Central Provin

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Worship of Bhîmsen.

Worship of Bhîmsen.

The local worship of Bhîmsen beyond the Drâvidian tract is specially in the form of pillars, which are called Bhîmlâth or Bhîmgada, “Bhîm’s clubs.” Many of these are really the edict pillars which were erected by the pious Buddhist King Asoka, but they have been appropriated by Bhîmsen. Such are the pillars in the Bâlaghât District of the Central Provinces and at Kahâon in Gorakhpur. At Devadhâra, in the Lower Himâlaya, are two boulders, the uppermost of which is called Ransila, or “the stone of

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Pillar-worship of Bhîmsen.

Pillar-worship of Bhîmsen.

In about the same rank as Bhîmsen is Bhîshma, “the terrible one,” another hero of the Mahâbhârata. To the Hindu nowadays he is chiefly known by the tragic circumstances of his death. He was covered all over by the innumerable arrows discharged at him by Arjuna, and when he fell from his chariot he was upheld from the ground by the arrows and lay as on a couch of darts. This Sara-sayya or “arrow-bed” of Bhîshma is probably the origin of the Kantaka-sayya or “thorn-couch” of some modern Bairâgis,

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Worship of Bhîshma.

Worship of Bhîshma.

We now come to the local or village godlings, a most nondescript collection of deities, possessing very various attributes. There is good reason to believe that most of these deities, if not all, belong to the races whom it is convenient to call non-Aryan, or at least outside Brâhmanism, though some of them may have been from time to time promoted into the official pantheon. But Dr. Oppert, 22 writing of Southern India, remarks that “if the pure Vedic doctrine has been altered by the influx of n

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Worship of the Local Godlings.

Worship of the Local Godlings.

The shrine of the regular village godling, the Grâmadevatâ or Ganwdevatâ, is generally a small square building of brick masonry, with a bulbous head and perhaps an iron spike as a finial. A red flag hung on an adjoining tree, often a pîpal, or some other sacred fig, or a nîm, marks the position of the shrine. In the interior lamps are occasionally lighted, fire sacrifices ( homa ) made and petty offerings presented. If a victim is offered, its head is cut off outside the shrine and perhaps a few

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Village Shrines.

Village Shrines.

The non-Brâhmanic character of the worship is still further marked by the fact that no special direction from the homestead is prescribed in selecting the site for the shrine. No orthodox Hindu temple can be built south of the village site, as this quarter is regarded as the realm of Yama, the god of death; here vagrant evil spirits prowl and consume or defile the offerings made to the greater gods. In the more Hinduized jungle villages some attempt is occasionally made to conform to this rule,

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Identification of the Local Godling.

Identification of the Local Godling.

In Hoshangâbâd a different system prevails. When a new village is formed by the aboriginal Kurkus, there is no difficulty in finding the abode of the godlings Dûngar Devatâ and Mâtâ, because you have only to look for and discover them upon their hill and under their tree. But Mutua Devatâ has generally to be created by taking a heap of stones from the nearest stream and sacrificing a pig and seven chickens to him. “There is one ceremony, however, which is worth notice, not so much as being disti

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Worship of Dwâra Gusâîn.

Worship of Dwâra Gusâîn.

One of the most characteristic of the benevolent village godlings is Bhûmiya—“the godling of the land or soil” ( bhûmi ). He is very commonly known as Khetpâl or Kshetrapâla, “the protector of the fields”; Khera or “the homestead mound”; Zamîndâr or “the landowner”; and in the hills Sâim or Sâyam, “the black one” (Sanskrit syâma ). In the neighbourhood of Delhi he is a male godling; in Oudh Bhûmiyâ is a goddess and is called Bhûmiyâ Rânî or “soil queen.” She is worshipped by spreading flat cakes

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Worship of Bhûmiya.

Worship of Bhûmiya.

Bhûmiya, again, is often confounded with Bhairon, another warden godling of the land; while, to illustrate the extraordinary jumble of these mythologies, Bhairon, who is almost certainly the Kâro Bairo (Kâl Bhairon) of the Bhuiyas of Keunjhar, is identified by them with Bhîmsen. 44 Bhairon has a curious history. There is little doubt that he was originally a simple village deity; but with a slight change of name he has been adopted into Brâhmanism as Bhairava, “the terrible one,” one of the most

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Worship of Bhairon.

Worship of Bhairon.

He has, according to the last census, only five thousand followers in the Panjâb, as compared with one hundred and and seventy-five thousand in the North-Western Provinces. On pretty much the same stage as these warden godlings whom we have been considering is Ganesa, whose name means “lord of the Ganas” or inferior deities, especially those in attendance on Siva. He is represented as a short, fat man, of a yellow colour, with a protuberant belly, four hands, and the head of an elephant with a s

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Worship of Ganesa.

Worship of Ganesa.

From these generally benevolent village godlings we pass on to a very obscure form of local worship, that of the Great Mothers. It prevails both in Aryan and Semetic lands, 53 and there can be very little doubt that it is founded on some of the very earliest beliefs of the human race. No great religion is without its deified woman, the Virgin, Mâyâ, Râdhâ, Fâtimah, and it has been suggested that the cultus has come down from a time before the present organization of the family came into existenc

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The Worship of the Great Mothers.

The Worship of the Great Mothers.

But it is in Gujarât that this form of worship prevails most widely at the present day. Sir Monier-Williams enumerates about one hundred and forty distinct Mothers, besides numerous varieties of the more popular forms. They are probably all local deities of the Churel type, who have been adopted into Brâhmanism. Some are represented by rudely carved images, others by simple shrines, and others are remarkable for preferring empty shrines, and the absence of all visible representations. Each has s

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Mother-worship in Gujarât.

Mother-worship in Gujarât.

In the Hills what is known as the Mâtrî Pûjâ is very popular. The celebrant takes a plank and cleans it with rice flour. On it he draws sixteen figures representing the Mâtrîs, and to the right of them a representation of Ganesa. Figures of the sun and moon are also delineated, and a brush made of sacred grass is dipped in cow-dung and the figures touched with it. After the recital of verses, a mixture of sugar and butter is let drop on the plank, three, five, or seven times. The celebrant then

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Mother-worship in Upper India.

Mother-worship in Upper India.

As an instance of another type of Mother-worship we may take Porû Mâî of Nadiya. She is “represented by a little piece of rough black stone painted with red ochre, and placed beneath the boughs of an ancient banyan tree. She is said to have been in the heart of the jungles, with which Nadiya was originally covered, and to have suffered from the fire which Râja Kâsi Nâth’s men lighted to burn down the jungle.” 62 She is, in fact, a Mother goddess of the jungle, of whom there are numerous instance

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The Jungle Mothers.

The Jungle Mothers.

Another of these divine mothers, Mâtâ Januvî or Janamî, the goddess of births, is a sort of Juno Lucina among the Râjputs, like the Greek Ilithyia, or the Carmenta of the Romans. Her power rests in a bead, and all over Northern India midwives carry as a charm to secure easy delivery a particular sort of bead, known as Kailâs Maura, or “the crown of the sacred mountain Kailâsa.” Difficult parturition is a disease caused by malignant spirits, and numerous are the devices to cure it. The ancient Br

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Other Mother Goddesses.

Other Mother Goddesses.

We now come to consider some divinities special to the Drâvidian races, who touch on the North-Western Provinces to the south, across the Kaimûr and Vindhyan ranges, the physical as well as the ethnical frontier between the valleys of the Ganges and Jumnâ and the mountain country of Central India. The chief Gond deity is Gansâm Deo. Some vague attempt has been made to elevate him into the pantheon of Brâhmanism, and his name has been corrupted into Ghanasyâma, which means in Sanskrit, “black lik

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Worship of Gansâm Deo.

Worship of Gansâm Deo.

To the east of the Mirzapur District, there is a projecting mass of rock, which, looked at from a particular place, bears a rude resemblance to a hideous, grinning skull, with enormous teeth. This has come to be known as Dântan Deo or “the deity of the teeth,” and is carefully propitiated by people when they are sick or in trouble. Akin to this deity is Lalitâ, who is worshipped to the west of the Province. She is the sister of Kâlî, and brings bad dreams. Her speciality is her long teeth, and s

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Worship of Dântan Deo and Lalitâ.

Worship of Dântan Deo and Lalitâ.

Another great godling of the Drâvidian races is Dûlha Deo, “the bridegroom godling.” In his worship we have an echo of some great tragedy, which still exercises a profound influence over the minds of the people. The bridegroom on his way to fetch the bride, is, by established Hindu custom, treated with special reverence, and this unfortunate bridegroom, whose name is forgotten, is said to have been killed by lightning in the midst of his marriage rejoicings, and he and his horse were turned into

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Worship of Dûlha Deo, the Bridegroom Godling.

Worship of Dûlha Deo, the Bridegroom Godling.

We now come to consider a class of rural godlings, the deities who control disease. It is a commonplace of folk-lore and the beliefs of all savage races that disease and death are not the result of natural causes, but are the work of devils and demons, witchcraft, the Evil Eye, and so forth. It is not difficult to understand the basis on which beliefs of this class depend. There are certain varieties of disease, such as hysteria, dementia, epilepsy, convulsions, the delirium of fever, which in t

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The Demoniacal Theory of Disease.

The Demoniacal Theory of Disease.

Of these deities the most familiar is Sîtalâ, “she that loves the cool,” so called euphemistically in consequence of the fever which accompanies small-pox, the chief infant plague of India, which is under her control. Sîtalâ has other euphemistic names. She is called Mâtâ, “the Mother” par excellence ; Jag Rânî, “the queen of the world;” Phapholewâlî, “she of the vesicle;” Kalejewâlî, “she who attacks the liver,” which is to the rustic the seat of all disease. Some call her Mahâ Mâî, “the great

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Sîtalâ, the Goddess of Small-pox.

Sîtalâ, the Goddess of Small-pox.

Their shrines cluster round the special shrine of Sîtalâ, and the villagers to the west of the North-West Provinces call them her Khidmatgârs, or body servants. Round many of the shrines again, as at Kankhal, we find a group of minor shrines, which by one explanation are called the shrines of the other disease godlings. Villagers say that when disease appears in a family, the housewife comes and makes a vow, and if the patient recovers she makes a little shrine to the peculiar form of Devî which

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Connection of Sîtalâ with Human Sacrifice.

Connection of Sîtalâ with Human Sacrifice.

In Bengal the divine force antagonistic to Sîtalâ is Shashthî, “goddess of the sixth,” who is regarded as the special guardian of children. The worship of Shashthî rests on a physiological fact, which has only recently been applied to explain this special form of worship. The most fatal disease of Indian children is a form of infantile lock-jaw, which is caused by the use of a coarse, blunt instrument, such as a sickle, for severing the umbilical cord. This disease usually makes its appearance b

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Small-pox Worship in Bengal.

Small-pox Worship in Bengal.

We have already seen that Sîtalâ is in the stage of promotion to the Brâhmanical heaven. Here her special name is Mâtangî Saktî, a word which has been connected with Mâtâ and Masân, but really refers to Durgâ-Devî in her terrible elephant form. Masân or Masânî is quite a different goddess. She resides at the Masân or cremation ground, and is greatly dreaded. The same name is in the eastern district of the North-Western Provinces applied to the tomb of some low-caste man, very often a Teli or oil

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Mâtangî Saktî and Masân.

Mâtangî Saktî and Masân.

During a small-pox epidemic no journey, not even a pilgrimage to a holy shrine, should be undertaken. Gen. Sleeman 13 gives a curious case in illustration of this: “At this time the only son of Râma Krishna’s brother, Khushhâl Chand, an interesting boy of about four years of age, was extremely ill of small-pox. His father was told that he had better defer his journey to Benares till the child should recover; but he could neither eat nor sleep, so great was his terror lest some dreadful calamity

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Journey forbidden during an Epidemic of Small-pox.

Journey forbidden during an Epidemic of Small-pox.

In the Panjâb when a child falls ill of small-pox no one is allowed to enter the house, especially if he have bathed, washed, or combed his hair, and if any one does come in, he is made to burn incense at the door. Should a thunderstorm come on before the vesicles have fully come out, the sound is not allowed to enter the ear of the sick child, and metal plates are violently beaten to drown the noise of the thunder. For six or seven days, when the disease is at its height, the child is fed with

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Observances during Small-pox Epidemics.

Observances during Small-pox Epidemics.

There are a number of minor disease godlings, some of whom may be mentioned here. The Benares godling of malaria is Jvaraharîsvara, “the god who repels the fever.” The special offering to him is what is called Dudhbhanga, a confection made of milk, the leaves of the hemp plant and sweetmeats. Among the Kols of Chaibâsa, Bangara is the godling of fever and is associated with Gohem, Chondu, Negra and Dichali, who are considered respectively the godlings of cholera, the itch, indigestion and death.

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Minor Disease Godlings.

Minor Disease Godlings.

But the great cholera godling of Northern India is Hardaul, Hardaur, Harda, Hardiya or Hardiha Lâla. It is only north of the Jumnâ that he appears to control the plague, and in Bundelkhand, his native home, he seems to have little connection with it. With him we reach a class of godlings quite distinct from nearly all those whom we have been considering. He is one of that numerous class who were in their lifetime actual historical personages, and who from some special cause, in his case from the

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Hardaul Lâla, the Cholera Godling.

Hardaul Lâla, the Cholera Godling.

Or in the local patois— Gânwân chauntra, Lâla desan nâm: Bundelê des kê Raiya, Râû kê. Tumhârî jay rakhê Bhagwân! Many of these shrines have a stone figure of the hero represented on horseback, set up at the head or west side of the platform. From his birthplace Hardaul is also known as Bundela, and one of the quarters in Mirzapur, and in the town of Brindaban in the Mathura District, is named after him. 24 But while in his native land of Bundelkhand Hardaul is a wedding godling, in about the sa

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Exorcism of the Cholera Demon.

Exorcism of the Cholera Demon.

In Gujarât, among the wilder tribes, the belief prevails that cholera is caused by old women who feed on the corpses of the victims of the pestilence. Formerly, when a case occurred their practice was to go to the soothsayer (Bhagat), find out from him who was the guilty witch, and kill her with much torture. Of late years this practice has, to a great extent, ceased. The people now attribute an outbreak to the wrath of the goddess Kâlî, and, to please her, draw her cart through the streets, and

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Cholera caused by Witchcraft.

Cholera caused by Witchcraft.

In the same way cattle disease is caused by the plague demon. Once upon a time a man, whose descendants live in the Mathura District, was sleeping out in the fields when he saw the cattle disease creeping up to his oxen in an animal shape. He watched his opportunity and got the demon under his shield, which he fixed firmly down. The disease demon entreated to be released, but he would not let it go till it promised that it would never remain where he or his descendants were present. So to this d

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The Demon of Cattle Disease.

The Demon of Cattle Disease.

Beside Hardaul Lâla, the great cholera godling, Hulkâ Devî, the impersonation of vomiting, is worshipped in Bengal with the same object. She appears to be the same as Holikâ or Horkâ Maiyyâ, whom we shall meet in connection with the Holî festival. We have already noticed Marî or Marî Mâî, “Mother death,” or as she is called when promoted to Brâhmanism, Marî Bhavânî. She and Hatthî, a minor cholera goddess, are worshipped when cholera prevails. By one account she and Sîtalâ are daughters of Râja

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Other Cholera Godlings.

Other Cholera Godlings.

The practice of exorcising these demons of disease has been elaborated into something like a science. Disease, according to the general belief of the rural population, can be removed by a species of magic, usually of the variety known as “sympathetic,” and it can be transferred from the sufferer to some one else. The special incantations for disease are in the hands of low-caste sorcerers or magicians. Among the more primitive races, such as those of Drâvidian origin in Central India, this is th

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Exorcism of Disease.

Exorcism of Disease.

“In this manner, having worshipped and propitiated the Vetâlas of seven villages, he becomes an exorcist. After having been able to exercise these powers, he must observe certain rules. Thus, on every eclipse day he must go to a sea-shore or a river bank, bathe in cold water, and while standing in the water repeat incantations a number of times. After bathing daily he must neither wring his head hair, nor wipe his body dry. While he is taking his meals, he should leave off if he hears a woman in

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Methods of Rural Exorcism.

Methods of Rural Exorcism.

In Hoshangâbâd the Bhomka sorcerer has a handful of grain waved over the head of the sick man. This is then carried to the Bhomka, who makes a heap of it on the floor, and sitting over it, swings a lighted lamp suspended by four strings from his fingers. He then repeats slowly the names of the patient’s ancestors and of the village and local godling, pausing between each, and when the lamp stops spinning the name at which it halts is the name to be propitiated. Then in the same way he asks—“What

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Exorcism by Dancing.

Exorcism by Dancing.

So with flagellation, which all over the world is supposed to have the power of scaring demons. Thus in the Central Indian Hills the Baiga with his Gurda, or sacred chain, which being made of iron, possesses additional potency, soundly thrashes patients attacked with epilepsy, hysteria, and similar ailments, which from their nature are obviously due to demoniacal agency. There are numerous instances of the use of the lash for this purpose. In Bombay, among the Lingâyats, the woman who names the

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Flagellation.

Flagellation.

While the sorcerer by virtue of his profession is generally respected and feared, in some places they have been dealt with rather summarily. There is everywhere a struggle between the Brâhman priest of the greater gods and the exorciser, who works by the agency of demons. Sudarsan Sâh rid Garhwâl of them by summoning all the professors of the black art with their books. When they were collected he had them bound hand and foot and thrown with their books and implements into the river. The same mo

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Treatment of Sorcerers.

Treatment of Sorcerers.

The mode of succession to the dignity of an Ojha varies in different places. In Mirzapur the son is usually educated by his father, and taught the various spells and modes of incantation. But this is not always the case; and here at the present time the institution is in a transition stage. South of the Son we have the Baiga, who usually acts as an Ojha also; and he is invariably drawn from the aboriginal races. Further north he is known as Nâya (Sanskrit nâyaka ) or “leader.” Further north, aga

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Appointment of Ojhas.

Appointment of Ojhas.

The question naturally arises—Are all these Ojhas and Baigas conscious hypocrites and swindlers? Dr. Tylor shrewdly remarks that “the sorcerer generally learns his time-honoured profession in good faith, and retains the belief in it more or less from first to last. At once dupe and cheat, he combines the energy of a believer with the cunning of a hypocrite.” 50 This coincides with the experience of most competent Indian observers. No one who consults a Syâna and observes the confident way in whi

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Fraud in Exorcism.

Fraud in Exorcism.

Next to the services of the professional exorciser for the purpose of preventing or curing disease, comes the use of special charms for this purpose. There is a large native literature dealing with this branch of science. As a rule most native patients undergo a course of this treatment before they visit our hospitals, and the result of European medical science is hence occasionally disappointing. One favourite talisman of this kind is the magic square, which consists in an arrangement of certai

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Disease Charms.

Disease Charms.

Next come the arrangements by which disease may be expelled or transferred to someone else. In this connection we may discuss the curious custom of hanging up rags on trees or near sacred wells. Of this custom India supplies numerous examples. At the Balchha pass in Garhwâl there is a small heap of stones at the summit, with sticks and rags attached to them, to which travellers add a stone or two as they pass. 52 In Persia they fix rags on bushes in the name of the Imâm Raza. They explain the cu

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Rag Offerings.

Rag Offerings.

Mr. Hartland is inclined to think that the rags represent entire articles of clothing which were at an earlier time deposited, and on the analogy of the habit of the witch of getting hold of some part of the body, such as nail-cuttings and so on, by which she may get the owner into her power, the rags were meant to connect the worshipper with the deity. “In like manner my shirt or stocking, or a rag to represent it, placed upon a sacred bush or thrust into a sacred well, my name written on the w

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Disease Transference.

Disease Transference.

This brings us to the regular scapegoat. At shrines of Sîtalâ, the small-pox goddess, sweepers bring round a small pig. Contributions are called for from the worshippers, and when the value of the animal is made up, it is driven by the people into the jungle, pursued by an excited crowd, who believe that the creature has taken the disease with it. General Sleeman gives an excellent example of this custom. 67 “More than four-fifths of the city and cantonments of Sâgar had been affected by a viole

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Scapegoats.

Scapegoats.

This incidentally leads to the consideration of the principle that evil spirits are scared by noise. In the first place this appears largely to account for the use of bells in religious worship. The tolling of the bells keeps off the evil spirits which throng round any place where the worship of the regular gods is being performed. Milton speaks of— “The bellman’s drowsy charm; To bless the doors from nightly harm.” 68 So, the passing bell protects the departing soul as it flies through the air

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Demons Scared by Noise.

Demons Scared by Noise.

To return to the use of the scape animal as a means of expelling disease. In Berâr, if cholera is very severe, the people get a scapegoat or young buffalo, but in either case it must be a female and as black as possible, the latter condition being based on the fact that Yamarâja, the lord of death, uses such an animal as his vehicle. They then tie some grain, cloves and red lead (all demon scarers) on its back and turn it out of the village. A man of the gardener caste takes the goat outside the

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Disease Scapegoats.

Disease Scapegoats.

Similarly in the Hills, at the Nand Ashtamî, or feast in honour of Nanda, the foster father of Krishna, a buffalo is specially fed with sweetmeats, and, after being decked with a garland round the neck, is worshipped. The headman of the village then lays a sword across its neck and the beast is let loose, when all proceed to chase it, pelt it with stones, and hack it with knives until it dies. It is curious that this savage rite is carried out in connection with the worship of the Krishna Cultus

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Ancestor-worship: its Origin.

Ancestor-worship: its Origin.

It is admitted on all sides that this form of worship was general among the Aryan nations; 2 but it is a mistake to suppose, as is too often done, that the worship was peculiar to them. That such was not the case can be proved by numerous examples drawn from the practices of aboriginal tribes in India, who have lived hitherto in such complete isolation, that the worship can hardly be due to imitation of the customs of their more civilized neighbours. Thus, on the tenth day after a death in the f

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Among the Aryans and Drâvidians.

Among the Aryans and Drâvidians.

Most of these Drâvidian tribes believe that like themselves the spirits of the dead are mortal. What becomes of them after a couple of generations no one can say. But when this period has elapsed they are supposed to be finally disposed of some way or other, and being no longer objects of fear to the survivors, their worship is neglected, and attention is paid only to the more recent dead, whose powers of mischief still continue. The Gonds go further and propitiate for only one year the spirits

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Spirits Mortal.

Spirits Mortal.

Among many races, again, there is a common belief that the father or grandfather is re-born in one of his descendants. The modern reader is familiar with examples of such beliefs in Mr. Du Maurier’s “Peter Ibbetson,” and Mr. Rider Haggard’s “She.” Manu expresses this belief when he writes—“The husband after conception by his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of her; for that is the wifehood of a wife, that he is born again by her.” The feeling that children are really the ancestors re-bo

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Ancestors Re-born in Children.

Ancestors Re-born in Children.

The ordinary worship of ancestors among Brâhmanized Hindu races has been so often described in well-known books as to need little further illustration. 7 The spirits of departed ancestors attend upon the Brâhmans invited to the ceremony of the Srâddha, “hovering round them like pure spirits, and sitting by them when they are seated.” “An offering to the gods is to be made at the beginning and end of the Srâddha; it must not begin and end with an offering to ancestors, for he who begins and ends

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The Srâddha.

The Srâddha.

The worship which has been thus described easily passes into other and grosser forms. Thus, in the family of the Gâikwârs of Baroda, when they worship Mahâdeva they think of the greatest of this line of princes. The temple contains a rudely-executed portrait of Khândê Râo, the shrine to the left the bed, garments, and phial of Ganges water, which commemorate his mother, Chimnâbâî. Govind Râo has an image dressed up, and Fateh Sinh a stone face. 11 In Central India Râjputs wear the figure of a di

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Degradation of Ancestor-worship.

Degradation of Ancestor-worship.

From this family worship of deceased relations, the transition to the special worship of persons of high local reputation in life, or who have died in some remarkable way, is easy. The intermediate links are the Sâdhu and the Satî, and the worship finally culminates in a creed like that of the Jainas, who worship a pantheon of deified saints, that of the Lingâyat worship of Siva incarnated as Chambasâpa, or the godlike weaver Kabîr of the Kabîrpanthis. The lowest phase of all is the worship by t

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Worship of Worthies.

Worship of Worthies.

The Sâdhu is a saint who is regarded as “the great power of God,” the name meaning “he that is eminent in virtue.” He is a visible manifestation of the divine energy acquired by his piety and self-devotion. We shall meet later on instances of deified holy men of this class. Meanwhile, it may be noted, we see around us the constant development of the cultus in all its successive stages. Thus, in Berâr at Askot the saint is still alive; at Wadnera he died nearly a century ago, and his descendants

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The Sâdhu.

The Sâdhu.

These saints have wrested from the reluctant gods by sheer piety and relentless austerities, a portion of the divine thaumaturgic power, which exudes after their death from the places where their bodies are laid. This is the case with the shrines of both Hindu and Musalmân saints. Many instances of this will be found in succeeding pages. Thus at Chunâr there is a famous shrine in honour of Shâh Qâsim Sulaimâni, 17 a local saint whose opinions were so displeasing to Akbar that he imprisoned him h

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Miracle-working Tombs.

Miracle-working Tombs.

The next link between ancestor-worship and that of special deceased worthies is seen in the Satî, or “faithful wife,” who, before the practice was prohibited by our Government, was bound to bear her deceased lord company to the world of spirits for his consolation and service. The rite seems to have at one time prevailed throughout the Aryan world. 18 It undoubtedly prevailed in Slavonic lands, 19 and there are even traces of it in Greece. Evadne is said to have burnt herself with the body of he

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The Satî.

The Satî.

The connection between the special worship of the Satî and that of the Pitri or sainted dead will have been remarked. In many places the Satî represents the company of the venerated ancestors and is regarded as the guardian mother of the village, and in many of the rustic shrines of this class the same connection with the Pitri is shown in another interesting way. The snake is, as we shall see, regarded as a type of the household deity, which is often one of the deified ancestors, and so, in the

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The Satî and the Pitri.

The Satî and the Pitri.

We have already noticed some instances of the canonization in modern times of saints and holy men. Of worthies of this kind, who have received divine honours, the number is legion. This deification of human beings is found in the very early Brâhmanical literature. One of the most noteworthy ideas to be found in the Brâhmanas is that the gods were merely mortal till they conquered Death by their sacrifices. Death, alarmed, protested to the gods, and it was then arranged that no one should become

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Modern Saints.

Modern Saints.

A few examples of modern deification may be given to illustrate this phase of the popular faith. Thus, one Gauhar Shâh was quite recently canonized at Meerut because he delivered a prophecy that a windmill belonging to a certain Mr. Smith would soon cease to work. The fulfilment of his prediction was considered ample evidence of his sanctity, and the question was put beyond the possibility of doubt when, just before his death, the holy man directed his disciples to remove him from an inn, which

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Deification in Modern Times.

Deification in Modern Times.

Shaikh Bûrhan, a saint of Amber, was offered a drink of milk by Mokul, one of the Shaikhâwat chiefs, and immediately performed the miracle of drawing a copious stream of milk from the udder of an exhausted female buffalo. “This was sufficient to convince the old chief that he could work other miracles, and he prayed that through his means he might no longer be childless. In due time he had an heir, who, according to the injunction of Bûrhan, was styled, after his own tribe, Shaikh, whence the ti

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Shaikh Bûrhan.

Shaikh Bûrhan.

The power of conferring male offspring has made the reputation of many saints of this class, like the famous Salîm Chishti of Fatehpur Sîkri, whose prayers were efficacious in procuring an heir for the Emperor Akbar. Up to the present day childless women visit his shrine and hang rags on the delicate marble traceries of his tomb to mark their vows. Besides this sainthood which is based on sanctity of life and approved thaumaturgic powers, the right of deification is conferred on persons who have

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Deification of Noted Persons.

Deification of Noted Persons.

We have already given an instance of the second class in Hardaul Lâla, the cholera godling. Another example of the same kind is that of Harshu Pânrê or Harshu Bâba, the local god of Chayanpur, near Sahsarâm in Bengal, whose worship is now rapidly spreading over Northern India, and promises to become as widely diffused as that of Hardaul himself. He was, according to the current account, a Kanaujiya Brâhman, the family priest of Râja Sâlivâhana of Chayanpur. The Râja had two queens, one of whom w

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Harshu Pânrê.

Harshu Pânrê.

Another worthy, whose legend much resembles that of Harshu, is Ratan Pânrê, who is venerated by the Kalhans Râjputs of Oudh. The last of the race, Râja Achal Nârâyan Sinh, ravished the daughter of Ratan Pânrê. He pleaded in vain to the wicked Râja for reparation, and at last he and his wife starved themselves to death at the gate of the fort. He too, like Harshu, spared a princess of the Râja’s house, but he cursed the rest of his family with ruin. After he died his ghost went to the river Sarjû

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Ratan Pânrê.

Ratan Pânrê.

There is a similar case among the Hayobans Râjputs of Ghâzipur. In 1528 A.D. their Râja Bhopat Deva, or perhaps one of his sons, seduced Mahenî, a Brâhman girl, a relation of their family priest. She burned herself to death, and in dying, imprecated the most fearful curses on the Hayobans sept. In consequence of a succession of disasters which followed, the tribe completely abandoned their family settlement at Baliya, where the woman’s tomb is worshipped to this day. Even now none of the sept da

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Mahenî.

Mahenî.

Another instance of the same type may be given from Râjputâna. Jaswant Sinh of Mârwâr had an intrigue with the daughter of one of his chief officers. “But the avenging ghost of the Brâhman interposed between him and his wishes; a dreadful struggle ensued, in which Jaswant lost his senses, and no effort could banish the impression from his mind. The ghost persecuted his fancy, and he was generally believed to be possessed of a wicked spirit, which when exorcised was made to say he would depart on

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Nâhar Khân.

Nâhar Khân.

Two other godlings of the Hills owe their promotion to the tragic circumstances of their deaths. Gangânâth was a Râja’s son, who quarrelled with his father and became a religious mendicant. He subsequently fell into an intrigue with the wife of an astrologer, who murdered him and his paramour. They both became malignant ghosts, to whom numerous temples were erected. When anyone is injured by the wicked or powerful, he has recourse to Gangânâth, who punishes the evil-doer. Of the same type is Bho

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Gangânâth and Bholanâth.

Gangânâth and Bholanâth.

Similar is the case of Bhairwanand, the tribal deity of the Râikwâr Râjputs of Oudh. He was pushed into a well in order to fulfil a prophecy, and has since been deified. 38 So with the queen of Ganor, who killed herself by means of a poisoned robe when she was obliged to surrender her honour to her Mughal conqueror. He died in extreme torture, and was buried on the road to Bhopâl. A visit to his grave is believed to cure tertian ague. 39...

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Bhairwanand.

Bhairwanand.

Next come those mortals who have been deified on account of the glory of their lives. Vyâsa, the compiler of the Vedas, has been canonized, and there is a temple in his honour both at Benares and Râmnagar. In the latter place he has been promoted to the dignity of an incarnation of Siva, whereas in Benares he has a temple of his own. His worship extends as far as Kulu, where he has an image near a stream. Pilgrims offer flowers in his name and set up a stone on end in commemoration of their visi

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Vyâsa.

Vyâsa.

Vâlmîki, the author of the Râmâyana, is worshipped in the same way. He has shrines at Bâlu in the Karnâl District and at Baleni of Meerut. Baliya, the headquarters of the district of that name, is said to be called after him. The Aheriyas and Baheliyas, both hunting tribes of the North-Western Provinces, claim descent from him, and he has now, by an extraordinary feat in hagiolatry, become identified with Lâl Beg, the low caste godling of the sweepers. 41...

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Vâlmîki.

Vâlmîki.

Many other worthies of the olden time are worshipped in the same way. From the Himâlaya to Bombay, Dattâtreya, a saint in whom a part of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva was incarnate, is worshipped by Vaishnavas as a partial manifestation of the deity, and by Saivas as a distinguished authority on the Yoga philosophy. He has temples both in Garhwâl and in the Konkan, like Parâsara Rishi, the reputed author of the Vishnu Purâna, who wished to make a sacrifice to destroy the Râkshasas, but was dissuaded

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Various Saints.

Various Saints.

Even the thieving and nomadic tribes have as their godlings deified bandits. Such is Gandak, the patron of the Magahiya Doms, and Salhes, who is worshipped by the Doms and Dusâdhs of Behâr. He was a great hero and the first watchman. He fought a famous battle with Chûhar Mâî of Mohâma, and is the subject of a popular epic in Tirhût. With his worship is associated that of his brother Motirâm, another worthy of the same kind. 43 At Sherpur near Patna is the shrine of Goraiya or Gauraiya, a Dusâdh

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Deified Robbers.

Deified Robbers.

We have already spoken of Gansâm, one of the tribal deities of the Kols. Another famous Kol deity in Mirzapur is Râja Lâkhan. One story of him is that he came from Lucknow, a legend based, of course, on the similarity of the name. But there can be no reasonable doubt that he was really Lakhana Deva, the son of the famous Râja Jaychand of Kanauj, who is known in the popular ballads as the Kanaujiya Râê. There is an inscribed pillar erected by him near Bhuili in the Mirzapur District, and he was p

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Râja Lâkhan.

Râja Lâkhan.

Another deity of the same race is Râja Chandol, who is said to have been a jungle Râja of the Bhuiyâr tribe. He was attacked by his neighbour the Râja of Nagar, who overcame him and cut off his head. Meanwhile the conqueror forgot his patron deity, and his temple was overturned and the image buried in the earth. One day a goldsmith who was passing by the place heard a voice from beneath the ground saying that if he dug there he would find the idol. He did so, and, digging up the image, which was

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Râja Chandol.

Râja Chandol.

The goddess Belâ was the sister of Lakhana Deva, whose story has been already told. Once, the story goes, Siva went to pay a visit to Hastinapura, and the bell of his bull Nandi disturbed the brothers Arjuna and Bhîma, who, thinking the god a wandering beggar, drove him out of the palace. Then he cursed the Râjput race that among them should be born two fatal women, who should work the ruin of their power. So first was born Draupadî, who caused the war of the Mahâbhârata, and after her Belâ, to

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Belâ.

Belâ.

Jokhaiya, who had by the same enumeration eighty-seven thousand worshippers, was a Bhangi or sweeper, who is said to have been killed in the war between Prithivî Râja of Delhi and Jaychand of Kanauj. He has a noted shrine at Paindhat in the Mainpuri District, where a sweeper for a small fee will kill a pig and let its blood drop on his shrine. So, the godling invoked by the Pindhâri women when their husbands went on marauding expeditions, was Ramâsa Pîr. He was a well-known warrior killed in a b

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Ramâsa Pîr.

Ramâsa Pîr.

Another local godling of the same class is Râê Sinh, whose legend is thus told by General Sleeman: “At Sanoda there is a very beautiful little fortress or castle, now occupied, but still entire. It was built by an officer of Râja Chhattar Sâl of Bundelkhand about 1725 A.D. His son, by name Râê Sinh, was, soon after the castle had been completed, killed in an attack upon a town near Chhatarkot, and having in the estimation of the people become a god, he had a temple and a tank raised to him. I as

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Râê Sinh.

Râê Sinh.

We now come to a more miscellaneous class—the Pîrs and Sayyids. Some of these we have encountered already. We have also seen instances of some holy men who, like Paul and Silas at Lystra, have been raised to the rank of deities. These saints are usually of Muhammadan origin, but most of them are worshipped indiscriminately both by Musalmâns and low class Hindus. The word Pîr properly means “an elder,” but according to Sûfi belief is the equivalent of Murshid, or “religious leader.” Sayyid, an Ar

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The Pîrs and Sayyids.

The Pîrs and Sayyids.

The most eminent of the Pîrs are, of course, the Panj Pîr, or five original saints of Islâm. They were—the Prophet Muhammad, ’Ali, his cousin-german and adopted son, Fâtima, the daughter of the Prophet and wife of ’Ali, and their sons, Hasan and Husain, whose tragical fate is commemorated with such ardent sympathy at the annual celebration of the Muharram. 52 But by modern Indian Muhammadans the name is usually applied to five leading saints—Bahâ-ud-dîn Zikariya of Multân, Shâh Ruqa-i-Âlam Hazra

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The Panj Pîr.

The Panj Pîr.

The worship of the original saints of Islâm has, however, undergone a grievous degradation. We are familiar in Western hagiology with the specialization of saints for certain purposes. St. Agatha is invoked to cure sore breasts, St. Anthony against inflammation, St. Blaise against bones sticking in the throat, St. Martin for the itch, St. Valentine against epilepsy, and so on. So St. Agatha presides over nurses, St. Catherine and St. Gregory over learned men, St. Cecilia over musicians, St. Vale

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Caste Saints.

Caste Saints.

Muhammadan domestic worship is largely concerned with the propitiation of the household Pîr. In almost every house is a dreaded spot where, as the Russian peasant keeps his holy image, is the abode or corner of the Pîr, and the owner erects a little shelf, lights a lamp every Thursday night, and hangs up garlands of flowers. Shaikh Saddu, of whom we shall see more later on, is the women’s favourite Pîr, especially with those who wish to gain an undue ascendency over their husbands. When a woman

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Domestic Worship of the Pîr.

Domestic Worship of the Pîr.

But it is in the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces and Behâr that the worship has reached its most degraded form. No less than one million seven hundred thousand persons at the last census, almost entirely in the Gorakhpur and Benares Divisions, recorded themselves as Pachpiriyas or worshippers of the Pânch Pîr. It is impossible to get any consistent account of these worthies, and the whole cultus has become imbedded in a mass of the wildest legend and mythology. 55 According to t

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The Pachpiriyas.

The Pachpiriyas.

It has often been remarked that the five Pândavas have strangely passed out of the national worship. At the last census in the North-Western Provinces only four thousand people gave them as their personal deities, and in the Panjâb only one hundred acknowledged them. Now in the west the title of Pânch Pîr is sometimes given to five Râjput heroes, Râmdeo, Pâbu, Harbu, Mallinâth and Gûga, 56 and it is at least a plausible theory that the five Pîrs may have originally been the five Pându brothers,

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The Pânch Pîr and the Pândavas.

The Pânch Pîr and the Pândavas.

The whole worship centres round Ghâzi Miyân. His real name was Sayyid Sâlâr Masaud, and he was nephew of Sultân Mahmûd of Ghazni. He was born in 1015 A.D. , was leader of one of the early invasions of Oudh, and is claimed as one of the first martyrs of Islâm in India. He was killed in battle with the Hindus of Bahrâich in 1034 A.D. Close to the battle-field was a tank with an image of the sun on its banks, a shrine sacred in the eyes of all Hindus. Masaud, whenever he passed it, was wont to say

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Ghâzi Miyân.

Ghâzi Miyân.

Sakhi Sarwar, or “generous leader,” the title of a saint whose real name was Sayyid Ahmad, is hardly popular beyond the Panjâb, where his followers are known as Sultânis, and are more than four hundred thousand in number. 60 No one knows exactly when he lived; some place him in the twelfth and others in the thirteenth century; but there are other traditions which would bring him down to the sixteenth. Whatever be the exact time of his birth and death, he was one of the class of Muhammadan saints

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Sakhi Sarwar.

Sakhi Sarwar.

Another noted local saint is Gûga Pîr, also known as Zâhir Pîr, “the saint apparent,” or Zâhir Dîwân, “the minister apparent,” or in the Panjâb as Bâgarwâla, as his grave is near Dadrewa in Bikâner, and he is said to have reigned over the Bâgar or great prairies of Northern Râjputâna. Nothing is known for certain about him, and the tales told of him are merely a mass of wild legends. According to some he flourished somewhere about the middle of the twelfth century, when Indian hagiolatry was at

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Gûga Pîr.

Gûga Pîr.

But it is in his function as one of the Snake kings that Gûga is specially worshipped. When he is duly propitiated he can save from snake-bite, and cause those who neglect him to be bitten. His shrine is often found in association with that of Nara Sinha, the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu, and of Gorakhnâth, the famous ascetic, whose disciple he is said to have been. He is adored by Hindus and Muhammadans alike, and by all castes, by Râjputs and Jâts, as well as by Chamârs and Chûhras. Even the

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Gûga and Snake-worship.

Gûga and Snake-worship.

Another godling of the same kind is Tejajî, the Jât snake godling of Mârwâr. He is said to have lived about 900 years ago. One day he noticed that a Brâhman’s cow was in the habit of going to a certain place in the jungle, where milk fell from her udder into the hole of a snake. Teja agreed to supply the snake daily with milk, and thus save the Brâhman from loss. Once when he was preparing to visit his father-in-law, he forgot the compact, and the snake appearing, declared that it was necessary

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Worship of Tejajî.

Worship of Tejajî.

Bâba Farîd Shakkarganj, or “fountain of sweets,” so called because he was able miraculously to transmute dust or salt into sugar, was born in 1173 A.D. , and died in 1265. His tomb is at Pâkpatan, and he enjoys high consideration in Northern India. He was a disciple of Qutb-ud-dîn Bakhtyâr Kâki, who again sat at the feet of Muîn-ud-dîn Chishti of Ajmer, also a great name to swear by. Farîd’s most distinguished disciple was Nizâm-ud-dîn Auliya, who has a lovely tomb at Ghayâspur, near Delhi. Farî

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Worship of Bâba Farîd Shakkarganj.

Worship of Bâba Farîd Shakkarganj.

He was a thrifty saint, and for the last thirty years of his life he supported himself by holding to his stomach wooden cakes and fruits whenever he felt hungry. In this he resembled Qutb-ud-Dîn Ushi, who was able by a miracle to produce cakes for the support of his family and himself. 73 Of the minor saints the number is legion, and only a few instances can be given. At Makanpur in the Cawnpur District is the tomb of Zinda Shâh Madâr, who gives his name to the class of Musalmân Faqîrs, known as

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Minor Saints.

Minor Saints.

Of these villages which were overturned by a curse we have many examples all over the country. The ruins at Bakhira Dih in Basti are said to have been a great city which was overthrown because a Râja seduced a Brâhman girl. At Batesar in Agra is the Aundha Khera, which records a similar catastrophe. So Bângarmau in Unâo is called the Lauta Shahr or “overthrown city,” because Mîrân Sâhib destroyed it to punish the curiosity of the Râja who wanted to know why the robes of the saint which a washerm

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Villages Overturned.

Villages Overturned.

Malâmat Shâh is treated with much respect in Bârabanki. The disciple in charge of his tomb calls the jackals with a peculiar cry at dusk. They devour what is left of the offerings, but will only touch such things as are given with a sincere mind and not to be seen of men. A religious tiger is also said to come over from Bahrâich and pay an annual visit to the shrine. 78 At Qasûr is the tomb of the saint Miyân Ahmad Khân Darvesh, on which the attendants place a number of small pebbles. These are

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Miyân Ahmad.

Miyân Ahmad.

Shaikh Saddû has been mentioned in another connection. His visitations cause melancholy and hypochondria. He is exorcised by the distribution of sweets to the poor and the sacrifice of a black goat. He once found a magic lamp, like that of Alâuddin, the powers of which he abused, and was torn to pieces by the Jinn. 80 The list of these worthies is immense. We can only mention in passing Shâh Abdul Ghafûr, commonly known as Bâba Kapûr, a disciple of Shâh Madâr, whose shrine is in Gwâlyâr; Mîr Abd

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Shaikh Saddû.

Shaikh Saddû.

Many of these local shrines owe their reputation to notorious cures, which have been performed by the intervention of the local saint. At Chhattarpur is the shrine of Rûkhar Bâba, an ascetic of the Gusâîn class, who has the power of removing fever and ague, and hence among the many tombs of his brethren his is kept clean and white-washed, while the others are neglected. 82 A shrine in Berâr is noted for its power in cases of snake-bite and scrofula. A large two-storied gate of its enclosure owes

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Shrines Which Cure Disease.

Shrines Which Cure Disease.

Dr. Buchanan gives a case at Patna of a certain Sayyid Yûsuf, who manifested himself to a poor blind weaver and told him that he would recover his sight next day. At the same time the saint ordered his patient to search for his tomb and proclaim its virtues. The weaver, on recovering his sight, did not fail to obey the orders of his benefactor, and he and his descendants have since then lived on the contributions of the faithful, though the tomb is a mere heap of clay and has no endowment. 88 Th

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Sayyid Yûsuf.

Sayyid Yûsuf.

There are other tombs which present special peculiarities. Thus, not long since crowds of people assembled at Khetwadi, in Bombay, to see a shrine erected by some sweepers to Zâhir Pîr, which at intervals seemed to oscillate from its foundations. At Anjar in Sindh are the tombs of a noted outlaw named Jaisar Pîr and his wife Turî Khatrânî, who were originally buried apart, but their tombs are gradually approaching, and it is believed that at their meeting the world will be destroyed. So there is

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Wonder-working Tombs.

Wonder-working Tombs.

There is another class of tombs which are known as the Naugaza or Naugaja, that is to say tombs nine yards long. In these rest the giants of the older world. There is one of these tombs at Nâgaur in Râjputâna, and several others have been discovered in the course of the Archæological Survey. 90 Five of them at Vijhi measure respectively 29, 31, 30 and 38 feet. Mr. W. Simpson calls these tombs Buddhistic, but this is very doubtful. 91 The belief largely prevails among Muhammadans that there were

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The Nine-yard Tombs.

The Nine-yard Tombs.

The reputation, again, of many shrines rests on the assumed discovery, generally by means of a dream, that an ancient image or the bones of a martyr were buried on the spot, and in their honour a shrine was established. Thus, the great temple at Bandakpur in the Damoh District owes its origin to the fact that a Pandit in 1781 A.D. dreamed a dream, that in a certain spot lay buried in the earth an image of Jagîswar Mahâdeva, and that if he built a suitable temple over the place indicated, the ima

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Shrines with Images or Relics.

Shrines with Images or Relics.

Barrenness is in popular belief mainly due to the agency of evil spirits. Sterile women were in Rome beaten with rods by the naked youths who ran through the city at the Lupercalia. The barren, as Shakespeare says, “Touched by this holy chase, shake off their sterile curse.” In Bombay it is believed that the cause of not getting children is that the man or his wife must have killed a serpent in their former birth, whose spirit haunts them and makes the woman barren. To get rid of the spirit whic

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The Curing of Barrenness.

The Curing of Barrenness.

And again—“Flowers, fruit and other vegetables, eggs, fishes, spiders, worms, and even stones, are all capable of becoming human beings. They only await absorption in the shape of food, or in some other appropriate manner, into the body of a woman, to enable the metamorphosis to be accomplished.” 102 The same idea constantly occurs in Indian folk-lore. The barren queen is given the juice of a pomegranate by a Faqîr, or the king plucks one of the seven mangoes which grow on a special tree, or a b

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Harmless Saints and Godlings.

Harmless Saints and Godlings.

These deified ghosts and saints whom we have been discussing, though occasionally touchy and sensitive to insult or disrespect, are, as a rule, benevolent. But there is another class of beings at whose feet the rustic lies in grievous and perpetual bondage. These are the malevolent dead. It is not difficult to understand why the spirits of the dead should be regarded as hostile. A stranger is, in the belief of all primitive people, synonymous with an enemy; and the spirit of the departed having

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Spirits of the Dead Hostile.

Spirits of the Dead Hostile.

Many savages believe that the evidence of dreams is sufficient to prove that the soul moves about during sleep, and that the dream is the record of its experiences in hunting, dancing, visiting friends, and so on. Hence arises the possibility that in the temporary absence of a man’s soul his body may be occupied by some other person’s spirit, or even by a malignant ghost or demon. In the Panchatantra there is a story of a king who lost his own soul, but afterwards recovered it. A Panjâb tale tel

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The Separable Soul.

The Separable Soul.

The general term for these spirits is Bhût, in Sanskrit Bhûta, which means “formed” or “created.” In the earlier Hindu writings the word is applied to the powers of Nature, and even to deities. Siva himself is called Bhûtîsvara, or “Lord of spirits,” and, under the name of Bhûtîsvara Mahâdeva, has a shrine at Mathura. But as the Greek Dæmon acquired a less respectable meaning in the later ages of the history of the nation, so Bhût has now come to imply a malignant evil spirit. But Bhût is a gene

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The Bhût.

The Bhût.

Many of these shrines to persons who have died by an untimely death are known by special names, which indicate the character of the accident. We shall meet again with the Baghaut, or shrine, to a man killed by a tiger. We have also Bijaliya Bîr, the man who was killed by lightning, Târ Bîr, a man who fell from a Târ or toddy tree, and Nâgiya Bîr, a person killed by a snake. General Cunningham mentions shrines of this kind; one to an elephant driver who was killed by a fall from a tree, another t

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Shrines to Persons Accidentally Killed.

Shrines to Persons Accidentally Killed.

Women who have married a second time are specially liable to the envious attacks of the first husband. If in Bombay “a Mahâdeo Koli widow bride or her husband sicken, it is considered the work of the former husband. Among the Somavansi Kshatriyas, there is a strong belief that when a woman marries another husband, her first husband becomes a ghost and troubles her. This fear is so strongly rooted in their minds, that whenever a woman of this caste sickens, she attributes her sickness to the ghos

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Second Marriage and Bhûts.

Second Marriage and Bhûts.

Like evil spirits all the world over, Bhûts will eat filthy food, and as they are always thirsty, they are glad to secure even a drop of water, no matter how impure the purpose may have been for which it has been used. On the other hand, they are very fond of milk, and no Panjâbi woman likes her child to leave the house after drinking fresh milk. If she cannot prevent it from going, she puts some salt or ashes into its mouth to scare the Bhût. 11...

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Food of Bhûts.

Food of Bhûts.

Bhûts can never sit on the ground, apparently, because, as has been shown already, the earth, personified as a goddess, scares away all evil influence. Hence, near the low-caste shrines a couple of pegs or bricks are set up for the Bhût to rest on, or a bamboo is hung over it, on which the Bhût perches when he visits the place. 12 On the same principle the Orâons hang up the cinerary urn containing the bones of a dead man on a post in front of the house, 13 and the person who is going on a pilgr

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Posture of Bhûts.

Posture of Bhûts.

There are at least three infallible tests by which you may recognize a Bhût. In the first place he casts no shadow. In the third Canto of the Purgatorio, Dante is much distressed because Virgil, being a disembodied spirit, casts no shadow. In the second place a Bhût can stand almost anything in his neighbourhood but the scent of burning turmeric, which, as we shall see, is a well-known demon-scarer. Thirdly, a genuine Bhût always speaks with a nasal twang, and it is possibly for this last reason

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Tests of Bhûts.

Tests of Bhûts.

Many denizens of the spirit land have connection with mortals. We have the cycle of folk-tales known as that of the Swan maidens. Urvasî came and lived with Parûravas until he broke the curiosity taboo. We shall see instances where Indra gives one of his fairies to a mortal lover, and spirits like the Incubi and Succubi of European folk-lore can be brought down by incantation. Spirits enter and leave the body in various ways. They often use the head in this way, and in particular the tenth apert

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Spirit Entries: The Head.

Spirit Entries: The Head.

As might have been expected, Bhûts are very fond of entering by the mouth. Hence arise much of the mouth-washing which is part of the daily ritual of the Hindu, and many of the elaborate precautions which he takes at meals. This will be referred to again in connection with the Evil Eye. Hence it is very dangerous to yawn, as two kinds of danger are to be apprehended—either a Bhût may go down your throat, or part of your soul may escape, and you will be hard set to recover it. So if you chance to

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Yawning.

Yawning.

So, sneezing is due to demoniacal influence, but opinions differ as to whether it is caused by a Bhût entering or leaving the nose. The latter view is generally taken by Musalmâns, because it is one of the traditions of the Prophet that the nose should be washed out with water, as the devil resides in it during the night. The sneezing superstition in India is at least as old as the Buddhist Jâtakas, where we have a remarkable tale about it, which describes how the future Buddha and his father Ga

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Sneezing.

Sneezing.

The hands and feet are also means by which Bhûts enter the body. Hence much of the ablution at prayers and meals; the hand-clapping which accompanies so many religious and mystical rites; the passing of the hand over the head; the laying of the hands on the eyes to restore sight, of which we have many examples in the Indian folk-tales; the hand-pledging at marriages; the drinking of the Charan-amrita, or water, in which the feet of a holy man have been washed; the ceremonial washing of the feet

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The Hands and Feet.

The Hands and Feet.

And so with the ears, which are believed to communicate direct with the brain, and are kept by the rustic carefully muffled up on chilly mornings. Hence the custom of Kanchhedan, or ear-piercing, which is in Northern India about the only survival of the world-wide rite of mutilation when males attain puberty, and of wearing ear-rings and similar ornaments, which is habitual with all classes of Hindus, and specialized among the Kanphata Jogis, who take their name from this practice. In Bengal the

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Varieties of Bhûts.

Varieties of Bhûts.

The Hindu notion of the state of the soul between death and the performance of the prescribed funeral rites agrees exactly with that of the older European races. They wandered about in a state of unhappy restlessness, and were not suffered to mix with the other dead. The term Pret or Preta, which simply means “deceased” or “departed,” represents the soul during this time. It wanders round its original home, and, like the Bâlakhilyas, who surround the chariot of the sun, is no larger than a man’s

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The Pret.

The Pret.

Next comes the Pisâcha, which, as we have seen, is by one account only a stage in the progress of the soul to its final rest. But more properly speaking it is an evil spirit produced by a man’s vices, the ghost of a liar, adulterer, or criminal of any kind, or of one who has died insane. But his attributes and functions are not very clearly defined, and he merges into the general class of Bhûts. In some cases he seems to have the power to cure disease. Thus we read in Somadeva, “Rise up in the l

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The Pisâcha.

The Pisâcha.

The Râkshasa again, a word that means “the harmer” or “the destroyer,” is of the ogre-vampire type. He goes about at night, haunts cemeteries, disturbs sacrifices and devout men, animates dead bodies, even devouring human beings, in which capacity he is known as Kravyâda, or carnivorous, and is generally hostile to the human race. He is emphatically a devourer of human flesh, and eats carrion. He is often represented in the folk-tales as having a pretty daughter, who protects the hero when he ve

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The Râkshasa.

The Râkshasa.

The finger nails of the Râkshasas, as those of Europeans in popular belief, are a deadly poison, and the touch of them produces insensibility, or even death. They often take the disguise of old women and have very long hair, which is a potent charm. Their malignity is so great that it would be difficult to avoid them, but fortunately, like the Devil in the European tales, and evil spirits all the world over, they are usually fools, and readily disclose the secrets of their enchantment to the dis

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Night Spirits.

Night Spirits.

The tales of Western lands abound with instances of buildings, bridges, etc., constructed by the Devil. So the Indian Râkshasa is commonly regarded as an architect. Thus, at Râmtek in the Central Provinces there is a curious old temple built of hewn stones, well fitted together without mortar. From its shape and structure it is probably of Jaina origin, though local tradition connects it with the name of Hemâdpant, the Râkshasa. He is an example of Râkshasas developed in comparatively recent tim

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Râkshasas as Builders.

Râkshasas as Builders.

Râkshasas are developed even in these prosaic days of ours. In the folk-tales many human beings lie under the well-founded suspicion of being Asuras or Râkshasas. 53 The ghost of some Musalmâns is believed by some Hindus to become a most malignant Râkshasa. Such a ghost is conciliated by being addressed by the euphemistic title of Mamduh, “the praised one.” Visaladeva, the famous King of Ajmer, was turned into a Râkshasa on account of his oppression of his subjects, in which condition he resumed

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Modern Râkshasas.

Modern Râkshasas.

We have already mentioned the Brahm or malignant Brâhman ghost. These often develop into Râkshasas, and are a particularly dangerous species. Thus the sept of Gaur Râjputs are haunted by the Râkshasa or ghost of the Brâhman Mansa Râm, who, on account of the tyranny of the Râja Tej Sinh, committed suicide. He lives in a tree in a fort in the Sîtapur District, and no marriage or any other important business in the family of the Râja is undertaken until he has been duly propitiated. 55 So, at the m

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Brâhman Ghosts.

Brâhman Ghosts.

Closely connected with the Râkshasas are various classes of demons, known as Deo, Dâno, or Bîr. The Deo is a survival of the Devas or “shining ones” of the old mythology. It is another of the terms which have suffered grievous degradation. It was originally applied to the thirty-three great divinities, eleven of which inhabited each of the three worlds. Now the term represents a vague class of the demon-ogre family. The Deo is a cannibal, and were he not exceedingly stupid could do much harm, bu

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The Deo.

The Deo.

The Bîr, who takes his name from the Sanskrit Vîra, “hero,” is a very malignant village demon. In one of the Mirzapur villages is the shrine of Kharbar Bîr, or “the noisy hero.” No one can give any satisfactory account of him, but it is quite certain that if he is not propitiated by the Baiga, he brings disease on men and cattle. Gendâ Bîr, a woman who was tired of life, and, instead of burning herself, threw herself down from a tree, is worshipped at Nâgpur. 57 Kerâr Bîr has, according to the l

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The Bîr.

The Bîr.

The Dâno represents the Dânava of the early mythology. Of these there are seven also, and the leader of them is Vritra, who is the ancestor of the dragons and keeps back and steals the heavenly waters, on which account Indra slays him with his thunderbolt. Vala, the cave in which the rain cows are hidden, is called the brother of Vritra. No trace remains now of this beautiful weather myth. The Dâno nowadays is hardly to be distinguished from the Bîr and his brethren, and at Hazâribâgh he is wors

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The Dâno.

The Dâno.

So with the Dait or Daitya, who is connected in nothing but name with the demons of the olden world who warred with the gods. In Mirzapur he lives in a tree; in front he looks like a man, but seen from behind he is quite hollow, only a mere husk without a backbone. In this he resembles the Ellekone of Denmark, who is beautiful in front, but hollow in the back like a kneading trough. 61 So the Hadal or Hedali of Bombay is said to be plump in front and a skeleton behind. 62 At midnight the Daitya

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The Daitya.

The Daitya.

At the present time the most dreaded of these creatures is, perhaps, the Headless Horseman, who is popularly known as Dûnd, or “truncated.” He has many of his kindred in other lands. Sir Francis Drake used to drive a hearse into Plymouth with headless horses and followed by yelling hounds. Coluinn gun Cheann of the Highlands goes about a headless trunk. A coach without horses used to career about the neighbourhood of Listowel when any misfortune was about to take place. A monster in one of the G

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The Headless Horseman.

The Headless Horseman.

Closely connected with this are the numerous legends of the Ghostly Army. Thus, at Faizâbâd, the country people point out a portion of the Queen’s highway along which they will not pass at night. They say that after dark the road is thronged with troops of headless horsemen, the dead of the army of Prince Sayyid Sâlâr. The great host moves on with a noiseless tread; the ghostly horses make no sound; and no words of command are shouted to the headless squadrons. Another version comes from Ajmer.

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The Ghostly Army.

The Ghostly Army.

Masân, the modern form of the Sanskrit Smasâna, “a place of cremation,” is the general term for those evil spirits which haunt the place where they were forced to abandon their tenements of clay. So the modern Italian Lemuri are the spirits of the churchyard and represent the Lemures or Larvæ, the unhappy ghosts of those who have died evil deaths or under a ban, to which there are innumerable allusions in the Latin writers. 74 In India Masân is very generally regarded as the ghost of a child, an

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Masân.

Masân.

Tola is a sort of “Will-o’-the-Wisp” in the Hills. According to one account, he is, like the Gayâl, of whom we have spoken already, the ghost of a bachelor, and other ghosts refuse to associate with him; so he is seen only in wild and solitary places. Others say that he belongs to the class of children ghosts, who have died too young to undergo the rites of tonsure or cremation. They are, as a rule, harmless, and are not much dreaded. After a child undergoes the specified religious ceremonies, i

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Tola.

Tola.

Another famous Hill Bhût is Airi. He is the ghost of some one who was killed in hunting. We have many instances of these huntsmen ghosts, of which the most familiar example is the European legend of the Wild Huntsman, who haunts the forest in which he used to hunt, and is sometimes heard hallooing to his dogs. So in Cornwall Dando rides about accompanied with his hounds. 80 The British fairies ride at night on horses which they steal from the stables, and in the morning the poor beasts are found

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Airi.

Airi.

Other Bhûts in the Hills are Acheri, the ghosts of little girls, who live on the tops of mountains, but descend at night to hold their revels in more convenient places. To fall in with their train is fatal, and they have a particular antipathy to red colour. When little girls fall suddenly ill, the Acheri is supposed to have cast her shadow over them. The Deo are the regular demons already described; some are obnoxious to men, some to cattle. The Rûniya moves about at night and uses a huge rock

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Hill Demons.

Hill Demons.

Another of these night fiends is the Jilaiya of Bihâr, which takes the shape of a night bird, and is able to suck the blood of any person whose name it hears. Hence women are very careful not to call their children at night. It is believed that if this bird fly over the head of a pregnant woman her child will be born a weakling. 86 Hence it closely approximates to the birth fiends which beset the mother and child during the period of impurity after parturition. Thus the Orâons of Chota Nâgpur be

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Birth Fiends.

Birth Fiends.

Little reference has yet been made to the Parî or fairies, or the Jinn or genii, because they are, in their present state at least, of exotic origin, though their original basis was possibly laid on Indian soil. Thus we have the Apsaras, who in name at least, “moving in the water,” is akin to Aphrodite. They appear only faintly in the Veda as the nymphs of Indra’s heaven, and the chief of them is Urvasî, to whom reference has been already made. Two of them, Rambhâ and Menakâ, are shown as luring

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The Parî and Jinn.

The Parî and Jinn.

Besides these there is a host of minor demons, such as the Ghûl, the English Ghoul, who is a kind of Shaitân, eats men, and is variously described as a Jinn or as an enchanter. By one tradition, when the Shaitân attempt by stealth to hear the words of men, they are struck by shooting stars, some are burnt, some fall into the sea and become crocodiles, and some fall upon the land and become Ghûls. The Ghûl is properly a female, and the male is Qutrub. They are the offspring of Iblîs and his wife.

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The Ghoul.

The Ghoul.

As an instance of the respect paid to the ghosts of those who have perished by an untimely death, we may mention the Baghaut. According to the last census returns some eight thousand persons recorded themselves as worshippers in the North-Western Provinces of Bagahu or Sapaha, the ghosts of people killed by tigers or snakes. The Baghaut is usually erected on the place where a man was killed by a tiger, but it sometimes merges into the common form of shrine, as in a case given by Dr. Buchanan, wh

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The Baghaut.

The Baghaut.

More dreaded even than the ghost of a man who has been killed by a tiger is the Churel, a name which has been connected with that of the Chûhra or sweeper caste. The ghosts of all low-caste people are notoriously malignant, an idea which possibly arises from their connection with the aboriginal faith, which was treated half with fear and half with contempt by their conquerors. The corpses of such people are either cremated or buried face downwards, in order to prevent the evil spirit from escapi

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The Churel.

The Churel.

The consequences of rashly eating the food of the underworld are well known. The reason is that eating together implies kinship with the dwellers in the land of spirits, and he who does so never returns to the land of men. 105 The Churel superstition appears in other forms. Thus, the Korwas of Mirzapur say that if a woman dies in the delivery-room, she becomes a Churel, but they do not know, or do not care to say, what finally becomes of her. The Patâris and Majhwârs think that if a woman dies w

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Eating Food in Spirit Land.

Eating Food in Spirit Land.

There are fortunately various remedies which are effective in preventing a woman who dies under these circumstances from becoming a Churel. One way is that practised by the Majhwârs of Mirzapur, which resembles that for laying the evil spirit of a sweeper, to which reference has been made already. They do not cremate the body, but bury it, fill the grave with thorns and pile heavy stones above to keep down the ghost. Among the Bhandâris of Bengal, when a pregnant woman dies before delivery, her

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Modes of Repelling the Churel.

Modes of Repelling the Churel.

This counting of the grains of mustard illustrates another principle which is thus explained by Mr. Leland: 111 “A traveller in Persia has observed that the patterns of carpets are made intricate, so that the Evil Eye, resting upon them and following the design, loses its power. This was the motive of all the interlaces of the Celtic and Norse designs. When the witch sees the Sâlagrâma, her glance is at once bewildered with its holes and veins. As I have elsewhere remarked, the herb Rosaloaccio,

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Counting.

Counting.

In connection with this subject of parturition impurity, the very remarkable custom of the Couvade may be referred to here. This is the rule by which at the birth of a child the father is treated as an invalid, instead of or in addition to the mother:— When Chineses go to bed, And lie in in their ladies’ stead. Marco Polo, writing of Zardandan, gives a good example:—“When one of their wives has been delivered of a child, the infant is washed and swathed, and then the woman gets up and goes about

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The Couvade.

The Couvade.

The same idea that the infant is likely to receive demoniacal influences through its father appears to be the explanation of another class of birth ceremonies. In Northern India, in respectable families, the father does not look on the child until the astrologer selects a favourable moment. If the birth occur in the unlucky lunar asterism of Mûl, the father is often not allowed to see his child for years, and has in addition to undergo an elaborate rite of purification, known as Mûla-sânti. So,

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Various Birth Ceremonies.

Various Birth Ceremonies.

There are, of course, certain places which are particularly infested by Bhûts. To begin with, they naturally infest the neighbourhood of burial places and cremation grounds. This idea is found all over the world. Virgil says:— Moerim, saepe animas imis excire sepulcris, Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes; and Shakespeare in the “Midsummer Night’s Dream,”— Now it is the time of night That graves all gaping wide, Every one lets forth its sprite, In the church-way paths to glide....

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Places Infested by Bhûts: Burial Places.

Places Infested by Bhûts: Burial Places.

All deserts, also, are a resort of Bhûts, as the great desert of Lop, where Marco Polo assures us they are constantly seen at night. In the Western Panjâb deserts, during the prairie fires and in the dead of night, the lonely herdsmen used to hear cries arising from the ground, and shouts of Mâr! Mâr! “Strike! Strike!” which were ascribed to the spirits of men who had been killed in former frontier raids. Such supernatural sounds were heard by the early settlers within the last fifty years, and,

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Deserts.

Deserts.

The goblins of the churchyard type very often take the form of owls and bats, which haunt the abodes of the dead. “Screech owls are held unlucky in our days,” says Aubrey. 123 Sedit in adverso nocturnus culmine bubo, Funereosque graves edidit ore sonos. The Strix, or screech owl, in Roman folk-lore was supposed to suck the blood of young children. Another form of the word in Latin is Striga, meaning a hag or witch. The Lilith of the Jews, the “night monster” of our latest version of the Old Test

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Owls and Bats.

Owls and Bats.

To return to the connection of ghosts with burial grounds. At Bishesar in the Hills, the Hindu dead from Almora are burnt. The spirits of the departed are supposed to lurk there and are occasionally seen. Sometimes, under the guidance of their leader Bholanâth, whom we have mentioned already, they come, some in palanquins and some on foot, at night, to the Almora Bâzâr and visit the merchants’ shops. Death is supposed to follow soon on a meeting with their processions. These ghosts are supposed

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Ghosts and Burial Grounds.

Ghosts and Burial Grounds.

This illustrates another principle about ghosts, that mutilation during life is avoided, as being likely to turn the spirit into a malignant ghost after death. This is the reason that many savages keep the cuttings of their hair and nails, not only to put them out of the way of witches, who might work evil charms by their means, but also that the body when it rises at the Last Day may not be deficient in any part. 127 This also explains the strong feeling among Hindus against decapitation as a f

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Mutilation.

Mutilation.

Another place where ghosts, as might have been expected, resort is in old ruins. Many old buildings are, as we have seen, attributed to the agency of demons, and in any case interference with them is resented by the Deus loci who occupies them. This explains the number of old ruined houses which one sees in an Indian town, and with which no one cares to meddle, as they are occupied by the spirits of their former owners. The same idea extends to the large bricks of the ancient buildings which are

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Ghosts of Old Ruins.

Ghosts of Old Ruins.

We have already mentioned incidentally the mine spirits. It is not difficult to see why the spirits of mine and cave should be malignant and resent trespass on their territories, because by the nature of the case they are directly in communication with the under-world. In the folk-tales of Somadeva we have more than one reference to a cave which leads to Pâtâla, “the rifted rock whose entrance leads to hell.” Others are the entrance to fairy palaces, where dwell the Asura maidens beneath the ear

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Mine and Cave Spirits.

Mine and Cave Spirits.

In India many deities live in caves. There are cave temples of Kâlî, Annapûrna , and Sûraj Nârâyan, the Sun god, at Hardwâr. Kumaun abounds in such temples. That at Gaurî Udyâr is where Siva and Pârvatî once halted for the night with their marriage procession. Their attendants overslept themselves and were turned into the stalactites for which the cave is famous. Another is called from its depth Pâtâla Bhuvaneswar, from the roof of which a white liquid trickles. The attendant of the shrine says

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Cave Deities.

Cave Deities.

This leads us to the common idea that Bhûts, like the Cornwall Spriggans, 144 guard treasure. Ill luck very often attaches to treasure-trove. Some years ago a Chamâr dug up some treasure in the ancient fort of Atranji Khera in the Etah District. He did his best to purge himself of the ill luck attaching to it by giving away a large portion in charity. But he died a beggar, and the whole country-side attributes his ruin to the anger of the Bhûts who guarded the treasure. Some time ago an old man

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Bhûts Treasure Guardians.

Bhûts Treasure Guardians.

In connection with these treasure guardians, we reach another cycle of folk-lore legends, that of gifts or robberies from fairy-land. Professor Rhys, writing of the Celts, well explains the principle on which these are based. 148 “The Celts, in common with all other peoples of Aryan race, regarded all their domestic comforts as derived by them from their ancestors in the forgotten past, that is to say from the departed. They seem, therefore, to have argued that there must be a land of untold wea

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Fairy Gifts.

Fairy Gifts.

This underground kingdom, stored with untold treasure, appears in other tales. Thus, Kâfir Kot, like many other places of the same kind, is supposed to have underground galleries holding untold treasures. One day a man is said to have entered an opening, where he found a flight of steps. Going down the steps, he came to rooms filled with many valuable things. Selecting a few, he turned to go, but he found the entrance closed. On dropping the treasure the door opened again, and it shut when he ag

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Underground Treasure.

Underground Treasure.

Bhûts are also found at roads, cross-roads, and boundaries. It is so in Russia, where, “at cross-roads, or in the neighbourhood of cemeteries, an animated corpse often lurks watching for some unwary traveller whom it may be able to slay and eat.” 157 Thus, in the Hills, and indeed as far as Madras, an approved charm for getting rid of a disease of demoniacal origin is to plant a stake where four roads meet, and to bury grains underneath, which crows disinter and eat. 158 The custom of laying sma

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Ghosts of Roads.

Ghosts of Roads.

Bhûts particularly infest ancient empty houses. If a house be unoccupied for any time, a Bhût is sure to take up his quarters there. Such houses abound everywhere. The old Fort of Agori on the Son is said to have been abandoned on account of the malignancy of its Bhûts. Not long ago a merchant built a splendid house in the Mirzapur Bâzâr, and was obliged to abandon it for the same reason. The Collector’s house at Sahâranpur is haunted by a young English lady; there is one in the Jhânsi cantonmen

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Ghosts of Empty Houses.

Ghosts of Empty Houses.

Bhûts occasionally take up their abode in flowers, and hence it is dangerous to allow children to smell them. In Kumaun the Betaina tree ( Melia sempervivens ) is supposed to be infested by Bhûts, and its flowers are never used as offerings to the gods. 160 But, on the other hand, as we shall see elsewhere, flowers and fruits are considered scarers of demons. Bhûts, it is believed, do their cooking at noon and evening, so women and children should be cautious about walking at such times, lest th

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Ghosts of Flowers.

Ghosts of Flowers.

Among the many places where Bhûts resort comes the house hearth. This probably in a large measure accounts for the precautions taken by Hindus in preparing and protecting the family cooking-place, and smearing it with fresh cowdung, which is a scarer of demons. The idea was common among all the Aryan races, 163 but it is found also among the Drâvidian tribes, who perform much of the worship of Dulha Deo and similar family guardians at the family hearth. In Northern India, when a bride first goes

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The Hearth.

The Hearth.

Bhûts, again, frequent privies and dirty places of all kinds. Hence the caution with which a Hindu performs the offices of nature, his aversion to going into a privy at night, and the precaution he uses of taking a brass vessel with him on such occasions. Mr. Campbell supposes this to depend on the experience of the disease-bearing properties of dirt. 166 “This belief explains the puzzling inconsistencies of Hindus of all classes that the house, house door, and a little in front is scrupulously

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Ghosts of Filthy Places.

Ghosts of Filthy Places.

Lastly comes the house roof. We have already seen that the Drâvidian tribes will not allow their women to touch the thatch during a whirlwind. So, most people particularly object to people standing on their roof, and in a special degree to a buffalo getting upon it. It is on the roof, too, that the old shoe or black pot or painted tile is always kept to scare the Bhûts which use it as a perch. END OF VOL. I....

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Corrections

Corrections

The following corrections have been applied to the text:...

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Gold and Silver Protectives.

Gold and Silver Protectives.

Next come copper and brass. The use of copper in the form of rings and amulet cases is very common. Many of the vessels used in the daily service of the gods, such as the Argha, with which the daily oblations are made, are made of this metal. So with brass and various kinds of alloy used for bells, drinking and cooking utensils. The common brass Lota is always carried about by a man during the period of mourning as a preservative against the evil spirits which surround him until the ghost of the

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Copper and Brass Protectives.

Copper and Brass Protectives.

Next in value to these metals come coral and other marine products, which in the case of the Hindus probably derive their virtue from being strange to an inland-dwelling people, and as connected with the great ocean, the final home of the sainted dead. Coral is particularly valued in the form of a necklace by those who cannot afford the costlier metals, and its ashes are constantly used in various rustic remedies and stimulants. In Gujarât a coral ring is used to keep off the evil influence of t

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Coral and Marine Products Protectives.

Coral and Marine Products Protectives.

Precious stones possess similar value. Sir Thomas Brown would not deny that bezoar was antidotal, but he could not bring himself to believe that “sapphire is preservative against enchantments.” In one special combination of nine varieties, known as the Nauratana, they are specially efficacious—the ruby sacred to the sun, the pearl to the moon, coral to Mars, emerald to Mercury, topaz to Jupiter, diamond to Venus, sapphire to Saturn, amethyst to Râhu, and the cat’s-eye to Ketu. In the mythology t

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Precious Stones Protectives.

Precious Stones Protectives.

With poorer people beads take the place of gems, and in particular the curious enamelled bead, which probably came from China and is still found in old deserted sites, mostly of Buddhistic origin, enjoys special repute. We have already met with the parturition bead, and in Kolhapur there is a much-valued Arabic stone which, when any woman is in labour, is washed and the water given to her to drink. In Scotland the amber bead cures inflamed eyes and sprains, as in Italy looking through amber bead

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Beads Protectives.

Beads Protectives.

Blood is naturally closely connected with life. “The flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” Hence blood comes to be a scarer of demons. In Scott’s Lay the wizard’s book would not open till he smeared the cover with the Borderer’s curdled gore. In Cornwall, the burning of blood from the body of a dead animal is a very common method of appeasing the spirits of disease, 45 and the blood sacrifices so prevalent all over the world are performed with the same objec

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Blood a Protective.

Blood a Protective.

Similarly, incense is largely used in religious rites, partly to please with the sweet savour the deity which is being worshipped, and partly to drive away demons who would steal or defile the offerings. Bad smells repel evil spirits, and this is probably why assafœtida is given to a woman after her delivery. In Ireland, if a child be sick, they take a piece of the cloth worn by the person supposed to have overlooked the infant and burn it near him. If he sneezes, he expels the spirit and the sp

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Incense.

Incense.

We have just met with an instance of the use of spittle for the scaring of the disease demon or the Evil Eye. This is a very common form of charm for this purpose. In one of the Italian charms the performer is directed to spit behind himself thrice and not to look back. In another, “if your eyes pain you, you must take the saliva of a woman who has given birth only to boys, not girls. And she must have abstained from sexual union and stimulating food for three days. Then, if her saliva be bright

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Spittle.

Spittle.

We have seen above that salt is also used in the same way. Salt, apparently from its power of checking decay, is regarded as possessing mystical powers. All over Europe the spilling of salt in the direction of a person was considered ominous. “It was held to indicate that something had already happened to one of the family, or was about to befall the person spilling it, and also to denote the rupture of friendship.” 56 The custom of putting a plate of salt on a corpse with the object of driving

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Salt.

Salt.

Another way of dispelling evil spirits is by the various forms of salutation, which generally consist in the invocation of some deity. The Hindu says, “ Râm! Râm! ” when he meets a friend, or Jay Gopâl! “Glory to Krishna!” or whoever his personal god may be, and the same idea accounts for many of the customs connected with the reception of guests, who, coming from abroad, may bring evil spirits with them. Another series of prophylactics depends on the idea of the separable soul or that spirits a

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The Separable Soul: Waving.

The Separable Soul: Waving.

The respect paid to the trade of the blacksmith is a curious survival from the time of the early handicrafts and the substitution of weapons of iron for those of stone. 58 In Scotland the same belief in the virtues of the water of the forge prevails, and in Ireland no one will take anything by stealth from such a place. 59 In St. Patrick’s Hymn we have a prayer against “the spells of women, of smiths, and of druids.” Culann, the mystic smith, appears in Celtic folk-lore. In all the mythologies t

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Blacksmith, Respect for.

Blacksmith, Respect for.

We have already referred to water as a protective against the influence of evil spirits. We see this principle in the rite of ceremonial bathing as a propitiation for sin. It also appears in the use of water which has been blown upon by a holy man as a remedy for spirit possession. Among many menial tribes in the North-Western Provinces with the same object the bride is washed in the water in which the bridegroom has already taken his wedding bath. Again, on a lucky day fixed by the Pandit the r

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Water.

Water.

With this use of grain we meet with another valuable antidote. We have it in Great Britain in the rule that “the English, when the bride comes from church, are wont to cast wheat upon her head.” 61 It survives in our custom of throwing rice over the wedded pair when they start on the honeymoon. On the analogy of other races one object of the rite would seem to be to keep in the soul which is likely to depart at such a crisis in life as marriage. Thus, “in Celebes they think that a bridegroom’s s

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Grain.

Grain.

We are familiar in Roman literature with the use of beans at funerals, and at the Lemuria thrice every other night to pacify the ghosts of the dead beans were flung on the fire of the altar to drive the spirits out of the house. The same idea appears in the Carlings or fried peas given away and eaten on the Sunday before Palm Sunday. 66 No special sanctity appears to apply to the pea or bean in India, but they are replaced by the Urad pulse, which is much used in rites of all kind, and especiall

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Urad.

Urad.

Barley, another sacred grain, is rubbed over the corpse of a Hindu and sprinkled on the head before the cremation rite is performed. So, the Orâons throw rice on the urn as they take it to the tomb, and sprinkle grain on the ground behind the bones to keep the spirit from coming back. 68...

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Barley.

Barley.

Til or black sesamum, again, has certain qualities of the same kind. Hence it is used in the funeral rites, and in form of Tilanjalî or a handful mixed with water is one of the offerings to the sainted dead, and made up in the form of a cow, called Tiladhenu, it is presented to Brâhmans. Most grains in the ear have also mystic uses. It is hung up over the house door to repel evil spirits, and in Hoshangâbâd they tie a sheaf of corn on a pole and fasten it to the cattle shed as a preservative. 69

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Sheaves.

Sheaves.

So with the products of the sacred cow, which are, as might have been expected, most valuable for this purpose. Hence the use of Ghilor or clarified butter in the public and domestic ritual. Milk for the same reason is used in offerings and sprinkled on the ground as an oblation. Cowdung, in particular, is regarded as efficacious. After the death or birth impurity the house is carefully plastered with a mixture of cowdung and clay. No cooking place is pure without it, and the corpse is cremated

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Milk.

Milk.

Colours, again, are scarers of evil spirits. They particularly dread yellow, black, red, and white. The belief in the efficacy of yellow accounts for the use of turmeric in the domestic ritual. 70 A few days before the marriage rites commence the bride and bridegroom are anointed with a mixture of oil and turmeric known as Abtan. The bride assumes a robe dyed in turmeric, which she wears until the wedding. The marriage letter of invitation is coloured with turmeric, and splashes of it are made o

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Colours.

Colours.

For the same reason various kinds of grass are considered sacred, such as the Kusa, the Dûrva, the Darbha. Among the Prabhus of Bombay juice of the Dûrva grass is poured into the left nostril of a woman when the pregnancy and coming of age rites are performed, and the Kanaujiya Brâhman husband drops some of the juice down her nose when she reaches maturity. 71 The Sholapur Mângs when they come back from the grave strew some Hariyâli grass and Nîm leaves on the place where the deceased died. The

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Grasses.

Grasses.

Next come special marks made on the body. Such are the marks branded on various parts of their bodies by many classes of ascetics, and the caste marks made in clay or ashes by most high-class Hindus. It has been suggested that many of these marks are of totemistic origin. That this is so among races beyond the Indian border is almost certainly the case. 73 But though tattooing, a widespread practice of the Indian people, very possibly originated in totemism, still, as far as has hitherto been as

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Tattooing.

Tattooing.

It seems to be a well-established principle that evil spirits fear leather. On this is perhaps based the idea of the shoe being a mode of repelling the Evil Eye and the influence of demons. We find this constantly appearing in the folk-lore of the West. Thus, the Highlanders paid particular attention to the leaving of the bridegroom’s left shoe without buckle or latchet, to prevent the secret influences of witches on the wedding night. 80 And Hudibras tells how— Augustus having by oversight Put

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Garlic.

Garlic.

Glass in the form of beads, which seem to derive some of their efficacy from being perforated, is also very useful in this way. Mirrors from time immemorial have been held to possess the same quality. “Fascinators, like basilisks, had their own terrible glance turned against them if they saw themselves reflected,” “ Si on luy presente un miror, par endardement reciproque, ces rayons retournent sur l’autheur d’iceux. ” Philostratus declares that if a mirror be held before a sleeping man during a

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Glass.

Glass.

The Gonds have a special procedure in cases of deaths which they believe to have occurred through fascination. The burning of the body is postponed till it is made to point out the delinquent. The relations solemnly call upon the corpse to do this, and the theory is that if there has been foul play of any kind, the body on being taken up, will force the bearers to convey it to the house of the person by whom the spell was cast. If this be three times repeated, the owner of the house is condemned

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Gonds: Procedure in Cases of Fascination.

Gonds: Procedure in Cases of Fascination.

In ordinary cases most people find it advisable to carry an amulet of some kind as a preservative. An amulet is primarily a portion of a dead man or animal, by which hostile spirits are coerced or their good offices secured. 94 The amulet, then, in its original sense, is supposed to concentrate in itself the virtues and powers of the man or animal of which it formed a part. Hence the claws of the tiger, which represent in themselves the innate strength and bravery of the animal, are greatly este

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Amulets.

Amulets.

One of the most valuable of these protectives is the magic circle, which appears in various forms through the whole range of folk-lore. The idea is that no evil spirit can cross the sacred line. Thus, in Mirzapur they make a circle of grain round the circular pile of corn on the threshing-floor to guard it from evil. Among some castes the circle round which the bride and bridegroom revolve at marriage is guarded by a circular line of string hung on the necks of a number of water-pots surrounding

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The Ring, Bracelet, and Knotted Cord.

The Ring, Bracelet, and Knotted Cord.

The belief in the efficacy of the magic circle accounts for a variety of other customs. Thus, in a family sacrifice among the Chakmas of Bengal, round the whole sacrificial platform had been run, from the house mother’s distaff, a long white thread which encircled the altar, and then carried into the house, was held at the two ends by the good man’s wife. Among the Hâris, at marriages, the right hand little finger of the bridegroom’s sister’s husband is pierced, and a few drops of blood allowed

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Face-covering.

Face-covering.

Closely connected with the class of ideas which we have been discussing is the belief in omens. This constitutes a very important branch of folk-lore both in the West and in the East. The success of a journey or enterprise is believed in a great measure to depend on the object which was first seen in the morning, or observed on the road at an early period of the march. Thus, according to Theophrastus, “The superstitious man, if a weasel run across his path, will not pursue his walk until some on

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Omens.

Omens.

The time when screech-owls cry and lean dogs howl, And spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves. Even the little house lizard is, like his kinsfolk, the “murdering basilisks, their softest touch as smart as lizard’s stings,” considered by the Bengâlis very unlucky, and when they hear its twittering they postpone a journey. 137 The hare is always a bad omen. He is a god among the Kalmucs, who call him Sakya Muni, or the Buddha, and say that on earth he allowed himself to be eaten by a starvi

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Numbers.

Numbers.

The functions of the body supply many omens. Thus, in Somadeva we read: “My right eye throbbed frequently, as if with joy, and told me that it was none other than she.” 142 “When our cheek burns, or ear tingles, we usually say some one is talking of us,” writes Sir Thomas Brown, “a conceit of great antiquity, and ranked among superstitious opinions by Pliny. He supposes it to have proceeded from the notion of a signifying Genius, or Universal Mercury, that conducted sounds to their distant subje

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Bodily Functions.

Bodily Functions.

So, there are days which are lucky and unlucky. A Persian couplet lays down that one should not go east on Saturday and Monday; west on Friday and Sunday; north on Tuesday and Wednesday; south on Thursday. Even Lord Burghley advised his son to be cautious as regards the first Monday in April, when Cain was born and Abel slain; the second Monday in August, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed; the last Monday in December, which was the birthday of Judas. Akbar laid down that the clothes which c

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Lucky and Unlucky Days.

Lucky and Unlucky Days.

It is, of course, easy to avoid the effect of evil omens by the use of a little tact and wit, as was the case with William the Conqueror, and there are many natives who are noted for their cleverness in this way. Of an Eastern Sultân it is told that, leaving his palace on a warlike expedition, his standard touched a cluster of lamps, called Surayya, because they resembled the Pleiades. He would have turned back, but one of his officers said, “My Lord! our standard has reached the Pleiades;” so h

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Facilitating Departure of and Barring the Ghost.

Facilitating Departure of and Barring the Ghost.

Practically the same custom still prevails in Ireland. When a corpse is carried to the grave, it is the rule for the bearers to stop half-way while the nearest relatives build up a small monument of loose stones, and no hand would dare to disturb this monument while the world lasts. 165 In the case of the Dhângars and Basors, both menial tribes in the North-Western Provinces, we come across an usage which appears to be of a very primitive type and to be intended to secure the same object of barr

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Mutilation a Sign of Mourning.

Mutilation a Sign of Mourning.

All over the world the hair is invested with particular sanctity as embodying the strength of the owner, as in the Samson-Delilah story. Vishnu, according to the old story, took two hairs, a white and a black one, and these became Balarâma and Krishna. Many charms are worked through hair, and if a witch gets possession of it she can work evil to the owner. An Italian charm directs, “When you enter any city, collect before the gate as many hairs as you will which may lie on the road, saying to yo

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Respect Paid to Hair.

Respect Paid to Hair.

Another means for conciliating the spirit of the dead man is to lay up food for its use. 188 This is intended partly as provision for the ghost in its journey to the other world. But in some cases it would seem that there is a different basis for the custom. As we have seen, it is dangerous to eat the food of fairy-land, and unless food is supplied to the wandering ghost, it may be obliged to eat the food of the lower world and hence be unable to return to the world of men. According to the anci

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Food for the Dead.

Food for the Dead.

Hence too comes the practice of burning with the corpse the articles which the dead man was in the habit of using. They rise with the fumes of the pyre and solace him in the world of spirits. The Kos told Colonel Dalton that the reason of this was that they were unwilling to derive any immediate benefit by the death of a member of the family. Hence they burn his wearing apparel and personal effects, but they do not destroy clothes and other things which have not been worn. For this reason, old m

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Articles left with the Corpse.

Articles left with the Corpse.

Among the Bengal Chakmas, a bamboo post or other portion of a dead man’s house is burned with him, probably in order to provide him with shelter in the next world. Among the Kâmis, before they can partake of the funeral feast, a small portion of every dish must be placed in a leaf plate and taken out into the jungle for the spirit of the dead man, and carefully watched until a fly or other insect settles upon it. The watcher then covers up the plate with a slab of stone, eats his own food, and r

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Recalling the Ghost.

Recalling the Ghost.

This use of ashes as a means of identifying the ghost, constitutes in itself quite an important chapter in folk-lore. It reminds us of the Apocryphal legend of Bel and the Dragon. The idea probably originally arose from the respect paid to the ashes of the house fire by primitive races, among whom the hearth and the kitchen are the home of the household godlings. There are numerous instances of this practice from Europe. In the Western Islands of Scotland on Candlemas Day the mistress takes a sh

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Ashes.

Ashes.

After a death all the household earthen pots are broken and replaced. It has been suggested that this is due either to the belief that the ghost of the dead man is in some of them, or that the custom may have some connection with the idea of providing the ghost with utensils in the next world. 208 In popular belief, however, the custom is explained by the death pollution attaching to all the family cooking vessels, which, if of metal, are purified with fire. The vessel is the home of the spirit:

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Replacing Household Vessels.

Replacing Household Vessels.

When a person dies at a distance from home, and it is impossible to perform the funeral rites over the body, it is cremated in effigy. The special term for this is Kusa-putra, or “son of the Kusa grass.” Colonel Tod gives a case of this when Râja Ummeda of Bûndi abdicated: “An image of the prince was made, and a pyre was erected on which it was consumed. The hair and whiskers of Ajît, his successor, were taken off and offered to the Manes; lamentations and wailing were heard in the Queen’s apart

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Funeral Rites in Effigy.

Funeral Rites in Effigy.

Ghosts, as we have already seen in the case of the Naugaza, have the power of changing their length. In the well-known tale in the Arabian Nights the demon is shut up in a jar under the seal of the Lord Solomon, as in one of the German tales the Devil is shut up in a crevice in a pine tree, and the ghost of Major Weir of Edinburgh resided in his walking-stick. 212 Some of the Indian ghosts, like the Ifrît of the Arabian Nights, can grow to the length of ten yojanas or eighty miles. In one of the

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Ghosts Lengthening Themselves.

Ghosts Lengthening Themselves.

Most of the ghosts whom we have been as yet considering are malignant. There are, however, others which are friendly. Such are the German Elves, the Robin Goodfellow, Puck, Brownie and the Cauld Lad of Hilton of England, the Glashan of the Isle of Man, the Phouka or Leprehaun of Ireland. Such, in one of his many forms, is the Brahmadaitya, or ghost of a Brâhman who has died unmarried. In Bengal he is believed to be more neat and less mischievous than other ghosts; the Bhûts carry him in a palanq

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Kindly Ghosts.

Kindly Ghosts.

Hence in regard to trees great caution is required. A Hindu will never climb one of the varieties of fig, the Ficus Cordifolia, except through dire necessity, and if a Brâhman is forced to ascend the Bel tree or Aegle Marmelos for the purpose of obtaining the sacred trefoil so largely used in Saiva worship, he only does so after offering prayers to the gods in general, and to the Brahmadaitya in particular who may have taken up his abode in this special tree. These tree ghosts are, it is needles

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Tree Ghosts.

Tree Ghosts.

But there is another variety of Brâhman ghost who is much dreaded. This is the Brahmaparusha or Brahma Râkshasa. In one of the folk-tales he appears black as soot, with hair yellow as the lightning, looking like a thunder-cloud. He had made himself a wreath of entrails; he wore a sacrificial cord of hair; he was gnawing the flesh of a man’s head and drinking blood out of a skull. In another story these Brahma Râkshasas have formidable tusks, flaming hair, and insatiable hunger. They wander about

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The Brahmaparusha.

The Brahmaparusha.

The really friendly agricultural sprites are the pair known in some places as the Jâk and Jâknî, and in others as Chordeva and Chordevî, the “thief godlings.” With the Jâk we come on another of these curious survivals from the early mythology in a sadly degraded form. As Varuna, the god of the firmament, has been reduced in these later days to Barun, a petty weather godling, so the Jâk is the modern representative of the Yaksha, who in better times was the attendant of Kuvera, the god of wealth,

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The Jâk and Jâknî.

The Jâk and Jâknî.

In the Hills there are various benevolent ghosts or godlings who protect cattle. Sâin, the spirit of an old ascetic, helps the Bhotiyas to recover lost cattle, and Siddhua and Buddhua, the ghosts of two harmless goatherds, are invoked when a goat falls ill. 228 In the same class is Nagardeo of Garhwâl, who is represented in nearly every village by a three-pronged pike or Trisûla on a platform. When cows and buffaloes are first milked, the milk is offered to him. It is perhaps possible that from

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Ghosts which Protect Cattle.

Ghosts which Protect Cattle.

We close this long list of ghostly personages with those who are merely bugaboos to frighten children. Such are Hawwa, probably a corruption through the Prâkrit of the Sanskrit Bhûta, and Humma or Humu, who is said to be the ghost of the Emperor Humayûn, who died by an untimely death. Akin perhaps to him are the Humanas of Kumaun, who take the form of men, but cannot act as ordinary persons. 230 These sprites are to the Bengâli matron what Old Scratch and Red Nose and Bloody Bones are to English

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Bugaboos.

Bugaboos.

Passing on to trees which are considered specially sacred, we find a good example in the Karam ( Neuclea parvifolia ), which is revered by the Kharwârs, Mânjhis, and some of the other allied Drâvidian races of the Vindhyan and Kaimûr ranges. In Shâhâbâd, their great festival is the worship of the sacred tree. “Commenced early in the bright portion of the month Bhâdon (August—September), it continues for fifteen days. It marks the gladness with which people wind up their agricultural operations a

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The Karam Tree.

The Karam Tree.

Among the sacred trees the various varieties of the fig hold a conspicuous place. Many ideas have probably united in securing reverence for them. Thus the Banyan with its numerous stems may fitly be regarded as the home of gods or spirits. Others are valued as a source of food, or because they possess juices valued as drink or medicine. Such is the Umbar, the Udambara of the Sanskrit writers, which is known as Kshîra Vriksha or “milk tree,” and Hemadugha or “golden juiced,” the Ficus glomerata o

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The Fig Tree.

The Fig Tree.

The tree should be touched only on Sunday, when Lakshmî, the goddess of wealth, abides in it; on every other day of the week, poverty and misfortune take up their quarters in it. The son of a deceased parent should pour three hundred and sixty brass vessels of water round its root to ensure the repose of the dead man. Hindus on Sunday after bathing pour a vessel of water at its root and walk round it four times. Milk and sugar are sometimes mixed with the water to intensify the charm. When the n

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The Sâl.

The Sâl.

The Shîsham or Sîson, the Sinsapa of the Sanskrit writers, is in the tales of Somadeva the haunt of the Vetâla. 41 In the Panjâb the Jand tree ( Prosopis spicigera ) is very generally reverenced, more especially in those parts where it forms a chief feature in the larger flora of the great arid grazing tracts. It is commonly selected to mark the abode or shelter the shrine of some deity. It is to it that, as a rule, rags are dedicated as offerings, and it is employed in the marriage ceremonies o

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The Jand.

The Jand.

The Aonla ( Emblica officinalis ) is another sacred tree. It is considered propitious and chaste, and is worshipped in the month of Kârttik (December) by Brâhmans being fed under it, hair strings ( mauli ) being tied round it, and seven circumambulations made in the course of the sun. The eleventh of the month Phâlgun (February) is sacred to it, and on this occasion libations are poured at the foot of the tree, a string of red or yellow colour is bound round the trunk, prayers are offered to it

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The Aonla.

The Aonla.

The Mahua ( Bassia latifolia ), which so admirably combines beauty with utility, and is one of the main sources whence the jungle tribes derive their food and intoxicants, is held in the highest respect by the people of the Central Indian Highlands. It is the marriage tree of the Kurmis, Lohârs, Mahilis, Mundas, and Santâls of Bengal. Many of the Drâvidian races, such as the Bhuiyas, adore it, and a branch is placed in the hands of the bride and bridegroom during the marriage ceremony. They also

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The Mahua.

The Mahua.

The Salmali or Semal ( Bombax heptaphyllum ) is likewise sacred, an idea perhaps derived from its weird appearance and the value of its fibre, which was largely used by the primitive races of the jungle. It gave its name to one of the seven Dvîpas or great divisions of the known continent, and to a special hell, in which the wicked are tortured with the Kûta Salmali, or thorny rod of this tree. In the folk-tales a hollow cotton tree is the refuge of the heroine. 45 The posts of the marriage pavi

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The Cotton Tree.

The Cotton Tree.

The Nimba or Nîm ( Azidirachta Indica ) is sacred in connection with the worship of the godlings of disease, who are supposed to reside in it. In particular it is occupied by Sîtalâ and her six sisters. Hence during the season when epidemics prevail, from the seventh day of the waning moon of Chait to the same date in Asârh, that is during the hot weather, women bathe, dress themselves in fresh clothes, and offer rice, sandal-wood, flowers, and sometimes a burnt offering with incense at the root

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The Nîm.

The Nîm.

The cocoanut is considered one of the most sacred fruits, and is called Srîphala, or the fruit of Srî, the goddess of prosperity. It is the symbol of fertility, and all through Upper India is kept on shrines and presented by the priests to women who desire children. One of the main causes of the respect paid to it seems to be its resemblance to a human head, and hence it is often used as a type of an actual human sacrifice. It is also revered for its uses as food and a source of intoxicating liq

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The Cocoanut.

The Cocoanut.

The Khair, or Mimosa ( Acacia catechu ) seems to owe most of the estimation in which it is held to its use in producing the sacred fire. It forms, on account of its hardness, the base of the Aranî or sacred fire-drill, and in it the wedge of the softer Pîpal wood works and fire is produced by friction. The Yûpa or sacrificial post to which the victim was tied for the sacrifice was often made of this wood. In the great horse sacrifice of the Râmâyana, twenty-one of these posts were erected, six m

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The Mimosa.

The Mimosa.

The plantain is also sacred, probably on account of the value of its fruit. The leaves are hung on the marriage booth, and a branch is placed near the pole or sacred fire round which the bride and bridegroom revolve. In Madras, when premature delivery takes place, the child is laid on a plantain leaf smeared with oil, the leaf is changed daily, and the baby is thus treated for the period which is less than the normal time of delivery. In Bengal, in consecrating an image of Durgâ, a plantain tree

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The Plantain.

The Plantain.

So with the pomegranate, which among the Pârsis of Bombay is held in high respect. Its twigs were used to make the sacred broom, its seeds, in order to scare evil spirits, were thrown over the child when it was girt with the sacred thread, and its juice was squeezed into the mouth of the dying. 56 In its fruit Anâr Shâhzâdî, the Princess Pomegranate, commonly lies hidden. But it is in Upper India considered unlucky to have such a tree in the house, as it is envious and cannot bear that any one s

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The Pomegranate.

The Pomegranate.

The Orâons of Bengal revere the tamarind and bury their dead under its shade. 58 One special rite among the Drâvidian races is the Imlî ghontnâ or “the grinding of the tamarind,” when the mother of the bridegroom grinds on the family curry stone some pods of the tamarind. The tree was a special favourite with the early Musalmân conquerors, and the finest specimens of it will be found in their cemeteries and near their original settlements. In the Panjâb the leaves of the Siras ( Acacia sirisa )

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The Siras.

The Siras.

The Mango is used in much the same way. It is, as we shall see, used in making the aspersion at rural ceremonies. The leaves are hung up at marriages in garlands on the house door, and on the shed in which the rite is performed, and after the wedding is over these are carefully consigned to running water by the bride and bridegroom. It is also used as a charm. Before you see a flower on a mango tree shut your eyes and make some one lead you to a tree in flower. Rub the flowers into your hands, a

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The Mango.

The Mango.

The Tulasî or holy basil ( Ocymum sanctum ) is closely connected with the worship of Vishnu. At the last census over eleven hundred persons in the North-Western Provinces recorded themselves as worshippers of the plant. It is known in Sanskrit as Haripriya, or “the beloved of Vishnu,” and Bhûtaghni, or “destroyer of demons.” It seems to owe the favour with which it is regarded to its aromatic and healing properties. Vishnu, so runs the legend, was fascinated with the beauty of Vrindâ, the wife o

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The Tulasî.

The Tulasî.

The Palâsa or Dhâk is sacred, partly on account of its use in producing the sacred fire, and partly because its orange blossoms are used to dye the coloured dust and water thrown about at the Holî festival. It is supposed to be in some way connected with the Soma, and by one account was produced from the feather of the falcon imbued with the Soma. Its trifoliate leaves represent the trident, or the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or birth, life, and death. The leaves are used to form

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The Palâsa.

The Palâsa.

The Bel ( Aegle marmelos ) is specially dedicated to Siva, because it has three leaflets in the leaf, and because of its medicinal value. Siva is called Bilvadanda, “he with a staff of the Bel wood,” and its leaves are used in his service. Its leaves laid on the Lingam cool and refresh the heated deity. The wood is one of those used for the sacrificial post. Its fruit is called Srîphala, because it is supposed to have been produced from the milk of the goddess Srî. The bamboo is sacred on accoun

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The Bamboo.

The Bamboo.

The Sandal, again, in the form of powder or paste is very largely used in all Hindu rites, and in making the marks characteristic of sect or caste. “In Bombay, every evening, the Pârsis burn sandal chips in their houses, as the smell of sandal is supposed to drive away evil spirits, and the Pûna Ghadsis or musicians say that they are sprung from sandal wood, because it is one of their tribal guardians. 68 ”...

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The Sandal.

The Sandal.

The Bhûrja, a species of birch, is also sacred. It, too, is supposed to drive away evil spirits. Its bark, now called Bhojpatra, is used for writing charms, and for other mystic purposes. When a corpse is burnt by low-caste people, when a person dies at the hands of an executioner, when he dies on a bed, or when he is drowned and his body cannot be found, a rite known as Palâsvidhi is performed. An effigy of the deceased is made, in which twigs of the Palâsa tree represent the bones, a cocoanut

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The Birch.

The Birch.

The number of these trees and plants which scare evil spirits or are invested with other mystic qualities is infinite. We may close the catalogue with the Babûl or Kîkar ( Acacia Arabica ), which when cut pours out a reddish juice. One of these trees, when the Musalmâns tried to cut it near a shrine at Lahore, is said to have poured out drops of blood as a warning. But on the whole it is an unlucky tree, and the resort of evil spirits. If you throw water for thirteen days successively on a Babûl

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Other Sacred Trees.

Other Sacred Trees.

We now come to discuss the curious custom of marriages to trees. This prevails widely throughout Northern India. Thus, in some parts of Kângra, if a betrothed but as yet unmarried girl can succeed in performing the marriage ceremony with the object of her choice round a fire made in the jungle with certain wild plants, her betrothal is annulled, and this informal marriage is recognized. 69 In the Panjâb a Hindu cannot be legally married a third time. So, if he wishes to take a third wife, he is

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Tree Marriages.

Tree Marriages.

We have, again, folk-tale references to the same custom in a tradition of the Vallabhachârya sect of the daughter of a banker, who, by her devotion to him, won the love of the god Krishna in the form of an image. Finally the deity revealed himself, and she went with him to Brindaban and remained with her divine husband till he carried her off to the heaven of Vishnu. This, however, is hardly perhaps more than an example of the mystic union of the god with his worshippers, which forms such a larg

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Tree and Serpent Worship.

Tree and Serpent Worship.

He has, further, as in the Saiva cultus, become associated with phallicism, and with the sexual powers, as in the Adam legend. “The serpent round the neck of Siva denotes the endless cycle of recurring years, and a second necklace of skulls about his person, with numerous other serpents, symbolizes the eternal revolution of ages and the successive dissolution and regeneration of the races of mankind.” 90 Lastly, the cultus may have a totemistic basis. As Strabo describes the Ophiogeneis or serpe

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Snake Shrines.

Snake Shrines.

Near Jait, in the Mathura District, is a tank with the broken statue of a hooded serpent in it. Once upon a time a Râja married a princess from a distant land, and wished to bring her home with him. She refused to come until he announced his lineage. Her husband told her that she would regret her curiosity, but she persisted. At last he took her to the river and warned her again, but in vain. Then he told her not to be alarmed at anything she saw, adding that if she did so, she would lose him. S

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The Snake Gods.

The Snake Gods.

Next come the Sinhas, or snake godlings of the Panjâb and the western parts of the North-Western Provinces. “They are males, and though they cause fever they are not very malevolent, often taking away pain. They have got great power over milch cattle, and the milk of the eleventh day after calving is sacred to them, and libations of milk (as in the case of the Sankisa dragon) are always acceptable. They are generally distinguished by some colour, the most commonly worshipped being Kâlî, ‘the bla

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The Sinhas.

The Sinhas.

The connection is thus explained by Mr. Spencer: “The other self of the dead relative is supposed to come back occasionally to the old house; how else is it possible of the survivors sleeping there to see him in their dreams? Here are creatures which commonly, unlike wild animals, come into houses; come in, too, secretly at night. The implication is clear. That snakes which specially do this are the returned dead, is inferred by people in Asia, Africa, and America; the haunting of houses being t

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Connection of Snakes with Ancestor-worship.

Connection of Snakes with Ancestor-worship.

We have already mentioned the regular snake godling Gûga. With him are often worshipped his father Jaur or Jewar Sinh, and Arjan and Sarjan, his twin half-brothers. 118 Pîpa, the Brâhman, is another deity of the same class in Râjputâna. He was in the habit of giving milk to a serpent whose retreat was on the banks of the Sampu, or Snake Lake. The serpent used in return to present him daily with two pieces of gold. Being obliged to go away on business, he gave instructions to his son to continue

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Deified Snake Heroes.

Deified Snake Heroes.

Snakes throughout folk-lore are the guardians of treasure. 121 The griffins of Scythia guarded the treasures coveted by the Arimaspians; the dragon watched the golden apples of the Hesperides; in the Nibelungenlied the dragon Fafnir keeps guard over a vast treasure of gold, which Sigurd seizes after he has killed the monster. It is a common Indian belief that when a very rich man dies without an heir, he cannot take away his thoughts from his treasure, and returns to guard it in the form of a mo

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Snake Treasure Guardians.

Snake Treasure Guardians.

Manifold are the powers of snakes in folk-lore. He can strike people dead with his look from a distance, like the “death-darting eye of cockatrice” in “Romeo and Juliet.” He has the power of spitting fire from his mouth, which destroys his enemies and consumes forests. His saliva is venomous, and there are many stories of snakes spitting venom into food. In one of the versions of Bethgelert, the prince, but for his guardian bird, would have drunk as water the venom of the black snakes which drip

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Powers of Snakes in Folk-lore.

Powers of Snakes in Folk-lore.

Some instances may be given of the form assumed by the worship of the snake in modern times. The great snake festival is the Nâgpanchamî, or “Dragon’s fifth,” held on the fifth day of the month of Bhâdon. In the Hills it is called the Rikhî or Birurî Panchamî. Rikheswara has now become a title of Siva as lord of the Nâgas, a form in which he is represented as surrounded by serpents and crowned with the chaplet of hooded snakes. On the day of the feast the people paint figures of serpents and bir

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Modern Snake-worship.

Modern Snake-worship.

In Hoshangâbâd there were once two brothers, Râjawa and Soral; the ghost of the former cures snake-bite, and that of the latter cattle murrain. The moment a man is bitten, he must tie a string or a strip of his dress and fasten it round his neck, crying, “Mercy! O God Râjawa!” To call on Ghori Bâdshâh, the Delhi Emperor, who conquered the country, or Râmjî Dâs Bâba will do as well. At the same time he makes a vow to give so much to the god if he recovers. When he gets home they use various tests

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Cure of Snake-bite.

Cure of Snake-bite.

The references to the snake in folk-lore and popular belief are so numerous that only a few examples can be given. The Dhâman ( Ptyas mucosus ), a quite harmless snake, is said in Bombay to give a fatal bite on Sundays, and to kill cattle by crawling under them, or putting its tail up their nostrils. Its shadow is also considered malignant. It is believed to suck the milk of cattle, and that if a buffalo is looked on by it, it immediately dies. Of the Ghonas snake it is believed that it bites on

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The Snake in Folk-lore.

The Snake in Folk-lore.

Snakes should, of course, be addressed euphemistically as “Maternal uncle,” or “Rope,” and if a snake bites you, you should never mention its name, but say, “A rope has touched me.” The Mirzapur Kharwârs tell of a man who once came on a Nâgin laying her eggs. When she saw him she fell at his feet and asked him to throw the eggs in a water-hole. So he took up the eggs on a bamboo sieve and went with her to the brink. The Nâgin plunged in and said, “Do not be afraid! Come on!” He followed her, the

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Snakes and Euphemism.

Snakes and Euphemism.

The snake, like the “toad ugly and venomous,” wears on his head the Mani or precious jewel, which is a stock subject in Indian folk-tales. Thus, in one of Somadeva’s stories, “when Nala heard this, he looked round, and beheld a snake coiled up near the fire, having his head encircled with the rays of the jewels of his crest.” 144 It is sometimes metamorphosed into a beautiful youth; it equals the treasure of seven kings; it can be hidden or secured only by cowdung or horsedung being thrown over

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The Snake Jewel.

The Snake Jewel.

So the rainbow is connected with the snake, being the fume of a gigantic serpent blown up from underground. In Persia it was called the “celestial serpent.” We have already seen that the Milky Way is regarded as the path of the Nâgas in the sky. It is possibly under the influence of the association of the snake, a treasure guardian, that the English children run to find where the rainbow meets the earth, and expect to find a crock of gold buried at its base. 146...

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The Rainbow and the Snake.

The Rainbow and the Snake.

The belief in the influence of the guardian domestic or national snake is universal. When the Persians invaded Athens the people would not leave the city till they learned that the guardian snake had refused its food and abandoned the citadel. A snake at Lanuvium and at Epirus resided in a grove and was waited on by a virgin priestess, who entered naked and fed it once a year, when by its acceptance or refusal of the offering, the prospects of the harvest were ascertained. The Teutons and Celts

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The Household Snake.

The Household Snake.

“A totem is a class of material objects, which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists between them and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation.” 1 As distinguished from a fetish, a totem is never an isolated individual, but always a class of objects, generally a class of animals or plants, rarely a class of inanimate objects, very rarely a class of artificial objects. As regards the origin of totemism great diversity of opinion exis

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Origin of Totemism.

Origin of Totemism.

We find, then, among such races, as might have been expected, that at the present day the totemistic sept system exists only in obscure and not easily recognizable forms. Folk etymology has also exercised considerable influence, and a sept ashamed of its totemistic title readily adopts some title of the eponymous type, or a local cognomen sounding something like the name of the primitive totem. It is perhaps too much to expect that a careful exploration of the sept titles or tribal customs of No

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Stocks Named from Animals, Plants, etc.

Stocks Named from Animals, Plants, etc.

The evidence of this point is, as has been already said, much more distinct among the Drâvidians than among the more Hinduized races. Details of such names among the Agariyas, Nats, Baiswârs, and Ghasiyas have been given in detail elsewhere. 10 Thus, to take the Dhângars, a caste in Mirzapur, allied to the Orâons of Bengal, we find that they have eight exogamous septs, all or most of which are of totemistic origin. Thus, Ilha is said to mean a kind of fish, which members of this sept do not eat;

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Totem Names among the Drâvidians.

Totem Names among the Drâvidians.

In the Panjâb there is a special snake tribe. They observe every Monday and Thursday in the snake’s honour, cooking rice and milk, setting a portion aside for the snake, and never eating or making butter on those days. If they find a dead snake, they put clothes upon it, and give it a regular funeral. They will not kill a snake, and say that its bite is harmless to them. The snake, they say, changes its form every hundred years, and then becomes a man or a bull. 12 So, in Senegambia, “a python i

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The Panjâb Snake Tribe.

The Panjâb Snake Tribe.

The subject of Indian proper names has not yet received the attention it deserves. The only attempt to investigate the subject, so far, is that of Major Temple. 14 In his copious lists there is ample evidence that names are freely adopted from those of animals, plants, etc. Thus we have Bagha, “Tiger”; Bheriya, “Wolf”; Billa, “Cat”; Chûha, “Rat,” and so on from animals; Bagla, “Heron”; Tota, “Parrot,” and so on from birds; Ajgar, “Python”; Mendak, “Frog”; Kachhua, “Tortoise;”; Bhaunra, “Bumble B

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Totemism in Proper Names.

Totemism in Proper Names.

We next come to Professor Robertson-Smith’s second test, the belief in descent from the totem. This branch of the subject has been very fully illustrated by Mr. Frazer. 15 As in old times in Georgiana, according to Marco Polo, all the king’s sons were born with an eagle on the right shoulder marking their royal origin, 16 so Chandragupta, king of Ujjain, was the son of a scorpion. “His mother accidentally imbibed the scorpion’s emission, by means of which she conceived.” 17 The Jaitwas of Râjput

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Descent from the Totem.

Descent from the Totem.

Next come instances of special respect paid to the totem. Some idea of the kind may be partly the origin of the worship of the cow and the serpent. Dr. Ball describes how some Khândhs refused to carry the skin of a leopard because it was their totem. 21 The Kadanballis of Kanara will not eat the Sâmbhar stag, the Bargaballis the Barga deer, and the Kuntiballis the woodcock. The Vaydas of Cutch worship the monkey god whom they consider to be their ancestor, and to please him in their marriage cer

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Special Respect Paid to the Totem.

Special Respect Paid to the Totem.

One of the best illustrations of this form of totemism is that of the Devak or family guardian gods of Berâr and Bombay. Before concluding an alliance, the Kunbi and other Berâr tribes look to the Devak, which literally means the deity worshipped at marriage ceremonies; the fact being that certain families hold in honour particular trees and plants, and at the marriage ceremony branches of these trees are set up in the house. It is said that a betrothal, in every other respect irreproachable, wi

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The Devak.

The Devak.

Some have professed to find indications of totemism in the Vâhanas and Avatâras, the “Vehicles” and the “Incarnations” of the mythology; but this is far from certain. It has been suggested that these may represent tribal deities imported into Hinduism. Brahma rides on the Hansa or goose; Vishnu on Garuda, half eagle and half man, which is the crest of the Chandravansi Râjputs; Siva on his bull Nandi; Yama on a buffalo; Kârttikeya on a peacock; Kâmadeva on the marine monster Makara, or on a parro

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The Vâhanas and Avatâras.

The Vâhanas and Avatâras.

How the boar came to be associated with Vishnu has been much disputed. One and not a very plausible explanation which has been suggested is that it is because the boar is a destroyer of snakes. 32 We know that in Râjputâna there was a regular spring festival at which the boar was killed because he was regarded as the special enemy of Gaurî, the Râjput tribal goddess. 33 The comparative mythologists account for the spring boar festival by connecting it with the ceremonial eating of the boar’s hea

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The Boar as a Totem.

The Boar as a Totem.

Fetishism is “the straightforward, objective admiration of visible substances fancied to possess some mysterious influence or faculty.... The original downright adoration of queer-looking objects is modified by passing into the higher order of imaginative superstition. First, the stone is the abode of some spirit, its curious shape or position betraying possession. Next, the strange form or aspect argues some design or handiwork of supernatural beings, or is the vestige of their presence upon ea

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Fetishism Defined.

Fetishism Defined.

The process by which the worship of such a fetish grows is well illustrated by a case from Afghânistân. “It is sufficient for an Afghân devotee to see a small heap of stones, a few rags, or some ruined tomb, something, in short, upon which a tale can be invented, to imagine at once that some saint is buried there. The idea conceived, he throws some more stones upon the heap and sticks up a pole or flag; those who come after follow the leader; more stones and more rags are added; at last its dime

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Fetishism Illustrated in Afghânistân.

Fetishism Illustrated in Afghânistân.

The legend of Lorik is very popular among the Ahîr tribe, and has been localized in the Mirzapur District in a curious way which admirably illustrates the principles which we have been discussing. The story is related at wearisome length, but the main features of it, according to the Shâhâbâd version, are as follows: Siudhar, an Ahîr, marries Chandanî, and is cursed by Pârvatî with the loss of all passion. Chandanî forms an attachment for her neighbour Lorik and elopes with him. The husband purs

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The Lorik Legend.

The Lorik Legend.

The Mirzapur version is interesting from its association with fetishism. As you descend the Mârkundi Pass into the valley of the Son, you observe a large isolated boulder split into two parts, with a narrow fissure between them. Further on in the bed of the Son is a curious water-worn rock, which, to the eye of faith, suggests a rude resemblance to a headless elephant. On this foundation has been localized the legend of Lorik, which takes us back to the time when the Aryan and the aboriginal Das

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The Mirzapur Version.

The Mirzapur Version.

Of a similar type is Jirâyâ Bhavânî, who is worshipped at Jungail, south of the Son. In her place of worship, a cave on the hillside, the only representative of the goddess is an ancient rust-eaten coat of mail. This gives her name, which is a corruption of the Persian Zirah, meaning a coat of armour. Close by is a little stream, known as the Suaraiya, the meaning of which is, of course, assumed to be “Hog river,” from the Hindi Sûar, a pig. Here we have all the elements of a myth. In one of the

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Jirâyâ Bhavânî.

Jirâyâ Bhavânî.

It is hardly necessary to say that, as Sir J. Lubbock has shown, the worship of fetish stones prevails in all parts of the world. 44 There is hardly a village in Northern India without a fetish of this kind, which is very often not appropriated to any special deity, but represents the Grâmadevatâ or Gânw-devî, or Deohâr, the collective local divine cabinet which has the affairs of the community under its charge. Why spirits should live in stones has been debated. Mr. Campbell perhaps presses the

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Village Fetish Stones.

Village Fetish Stones.

In the same way at many shrines it is part of the worship to creep through a narrow orifice from one side to the other. At Kankhal, worshippers at the temple of Daksha creep through a sort of tunnel from one side to the other. The same is the rule at the temple at Kabraiya in the Hamîrpur District, and at many other places of the same kind. 50 The same principle probably accounts for the respect paid to the grindstone. Part of the earliest form of the marriage ritual consisted in the bride stand

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Human Sacrifice among the Indo-Aryans.

Human Sacrifice among the Indo-Aryans.

There is ample evidence from the folk-tales of the existence of human sacrifice in early times. We have in the tales of Somadeva constant reference to human sacrifices made in honour of Chandikâ or Châmundâ. We find one Muravara, a Turushka or Indo-Scythian, who proposes to make a human sacrifice in memory of his dead father; we have expiatory sacrifices to Chandikâ to save the life of a king. In one of the Panjâb tales a ship will not leave port till a human victim is offered. In one of the mod

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Human Sacrifice in the Folk-tales.

Human Sacrifice in the Folk-tales.

Up to quite modern times the same was the case, and there is some evidence to show that the custom has not quite ceased. Until the beginning of the present century, the custom of offering a first-born child to the Ganges was common. Akin to this is the Gangâ Jâtra, or murder of sick relatives on the banks of the sacred river, of which a case occurred quite recently at Calcutta. At Katwa, near Calcutta, a leper was burnt alive in 1812; he threw himself into a pit ten cubits deep which was filled

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Human Sacrifice in Modern Times.

Human Sacrifice in Modern Times.

The same mysterious power is attributed to human blood. The blood of the Jinn has, it is hardly necessary to say, special powers of its own. Thus, in one of the Kashmîr stories the angel says: “This is a most powerful Jinn. Should a drop of his blood fall to the ground while life is in him, another Jinn will be quickly formed therefrom, and spring up and slay you.” 69 Bathing in human blood has been regarded as a powerful remedy for disease. The Emperor Constantine was ordered a bath of children

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Survivals of Human Sacrifice.

Survivals of Human Sacrifice.

One standing difficulty at each decennial census has been the rumour which spreads in remote tracts that Government is making the enumeration with a view of collecting victims to be sacrificed at some bridge or other building, or that a toll of pretty girls is to be taken to reward the soldiery after some war. Thus, about a fort in Madras it had long been a tradition that when it was first built a girl had been built into the wall to render it impregnable. 75 It is said that a Râja was once buil

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Human Sacrifice and Buildings.

Human Sacrifice and Buildings.

There are also many instances of the transition from human sacrifices to those of a milder form. Thus, when Ahmadâbâd was building, Mânik Bâwa, a saint, every day made a cushion, and every night picked it to pieces. As he did so the day’s work fell down. The Sultân refrained from sacrificing him, but got him into a small jar and kept him there till the work was over. 81 The Villâlis of Pûna on the fifteenth day after a death shape two bricks like human beings, dress them, and lay them on a woode

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Modifications of Human Sacrifice.

Modifications of Human Sacrifice.

In connection with human sacrifice may be mentioned the curious superstition about Momiâî or mummy. The virtues of human fat as a magical ointment appear all through folk-lore. Othello, referring to the handkerchief which he had given to Desdemona, says,— “It was dyed in the mummy which the skilful Conserved of maidens’ hearts.” Writing of witches Reginald Scot says: “The devil teacheth them to make ointment of the bowels and members of children, whereby they ride in the air and accomplish all t

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Momiâî.

Momiâî.

Indian witches are believed to use the same mystic preparation to enable them to fly through the air, as their European sisters are supposed to use the fat of a toad. 86 Human fat is believed to be specially efficacious for this purpose. In one of Somadeva’s stories the Brâhman searches for treasure with a candle made of human fat in his hand. 87 One of the Mongol Generals, Marco Polo tells us, was accused of boiling down human beings and using their fat to grease his mangonels; and Carpini says

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The Dânapurwâla Sâhib.

The Dânapurwâla Sâhib.

To return after this digression to fetish stones. Of this phase of belief we have well-known instances in the coronation stone in Westminster Abbey, which is associated with the dream of Jacob, and the Hajuru’l Aswad of Mecca, which Sir R. Burton believed to be an aërolite. No one will bring a stone from the Sacred Hill at Govardhan near Mathura, because it is supposed to be endowed with life. The Yâdavas, who are connected with the same part of the country, had a stone fetish, described in the

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Fetish Stones.

Fetish Stones.

The Santâls, like all uncivilized races, have a whole army of fetishes. A round piece of wood, nearly a foot in length, the top of which is painted red, is called Banhî, or “the protector of the jungle.” Another stands for Laghû, the goddess of the earth, who is sometimes represented by a mountain. An oblong piece of wood, painted red, stands for Mahâmâî, “the great Mother,” Devî’s daughter; a small piece of white stone daubed with red is Burhiyâ Mâî, or “the old Mother,” her granddaughter; an a

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Fetishes among the Santâls.

Fetishes among the Santâls.

Many of these stones have the power of curing disease, and the water with which they have been bathed is considered a useful medicine. This is the case with a number of sacred Mahâdeva Lingams all over the country. A common proverb speaks of the old woman who is ready enough to eat the Prasâd or offering to the god, but hesitates to drink the water in which his feet have been washed. In Western India no orthodox Brâhman will eat his food till he has thrice sipped the water in which his Sâlagrâma

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Fetish Stones which Cure Disease.

Fetish Stones which Cure Disease.

The virtue of all these fetish stones rests in their embodying the spirits of gods or deified men. As we have shown, this is a common principle of popular belief. In one of Miss Stokes’s Indian tales, “The man who went to seek his fate,” the fate is found in stones, some standing up and some lying down. The man beats the stone which embodies his fate because he is miserably poor. Mr. H. Spencer thinks that the idea of persons being turned into stones may have arisen from instances of actual petr

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Fetish Stones the Abode of Spirits.

Fetish Stones the Abode of Spirits.

Some fetishes, like the Bombay Devaks, are special to particular families. Such is the case with the Thârus, a non-Aryan tribe in the sub-Himâlayan Tarâî. Each member of the tribe constructs a hollow mound in front of his door, and thereon erects a stake of Palâsa wood ( Butea frondosa ), which is regarded as the family fetish and periodically worshipped. Next comes the worship of the tool fetish, which, according to Sir A. Lyall, is “the earliest phase or type of the tendency which later on lea

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Tool Fetishes.

Tool Fetishes.

In the same way soldiers and warlike tribes worship their weapons. Thus, the sword was worshipped by the Râjputs, and when a man of lower caste married a Râjput girl, she was married, as in the case of Holkar, to his sword with his kerchief bound round it. 110 This sword-worship is specially performed, as by the Baiswârs of Mirzapur and the Gautam sept of Râjputs. The Nepâlese worship their weapons and regimental colours at the Dasahra festival. At the Diwâlî, or feast of lamps, on the first day

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Weapons and Implement Fetishes.

Weapons and Implement Fetishes.

The corn-sieve or winnowing basket, the Mystica vannus Iacchi of Virgil, has always enjoyed a reputation as an emblem of increase and prosperity, and as possessing magical powers. The witch in Macbeth says:— “Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, Master of the Tiger ; But in a sieve I’ll thither sail.” It was used in Scotland to foretell the future at Allhallow Eve. Divination was performed with a pair of shears and a sieve. Aubrey describes how “the shears are stuck in a sieve, and the maidens hold up

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The Corn-sieve.

The Corn-sieve.

Among the Kols, when a vacancy occurs in the office of the village priest, the winnowing fan with some rice is used, and by its magical power it drags the person who holds it towards the individual on whom the sacred mantle has fallen. The same custom prevails among the Orâons. 121 The Greeks had a special name, Koskinomantis, for the man who divined in this way with the sieve, and the practice is mentioned by Theocritus. 122 The sieve is very commonly used in India as a rude form of the planche

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The Broom.

The Broom.

The rice-pounder, too, has magical powers. We have seen that it is one of the articles waved round the heads of the bride and bridegroom to scare evil spirits. In Bengal, it is worshipped when the child is first fed with grain. And there is a regular worship of it in the month of Baisâkh, or May. The top is smeared with red lead, anointed with oil, and offerings of rice and holy Dûrva grass made to it. The worship has even been provided with a Brâhmanical legend. A Guru once ordered his disciple

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The Rice-pounder.

The Rice-pounder.

Next comes the plough as a fetish. The carrying about of the plough and the prohibition common in Europe against moving it on Shrove Tuesday and other holidays have, like many other images of the same class, been connected with Phallicism. 132 But, considering the respect which an agricultural people would naturally pay to the chief implement used in husbandry, it is simpler to class it with the other tool fetishes of a similar kind. In India, as in Europe on Plough Monday, 133 there is a regula

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The Plough.

The Plough.

Fire is undoubtedly a very ancient Hindu protective fetish, and its virtue as a scarer of demons is very generally recognized. One of the earliest legends of the Hindu race is that recorded in the Rig Veda, where Agni, the god of fire, concealed himself in heaven, was brought down to earth by Mâtarisvan, and made over to the princely tribe of Bhrigu, in which we have the Oriental version of the myth of Prometheus. In the Vedas, Agni ranks next to the Rain god, and takes precedence of every other

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Fire.

Fire.

According to Dr. Tylor, “the real and absolute worship of fire falls into two great divisions, the first belonging to fetishism, the second to polytheism proper, and the two apparently representing an earlier and later stage of theological ideas. The first is the rude, barbarous adoration of the actual flame which he watches writhing, devouring, roaring like a wild animal; the second belongs to an advanced generalization that any individual fire is a manifestation of one general elemental being,

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Origin of Fire-worship.

Origin of Fire-worship.

But it is almost certainly erroneous to class the sacred fire as an institution peculiar to the so-called Aryan races. The Homa is, of course, one of the most important elements of the modern Hindu ritual; but at the same time it prevails extensively as a means of propitiating the local or village godlings among many of the Drâvidian races, who are quite as likely to have discovered for themselves the mystical art of fire production by mechanical means, as to have adopted it by a process of cons

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The Sacred Fire.

The Sacred Fire.

What has been called the Aryan fire-drill, the Aranî, which in one sense means “foreign” or “strange,” and in another “moving” or “entering,” “being inserted,” is not apparently nowadays used in the ordinary ritual for the production of fire for the Homa or fire sacrifice. The rites connected with the sacred fire have been given in detail in another place. 137 In Northern India, at least, the production of the sacred fire has become the speciality of one branch of the Brâhmans, the Gujarâti, who

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The Fire-drill.

The Fire-drill.

But it is not only in the Hindu ritual that the sacred fire holds a prominent place. Thus, in ancient Ireland, the sacred fire was obtained by the friction of wood and the striking of stones, and it was supposed “that the spirits of fire dwelt in these objects, and when the priests invoked them to appear, they brought good luck to the household for the coming year, but if invoked by other hands on that special day, their influence was malific.” 141 So, among the Muhammadans in the time of Akbar,

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The Muhammadan Sacred Fire.

The Muhammadan Sacred Fire.

Fire of a volcanic nature is, as might be expected, regarded with veneration. Such is the fire which in some places in Kashmîr rises out of the ground. 148 The meteoric light or Shahâba is also much respected. In Hoshangâbâd there is a local godling, known as Khapra Bâba, who lives on the edge of a tank, and is said to appear in the darkness with a procession of lights. 149 In Rohilkhand and the western districts of Oudh, one often hears of the Shahâba. In burial-grounds, especially where the bo

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Volcanic Fire; Will-o’-the-Wisp.

Volcanic Fire; Will-o’-the-Wisp.

Next comes the respect paid to the cairn which covers the remains of the dead or is a mere cenotaph commemorating a death. We have already seen instances of this in the pile of stones which marks the place where a tiger has killed a man, and in the cairns in honour of the jungle deities, or the spirits which infest dangerous passes. The rationale of these sepulchral cairns is to keep down the ghost of the dead man and prevent it from injuring the living. We see the same idea in the rule of the o

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The Tomb Fetish.

The Tomb Fetish.

We have already referred to the Sâlagrâma fetish. Akin to this is the Vishnupada, the supposed footmark of Vishnu, which is very like the footmark of Hercules, of which Herodotus speaks. 155 There is a celebrated Vishnupada temple at Gaya, where the footprint of Vishnu is in a large silver basin under a canopy, inside an octagonal shrine. Pindas or holy balls and various kinds of offerings are placed by the pilgrims inside the basin and around the footprint. 156 It was probably derived from the

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Miscellaneous Fetishes.

Miscellaneous Fetishes.

We now come to consider the special worship of certain animals. The origin of this form of belief may possibly be traced to many different sources. In the first place, no savage fixes the boundary line between man and the lower forms of animal life so definitely as more civilized races are wont to do. The animal, in their belief, has very much the same soul, much the same feelings and passion as men have, a theory exemplified in the way the Indian ploughman speaks to his ox, or the shepherd call

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Origin of Animal-worship.

Origin of Animal-worship.

Another series of cognate ideas has been very carefully analyzed by Mr. Campbell. The spirits of the dead haunt two places, the house and the tomb. Those who haunt the house are friendly; those who haunt the tomb are unfriendly. Two classes of animals correspond to these two classes of spirits—an at-home, fearless class, as the snake, the rat, flies and ants and bees, into which the home-haunting or friendly spirits would go; and a wild, unsociable class, such as bats and owls, dogs, jackals, or

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Horse-worship.

Horse-worship.

The horse is regarded as a lucky and exceedingly pure animal. When a cooking vessel has become in any way defiled , a common way of purifying it is to make a horse smell it. In the Dakkhin it is said that evil spirits will not approach a horse for fear of his foam. 14 In Northern India, the entry of a man on horseback into a sugar-cane field during sowing time is regarded as auspicious. This taking of omens from horses was well known in Germany, and Tacitus says, “ Proprium gentis equorum praesa

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Modern Horse-worship.

Modern Horse-worship.

The contempt for the ass seems to have arisen in post-Vedic times. Indra had a swift-footed ass, and one of the epithets of Vikramaditya was Gadharbha-rûpa, or “he in the form of an ass.” The Vishnu Purâna tells of the demon Dhenuka, who took the form of an ass and began to kick Balarâma and Krishna, as they were plucking fruit in the demon’s grove. Balarâma seized him, with sundry of his companions and flung him on the top of a palm tree. Khara, a cannibal Râkshasa who was killed by Râma Chandr

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The Worship of the Ass.

The Worship of the Ass.

The lion, from his comparative rarity in Northern India, appears little in popular belief. It is one of the vehicles of Pârvatî, and rude images of the animal are sometimes placed near shrines dedicated to Devî. There is a current idea that only one pair of lions exists in the world at the same time. They have two cubs, a male and a female, which, when they arrive at maturity, devour their parents. In the folk-tales the childless king is instructed that he will find in the forest a boy riding on

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The Lion.

The Lion.

The tiger naturally takes the place of the lion. According to the comparative mythologists, “the tiger, panther, and leopard possess several of the mystical characteristics of the lion as the hidden sun. Thus, Dionysos and Siva, the phallical god par excellence , have these animals as their emblems.” 26 Siva, it is true, is represented as sitting in his ascetic form on a tiger skin, but it is his consort, Durgâ, who uses the animal as her vehicle. Quite apart from the solar myth theory, the beli

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The Tiger.

The Tiger.

But, as is natural, the worship of the tiger prevails more widely among the jungle races. We have already met with Bâgheswar, the tiger deity of the Mirzapur forest tribes. The Santâls also worship him, and the Kisâns honour him as Banrâja, or “lord of the jungle.” They will not kill him, and believe that in return for their devotion he will spare them. Another branch of the tribe does not worship him, but all swear by him. The Bhuiyârs, on the contrary, have no veneration for him, and think it

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Tiger-worship among the Jungle Races.

Tiger-worship among the Jungle Races.

Further west the Kurkus of Hoshangâbâd worship the tiger godling, Bâgh Deo, who is the Wâgh Deo of Berâr. At Petri in Berâr is a sort of altar to Wâghâî Devî, the tiger goddess, founded on a spot where a Gond woman was once seized by a tiger. She is said to have vanished as if by some supernatural agency, and the Gonds who desire protection from wild beasts present to her altar gifts of every kind of animal from a cow downwards. A Gond presides over the shrine and receives the votive offerings.

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Bâgh Deo, the Tiger Godling.

Bâgh Deo, the Tiger Godling.

All sorts of magical powers are ascribed to the tiger after death. The fangs, the claws, the whiskers are potent charms, valuable for love philters and prophylactics against demoniacal influence, the Evil Eye, disease and death. The milk of a tigress is valuable medicine, and it is one of the stock impossible tasks or tests imposed upon the hero to find and fetch it, as he is sent to get the feathers of the eagle, water from the well of death, or the mystical cow guarded by Dânos or Râkshasas. 3

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Magical Powers of Dead Tigers.

Magical Powers of Dead Tigers.

Some tigers are supposed to be amenable to courtesy. In one of the Kashmîr tales, the hero in search of tiger’s milk shoots an arrow and pierces one of the teats of the tigress, to whom he explains that he hoped she would thus be able to suckle her cubs with less trouble. In other tales we find the tiger pacified if he is addressed as “Uncle.” 35 So, Colonel Tod describes how a tiger attacked a boy near his camp, and was supposed to have, like the fierce Râkshasa of the Nepâl legend, released th

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Tigers, Propitiation of.

Tigers, Propitiation of.

Among the Gonds tiger-worship assumes a particularly disgusting form. At marriages among them, a terrible apparition appears of two demoniacs possessed by Bâgheswar, the tiger god. They fall ravenously on a bleating kid, and gnaw it with their teeth till it expires. “The manner,” says Captain Samuells, who witnessed the performance, “in which the two men seized the kid with their teeth and killed it was a sight which could only be equalled on a feeding day in the Zoological Gardens or a menageri

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Tiger-worship among the Gonds.

Tiger-worship among the Gonds.

The only visible difference between the ordinary animal and a man metamorphosed into a tiger was explained to Colonel Sleeman to consist in the fact that the latter had no tail. In the jungles about Deori there is said to be a root, which if a man eats, he is converted into a tiger on the spot; and if, when in this state, he eats another species of root, he is turned back into a man again. “A melancholy instance of this,” said Colonel Sleeman’s informant, “occurred in my own father’s family when

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Men Metamorphosed into Tigers.

Men Metamorphosed into Tigers.

In the Nepâl legend which we have been discussing we find Bhairava associated with the tiger, but his prototype, the local godling Bhairon, has the dog as his sacred animal, and his is the only temple in Benares into which the dog is admitted. 44 Two conflicting lines of thought seem to meet in dog-worship. As Mr. Campbell says, “There is a good house-guarding dog, and an evil scavenging and tomb-haunting dog. Some of the products of the dog are so valued in driving off spirits that they seem to

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Dog-worship.

Dog-worship.

In modern times dog-worship appears specially in connection with the cultus of Bhairon, the Brâhmanical Bhairava, the Bhairoba of Western India. No Marâtha will lift his hand against a dog, and in Bombay many Hindus worship the dog of Kâla Bhairava, though the animal is considered unclean by them. Khandê Râo or Khandoba or Khandoji is regarded as an incarnation of Siva and much worshipped by Marâthas. He is most frequently represented as riding on horseback and attended by a dog and accompanied

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Dog-worship: Bhairon.

Dog-worship: Bhairon.

The famous tale of Bethgelert, the faithful hound which saves the child of his master from the wolf and is killed by mistake, appears all through the folk-tales and was probably derived from India. In the Indian version the dog usually belongs to a Banya or to a Banjâra, who mortgages him to a merchant. The merchant is robbed and the dog discovers the stolen goods. In his gratitude the merchant ties round the neck of the dog a scrap of paper, on which he records that the debt has been satisfied.

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Dogs in Folk-lore: The Bethgelert Legend.

Dogs in Folk-lore: The Bethgelert Legend.

We have seen already that some of the Central Indian tribes respect the wild dog. The same is the case in the Hills, where they are known as “God’s hounds,” and no native sportsman will kill them. 60 In one of Grimm’s tales we read that the “Lord God had created all animals, and had chosen out the wolf to be his dog,” and the dogs of Odin were wolves. 61 Another sacred dog in Indian folk-lore is that of the hunter Shambuka. His master threw him into the sacred pool of Uradh in the Himâlaya. Comi

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The Goat.

The Goat.

We perhaps get a glimpse of totemism in connection with the goat in some of the early Hindu legends. When Parusha, the primeval man, was divided into his male and female parts, he produced all the animals, and the goat was first formed out of his mouth. There is, again, a mystical connection between Agni, the fire god, Brâhmans, and goats, as between Indra, the Kshatriyas, and sheep, Vaisyas and kine, Sûdras and the horse. These may possibly have been tribal totems of the races by whom these ani

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Goat and Totemism.

Goat and Totemism.

But the most famous of these animal totems or fetishes is the cow or bull. According to the school of comparative mythology the bull which bore away Europe from Kadmos is the same from which the dawn flies in the Vedic hymn. He, according to this theory, is “the bull Indra, which, like the sun, traverses the heaven, bearing the dawn from east to west. But the Cretan bull, like his fellow in the Gnossian labyrinth, who devours the tribute children from the city of the Dawn goddess, is a dark and

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Cow and Bull Worship.

Cow and Bull Worship.

That the respect for the cow is of comparatively modern date is best established on the authority of a writer, himself a Hindu. “Animal food was in use in the Epic period, and the cow and bull were often laid under requisition. In the Aitareya Brâhmana, we learn that an ox, or a cow which suffers miscarriage, is killed when a king or honoured guest is received. In the Brâhmana of the Black Yajur Veda the kind and character of the cattle which should be slaughtered in minor sacrifices for the gra

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Respect for the Cow Modern.

Respect for the Cow Modern.

The explanation of the origin of cow-worship has been a subject of much controversy. The modern Hindu, if he has formed any distinct ideas at all on the subject, bases his respect for the cow on her value for supplying milk, and for general agricultural purposes. The Panchagâvya, or five products of the cow—milk, curds, butter, urine, and dung—are efficacious as scarers of demons, are used as remedies in disease, and play a very important part in domestic ritual Gaurochana, a bright yellow pigme

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Origin of Cow-worship.

Origin of Cow-worship.

Though cow-worship was little known in the Vedic period, by the time of the compilation of the Institutes of Manu it had become part of the popular belief. He classes the slaughter of a cow or bull among the deadly sins; “the preserver of a cow or a Brâhman atones for the crime of killing a priest;” 83 and we find constant references in the mediæval folk-lore to the impiety of the Savaras and other Drâvidian races who killed and ate the sacred animal. Saktideva one day, “as he was standing on th

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Cow-worship: Its Later Development.

Cow-worship: Its Later Development.

When the horoscope forebodes some crime or special calamity, the child is clothed in scarlet, a colour which repels evil influences, and tied on the back of a new sieve, which, as we have seen, is a powerful fetish. This is passed through the hindlegs of a cow, forward through the forelegs towards the mouth, and again in the reverse direction, signifying the new birth from the sacred animal. The usual worship and aspersion take place, and the father smells his child, as the cow smells her calf.

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Re-birth through the Cow.

Re-birth through the Cow.

The respect paid to the cow appears everywhere in folk-lore. We have the cow Kâmadhenû, known also as Kâmadughâ or Kâmaduh, the cow of plenty, Savalâ, “the spotted one,” and Surabhî, “the fragrant one,” which grants all desires. Among many of the lower castes the cow-shed becomes the family temple. 87 In the old ritual, the bride, on entering her husband’s house, was placed on a red bull’s hide as a sign that she was received into the tribe, and in the Soma sacrifice the stones whence the liquor

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Respect Paid to the Cow.

Respect Paid to the Cow.

There are numerous instances of modern cow-worship. The Jâts and Gûjars adore her under the title of Gâû Mâtâ, “Mother cow.” The cattle are decorated and supplied with special food on the Gopashtamî or Gokulashtamî festival, which is held in connection with the Krishna cultus. In Nepâl there is a Newâri festival, known as the Gâê Jâtra, or cow feast, when all persons who have lost relations during the year ought to disguise themselves as cows and dance round the palace of the king. 90 In many of

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Modern Cow-worship.

Modern Cow-worship.

Of the unhappy agitation against cow-killing, which has been in recent years such a serious problem to the British Government in Northern India, nothing further can be said here. To the orthodox Hindu, killing a cow, even accidentally, is a serious matter, and involves the feeding of Brâhmans and the performance of pilgrimages. In the Hills a special ritual is prescribed in the event of a plough ox being killed by accident. 96 The idea that misfortune follows the killing of a cow is common. It u

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Feeling against Cow-killing.

Feeling against Cow-killing.

There is a good example of bull-worship among the wandering tribe of Banjâras. “When sickness occurs, they lead the sick man to the foot of the bullock called Hatâdiya; for though they say that they pay reverence to images, and that their religion is that of the Sikhs, the object of their worship is this Hatâdiya, a bullock devoted to the god Bâlajî. On this animal no burden is ever laid, but he is decorated with streamers of red-dyed silk and tinkling bells, with many brass chains and rings on

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Bull-worship among Banjâras.

Bull-worship among Banjâras.

Infinite are the superstitions about cattle, their marks, and every kind of peculiarity connected with them, and this has been embodied in a great mass of rural rhymes and proverbs which are always on the lips of the people. Thus, for instance, it is unlucky for a cow to calve in the month of Bhâdon. The remedy is to swim it in a stream, sell it to a Muhammadan, or in the last resort give it away to a Gujarâti Brâhman. Here may be noticed the curious prejudice against the use of a cow’s milk, wh

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Superstitions about Cattle.

Superstitions about Cattle.

The respect paid to the cow does not fully extend to the buffalo. The buffalo is the vehicle of Yama, the god of death. The female buffalo is in Western India regarded as the incarnation of Savitrî, wife of Brahma, the Creator. Durgâ or Bhavânî killed the buffalo-shaped Asura Mahisa, Mahisâsura, after whom Maisûr is called. According to the legend as told in the Mârkandeya Purâna, Ditî, having lost all her sons, the Asuras, in the fight with the gods, turned herself into a buffalo in order to an

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The Buffalo.

The Buffalo.

The black buck was in all probability the tribal totem of some of the races occupying the country anciently known as Âryâvarta. Mr. Campbell accounts for the respect paid to the animal by the use of hartshorn as a remedy for faintness, swoons, and nervous disorders. 103 But this hardly explains the respect paid to it, and the use of its dung by the Bengal Parhaiyas instead of cowdung to smear their floors looks as if it were based on totemism. 104 This too is shown by the regard paid its skin. A

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The Antelope.

The Antelope.

The elephant naturally claims worship as the type of strength and wisdom. To the rustic he impersonates Ganesa, the god of wisdom, the remover of obstacles, who is propitiated at the commencement of any important enterprise, such as marriage and the like. Many legends are told to account for his elephant head. One tells how his mother Pârvatî was so proud of her baby that she asked Sani to look at him, forgetting the baneful effects of the look of the ill-omened deity. When he looked at the chil

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The Elephant.

The Elephant.

The hair of the elephant’s tail is in high repute as an amulet, and little village children, when an elephant passes, pat the dust where his feet have rested and sing a song, of which one version is— Hâthi hâthi, bâr dé Sone kî tarwâr dé— “Give us a hair, elephant, like a sword of gold.” In Europe, it may be noted, the hair from the tail of a horse is commonly regarded as a cure for wens. 112 In the Fatehpur District there is an elephant turned into stone. The famous Jaychand of Kanauj, it is sa

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The Cat.

The Cat.

The rat is sacred as the vehicle of Ganesa. In Bombay, “to call a rat a rat is considered by lower classes of Hindus as unlucky, and so they call him Undir Mâma, or ‘the rat uncle.’ He is so called because he is probably supposed to be the spirit of an uncle. It is considered a great sin to kill a rat, and so, when rats give trouble in a house, the women of the house make a vow to them that, if they cease troubling, sweet balls will be given to them on a certain day, and it is believed by the Hi

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The Rat and Mouse.

The Rat and Mouse.

The little Indian squirrel is called in the Panjâb Râma Chandra Kâ Bhagat, or the saint of Râma Chandra, because when he was building the bridge across the strait to Lanka, the squirrel helped by shaking dust from his tail, and the god stroked it on the back, hence the dark marks which it bears to the present day. Many of the Drâvidian tribes claim descent from the squirrel. The bear is regarded as a scarer of disease, and sickly children are taken for a ride on the back of a tame bear or one of

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The Bear.

The Bear.

The jackal is an important character in the folk-tales, where he assumes the part taken in Europe by the fox. Many are the tales told of his acuteness. The pack is supposed to howl only at each watch of the night, and the leader says, Main Dilli kâ Bâdshâh hûn —“I am King of Delhi” thrice, and his companions say, Ho! ho! ho! —“Yes! of course you are.” Of the hare in the moon we have spoken already, and also referred to the animal in connection with omens. In Cornwall, when a girl has loved not w

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The Hare.

The Hare.

Passing on to birds, the crow is a famous totem or sacred bird. 118 It personifies in Indian tradition the soul of the dead man; hence, to give food to the crows, known in Northern India as Kâgaur, is equivalent to offering food to the Manes. Râma in the Râmâyana orders Sîtâ to make this offering, and Yama, in reward for its services, conceded to it the right of eating the funeral meats, for which reason the souls of the dead, when this food is given to the crows, are enabled to pass into a bett

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Birds: The Crow.

Birds: The Crow.

It is a common belief in Europe that the Hand of Glory, or the dried-up hand of a criminal who has been executed, is a powerful charm for thieves. In Ireland, “if a candle is placed in a dead hand, neither wind nor water can extinguish it, and if carried into a house, the inmates will sleep the sleep of the dead as long as it remains under the roof, and no power on earth can wake them as long as the dead hand holds the candle.” The hand of a dead man is also used to stir the milk when butter wil

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The Hand of Glory.

The Hand of Glory.

Among some of the Indian races the value set on the fowl may possibly, as Mr. Campbell suggests, depend on the feeling that the spirits of the dead wandering near their ancient homes find an asylum in the domestic fowls. 126 At any rate, as a sacrifice, the black fowl is very generally preferred. This is so among the Drâvidian races of Central India. In Ireland the first egg laid by a little black hen, eaten the very first thing in the morning, will keep you from fever for the year. 127 In Germa

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The Fowl.

The Fowl.

The dove is held in much respect by Musalmâns. “Among the Northern Semites the dove is sacred to Ashtoreth and has all the marks of a totem, for the Syrians would not eat it. It was not merely a symbol, but received divine honour. In Arabia we find a dove idol in the Qaaba, and sacred doves surround it.” 130 So, the Kheshgi Pathâns of Qasûr in the Panjâb will not kill pigeons; they are similarly protected by Hindus at Bharatpur, and among Muhammadans they rank as the Sayyid among birds. In North

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The Dove and Pigeon.

The Dove and Pigeon.

The goose or swan is possibly an illustration of what may be a tribal totem. It is said in the Bhâgavata Purâna that at one time there existed one Veda, one god Agni, and one caste. This we learn from the commentator was in the Krita age, and the one caste he tells us of was named Hansa or Swan. The Hansas are, again, in the Vishnu Purâna, said to be one of four castes or tribes existing in a district exterior to India, and finally we learn from the Linga Purâna that Hansa was a name of Brahma h

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The Goose or Swan.

The Goose or Swan.

Mention has already been made of Garuda, half man, half bird, the vehicle of Vishnu. He is the son of one of the daughters of Daksha, whom we have already met with in connection with the moon, and the sage Kasyapa. According to the Mahâbhârata, he was given leave to devour wicked men, but not to touch a Brâhman. Once he did devour a Brâhman, but the holy man so burnt his throat that he was glad to disgorge him. In the Râmâyana we meet with Jatâyu, who is said to be a son of Garuda and king of th

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Sundry Sacred Birds.

Sundry Sacred Birds.

The legend of the hoopoe is thus told by Arrian: “To the king of the Indians was born a son. The child had elder brothers, who, when they came to man’s estate, turned out to be very unjust and the greatest of reprobates. They despised their brother because he was the youngest; and they scoffed at their father and their mother, whom they despised because they were old and grey-headed. The boy, accordingly, and his aged parents could no longer live with these wicked men, and away they fled from ho

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The Hoopoe.

The Hoopoe.

So of the woodpecker, which is said to have been a Râja in a former birth, and still to retain his royal crest. In Italian tradition the woodpecker ( Picus Martis ) is a digger in forests, where he lives alone and digs and hews, and knows all hidden secrets and treasures. 143 In India the Titihrî, or sandpiper, is said to sleep with his legs in the air and thus supports the firmament. The peacock is, of course, a sacred bird. He is specially venerated by the Jâts, who strongly object to seeing t

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The Peacock.

The Peacock.

Once upon a time the Monâl pheasant of the Hills and the Kalchuniya had a dispute as to when the sun arose. The Monâl woke first and then walked between the legs of the other, who was so injured that he has never been able to do anything but skip ever since. Young kites do not open their eyes till they are shown a bit of gold. The best cure for weak eyes is to apply to them antimony mixed with the yolk of a kite’s egg, a good instance of sympathetic magic, because the kite is the most long-sight

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The Kite.

The Kite.

The partridge and the peacock once contended in dancing, and when the turn of the partridge came he borrowed the pretty feet of the peacock, which he has never returned since. Râja Nala, at one period of his life, came under the malignant influence of Sani or Saturn and lost all he possessed in the world. At last, as he was starving, he managed to catch a black partridge and set about roasting it. But the ill-luck of the evil planet asserted itself and the dead bird came to life and flew away. T

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The Partridge.

The Partridge.

Last among sacred birds comes the parrot. Of course, according to Professor De Gubernatis and his school, he represents the sun. 145 The bird appears constantly in the folk-tales as gifted with the power of speaking and possessed of wisdom. The wife of the sage Kasyapa was, according to the Vishnu Purâna, the mother of all the parrots. In the folk-tales we have the parrot who knows the four Vedas who is like the falcon in the Squire’s tale of Chaucer. 146 In others he warns the hero of fortune,

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The Parrot.

The Parrot.

The alligator and crocodile are revered because of their habit of killing human beings. Writing of South Africa, Mr. Macdonald says: “To the Bathlapin the crocodile is sacred, and by all it is revered, but rather under the form of fear than of affection. I have often thought that the ‘river calling’ of South Africa, where there are no crocodiles, is the survival of an ancient recollection of the time when the ancestors of the present Kaffirs dwelt on the margins of rivers infested by these murde

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The Alligator.

The Alligator.

Fish are in many places regarded as sacred. The salmon of knowledge appears in the Celtic folk-lore. 150 The sacred speckled trout are found in many Irish wells, and the same idea prevails in many parts of Europe. 151 We find the fish figuring in the Hindu myth of the Creation. Manu, while he was bathing, found a fish in the water, which said, “I will save thee from the flood which shall destroy the world.” The fish grew and was about to go to the ocean, when he directed Manu to build a boat. Wh

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Fish.

Fish.

The fish constantly appears in the folk-tales. We have in Somadeva the fish that laughed when it was dead; the fish that swallows the hero or heroine or a boat. 154 In one of the Kashmîr tales we have the fish swallowing the ring, which is like the tale which Herodotus tells of Polycrates. In another we have the Oriental version of the story of Jonah, where the merchant is found by the potter in the belly of the fish. 155 So, Pradyumna, son of Krishna and Rukminî, was thrown into the ocean by th

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The Fish in Folk-lore.

The Fish in Folk-lore.

The eel is a totem of the Mundâri Kols of Bengal and of the Orâons, neither of whom will eat it. In Northern England an eel skin tied round the leg is a cure for cramp. Eel fat, in the European tales, is used as a magic ointment, and gives the power of seeing the fairies. 157 The tortoise, again, is sacred. Vishnu appeared as a tortoise in the Satya Yuga or first age to recover some things of value which had been lost in the deluge. In the form of a tortoise he placed himself at the bottom of th

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The Tortoise.

The Tortoise.

The frog, again, is invested with mystical powers. The monstrous toad of Berkeley Castle is said to be really a seal. 161 In English folk-lore it is associated with witches, and wears a precious jewel in its head. Hindus believe that the female frog is the spirit of Mandodarî, the wife of Râvana. It is a common belief that the fat of the frog forms a magic ointment which enables witches to fly through the air. 162 According to a Scotch Saga, the middle piece of a white snake roasted by the fire

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The Frog.

The Frog.

Even insects are in some cases regarded with veneration. In Cornwall, the ants are “the small people” in their state of decay from off the earth; it is deemed most unlucky to destroy a colony of ants. 163 The ant-hill is, as we have seen, used as an altar by some of the Drâvidian tribes, and on it they take their oaths. Hence ants are carefully fed on certain days by both Hindus and Jainas, and are regarded as in some way connected with the souls of the sainted dead. We have in many of the folk-

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Insects.

Insects.

Simulacraque cerea figit Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus. Ovid , Heroides, vi. 91, 92. From the Baiga or Ojha, who by means of his grain sieve fetish identifies the particular evil spirit by which his patient is afflicted, we come to the regular witch or wizard. He works in India by means and appliances which can be readily paralleled by the procedure of his brethren in Western countries. 1 The position of the witch has been so clearly stated by Sir A. Lyall, that his remarks deserve quota

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The Witch.

The Witch.

The belief in witchcraft is general among the lower and less advanced Indian races. Colonel Dalton’s assertion that the Juângs, who were quite recently in the stage of wearing leaf aprons, do not believe in witchcraft or sorcery, must be accepted with great caution. It is quite certain that all the allied Drâvidian races, even those at a somewhat higher state of culture than the Juângs, such as Kols, Kharwârs, and Cheros, firmly believe in witchcraft. But all these people observe the most extrem

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Witchcraft: How Developed.

Witchcraft: How Developed.

With this is intimately connected the belief in the Evil Eye, and that certain persons have the power of calling down on their enemies the influence of evil spirits; and, as in Western lands, such a power is often attributed to persons afflicted with ugliness, deformity, crankiness of temper, liability to sudden fits of passion, epilepsy, and the like. Disease or death, famine, accident, or any form of trouble, never, in popular belief, come naturally. There is always behind calamity some malign

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The Jigar Khor.

The Jigar Khor.

We have already learned to look to the folk-tales for the most trustworthy indications of popular belief, and here the dark shadow of witchcraft overclouds much of their delicate fancy. Here we find the witch taking many forms—of an old woman in trouble, of a white hind with golden horns, of a queen. Others, like the archwitch Kâlarâtrî or “black night,” are of repulsive appearance; she has dull eyes, a depressed, flat nose. Her eyebrows, like those of the werewolves or vampires of Slavonia, 7 m

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The Witch in Folk-lore.

The Witch in Folk-lore.

Writing of Italy, Mr. Leland says: 12 —“Among the priestesses of the hidden spell, an elder dame has usually in hand some younger girl, whom she instructs, firstly, in the art of bewitching or injuring enemies, and secondly, in the more important processes of annulling or unbinding the spells of others, or causing mutual love or conferring luck.” So, among the Agariyas of Bengal, there are old women, professors of witchcraft, who stealthily instruct the young girls. “The latter are all eager to

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Instruction in Witchcraft.

Instruction in Witchcraft.

In Central India, witches are supposed, by the aid of their familiars, who are known as Bîr, or “the hero,” to inflict pain, disease, and death upon human beings. Their power of witchcraft, like that of all Indian witches, exists on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and twenty-ninth of each month, and in particular at the Diwâlî or feast of lamps, and the Naurâtrî or nine days devoted to the worship of Durgâ. In the same way the Irish witches flit on November Eve, and “on that night mortal people shoul

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Witch Seasons.

Witch Seasons.

The idea that witches take the form of tigers is widespread. Colonel Dalton describes how a Kol, tried for the murder of a wizard, stated in his defence that his wife having been killed by a tiger in his presence, he stealthily followed the animal as it glided away after gratifying its appetite, and saw that it entered the house of one Pûsa, a Kol, whom he knew. He called out Pûsa’s relations, and when they heard the story, they not only credited it, but declared that they had long suspected Pûs

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Witches Taking the Form of Tigers.

Witches Taking the Form of Tigers.

Another remedy is thus described by Abul Fazl: “The sorceress casts something out of her mouth like the grain of a pomegranate, which is believed to be part of the heart which she has eaten. The patient picks it up as part of his own intestine and greedily swallows it. By this means, as if his heart was replaced in his body, he recovers his health by degrees.” The idea that witches extract substances out of a sick person’s body is very common. 22 The witch in Macbeth says, “I will drain him dry

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Witches Extracting Substances from their Victims.

Witches Extracting Substances from their Victims.

One sign of the witch is that she is accompanied by her cat. This is an idea which prevails all over the world. Thus, in Ireland, cats are believed to be connected with demons. On entering a house the usual salutation is, “God save all here except the cat!” Even the cake on the griddle may be blessed, but no one says, “God bless the cat!” 26 The negroes in Mussouri say “some cats are real cats and some are devils; you can never tell which is which, so for safety it is well to whip them all sound

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Witches and Cats.

Witches and Cats.

All the ordeals for witches turn on the efficacy of certain things to which reference has been already made as scarers of evil spirits. Thus, the ordeal of walking over hot coals and on heated ploughshares was a common method of testing a witch both in India and in Europe. 31 Zâlim Sinh, however, generally used the water ordeal, a test which is known all over the world. 32 Even Pliny knew that Indian witches could not sink in water. 33 Manu prescribes water as a form of oath, and to this day it

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Witch Ordeals.

Witch Ordeals.

Forbes gives the tests in vogue in his day among the Santâls, whom he calls Soontaar. Branches of the Sâl tree ( Shorea robusta ) marked with the names of all the females of the village, whether married or unmarried, who had attained the age of twelve years, were planted in the morning in water for the space of four and a half hours; and the withering of any of these branches was proof of witchcraft against the person whose name was attached to it. Small portions of rice enveloped in pieces of c

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Santâl Witch Ordeals.

Santâl Witch Ordeals.

One of the most noted witch-finders in the Bilâspur District of the Central Provinces had two most effectual means of checkmating the witches. “His first effort was to get the villagers to describe the marked eccentricities of the old women of the community, and when these had been detailed, his experience soon enabled him to seize on some ugly or unlucky idiosyncrasy, which indicated in unmistakable clearness the unhappy offender. If no conclusion could be arrived at in this way, he lighted an

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Witch Tests, Bilâspur.

Witch Tests, Bilâspur.

In Bastar, “a fisherman’s net is wound round the head of the suspected witch to prevent her escaping or bewitching her guards. Two leaves of the Pîpal or sacred fig tree, one representing her and the other her accusers, are thrown upon her outstretched hands. If the leaf in her name fall uppermost, she is supposed to be a suspicious character; if the leaf fall with the lower part upwards, it is possible that she may be innocent, and popular opinion is in her favour.” The final test is the usual

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Witch Tests, Bastar.

Witch Tests, Bastar.

Several persons, natives of the Khasiya Hills, were convicted of beating to death a man whom they believed to be a wizard. They confessed freely, saying that he destroyed their wives and daughters by witchcraft. One of the accused was the brother of the wife of the deceased. It appears that they discovered he was a sorcerer by the appearance of an egg when broken. 39 A similar case is reported among the Banjâras of Berâr. 40 The use of eggs in this way opens up an interesting chapter in folk-lor

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Miscellaneous Tests: Eggs.

Miscellaneous Tests: Eggs.

According to British folk-lore, one of the most potent antidotes for witches is a twig of the rowan tree bound with scarlet thread, or a stalk of clover with four leaves laid in the byre, or a bough of the whitty, or “wayfaring tree.” 45 Many, in fact, are the herbs which are potent in this way, of which the chief is perhaps that Moly, “that Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.” In India, the substitute for these magic trees is a branch of the tamarind, or a stalk of the castor-oil tree ( Palma Chr

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The Rowan Tree.

The Rowan Tree.

The Kolarian witch-finder’s test is to put a large wooden grain measure under a flat stone as a pivot on which the latter can revolve. A boy is then seated on the stone supporting himself with his hands, and “the names of all the people in the neighbourhood are slowly pronounced. As each name is uttered a few grains of rice are thrown at the boy. When they come to the name of the witch or wizard, the stone turns and the boy rolls off.” 47 This, no doubt, is the effect of the boy’s falling into a

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Witch-finding among Kols.

Witch-finding among Kols.

Some witches are believed to learn the secrets of their craft by eating filth. We have already seen that this is also believed to be the case with evil spirits. Such a woman, in popular belief, is always very lovely and scrupulously neat in her personal appearance, and she always has a clear line of red lead applied to the parting of her hair. Witches have a special power of casting evil glances on children, and after a child is buried, they are believed to exhume the corpse, anoint it with oil,

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Marks of Witches.

Marks of Witches.

One well-known characteristic of witches is that she cannot die as long as she is a witch, but must while alive pass on her craft to another, is well recognized in India. Hence a witch is always on the look-out for some one to whom she may delegate her functions, and many well-meaning people have been ruined in this way through misplaced confidence in the benevolence of a witch. 50 Indian witches also resemble their European sisters in their habit of reciting their charms backward,— He who’d rea

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Charms Recited Backward.

Charms Recited Backward.

This backward recital of spells appears all through folk-lore. 51 Indian witches are supposed to repeat two letters and a half from a verse in the Qurân, known only to themselves, and to say them backwards. We have the same belief in one of the tales of Somadeva, where Bhîmabhatta prays in his extremity to Mother Ganges, and she says, “Now receive from me this charm called ‘forwards and backwards.’ If a man repeats it forwards, he will become invisible to his neighbour; but if he repeats it back

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Witchcraft by Means of Hair, Nail Parings, etc.

Witchcraft by Means of Hair, Nail Parings, etc.

Another means which witches are supposed to adopt in order to injure those whom they dislike, is to make an image of wax, flour, or similar substances, and torture it, with the idea that the pain will be communicated to the person whom they desire to annoy. Thus, among Muhammadans, when the death of an enemy is desired, a doll is made of earth taken from a grave, or a place where bodies are cremated, and various sentences of the Qurân are read backwards over twenty-one small wooden pegs. The off

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Witchcraft by Means of Images.

Witchcraft by Means of Images.

In Bengal, “a person sometimes takes a bamboo which has been used to keep down a corpse during cremation, and making a bow and arrow with it, repeats incantations over them. He then makes an image of his enemy in clay, and lets fly an arrow into this image. The person whose image is thus pierced is said to be immediately seized with a pain in his breast.” In the folk-tales restoration to life is usually effected by collecting the ashes or bones of the deceased and making an image of them, into w

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Witchcraft through the Footsteps.

Witchcraft through the Footsteps.

The method by which witches are punished displays a diabolical ingenuity. The Indian newspapers a short time ago recorded six out of nine murders in the Sambalpur District as due to “the superstition, which is so general, that the spread of cholera is due to the sorcery of some individual, whose evil influence can be nullified if he be beaten with rods of the castor-oil plant. The people who are thus suspected are so cruelly beaten that in the majority of cases they die under the infliction.” A

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Punishment of Witches.

Punishment of Witches.

In former times among the Drâvidian races persons denounced as witches were put to death in the belief that witches breed witches and sorcerers. A terrible raid was made on these unfortunate people when British authority was relaxed during the Mutiny, and most atrocious murders were committed. “Accusations of witchcraft are still sometimes made, and persons denounced are subjected to much ill-usage, if they escape with their lives.” 64 Among the Bhîls suspected persons used to be suspended from

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Witchcraft Punishments among the Drâvidians.

Witchcraft Punishments among the Drâvidians.

Dr. Chevers has collected a number of instances in which the punishment of death or mutilation was inflicted on supposed witches. He quotes a case in 1802, in which several of the witnesses declared that they remembered numerous instances of persons being put to death for sorcery; one of them, in particular, proved that her mother had been tried and executed as a witch. In another case a Kol, thinking that some old women had bewitched him, placed them in a line and cut off all their heads, excep

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Other Witchcraft Punishments.

Other Witchcraft Punishments.

One favourite way of counteracting the spells of a witch is to draw blood from her. Thus, Professor Rhys, writing of Manxland, says: “There is a belief that if you can draw blood, however little, from a witch or one who has the Evil Eye, he loses his power of harming you; and I have been told that formerly this belief was sometimes acted on. Thus, on leaving church, for instance, the man who fancied himself in danger from another would go up to him, or walk by his side, and inflict on him a slig

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Drawing Blood from a Witch.

Drawing Blood from a Witch.

So at the present day in Mirzapur, when a woman is marked down as a witch, the Baiga or Ojha pricks her tongue with a needle, and the blood thus extracted is received on some rice, which she is compelled to eat. In another case she is pricked on the breast, tongue, and thighs, and given the blood to drink. The ceremony is most efficacious if performed on the banks of a running stream. This is probably a survival of the actual blood sacrifice of a witch. “In any country an isolated or outlying ra

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Witch Haunts.

Witch Haunts.

At the present day the half-deified witch most dreaded in the Eastern Districts of the North-Western Provinces is Lonâ, or Nonâ, a Chamârin, or woman of the currier caste. Her legend is in this wise. The great physician Dhanwantara, who corresponds to Luqmân Hakîm of the Muhammadans, was once on his way to cure King Parikshit, and was deceived and bitten by the snake king Takshaka. He therefore desired his son to roast him and eat his flesh, and thus succeed to his magical powers. The snake king

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Nonâ Chamârin, the Witch.

Nonâ Chamârin, the Witch.

Another terrible witch, whose legend is told at Mathura, is Pûtanâ, the daughter of Bali, king of the lower world. She found the infant Krishna asleep, and began to suckle him with her devil’s milk. The first drop would have poisoned a mortal child, but Krishna drew her breast with such strength that he drained her life-blood, and the fiend, terrifying the whole land of Braj with her cries of agony, fell lifeless on the ground. European witches suck the blood of children; here the divine Krishna

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Pûtanâ, the Witch Fiend.

Pûtanâ, the Witch Fiend.

The Palwâr Râjputs of Oudh have a witch ancestress. Soon after the birth of her son she was engaged in baking cakes. Her infant began to cry, and she was obliged to perform a double duty. At this juncture her husband arrived just in time to see his demon wife assume gigantic and supernatural proportions, so as to allow both the baking and nursing to go on at the same time. But finding her secret discovered, the witch disappeared, leaving her son as a legacy to her astonished husband. 73 Here, th

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The Witch of the Palwârs.

The Witch of the Palwârs.

1 For the European witch, consult among other authorities Scott, “Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,” passim ; Chambers, “Book of Days,” i. 356 sq.; Gregor, “Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,” 69 sq.; Conway, “Demonology,” ii. 317, 327; Lubbock, “Origin of Civilization,” 245 sq. 2 “Asiatic Studies,” 79 sqq., 89 sqq. 3 “Etruscan Roman Remains,” 155. 4 Chambers, “Popular Rhymes of Scotland,” 23. 5 “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 14. 6 Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 289. 7 Tylor, “Primiti

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The Akhtîj.

The Akhtîj.

Among the Drâvidian Hill tribes of Mirzapur, the ceremony seems to be merely a formal propitiation of the village godlings. Among the Korwas, before ploughing commences, the Baiga makes an offering of butter and molasses in his own field. This he burns in the name of the village godlings, and does a special sacrifice at their shrine. After this ploughing commences. The Kharwârs, before sowing, take five handfuls of grain from the sowing basket, and pray to Dhartî Mâtâ, the earth goddess, to be p

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Prohibition of Ploughing.

Prohibition of Ploughing.

We have already noticed the use of the knotted cord or string as an amulet. On the full moon of Sâwan is held the Salono or Rakshabandhan festival, when women tie these amulets round the wrists of their friends. Connected with this is what is known as the barley feast, the Jâyî or Jawâra of Upper India, and the Bhujariya of the Central Provinces. It is supposed to be connected in some way with the famous story of Alha and Udal, which forms the subject of a very popular local epic. They were Râjp

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The Rakshabandhan and Jâyî Festivals.

The Rakshabandhan and Jâyî Festivals.

The regular Diwâlî, or Feast of Lamps, which is performed on the last day of the dark fortnight in the month of Kârttik, is more of a city than a rural festival. But even in the villages everyone burns a lamp outside the house on that night. The feast has, of course, been provided with an appropriate legend. Once upon a time an astrologer foretold to a Râja that on the new moon of Kârttik his Kâl, or fate, would appear at midnight in the form of a snake; that the way to avoid this was that he sh

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The Diwâlî, or Feast of Lamps.

The Diwâlî, or Feast of Lamps.

Following the Diwâlî comes what is known as the Govardhan, or Godhan, which is a purely rural feast. In parts of the North-Western Provinces, the women, on a platform outside the house, make a little hut of mud and images of Gaurî and Ganesa; there they place the parched grain which the girls offered on the night of the Diwâlî; near it they lay some thorny grass, wave a rice pounder round the hut, and invoke blessings on their relations and friends. This is also a cattle feast, and cowherds come

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The Govardhan.

The Govardhan.

There are a number of similar usages in various parts of the country solemnized with the object of protecting the herds. Thus in Hoshangâbâd they have the rite of frightening the cattle. “Everyone keeps awake all night, and the herdsmen go out begging in a body, singing, and keeping the cattle from sleeping. In the morning they are all stamped with the hand dipped in yellow paint for the white ones, and white paint for the red ones, and strings of cowries or peacocks’ feathers are tied to their

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Cattle Festivals.

Cattle Festivals.

According to the rural belief, Vishnu sleeps for four months in the year, from the eleventh of the bright half of the month Asârh, the Deosoni Ekâdashî, “the reposing of the god,” till the eleventh of the bright half of the month Kârttik, the Deothân, or “god’s awakening.” So the demon Kumbha Karana in the Râmâyana when he is gorged sleeps for six months. According to Mr. Campbell, 30 during these four months while the god sleeps demons are abroad, and hence there are an unusual number of protec

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The Sleep of Vishnu.

The Sleep of Vishnu.

There are various ceremonies intended to save certain crops from the ravages of blight and insects. Blight is very generally attributed to the constant measurement of the soil which goes on during settlement operations, to the irreligious custom of eating beef, or to adultery, or to a demon of the east wind, who can be appeased with prayers and ceremonies. 32 No pious Hindu, if the seed fails, will re-sow his winter crop. When sugar-cane germinates, the owner of the crop does worship on the next

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Ceremonies to Avert Blight, etc.

Ceremonies to Avert Blight, etc.

Locusts, one of the great pests of the Indian peasant’s life, are scared by shouting, lighting of fires, beating of brass pots, and in particular, by ringing the temple bell. In Sirsa, the Karwa, a flying insect which injures the flower of the Bâjra millet, is expelled by a man taking his sister’s son on his shoulder and feeding him with rice-milk while he repeats the following charm: “The nephew has mounted his uncle’s shoulder. Go, Karwa, to some other field!” 36 In the Panjâb a popular legend

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Scaring of Locusts.

Scaring of Locusts.

When cultivators in the North-Western Provinces sow betel, they cook rice-milk near the plants and offer it to the local godling. They divide the offering, and a little coarse sugar is dedicated to Mahâbîr, the monkey god, which is taken home and distributed among the children. This is known as Jeonâr Pûjâ or “the banquet rite.” The Barais, who make a speciality of cultivating the plant, have two godlings of their own, Sokha Bâba, the ghost of some famous magician, and Nâgbeli, the “creeper Nâga

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Betel Planting.

Betel Planting.

When sugar-cane is being planted, the sower is decorated with silver ornaments, a necklace, flowers, and a red mark is made on his forehead. It is considered a favourable omen if a man on horseback come into the field while the sowing is going on. After the sowing is completed, all the men employed come home to the farmer’s house and have a good dinner. 43 All surplus seed is carefully destroyed with fire, as it is believed that the plants grown from it would be worthless and produce only flower

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Sugar-cane Sowing.

Sugar-cane Sowing.

When the cotton has sprung up, the owner of the field goes there on Sunday forenoon with some butter, sweetmeats, and cakes. He burns a fire sacrifice, offers up some of the food, and eats the remainder in silence. Here we have another instance of the taboo against speaking, which so commonly appears in these rural ceremonies. 45 When the cotton comes into flower, some parched rice is taken to the field on a Wednesday or Friday; some is thrown broadcast over the plants, and the rest given to chi

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Cotton Planting.

Cotton Planting.

In Hoshangâbâd, when the reaping is nearly over, a small patch of corn is left standing in the last field, and the reapers rest a little. Then they rush at this piece, tear it up, and cast it in the air, shouting victory to their deities, Omkâr Mahârâja, Jhamajî, Râmjî Dâs, or other local godlings according to their persuasions. A sheaf is made of this corn, which is tied to a bamboo, stuck up on the last harvest cart, carried home in triumph, and fastened up at the threshing-floor or to a tree,

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The Last Sheaf.

The Last Sheaf.

There are many customs connected with the disposal of the first-fruits of the crop. The eating of the new grain is attended with various observances, in which the feeding of Brâhmans and beggars takes a prominent place. In Kângra, the first-fruits of corn, oil, and wine, and the first fleece of the sheep are not indeed actually given, but a symbolical offering is made in their stead. These offerings are made to the Jâk or field spirit to whom reference has already been made. The custom has now r

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First-fruits.

First-fruits.

Winnowing is a very serious and solemn operation, not lightly to be commenced without due consultation of the stars. In Hoshangâbâd, when the village priest has fixed a favourable time, the cultivator, his whole family, and his labourers go to the threshing-floor, taking with them the prescribed articles of worship, such as milk, butter, turmeric, boiled wheat, and various kinds of grain. The threshing-floor stake is washed in water, and these things are offered to it and to the pile of threshed

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Ceremonies at Winnowing.

Ceremonies at Winnowing.

All these precautions are based on principles which have been already discussed, and we meet in them with the familiar fetishes and demon-scarers, of which we have already quoted instances—the iron implements, the sacred grasses and plants, water and milk, cowdung, the winnowing fan, and so on. All over Northern India a piece of cowdung, known as Barhâwan, “that which gives the increase,” is laid on the piled grain, and a sacred circle is made with fire and water round it. Silence, as we have al

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Measurement of Grain.

Measurement of Grain.

The most famous and interesting of the village festivals is the Holî, which is held in the early spring, at the full moon of Phâlgun. One account of its origin describes it as founded in honour of a female demon or Râkshasî called Dundhas, “she who would destroy many.” Another account connects the observance with the well-known legend of Hiranya-kasipu, “golden-dressed,” and his son Prahlâda. Hiranya-kasipu was, it is said, a Daitya, who obtained from Siva the sovereignty of the three worlds for

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The Holî: Its Origin.

The Holî: Its Origin.

There seems to be little doubt that the custom of burning the Holî fire rests on the same basis as that of similar observances in Europe. The whole subject has recently been copiously illustrated by Mr. J. G. Frazer. 63 His conclusion is that “they are sun charms or magical ceremonies intended to ensure a proper supply of sunshine for men, animals, and plants. We have seen that savages resort to charms for making sunshine, and we need not wonder that primitive man in Europe has done the same. In

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Propitiation of Sunshine.

Propitiation of Sunshine.

The Holî, while generally observed in Northern India, is performed with special care by the cowherd classes of the land of Braj, or the region round the city of Mathura, where the myth of Krishna has been localized, and it is here that we meet with some curious incidents which are undoubtedly survivals of the most primitive usages. The ceremonies in vogue at Mathura have been very carefully recorded by Mr. Growse. 65 He notes “the cheeriness of the holiday-makers as they throng the narrow, windi

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The Holî Observances.

The Holî Observances.

Next day the Holî fire is lit. By immemorial custom, the boys are allowed to appropriate fuel of any kind for the fire, the wood-work of deserted houses, fences, and the like, and the owner never dares to complain. We have the same custom in England. The chorus of the Oxfordshire song sung at the feast of Gunpowder Plot runs,— A stick and a stake For King James’s sake; If you won’t give me one, I’ll take two, The better for me, The worse for you. This is chanted by the boys when collecting stick

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The Lighting of the Holî Fire.

The Lighting of the Holî Fire.

It is hardly necessary to say that this custom of jumping through the fire prevails in many other places. We have already had an instance of it in the case of the fire worship of Râhu. In Greece people jump through the bonfires lighted on St. John’s Eve. The Irish make their cattle pass through the fire, and children are passed through it in the arms of their fathers. The passing of victims through the fire in honour of Moloch is well known. 67 In the Indian observance of the Holî next followed

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The Throwing of the Powder.

The Throwing of the Powder.

Colonel Tod gives an interesting account of the festival as performed at Mârwâr. He describes the people as lighting large fires into which various substances, as well as the common powder, were thrown; and around which groups of children danced and screamed in the streets, “like so many infernals; until three hours after sunrise of the new moon of the month of Chait, these orgies are continued with increased vigour; when the natives bathe, change their garments, worship, and return to the ranks

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The Holî in Mârwâr.

The Holî in Mârwâr.

The belief in the efficacy of the Holî fire in preventing the blight of crops, and in the ashes as a remedy for disease, has been already noticed. So in England, the Yule log was put aside, and was supposed to guard the house from evil spirits. 69 We have seen that the primary basis of this and similar rites is probably the propitiation of sunshine. But the present observances in India are probably a survival of a very much more primitive cultus. We have already seen that in one form of the popu

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The Basis of the Holî Rite.

The Basis of the Holî Rite.

In Gorakhpur this spring rite takes the form of hunting and crucifying a monkey on the village boundary. This is said to be intended to scare these animals, which injure the crops. But the rite seems to be intended to secure fertility, and is possibly the survival of an actual sacrifice. Of the same class is what is known in the Hills as the Badwâr rite, where a Dom, one of the menial castes, is made to slide down a rope from a high precipice. The intention is to promote the fertility of the cro

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Marriage of the Powers of Vegetation.

Marriage of the Powers of Vegetation.

Some of the Drâvidian tribes enjoy the Saturnalia in other forms. Thus, the Gond women have the curious festival known as Gurtûtnâ or “breaking of the sugar.” “A stout pole about twelve or fifteen feet high is set up, and a lump of coarse sugar with a rupee in it placed on the top; round it the Gond women take their stand, each with a little green tamarind rod in her hands. The men collect outside, and each has a kind of shield made of two parallel sticks joined with a cross-piece held in the ha

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The Drâvidian Saturnalia.

The Drâvidian Saturnalia.

The Hos of Chutia Nâgpur have a similar festival, the Desauli held in January, “when the granaries are full of grain, and the people are, to use their own expression, ‘full of devilry!’ They have a strange notion that at this period men and women are so overcharged with vicious propensities that it is absolutely necessary for the safety of the person to let off steam by allowing for the time full vent to the passions. The festival, therefore, becomes a sort of Saturnalia, during which servants f

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The Desauli of the Hos.

The Desauli of the Hos.

“Academy,” the, London, v.d. “Aîn-i-Akbari,” translation by Professor Blochmann and Colonel Jarrett, Calcutta, v.d. “Asiatic Quarterly Review,” London, v.d. “Asiatic Researches,” Calcutta, v.d. “Athenæum,” London, v.d. Atkinson, E. T., “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” 3 vols., Allahabad, 1882–84. Aubrey, J., “Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme,” edited by J. Britten, Folk-lore Society, London, 1881. Ball, V., “Jungle Life in India,” London, 1880. Barth, A., “Religions of India,” London, 1882. Beal, S., “

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BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Beale, T. W., “Oriental Biographical Dictionary,” Calcutta, 1887. Benjamin, S. G. W., “Persia and the Persians,” London, 1887. Bernier, F., “Travels in the Moghul Empire,” edited by A. Constable, London, 1891. Bholanâth Chandra, “Travels of a Hindu,” 2 vols., London, 1869. Black, G. B., “Folk Medicine,” Folk-lore Society, London, 1883. Brand, J., “Observations on Popular Antiquities,” London, 1877. Briggs, Lieut.-Col. J., “History of the rise and fall of the Muhammadan Power in India till the ye

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Corrections

Corrections

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