{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_43682/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_43682","id":"gutenberg_43682","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43682","summary":null,"tags":["Ancestor worship -- India","Animal worship -- India","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Folklore -- India","Hindu mythology","India -- Religion","Religion","Tree worship -- India"],"text":"THE POPULAR RELIGION\n                            AND FOLK-LORE OF\n                             NORTHERN INDIA\n\n                                   BY\n\n                            W. CROOKE, B.A.\n                          BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE\n\n\n\n                             IN TWO VOLUMES\n\n                                VOL. II.\n\n                 A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED\n\n                              WESTMINSTER\n                       ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO.\n                       2, Whitehall Gardens, S.W.\n\n                                  1896\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n\n    CHAPTER I.                                       PAGE\n\n    The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts              1\n\n    CHAPTER II.\n\n    Tree and Serpent Worship                           83\n\n    CHAPTER III.\n\n    Totemism and Fetishism                            146\n\n    CHAPTER IV.\n\n    Animal-Worship                                    201\n\n    CHAPTER V.\n\n    The Black Art                                     259\n\n    CHAPTER VI.\n\n    Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies               287\n\n    Bibliography                                      327\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOLK-LORE OF NORTHERN INDIA.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.\n\n\n            Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos.\n\n                                             Virgil, Eclogues, iii. 103.\n\n\nAsma 'bint 'Umais relates that she said, \"O Prophet! the family of\nJa' afar are affected by the baneful influence of the Evil Eye. May\nI use spells for them or not?\" The Prophet said, \"Yes; for if there\nwere anything in the world which would overcome fate, it would be\nthe Evil Eye.\"--Misk\u00e2t, xxi.-i. Part II.\n\nThe belief in the baneful influence of the Evil Eye prevails\nwidely. [1] According to Pliny, [2] it was one of the special\nsuperstitions of the people of India, and at the present day it forms\nan important part of the popular belief. But the investigation of\nits principles is far from easy. It is very closely connected with\na number of kindred ideas on the subject of diabolical influence,\nand few natives care to speak about it except in a furtive way. In\nfact, it is far too serious a matter to be discussed lightly. Walking\nabout villages, you will constantly see special marks on houses, and\nsymbols and devices of various kinds, which are certainly intended\nto counteract it; but hardly any one cares directly to explain the\nreal motive, and if you ask the meaning of them, you will almost\ninvariably be told that they are purely decorative, or that they have\nbeen made with some object which obviously conceals the real basis\nof the practice.\n\nOne, and perhaps the most common theory of the Evil Eye is that \"when\na child is born, an invisible spirit is born with it; and unless\nthe mother keeps one breast tied up for forty days, while she feeds\nthe child with the other (in which case the spirit dies of hunger),\nthe child grows up with the endowment of the Evil Eye, and whenever\nany person so endowed looks at anything constantly, something will\nhappen to it.\" [3] So, in Ireland we are told that \"the gift comes by\nNature and is born with one, though it may not be called into exercise\nunless circumstances arise to excite the power; then it comes to act\nlike a spirit of bitter and malicious envy that radiates a poisonous\natmosphere, which chills and blights everything within its reach.\" [4]\n\nIn Bombay the \"blast of the Evil Eye is supposed to be a form of\nspirit possession. In Western India all witches and wizards are said\nto be, as a rule, evil-eyed. Of the rest, those persons only who are\nborn under certain circumstances are believed to be evil-eyed. The\ncircumstances are as follows:--Among the Hindus it is believed that\nwhen a woman is pregnant, she begins to conceive peculiar longings\nfrom the day of conception, or from the fifth month. They consist in\neating various fruits and sweetmeats, in walking under deep shades,\nor in gardens where brooks gurgle, or in putting on rich clothes or\nornaments, and in many other like things. If in the case of any woman\nthese desires are not gratified, the child whom she gives birth to\nbecomes weak and voracious, and is said to have an Evil Eye. If such a\nperson sees a man or woman eat anything which he feels a longing for,\nthe eater either vomits what he or she has eaten, or falls sick. By\nsome it is believed that if a person come from without at the time\nof dinner, and enters the house without washing his feet, the man\nwho is eating becomes sick or vomits the food he has eaten, or does\nnot feel longing for food for some time, until the blast of the Evil\nEye is warded off.\" Mr. Campbell explains this on the principle that\n\"as he comes from places where three or four roads meet, and which\nare spirit haunts, an evil spirit accompanies him without entering\nhis body, from the place of its residence by which he has passed. If\nhe washes his feet, the spirit goes back; but if he enters the house\nwith spirit-laden feet, the spirit enters the house with him, and\naffects any one of the persons eating.\" [5]\n\nThe real fact seems to be that in most cases the Evil Eye is the\nresult of covetousness. [6] Thus, a man blind of an eye, no matter\nhow well-disposed he may be, is almost certain to envy a person\nblessed with a peculiarly good pair of eyes. But if the blind man's\nattention be distracted by something conspicuous in the appearance of\nthe other, such as lampblack on his eyelids, a mole, or a scar, the\nfeeling of dissatisfaction, which is fatal to the complete effect of\nthe envious glance, is certain to arise. This theory that the glance\nmay be neutralized or avoided by some blot or imperfection is the\nbasis of many of the popular remedies or prophylactics invented with\nthe object of averting its influence.\n\nHence comes the device of making an intentional blot in anything one\nvalues, so that the glance of the Evil Eye may be deprived of its\ncomplete satisfaction. Thus, most people put lampblack on the eyes of\ntheir children as a protection against fascination, because black is\na colour hateful to evil spirits; it has the additional advantage of\nprotecting the eye from the fierce heat of the Indian summer. Women\nwhen delivery approaches often mark themselves with black to avert\nthe demon who causes protracted labour. It is also believed that a\nperson whose eyelids are encircled with lampblack is incapable of\ncasting the Evil Eye himself; and it is considered nice in a woman\nto ornament herself in this way, since because she herself, except\nat some crisis of her life, such as marriage or parturition, is not\nliable to fascination, it shows her indisposition to covet the beauty\nof others, with the inference that she has no cause to do so.\n\nOn the same principle, when a parent has lost a child by any disease\nwhich, as is usually the case, can be attributed to fascination or\nother demoniacal influence, it is a common practice to call the next\nbaby by some opprobrious name, with the intention of so depreciating it\nthat it may be regarded as worthless, and so protected from the Evil\nEye of the envious. Thus a male child is called Kuriya or \"Dunghill;\"\nKadheran or Ghas\u00eeta, \"He that has been dragged along the ground;\" Dukhi\nor Dukhita, \"The afflicted one;\" Phatingua, \"Grasshopper;\" Jhingura,\n\"Cricket;\" Bh\u00eekhra or Bh\u00eekhu, \"Beggar;\" Ghar\u00eeb, \"Poor,\" and so on. So,\na girl is called Andhr\u00ee, \"Blind;\" T\u00eenkauriy\u00e2 or Chhahkauriy\u00e2, \"She that\nwas sold for three or six cowry shells;\" Dhuriy\u00e2, \"Dusty;\" Machhiy\u00e2,\n\"Fly,\" and so on. [7]\n\nAll this is connected with what the Scotch call \"fore-speaking,\" when\npraise beyond measure, praise accompanied with a sort of amazement or\nenvy, is considered likely to be followed by disease or accident. [8]\nThus Professor Rhys writes of the Isle of Man: [9] \"You will never get\na Manxman to say that he is very well. He usually admits that he is\n'middling;' and if by any chance he risks a stronger adjective, he\nhastens to qualify it by saying 'now' or 'just now,' with an emphasis\nindicative of his anxiety not to say too much. His habits of speech\npoint back to the time when the Manx mind was dominated by the fear\nof awaking malignant influences in the spirit world around him.\" So,\nin Ireland, to avoid being suspected of having the Evil Eye, it is\nnecessary when looking at a child to say, \"God bless it!\" and when\npassing a farmyard where the cows are collected for milking to say,\n\"The blessing of God be on you and all your labour!\" [10]\n\nThe same customs prevail in India. Thus, if a native gentleman brings\nhis child to visit a European, he dislikes to hear it praised, unless\nthe praise be accompanied with some pious ejaculation. And it is\nsafer to speak in a complimentary way of some conspicuous ornament\nor piece of dress, which is always put on as a protective.\n\nIn connection with the question of naming, a reference may be made to\nsome taboos which are probably based on similar principles. A name is\npart of a person in the belief of savages, and a man can be injured\nthrough his name as well as through the parings of his nails or hair,\nwhich are carefully looked after. Thus with all Hindus two names are\ngiven to children, one secret and used only for ceremonial purposes,\nand the other for ordinary use. The witch if she learns the real name\ncan work her evil charms through it. [11] Hence arises the use of many\ncontractions and perversions of the real name and many of the nicknames\nwhich are generally given to children, as well as the ordinary terms\nof endearment which are constantly employed. We have this name taboo\ncoming out in a cycle of folk-tales, such as \"Rumpelstilzchen,\" \"Tom\nTitty Tot,\" and \"Whuppity Stoorie.\" Here the imp or gnome has a secret\nname of his own, which he thinks it impossible for any one to find out,\nand he himself uses it only when he thinks he is sure to be alone.\n\nThis seems to be the most rational explanation of the curious\ntaboo according to which a Hindu woman will not name her husband,\nor if she wants to refer to him, does so in some indirect way as\nthe father of her child and so on. To this, however, there is one\nnotable exception. Thus, writing of Bombay, Mr. Campbell says: [12]\n\"At marriages, coming of age, first pregnancy and festive days, such as\nthe N\u00e2gpancham\u00ee and Mangal\u00e2 Gaur\u00ee in August, it is usual for the woman\nto recite some couplet or verse in which the husband's name occurs. At\nmarriages this naming is, in practice, little more than a game. An\nold man or an old lady gets close to the door and refuses to allow\nthe young women to go until they have told their husbands' name. At\nthe pregnancy ceremony the same custom is observed.\" Mr. Campbell\ntakes this to be \"part of a ceremony whose object is to drive to a\ndistance any spirits whose influence might blight the tender life\nof the unborn child. This seems natural when it is remembered that\nthe names of men are either the names of gods, of precious stones,\nor of spices, all of which have a power to scare spirits; and as\nrepeating the thousand names of Mah\u00e2deva is a service in which he\ngreatly delights, apparently because it keeps spirits at a distance,\nso this repeating of the husband's and wife's name seems to have the\nsame object.\" The name, in other words, is kept secret on account of\nits sanctity, and the custom would be based on the same rules of taboo\nwhich have been designed among most savages for the protection of\nkings and other persons of dignity from the influence of evil spirits.\n\nAnother mode of protecting boys from demoniacal influence is based on\nthe same idea of the blot of imperfection. Boys of rich parents are\noften dressed in mean or filthy clothes so that they may be considered\nunworthy of the malicious glance of some envious neighbour or enemy.\n\nStill another device, that of dressing up the boy during infancy as a\ngirl, in other words a pretended change of sex, may perhaps lead us on\nthe track of a possible explanation of some very curious and obscure\npractices in Europe. We know that legends of actual change of sex are\nnot unknown in Indian folk-lore. Thus, we have the very primitive\nlegend of Id\u00e2 or Il\u00e2, who was the daughter of the Manu Vaivaswata,\nwho prayed to Mitra and Varuna for a boy and was given a girl. But the\nprayers of her father to the deities resulted in her being changed into\na man, Sudyumna. Siva changed him back again into a woman, and she,\nas Il\u00e2, became the wife of Budha. In more modern times we have the\nvery similar story of the daughter of the Bhadauriya R\u00e2ja. He had a\ndaughter, who was seized by force for the seraglio of the Emperor at\nDelhi, but she fled to the temple of Dev\u00ee at Batesar and by the aid of\nthe goddess was changed into a boy. By another version of the tale he\narranged with another R\u00e2ja that their children should be contracted,\nif one chanced to be a boy and the other a girl. Both had daughters,\nbut the R\u00e2ja concealed the circumstance and allowed the marriage\nto go on as if his child was a son. When the fraud was detected the\ngirl tried to commit suicide in the Jumn\u00e2, but came out a boy, and\neveryone was satisfied. [13]\n\nOne explanation of the custom of pretended change of sex as shown in\nthe case of the Amazons, has been thus explained by Mr. Abercromby:\n[14] \"The great desire of women, more especially during a period of\nwarlike barbarism, is to bear male children. Turning our attention to\nthe result of flattening a girl's breasts and letting her wear male\nattire, it is obvious that a sex distinction has been obliterated,\nand she has become externally assimilated to a male youth. Moreover,\nthe object has evidently been intentional. It would be no outrage to\nthe reasoning powers of the Sarmatians to suppose that they believed\na woman's chances of bearing male children were vastly enhanced by\nher wearing a man's dress, and by being in some degree conformed\nto the male type by forcible compression of the breasts during\nmaidenhood. They would argue thus: a woman wants to bear male children,\ntherefore she ought to be made as much like a man as possible. A\nconviction of this kind is gained by a process identical with the\nimmature reasoning that underlies what is called sympathetic magic.\"\n\nThis may possibly be one explanation of the practice among Cham\u00e2rs and\nother low castes in Northern India, when at marriages boys dress up as\nwomen and perform a rude and occasionally obscene dance. Among the Modh\nBr\u00e2hmans of Gujar\u00e2t, at marriages, the bridegroom's maternal uncle,\nwhose special position is almost certainly a survival from times when\ndescent through the mother was the only recognized form, dresses as a\nJhanda or Path\u00e2n Faq\u00eer, whose ghost is dangerous, in woman's clothes\nfrom head to waist, and in men's clothes below, rubs his face with\noil, daubs it with red powder, goes with the bride and bridegroom to\na place where two roads meet (which, as we have seen, is a haunt of\nspirits), and stays there till the pair offer the goddess food. [15]\n\nNow, there are numerous customs which have been grouped in Europe under\nthe name of the False Bride. Thus, among the Esthonians the false\nbride is enacted by the bride's brother dressed in woman's clothes;\nin Polonia by a bearded man called the Wilde Brant; in Poland, by an\nold woman veiled in white, and lame; again, among the Esthonians,\nby an old woman with a birch-bark crown; in Brittany, where the\nsubstitutes are first a little girl, then the mistress of the house,\nand lastly, the grandmother. [16]\n\nThe supposition may then be hazarded, that in the light of the Indian\nexamples the object may be that some one assumes the part of the bride\nin order to divert on himself from her the envious glance of the Evil\nEye. With the same object it is very common in India to bore the noses\nof little boys and thus to make them resemble girls. The usual names\nof Nathu or Bul\u00e2qi, the former where the ring was placed in the side\nof the nose and the latter in the septum, are evidence of this.\n\nThe theory of the blot of imperfection again appears in the custom of\nnot washing the face of a little boy till he is six years old. [17]\nSimilarly, young men, if vigorous and stout, consider themselves\nvery liable to the fascination of lean people, and tie a rag round\nthe left arm, or a blue thread round their necks, often twisting the\nblue feathers of the roller bird into the thread as an additional\nprecaution. Nor do they care to expose their bodies to the public\ngaze, but wear a light shawl of a gaudy colour, even in the warmest\nseason of the year. Should such a youth, if sufficiently conceited\nabout his personal appearance, detect a suspicious person looking at\nhim, he will immediately pretend to limp, or contort his face and\nspasmodically grasp his ankle or his elbow as if he were in pain,\nto distract and divert the attention he fears.\n\nSo, all natives dread being stared at, particularly by Europeans;\nand you will often see a witness cast his eyes on the ground when\nthe magistrate looks him full in the face, sometimes because he\nknows he is lying and fears the consequences, but it is often done\nthrough fear of fascination. A European, in fact, is to the rustic a\nstrange inscrutable personage, gifted with many occult powers both for\ngood and evil, and there are numerous extraordinary legends current\nabout him. We shall return to this in dealing with the wonderful\nMomi\u00e2\u00ee story. Here it may be noted that he has control over the\nJinn. There was a place near Dera Gh\u00e2zi Kh\u00e2n so possessed by them\nthat passersby were attacked. A European officer poured a bottle of\nbrandy on the spot and no Jinn has been seen there ever since. A\nvery dangerous ghost which some time ago used to infest a road in\nthe R\u00fbrki Cantonment was routed in the same way by an artilleryman,\nwho spat on him when he came across him one dark night. The nails\nof a European, like those of the R\u00e2kshasa, distil a deadly poison,\nand hence he is afraid to eat with his fingers, as all reasonable\npeople do, and prefers to use a knife and fork.\n\nA few other examples illustrating the same principle may be given\nhere. When a man is copying a manuscript, he will sometimes make an\nintentional blot. A favourite trick is to fold the paper back before\nthe ink of the last line has time to dry, so as to blot and at the\nsame time make it appear the result of chance. We have noticed the\nsame idea in the case of carpet patterns. A similar irregularity is\nintroduced in printing chintzes and like handicrafts, and this goes a\nlong way to explain the occasional and almost unaccountable defects\nto be found in some native work. The letter from a R\u00e2ja is spotted\nwith gold leaf, partly to divert fascination and partly to act as a\nscarer of demons. In fact the two conceptions meet and overlap all\nthrough the theory of these protectives.\n\nAnother plan is to paint up some hideous figure on the posts or arch\nof the door. The figure of a Churel or the caricature of a European\nwith his gun is often delineated in this way. Others paint a figure of\nYamar\u00e2ja or some of the gods or saints for the same purpose, and the\nregular guardian deities, like Hanum\u00e2n, Bhairon, or Bh\u00eem Sen, often\nfigure on these protective frescoes. So in Italy Mania was a most\nfrightful spirit. \"Her frightful image used to be hung over the doors\nto frighten away evil. This is quite identical with the old Assyrian\nobservance recorded by Lenormant of placing the images of evil or\ndreaded deities in places to scare away the demons themselves.\" [18]\n\nConfectioners, when one of their vessels of milk is exposed to view,\nput a little charcoal in it, as careful Scotch mothers do in the water\nin which they wash their babies. [19] The idea is probably connected\nwith the use of fire as a charm. In Scotland it used to be the practice\nto throw a live coal into the beer vat to avert the influence of the\nfairies, and a cow's milk was secured against them by a burning coal\nbeing passed across her back and under her belly immediately after\ncalving. [20] In India, if a cow gives a large quantity of milk, the\nowner tries to hide it, and if it chances to get sour, he attributes\nthe loss to fascination, or the machinations of some enemy, witch,\nor demon. A mother while dressing her baby makes a black mark on\nits cheek, and before a man eats betel he pinches off the corner of\nthe leaf as a safeguard. When food is taken to the labourer in the\nfield, a piece of charcoal or copper coin is placed in the basket as\na preservative; and when horses while feeding throw a little grain\non the ground, it is not replaced, because the horse is believed to\ndo this to avoid fascination. Grooms, with the same object, throw\na dirty duster over the withers of a horse while it is feeding,\nand they are the more particular to do this when it is new moon\nor moonlight, when spirits are abroad. In the same way, when a man\npurchases food in the open market, he throws a little into the fire,\nand when a man is having a specially good dinner, he should select\nan auspicious moment and do the same. The same idea accounts for\nvarious customs of grace-giving at meals. Thus, when the Br\u00e2hmans at\nP\u00fbna begin dinner they repeat the name of Govinda; the Shenavis say,\nHar! Har! Mah\u00e2deva, and when half finished sing verses; the Mh\u00e2rs\nnever eat without saying Krishnarpana! or \"It is dedicated to Krishna\";\n[21] the Muhammadan, when he begins to eat, says, Bismillah!--\"In the\nname of God!\" and when he finishes he says, Al-hamdulillah!--\"Praise\nbe to God!\" Orthodox Hindus pretend that this offering of food at\na meal is a sacrifice to Annadeva, the god of food; but here many\nvaried beliefs, such as fear of fascination, earth and fire worship,\nappear to combine to establish these and similar practices.\n\nWe now come to consider the various articles which are believed\nto have the power of scaring spirits, and counteracting demoniacal\ninfluence of various kinds.\n\nFirst among these is iron. Why iron has been regarded as a scarer\nof demons has been much debated. Natives of India will tell you\nthat it is the material out of which weapons are made, and that an\narmed man should fear nothing. Others say that its virtues depend\non its black colour, which, as we shall see, is obnoxious to evil\nspirits. Mr. Campbell [22] thinks the explanation may be that in all\ncases of swooning and seizures iron is of great value, either applied\nin the form of the cautery or used as a lancet to let blood. The real\nreason is probably a very interesting survival of folk-thought. We know\nthat in many places the stone axe and arrow head of the Age of Stone\nare invested with magic qualities, and Mr. Macritchie has gone so far\nas to assume that the various so-called fairy houses and fairy hills\nwhich abound in Europe are really the abodes of a primitive pigmy\nrace, which survive to our days as the fairies. The belief in the\nfairies would thus go back to a time anterior to the use of metals,\nand these supernatural beings would naturally feel an abhorrence for\niron, a new discovery and one of the greatest ever made by man. There\nis good evidence in custom that the Age of Stone existed in many places\nup to comparatively modern times. The Hebrews used a stone knife for\ncircumcision, their altars were forbidden to be hewn, and even Solomon\nordered that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron should be\nheard while his Temple was building. The same idea appears in many\ncases in India. The Magahiya Doms, who are certainly one of the most\nprimitive races in the country, place iron under a stringent taboo,\nand any Magahiya who breaks into a house with an iron implement is not\nonly put out of caste, but it is believed that some day or other he\nwill lose his eyesight. The Agariyas, the primitive iron smelters of\nthe Central Indian Hills, have deified iron under the form of Loh\u00e2sura,\nas the Kaseras or brass-founders worship brass as Kans\u00e2sura.\n\nThis idea appears in many various forms. We have already noticed\nthe use of iron as a charm against hail. In the same way a sword or\nknife is placed in the bed of the young mother. She is, at this crisis\nof her life, particularly exposed to the influence of evil spirits,\nas the Scotch fairies are very fond of milk, and try to gratify their\ndesires on \"unsained\" or unchurched women. [23] There is a case in the\nIndian Law Reports, where the knife thus placed near the woman was\nused to murder her. [24] Pliny advises that a piece of iron should\nbe placed in the nest of a sitting hen to save her eggs from the\ninfluence of thunder. This is now done in Sicily, with the object of\nabsorbing every noise which might be injurious to the chickens. [25]\nSo, the Indians of Canada put out swords in a storm to frighten off\nthe demon of thunder. [26] The common belief is that the evil spirit\nis such a fool that he runs against the sharp edge of the weapon and\nallows himself to be wounded.\n\nThe magic sword constantly appears in folk-lore. We have Excalibur\nand Balmung; in the tales of Somadeva it confers the power of making\nthe wearer fly through the air and renders him invincible; the snake\ndemon obtains from the wars of the Gods and the Asuras the magic\nsword Vaiduryakanti. \"Whatever man obtains that sword will become a\nchief of the Siddhas and roam about unconquered; and that sword can\nonly be obtained by the aid of heroes.\" [27]\n\nWhile a house is being built, an iron pot, or a pot painted black,\nwhich is good enough to scare the demon, is always kept on the works,\nand when it is finished the young daughter of the owner ties to the\nlintel a charm, which is also used on other occasions, the principal\nvirtue of which consists in a small iron ring. Here is combined\nthe virtue of the iron and the ring, which is a sacred circle. In\nIndia iron rings are constantly worn as an amulet against disease,\nas in Ireland an iron ring on the fourth finger cures rheumatism. The\nmourner, during the period of ceremonial impurity, carries a knife\nor a piece of iron to drive off the ghost of the dead man, and the\nbridegroom in the marriage procession wears a sword as a protection;\nif he cannot procure a licence from a magistrate to carry a real\nsword, he gets one made of lath, which is good enough to frighten the\nevil spirit. In this case he fastens an iron spike to the point. On\nthe same principle the blacksmith's anvil is used as a hail charm,\nand any one who dares to sit on it is likely to be punished for\nthe contempt by an attack of boils. The Romans used to drive large\nnails into the side posts of the door with the same object. We have\nalready noticed the value of iron nails for the purpose of laying the\nghost of the Churel, and such nails are in India very commonly driven\ninto the door-post or into the legs of the bed, with the object of\nresisting evil spirits. The horse-shoe is one special form of the\ncharm. The wild Irish, we are told, used to hang round the necks of\nchildren the beginning of St. John's Gospel, a crooked nail out of a\nhorse-shoe, or a piece of wolf-skin. [28] Why the horse-shoe should\nbe used in this way has been much debated. Mr. Farrer thinks it may\nbe connected with the respect paid to the horse in folk-lore. [29]\nThe Irish say that the reason is that the horse and ass were in the\nstall when Christ was born, and hence are blessed for evermore. [30]\nThe idea that its shape connects it with the Yon\u00ee and phallicism\nhardly deserves mention. One thing is clear, that the element of\nluck largely enters into the matter; the shoe must have been found by\nchance on the road. Mr. Leland says, \"To find and pick up anything,\nat once converts it into a fetish, or insures that all will go well\nwith it, if we say when taking it up, 'I do not pick it up,'--naming\nthe object--'I pick up good luck, which may never abandon me!'\" [31]\nThis, combined with the general protective power of iron, is probably\na sufficient explanation of the practice. The custom is common in\nIndia. The great gate of the mosque at Fatehpur S\u00eekri is covered with\nthem, and the practice is general at many shrines.\n\nThere is also a cycle of legends which connect iron with the\nphilosopher's stone and transmutation into gold. The great Chandra\nVarma, who was born of the embraces of Chandrama, the Moon god,\npossessed the power of converting iron into gold. Laliya, a blacksmith\nof Ahmad\u00e2b\u00e2d, made an axe for a Bh\u00eel, who returned and complained that\nit would not cut. Laliya, on looking at it, found that the blade had\nbeen turned into gold. On questioning the Bh\u00eel, he ascertained that\nhe had tried to sharpen it on what turned out to be the philosopher's\nstone. Laliya, by possession of the stone, acquired great wealth, and\nwas finally attacked by the king's troops. At last he was obliged to\nthrow the stone into the Bhadar river, where it still lies, but once\nsome iron chains were let down into the water, and when they touched\nit the links were converted into gold. [32]\n\n\n\nGold and Silver Protectives.\n\nGold, and in a less degree silver, have a similar protective\ninfluence. The idea is apparently based on their scarcity and\nvalue, and on their colour--yellow and white being obnoxious to\nevil spirits. Hence a little bit of gold is put into the mouth of\nthe dying Hindu, and both gold and silver, combined with tigers'\nclaws and similar protectives, are largely used as amulets. These\nmetals are particularly effective in the form of ornaments, many of\nwhich are images of the gods, or have some mystic significance, or\nare made in imitation of some sacred leaf, flower, or animal. This\nis one main cause of the recklessness with which rich natives load\ntheir children with masses of costly jewellery, though they are well\naware that the practice often leads to robbery and murder.\n\n\n\nCopper and Brass Protectives.\n\nNext come copper and brass. The use of copper in the form of rings\nand amulet cases is very common. Many of the vessels used in the\ndaily service of the gods, such as the Argha, with which the daily\noblations are made, are made of this metal. So with brass and various\nkinds of alloy used for bells, drinking and cooking utensils.\n\nThe common brass Lota is always carried about by a man during the\nperiod of mourning as a preservative against the evil spirits which\nsurround him until the ghost of the dead man is finally laid. Copper\nrings are specially worn as an antidote to pimples and boils, while\nthose of iron are supposed to weaken the influence of the planet Sani\nor Saturn, which is proverbially unlucky and malignant. His Evil Eye,\nin particular, brings misfortune at intervals of twenty-four years;\nall offerings to him are black, and consequently ill-omened, such as\nsesamum, charcoal, buffaloes, and black salt; and only the Dakaut,\nthe lowest class of Br\u00e2hman priest, will accept such offerings. [33]\n\n\n\nCoral and Marine Products Protectives.\n\nNext in value to these metals come coral and other marine products,\nwhich in the case of the Hindus probably derive their virtue from\nbeing strange to an inland-dwelling people, and as connected with\nthe great ocean, the final home of the sainted dead. Coral is\nparticularly valued in the form of a necklace by those who cannot\nafford the costlier metals, and its ashes are constantly used in\nvarious rustic remedies and stimulants. In Gujar\u00e2t a coral ring is\nused to keep off the evil influence of the sun, [34] and in Bengal\nmourners touch it as a form of purification. According to the old\nbelief in England, coral guarded off lightning, whirlwind, tempests\nand storms from ships and houses, and was hung round the necks of\nchildren to assist teething and keep off the falling sickness. [35]\nSo with shells, particularly the Sankha or conch shell, which is\nused for oblations and is regarded as sacred to Vishnu. It is blown\nat his temples when the deity receives his daily meal, in order to\nwake him and scare off vagrant spirits, who would otherwise consume\nor defile the offering. This shell, in popular belief, is the bone of\nthe demon Panchajana, who, according to the Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, [36] \"lived\nin the form of a conch shell under the ocean. Krishna plunged into\nthe water, killed him, took the shell, which constituted his bones,\nand afterwards used it for a horn. When sounded it fills the demon\nhosts with dismay, animates the gods, and annihilates unrighteousness.\"\n\nAll these shells appear to derive part of their virtue from the fact\nthat they are perforated. The cowry shell, which is worn round the neck\nby children as an antidote to the Evil Eye and diabolical influence,\nis supposed to have such sympathy with the wearer that it cracks when\nthe evil glance falls upon it, as in England coral was thought to\nchange colour and grow pale when its owner was sick. The cowry shell\nis, with the same object, tied round the neck or pasterns of a valued\nhorse, or on a cow or buffalo. The shell armlet worn by Bengal women\nhas the same protective influence. [37]\n\n\n\nPrecious Stones Protectives.\n\nPrecious stones possess similar value. Sir Thomas Brown would not\ndeny that bezoar was antidotal, but he could not bring himself to\nbelieve that \"sapphire is preservative against enchantments.\" In\none special combination of nine varieties, known as the Nauratana,\nthey are specially efficacious--the ruby sacred to the sun, the\npearl to the moon, coral to Mars, emerald to Mercury, topaz to\nJupiter, diamond to Venus, sapphire to Saturn, amethyst to R\u00e2hu,\nand the cat's-eye to Ketu. In the mythology the gods interrupted\nP\u00e2rvat\u00ee when she was with Mah\u00e2deva, and nine jewels dropped from her\nanklet. When he looked at them he saw his image reflected in each of\nthem, and they appeared in the form of the nine Kany\u00e2s or heavenly\nmaidens. The Naulakha or nine l\u00e2kh necklace constantly appears in\nIndian folk-lore. In the story of the Princess Aubergine we read that\n\"inside the fish there is a bumble-bee, inside the bee a tiny box,\nand inside the box is the wonderful nine l\u00e2kh necklace. Put it on\nand I shall die.\" And in one of Somadeva's stories, at the marriage,\nJaya gives the bride a necklace of such a kind that, as long as it is\nupon a person's neck, hunger, thirst, and death cannot harm him. [38]\nIt is of jewels that the lamps which light fairy-land are made.\n\nMany of the precious stones have tales and qualities of their own. Once\nupon a time a holy man came and settled at Panna who had a diamond\nas large as a cart-wheel. The R\u00e2ja, hearing of this, tried to take\nit by force, but the saint hid it in the ground out of his way. He\ntold the R\u00e2ja that the diamond wheel could not leave his dominions,\nand that no one could ever find it. The Muhammadans say that all\nthe diamonds found since, in these famous mines, were fragments of\nthe wheel. [39] The wearing of a ring of sapphire, sacred to Sani\nor Saturn, is supposed to turn out lucky or unlucky, according to\ncircumstances. For this reason, the wearer tries it for three days,\nthat is, he wears it on Saturday, which is sacred to Saturn, and\nkeeps it on till Tuesday. During this time, if no mishap befalls him,\nhe continues to wear it during the period when the planet's influence\nis unfavourable; but should any mishap befall him during the three\ndays, he gives the ring to a Br\u00e2hman. [40] The amethyst obtains its\nname because any one who wears it cannot be affected by wine. The\nturquoise or F\u00eeroza is a mystic stone in India. If you bathe wearing a\nturquoise, the water touched by it protects the wearer from boils, and\nsnakes will not approach him. [41] Shylock got a turquoise from Leah\nwhich he would not have given for a wilderness of monkeys, because it\nchanged colour with the health of the owner, and the Turkeys, says an\nold writer, \"doth move when there is any peril prepared to him that\nweareth it.\" [42] So the onyx, known as the Sulaim\u00e2ni, or stone of\nSolomon, has mystic virtues, as, according to Burton, carbuncles and\ncoral, beryl, pearls and rubies were believed to drive away devils,\nto overcome sorrow, and to stop dreams. [43]\n\n\n\nBeads Protectives.\n\nWith poorer people beads take the place of gems, and in particular\nthe curious enamelled bead, which probably came from China and is\nstill found in old deserted sites, mostly of Buddhistic origin,\nenjoys special repute. We have already met with the parturition\nbead, and in Kolhapur there is a much-valued Arabic stone which,\nwhen any woman is in labour, is washed and the water given to her to\ndrink. In Scotland the amber bead cures inflamed eyes and sprains,\nas in Italy looking through amber beads strengthens the sight. [44]\nHere the perforation confers a mystical quality. As an antidote to\nthe Evil Eye blue beads are specially valued, and are hung round the\nnecks and pasterns of horses and other valuable animals. The belief in\nthe efficacy of beads is at the basis of the use of rosaries, which,\nas used in Europe, are almost certainly of Eastern origin, imported\nin the Middle Ages in imitation of those worn by Buddhistic or Hindu\nascetics, who ascribe to them manifold virtue. Such are those of the\nTulas\u00ee or sacred basil, worn by Vaishnavas, and those of the Rudr\u00e2ksha,\nworn by Saivas.\n\n\n\nBlood a Protective.\n\nBlood is naturally closely connected with life. \"The flesh with the\nlife thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.\" Hence\nblood comes to be a scarer of demons. In Scott's Lay the wizard's book\nwould not open till he smeared the cover with the Borderer's curdled\ngore. In Cornwall, the burning of blood from the body of a dead\nanimal is a very common method of appeasing the spirits of disease,\n[45] and the blood sacrifices so prevalent all over the world are\nperformed with the same object. A curious Evil Eye charm is recorded\nfrom Allah\u00e2b\u00e2d. A woman of the Cham\u00e2r or carrier caste gave birth to a\ndead child. Thinking that this was due to fascination, she put a piece\nof the cloth used at her confinement down a well, having previously\nenclosed in it two leaves of betel, some cloves, and a piece of the\ncastor-oil plant. [46] Here we have, first, a case of well-worship;\nsecondly, the use of betel, cloves, and the castor-oil plant, all\nscarers of evil spirits; and thirdly, an instance of the use of blood\nfor the same purpose. We have elsewhere noticed the special character\nattached to menstrual or parturition blood. But blood itself is most\neffectual against demoniacal influence. There are many cases where\nblood is rubbed on the body as an antidote to disease. In Bombay some\nMarh\u00e2tas give warmed goat's blood in cases of piles, and in typhus,\nor red discoloration of the skin with blotches, the patient is cured\nby killing a cock and rubbing the sick man with the blood. Others use\nthe blood of the great lizard in cases of snake-bite. [47] A bath of\nthe blood of children was once ordered for the Emperor Constantine,\nand because he, moved by the tears of the parents, refused to take it,\nhis extraordinary humanity was rewarded by a miraculous cure.\n\nSimilarly, among the Dr\u00e2vidians, the Kos drink the blood of the\nsacrificial bull; the Malers cure demoniacs by giving the blood of\na sacrificed buffalo; the Pahariyas, in time of epidemics, set up a\npair of posts and a cross beam, and hang on it a vessel of blood. [48]\nSo, the Jews sprinkled the door-posts and the horns of the altar with\nblood, and the same customs prevail among many other peoples.\n\nWe shall meet with instances of the same rite when dealing with the\nblood covenant and human sacrifice. On the same analogy many Indian\ntribes mark the forehead of the bride with blood or vermilion, and\nred paint is smeared on the image of the village godling in lieu of\na regular sacrifice.\n\n\n\nIncense.\n\nSimilarly, incense is largely used in religious rites, partly to please\nwith the sweet savour the deity which is being worshipped, and partly\nto drive away demons who would steal or defile the offerings. Bad\nsmells repel evil spirits, and this is probably why assafoetida is\ngiven to a woman after her delivery. In Ireland, if a child be sick,\nthey take a piece of the cloth worn by the person supposed to have\noverlooked the infant and burn it near him. If he sneezes, he expels\nthe spirit and the spell is broken, or the cloth is burned to ashes and\ngiven to the patient, while his forehead is rubbed with spittle. In\nNorthern India, if a child be sick, a little bran, pounded chillies,\nmustard, and sometimes the eyelashes of the child are passed round its\nhead and burned. If the burning mixture does not smell very badly,\nwhich it is needless to say is hardly ever the case, it is a sign\nthat the child is still under the evil influence; if the odour be\nabominable, that the attack has been obviated. [49] Similarly, in\nBengal, red mustard seeds and salt are mixed together, waved round the\nhead of the patient, and then thrown into the fire. [50] This reminds\nus of the flight of the Evil One into the remote parts of Egypt from\nthe smell of the fish liver burnt by Tobit, and an old writer says:\n\"Wyse clerkes knoweth well that dragons hate nothyng more than the\nstenche of breenynge bones, and therefore they gaderyd as many as they\nmight fynde, and brent them; and so with the stenche thereof they drove\naway the dragons, and so they were brought out of greete dysease.\" [51]\n\n\n\nSpittle.\n\nWe have just met with an instance of the use of spittle for the\nscaring of the disease demon or the Evil Eye. This is a very common\nform of charm for this purpose. In one of the Italian charms the\nperformer is directed to spit behind himself thrice and not to look\nback. In another, \"if your eyes pain you, you must take the saliva of\na woman who has given birth only to boys, not girls. And she must have\nabstained from sexual union and stimulating food for three days. Then,\nif her saliva be bright and clear, anoint your eyes with it and they\nwill be cured.\" [52] At Innisboffin, in Ireland, when the old women\nmeet a baby out with its nurse they spit on the ground all round it to\nkeep fairies from it. In Wicklow they spit on a child for good luck\nthe first day it is brought out after birth. [53] In several of the\nEuropean folk-tales we find that spittle has the power of speech. The\nhabit of spitting on the handsell or first money taken in the morning\nis common. It is done \"either to render it tenacious that it may remain\nwith them and not vanish away like a fairy gift, or else to render\nit propitious and lucky, that it may draw more money to it.\" [54]\nMuhammad advised that when the demon Khanzab interrupted any one at\nhis prayers, he was to spit over his left shoulder three times.\n\nIn India, spittle is regarded as impure. Hence a native cleans\nhis teeth daily with a fresh twig of the N\u00eem tree, and regards the\nEuropean's use of the same tooth-brush day after day as one of the\nnumerous extraordinary impurities which we permit. Hence, too, the\npractice of spitting when any one who is feared or detested passes\nby. When women see a falling star they spit three times to scare\nthe demon. In Bombay, spittle, especially fasting spittle, is used\nto rub on wounds as a remedy. It cures inflammation of the eyes, an\nidea which was familiar to the Jews. It guards children against the\nEvil Eye. In the Konkan, when a person is affected by the Evil Eye,\nsalt and mustard are waved round his head, thrown into the fire,\nand he is told to spit. In Gujar\u00e2t, when an orthodox Shiah Musalm\u00e2n\ntravels with a Sunni, he spits, and among the Roman Catholics of\nKanara, at baptism the priest wets his thumb with spittle and with\nit touches the child's ears and nostrils. [55]\n\n\n\nSalt.\n\nWe have seen above that salt is also used in the same way. Salt,\napparently from its power of checking decay, is regarded as possessing\nmystical powers. All over Europe the spilling of salt in the direction\nof a person was considered ominous. \"It was held to indicate that\nsomething had already happened to one of the family, or was about\nto befall the person spilling it, and also to denote the rupture of\nfriendship.\" [56] The custom of putting a plate of salt on a corpse\nwith the object of driving off evil spirits is common in Great\nBritain. We have already seen that salt is given to children after\nthey have eaten sweets. Many classes of Hindu ascetics bury their\ndead in salt. It is waved round the head of the bride and bridegroom,\nand buried near the house door as a charm. In classical antiquity it\nwas mixed with water and sprinkled on the worshippers.\n\n\n\nSalutation.\n\nAnother way of dispelling evil spirits is by the various forms\nof salutation, which generally consist in the invocation of some\ndeity. The Hindu says, \"R\u00e2m! R\u00e2m!\" when he meets a friend, or Jay\nGop\u00e2l! \"Glory to Krishna!\" or whoever his personal god may be, and the\nsame idea accounts for many of the customs connected with the reception\nof guests, who, coming from abroad, may bring evil spirits with them.\n\n\n\nThe Separable Soul: Waving.\n\nAnother series of prophylactics depends on the idea of the separable\nsoul or that spirits are always fluttering in the air round a person's\nhead. Hence a long series of customs known as Parachhan, performed\nat Hindu marriages in Upper India, when lights, a brass tray, grain,\nand household implements like the rice pounder or grindstone are waved\nround the head of the married pair as a protective. In Somadeva's tale\nof Bhunandana we find that he \"performs the ceremony of averting evil\nspirits from all quarters by waving the hand over the head.\" [57] This\nis perhaps one explanation of the use of flags at temples and village\nshrines, though in some cases they appear to be used as a perch,\non which the deity sits when he makes his periodical visits. Hence,\ntoo, feathers have a mystic significance, though in some cases, as in\nthose of the peacock and jay, the colour is the important part. Hence\nthe waving of the fan and Chaur\u00ee over the head of the great man and\nthe use of the umbrella as a symbol of royalty. A woman carrying her\nchild on her return from a strange village, lest she should bring the\ninfluence of some foreign evil spirit back with her, will, before\nentering her own homestead, pass seven little stones seven times\nround the head of the baby, and throw them in different directions,\nso as to pass away any evil that may have been contracted. When\na sorcerer is called in to attend a case attributed to demoniacal\npossession, he whisks the patient with a branch of the N\u00eem, Mad\u00e2r,\nor Camel thorn, all of which are more or less sacred trees and have\nacquired a reputation as preservatives. When this is completed, the\naspersion of the afflicted one, be he man or beast, with some water\nfrom the blacksmith's shop, in which iron has been repeatedly plunged\nand has bestowed additional efficacy upon it, usually follows.\n\n\n\nBlacksmith, Respect for.\n\nThe respect paid to the trade of the blacksmith is a curious survival\nfrom the time of the early handicrafts and the substitution of weapons\nof iron for those of stone. [58] In Scotland the same belief in the\nvirtues of the water of the forge prevails, and in Ireland no one\nwill take anything by stealth from such a place. [59] In St. Patrick's\nHymn we have a prayer against \"the spells of women, of smiths, and of\ndruids.\" Culann, the mystic smith, appears in Celtic folk-lore. In\nall the mythologies the idea is widespread that the art of smithing\nwas first discovered and practised by supernatural personages. We\nsee this through the whole range of folk-lore, from the Cyclopes to\nWayland Smith, who finally came to be connected with the Devil of\nChristianity. [60]\n\n\n\nWater.\n\nWe have already referred to water as a protective against the influence\nof evil spirits. We see this principle in the rite of ceremonial\nbathing as a propitiation for sin. It also appears in the use of\nwater which has been blown upon by a holy man as a remedy for spirit\npossession. Among many menial tribes in the North-Western Provinces\nwith the same object the bride is washed in the water in which the\nbridegroom has already taken his wedding bath. Again, on a lucky\nday fixed by the Pandit the rite of Nah\u00e2wan or ceremonial bathing\nis performed for the protection of the young mother and her child\ntwo or three days after her confinement. Both of them are bathed in a\ndecoction of the leaves of the N\u00eem tree. Then a handful of the seeds of\nmustard and dill are waved round the mother's head and thrown into a\nvessel containing fire. When the seeds are consumed the cup is upset,\nand the mother breaks it with her own foot. Next she sits with grain\nin her hand, while the household brass tray is beaten to scare demons\nand the midwife throws the child into the air. All this takes place\nin the open air in the courtyard of the house. Here we have a series\nof antidotes to demoniacal possession, the purport of which will be\neasily understood on principles which have been already explained.\n\n\n\nGrain.\n\nWith this use of grain we meet with another valuable antidote. We\nhave it in Great Britain in the rule that \"the English, when the\nbride comes from church, are wont to cast wheat upon her head.\" [61]\nIt survives in our custom of throwing rice over the wedded pair when\nthey start on the honeymoon. On the analogy of other races one object\nof the rite would seem to be to keep in the soul which is likely\nto depart at such a crisis in life as marriage. Thus, \"in Celebes\nthey think that a bridegroom's soul is apt to fly away at marriage,\nso coloured rice is scattered over him to induce it to stay. And,\nin general, at festivals in South Celebes rice is strewed on the head\nof the person in whose honour the festival is held, with the object\nof retaining his soul, which at such times is in especial danger of\nbeing lured away by envious demons.\" [62]\n\nThis rite appears widely in Indian marriage customs. Among the\nMh\u00e2rs of Kh\u00e2ndesh, on the bridegroom approaching the bride's house,\na piece of bread is waved round his head and thrown away. [63] In\na Kunbi's wedding a ball of rice is waved round the boy's head and\nthrown away, and at the lucky moment grains of rice are thrown over the\ncouple. Among the Telang Nh\u00e2vis of Bijaypur the chief marriage rite is\nthat the priest throws rice over the boy and girl. The grain acquires\nspecial efficacy if it be either parched, and thus purified by fire,\nor if it be stained in some lucky or demon-scaring colour. [64] Thus,\nin Upper India grain parched with a special rite is thrown over the\npair as they revolve round the marriage shed, and this function is,\nif possible, performed by the brother of the bride. Rice stained\nyellow with turmeric is very often used for this purpose. Another\ndevice is to make a pile of rice, with a knot of turmeric and a copper\ncoin concealed in it. This at a particular stage of the service the\nbride knocks down with her foot. The Lodhis of the Dakkhin, in the\nsame way, put a pile of rice at the door of the boy's house, which\nhe upsets with his foot. All through Northern India the exorciser\nshakes grain in a fan, which is, as we shall see, a potent fetish,\nand by the number of grains which remain in the interstices calculates\nwhich particular ghost is worrying the patient. On the same principle\nthe Or\u00e2ons put rice in the mouth of the corpse, and the Koiris, when\nthey marry, walk round a pile of water-pots and scatter rice on the\nground. [65] The custom of sprinkling grain at marriage appears in\nmany of the folk-tales.\n\n\n\nUrad.\n\nWe are familiar in Roman literature with the use of beans at funerals,\nand at the Lemuria thrice every other night to pacify the ghosts\nof the dead beans were flung on the fire of the altar to drive the\nspirits out of the house. The same idea appears in the Carlings or\nfried peas given away and eaten on the Sunday before Palm Sunday. [66]\nNo special sanctity appears to apply to the pea or bean in India,\nbut they are replaced by the Urad pulse, which is much used in rites\nof all kind, and especially in magic, when it is thrown over the head\nof the person whom the magician wishes to bring under his control. [67]\n\n\n\nBarley.\n\nBarley, another sacred grain, is rubbed over the corpse of a Hindu\nand sprinkled on the head before the cremation rite is performed. So,\nthe Or\u00e2ons throw rice on the urn as they take it to the tomb, and\nsprinkle grain on the ground behind the bones to keep the spirit from\ncoming back. [68]\n\n\n\nSesamum.\n\nTil or black sesamum, again, has certain qualities of the same\nkind. Hence it is used in the funeral rites, and in form of Tilanjal\u00ee\nor a handful mixed with water is one of the offerings to the sainted\ndead, and made up in the form of a cow, called Tiladhenu, it is\npresented to Br\u00e2hmans.\n\n\n\nSheaves.\n\nMost grains in the ear have also mystic uses. It is hung up over\nthe house door to repel evil spirits, and in Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d they tie\na sheaf of corn on a pole and fasten it to the cattle shed as a\npreservative. [69] The combination of seven kinds of grain, known\nas Satnaja, is an ingredient in numerous charms and is used in many\nforms of worship.\n\n\n\nMilk.\n\nSo with the products of the sacred cow, which are, as might have been\nexpected, most valuable for this purpose. Hence the use of Ghilor\nor clarified butter in the public and domestic ritual. Milk for the\nsame reason is used in offerings and sprinkled on the ground as an\noblation. Cowdung, in particular, is regarded as efficacious. After\nthe death or birth impurity the house is carefully plastered with a\nmixture of cowdung and clay. No cooking place is pure without it, and\nthe corpse is cremated with cakes of cowdung fuel. Even the urine of\nthe cow is valued as a medicine and a purificant. The cow guards the\nhouse from evil, and every rich man keeps a cow so that his glance\nmay fall on her when he wakes from sleep, and he regards her as the\nguardian of the household.\n\n\n\nColours.\n\nColours, again, are scarers of evil spirits. They particularly dread\nyellow, black, red, and white. The belief in the efficacy of yellow\naccounts for the use of turmeric in the domestic ritual. [70] A few\ndays before the marriage rites commence the bride and bridegroom are\nanointed with a mixture of oil and turmeric known as Abtan. The bride\nassumes a robe dyed in turmeric, which she wears until the wedding. The\nmarriage letter of invitation is coloured with turmeric, and splashes\nof it are made on the wall and worshipped by the married pair. In the\nold times the woman who performed Sat\u00ee, and nowadays married women who\ndie, are taken to the pyre wrapped in a shroud dyed with turmeric. The\ncorpse is very often smeared with turmeric before cremation, a custom\nwhich is not peculiar to the so-called Aryan Hindus, because it\nprevails among the Th\u00e2rus, one of the most primitive tribes of the\nsub-Him\u00e2layan forests. The same principle probably explains the use\nof yellow clothes by certain classes of ascetics, and of Chandan or\nsandal-wood in making caste marks and for various ceremonial purposes.\n\nYellow and red are the usual colours of marriage garments, and the\nparting of the bride's hair is stained with vermilion, though here\nthe practice is probably based on the symbolical belief in the Blood\nCovenant. The same idea is probably the explanation of the flinging\nof red powder and water coloured with turmeric at the Hol\u00ee or spring\nfestival.\n\nBlack, again, is feared by evil spirits, and the husbandman hangs a\nblack pot in his field to scare spirits and evade the Evil Eye, and\nyoung women and children have their eyelids marked with lampblack. In\nthe Mirzapur Baiga's sacrifice the black fowl or the black goat is\nthe favourite victim, and charcoal is valued, some put into the milk\nas a preservative and some buried under the threshold to guard the\nhousehold from harm.\n\n\n\nGrasses.\n\nFor the same reason various kinds of grass are considered sacred,\nsuch as the Kusa, the D\u00fbrva, the Darbha. Among the Prabhus of Bombay\njuice of the D\u00fbrva grass is poured into the left nostril of a woman\nwhen the pregnancy and coming of age rites are performed, and the\nKanaujiya Br\u00e2hman husband drops some of the juice down her nose when\nshe reaches maturity. [71] The Sholapur M\u00e2ngs when they come back\nfrom the grave strew some Hariy\u00e2li grass and N\u00eem leaves on the place\nwhere the deceased died. The M\u00fbnj grass is also sacred, and a thread\nmade of it is worn at one stage of the Br\u00e2hman's life. Some of these\nsacred grasses form an important ingredient in the Sr\u00e2ddha offerings to\nthe sacred dead, some are used in the marriage and cremation ritual,\non some the dying man is laid at the moment of dissolution. They\nare potent to avert the Evil Eye, and hence the mother of R\u00e2ma and\nLakshmana, when she looks at them, breaks a blade of grass. [72]\n\n\n\nTattooing.\n\nNext come special marks made on the body. Such are the marks branded\non various parts of their bodies by many classes of ascetics, and the\ncaste marks made in clay or ashes by most high-class Hindus. It has\nbeen suggested that many of these marks are of totemistic origin. That\nthis is so among races beyond the Indian border is almost certainly\nthe case. [73] But though tattooing, a widespread practice of the\nIndian people, very possibly originated in totemism, still, as far as\nhas hitherto been ascertained, no distinct trace remains of a tribal\ntattoo, and it is safer at present to class marks of this kind in\nthe general category of devices to repel evil spirits. Among purely\nsectarial marks we have the forehead mark of the Saivas, composed of\nthree curved lines like a half-moon, to which is added a round mark on\nthe nose; it is made with the clay of the Ganges, or with sandal-wood,\nor the ashes of cowdung, the ashes being supposed to represent the\ndisintegrating force of the deity. The mark of the Vaishnavas is in\nthe form of the foot of Vishnu, and consists of two lines rather oval\ndrawn the whole length of the nose and carried forward in straight\nlines across the forehead. It is generally made with the clay of the\nGanges, sometimes with the powder of sandal-wood. The S\u00e2kta forehead\nmark is a small semi-circular line between the eyebrows, with a dot\nin the middle.\n\nThe practice of tattooing is common both among the Aryan and\nDr\u00e2vidian races, but is more general among the lower than the higher\ncastes. Thus, the Ju\u00e2ng women tattoo themselves with three strokes on\nthe forehead just over the nose, and three on each of the temples. They\nattach no meaning to the marks, have no ceremony in adopting them,\nand are ignorant of the origin of the practice. The Khariya women make\nthree parallel marks on the forehead, the outer lines terminating\nat the ends in a crook, and two on each temple. The Ho women tattoo\nthemselves in the form of an arrow, which they regard as their national\nemblem. The Birhor women tattoo their chests, arms, and ankles, but\nnot their faces. The Or\u00e2on women have three marks on the brow and two\non each temple. The young men burn marks on their fore-arms as part of\nthe ordeal ceremony; girls, when adult, or nearly so, have themselves\ntattooed on the arms and back. The Kis\u00e2n women have no such marks;\nif a female of the tribe indulges herself in the vanity of having\nherself tattooed, she is at once turned adrift as having degraded\nherself. Here we may have some faint indications of a tribal tattoo,\nbut among most of the tribes which practise the custom it has become\npurely protective or ornamental. [74]\n\nAmong the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes of the North-Western Provinces tattooing\ngenerally prevails. The Korwas and many other of these tribes get\ntheir women tattooed by a woman of the B\u00e2di sub-division of Nats. They\nare tattooed only on the breast and arms, not on the thighs. There\nare no ceremonies connected with it, nor any special pattern. Any\ngirl gets herself tattooed in any figure she approves for a small\nsum. Well-to-do women always get it done; but if a woman is not\ntatooed, it is not considered unlucky. The men of the tribe are not\ntattooed. The Ghasiya women tattoo themselves on the breasts, arms,\nthighs, and feet. They say that when a woman dies who is not tattooed,\nthe Great Lord Parameswar is displeased and turns her out of heaven,\nor has her branded with the thorn of the acacia. In the same way among\nthe Cham\u00e2rs, when a woman who has not been tattooed dies, Parameswar\nasks her where are the marks and signs which she ought to possess\nto show that she had lived in the world. If she cannot show them,\nshe will in her next birth be re-born as a Bh\u00fbtn\u00ee, Pretn\u00ee, or R\u00e2kshas\u00ee.\n\nAt present among low-caste women the process of tattooing is regarded\nas a species of initiation, and usually marks the attainment of\npuberty. It thus corresponds with the rite of ear-piercing among\nmales. To the east of the North-West Provinces a girl is not allowed\nto cook until she is tattooed with a mark representing the S\u00eet\u00e2 k\u00ee\nRaso\u00ee or cook-house of S\u00eet\u00e2, and in Bengal high-caste people will\nnot drink from the hands of a girl who does not wear the Ullikh\u00ee or\nstar-shaped tattoo mark between her eyebrows. A Cham\u00e2r woman who is\nnot tattooed at marriage will not, it is believed, see her father and\nmother in the next world. This reminds us of the idea prevalent in\nFiji, that women who are not tattooed are liable to special punishment\nin the land of the dead. [75] In Bombay the custom has been provided\nwith a Br\u00e2hmanical legend. One day Lakshm\u00ee, the wife of Vishnu,\ntold her husband that whenever he went out on business or to visit\nhis devotees she became frightened. Hearing this, Vishnu took his\nweapons and stamped them on her body, saying that the marks of his\nweapons would save her from evil.\n\nHence women in Bombay tattoo themselves with the figures of the lotus,\nconch shell, and discus, and from this the present custom is said to\nhave originated. [76]\n\nIn Upper India the forms of the tattoo marks fall into various\nclasses. Some are rude or conventionalized representations of animals,\nplants, and flowers. The operators carry round with them sketches of\nthe different kinds of ornament, and the girl selects these according\nto taste. The peacock, the horse, the serpent, the scorpion, tortoise,\ncentipede, appear constantly in various forms. Others, again, are\nrepresentations of jewellery actually worn--necklaces, bracelets,\narmlets, or rings. Others, again, are purely religious, such as\nthe trident or matted hair of Siva, the weapons of Vishnu, and the\ncooking house of S\u00eet\u00e2, the type of wifely virtue. Some of these marks\nwere probably of totemistic origin, but they have now become merely\nornamentative, as was the case in Central Asia in the time of Marco\nPolo, where they were regarded only as \"a piece of elegance or a sign\nof gentility,\" and among the Thracians, as described by Herodotus. [77]\nIt may be noticed that in the time of Marco Polo people used to go\nfrom Upper India to Zayton in China to be tattooed. [78] These animal\nforms of tattooing are found also among the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes of the\nCentral Provinces, where the forms used are a peacock, an antelope,\nor a dagger, and the marks are made on the back of the thighs and\nlegs. In Bengal tattooing is used as a cure for goitre. [79]\n\nWe may close this long catalogue of devices intended to scare spirits,\nwith a number of miscellaneous examples.\n\nIt seems to be a well-established principle that evil spirits\nfear leather. On this is perhaps based the idea of the shoe being\na mode of repelling the Evil Eye and the influence of demons. We\nfind this constantly appearing in the folk-lore of the West. Thus,\nthe Highlanders paid particular attention to the leaving of the\nbridegroom's left shoe without buckle or latchet, to prevent the\nsecret influences of witches on the wedding night. [80] And Hudibras\ntells how--\n\n\n    Augustus having by oversight\n    Put on his left shoe 'fore his right,\n    Had like to have been slain that day\n    By soldiers mutinying for pay.\"\n\n\nMaidens in Europe ascertain whether they will be married and who will\nbe their future husbands by throwing the slipper at the new year. The\nthrowing of old shoes at an English wedding seems on the same principle\nto be based on the idea of scaring the demon of barrenness. According\nto Mr. Hartland, [81] the gipsies of Transylvania throw old shoes and\nboots on a newly married pair when they enter their tent, expressly\nto enhance the fertility of the union.\n\nIn the same way in India, people who are too poor to afford another\nprotective place on the top of their houses a shoe heel upwards. This\nseems to give some additional efficacy to the charm, because we find\nthe same rule in force elsewhere. Thus, in Cornwall, a slipper with\nthe point turned up placed near the bed cures cramp. [82] In P\u00fbna,\nif a man feels that he has been struck by an incantation, he at once\ntakes hold of an upturned shoe. [83]\n\nThe fear which spirits feel for leather is also illustrated by the\nprocedure of the Dr\u00e2vidian Baiga, who flagellates people suffering\nfrom demoniacal possession with a tawse or leathern strap. In the\nDakkhin a person troubled with nightmare sleeps with a shoe under\nhis pillow, and an exorcist frightens evil spirits by threatening to\nmake them drink water from a tanner's well. We shall see that this\nis one way of punishing and repelling the power of witches. The P\u00fbna\nKunbis believe that a drink of water from a tanner's hand destroys the\npower of a witch. In the Panj\u00e2b, if a man sits on a currier's stone,\nhe gets boils. [84] The same principle probably accounts for much of\nthe fear or contempt generally felt in India regarding shoe-beating\nas a form of punishment. At the same time it is said in Persia and\nArabia that the dread of a flagellation with the slipper is based\non the idea that while a flogging with the regular scourge involves\nlittle discredit, a beating with anything not originally intended\nfor the purpose, such as a shoe or knotted cloth, is disgraceful.\n\nThe same feeling for the power of leather possibly explains the use\nas a seat of various kinds of skins, such as those of the tiger and\nantelope, by many kinds of ascetics, and in the old ritual the wife\nwith her husband sat on the hide of a bull to promote the fertility\nof their union.\n\n\n\nGarlic.\n\nGarlic, again, from its pungency, is valued in the same way. Garlic\nwas one of the substances used by Danish mothers to keep evil\nfrom children. [85] The Swedish bridegroom sews in his clothes\ngarlic, cloves, and rosemary. Garlic was an early English cure\nfor a fiend-struck patient. [86] Juvenal said that the Egyptians\nhad gods growing in their gardens, in allusion to their reverence\nfor onions or garlic. In Sanskrit garlic is called Mlechha-kanda,\n\"the foreigner's root,\" and its virtues for the removal of demons are\nso well known that it will be often seen hung from the lintel of the\nhouse door. The same idea may account for the very common prejudice\namong some castes against eating onions.\n\n\n\nGlass.\n\nGlass in the form of beads, which seem to derive some of their\nefficacy from being perforated, is also very useful in this\nway. Mirrors from time immemorial have been held to possess the same\nquality. \"Fascinators, like basilisks, had their own terrible glance\nturned against them if they saw themselves reflected,\" \"Si on luy\npresente un miror, par endardement reciproque, ces rayons retournent\nsur l'autheur d'iceux.\" Philostratus declares that if a mirror be held\nbefore a sleeping man during a hail or thunder-storm, the storm will\ncease. [87] Hence women in India wear mirrors in their thumb rings,\nand the J\u00e2tn\u00ee covers her sheet with little pieces of shining glass.\n\nPieces of horn, especially that which is said to come from the\njackal, and that of the antelope, are also efficacious. The b\u00e2z\u00e2r\nBanya treasures up the gaudy labels from his cloth bales for the\nsame purpose. Garlands of flowers possess the same quality, and so do\nvarious fruits, such as dates, cocoanuts, betel-nuts, and plantains,\nwhich are placed in the lap of the bride or pregnant woman to scare\nthe evil spirits which cause barrenness, and sugar is distributed\nat marriages. The bones of the camel are very useful for driving off\ninsects from a sugar-cane field, and buried under the threshold keep\nghosts out of the house. Pliny says that a bracelet of camel's hair\nkeeps off fever. [88]\n\nLastly, the demon may be trapped by physical means. \"To be delivered\nfrom witches they hang in their entries whitethorn gathered on May\nDay.\" [89] So, many of the menial castes in the North-West Provinces\nkeep a net and some thorns in the delivery room to scare evil spirits.\n\nThere are certain persons who are naturally protected from the Evil\nEye and demoniacal agency, or who have control over evil spirits. Such\nis a man born by the foot presentation, who can cure rheumatism and\nvarious other diseases by merely rubbing the part affected. Men with\ndouble thumbs are considered safe against the Evil Eye, and so is\na bald man, apparently because no one thinks it worth his while to\nenvy such people. According to English belief, children born after\nmidnight have power all through their lives of seeing the spirits of\nthe departed. In India, people who are born within the period of the\nSalono festival in August are not only protected from, but possess\nthe power of casting, the Evil Eye. The same is the case of those\nwho have accidentally eaten ordure in childhood. We have already\nnoticed the mystic power of cowdung. Dung generally is offensive to\nspirits. It was believed in Europe that horsedung placed before the\nhouse or behind the door brought good luck. [90] Women who eat dung\npossess, as we shall see, the power of witchcraft.\n\nA man with only one eye is dreaded because he is naturally envious of\nthose with good sight, and he is proverbially a scoundrel. The giant\nwith one eye is familiar in folk-lore, and he is generally vicious\nand malignant. We have the black man of Celtic folk-lore who has\nonly one eye and one leg. [91] In the Irish tales Crinnaur, like the\nCyclopes, has only one eye. Sindbad in his third voyage encounters\na monster of the same kind. Laplanders have a one-eyed giant Stalo,\nand in one of the modern versions of the Perseus myth there are two\nhags who have only a single eye between them. The same idea appears in\nIndian folk-lore. The planet Sukra is said to have only one eye. Such\nwas also the case with the monster Kabandha, who was killed by R\u00e2ma,\nand Ar\u00e2y\u00ee, the female fiend of the Veda. The one-eyed devil appears\nin one of the Kashm\u00eer tales. [92]\n\n\n\nGonds: Procedure in Cases of Fascination.\n\nThe Gonds have a special procedure in cases of deaths which they\nbelieve to have occurred through fascination. The burning of the\nbody is postponed till it is made to point out the delinquent. The\nrelations solemnly call upon the corpse to do this, and the theory\nis that if there has been foul play of any kind, the body on being\ntaken up, will force the bearers to convey it to the house of the\nperson by whom the spell was cast. If this be three times repeated,\nthe owner of the house is condemned, his property is destroyed,\nand he is expelled from the neighbourhood. [93]\n\n\n\nAmulets.\n\nIn ordinary cases most people find it advisable to carry an amulet\nof some kind as a preservative. An amulet is primarily a portion of\na dead man or animal, by which hostile spirits are coerced or their\ngood offices secured. [94] The amulet, then, in its original sense,\nis supposed to concentrate in itself the virtues and powers of the\nman or animal of which it formed a part. Hence the claws of the tiger,\nwhich represent in themselves the innate strength and bravery of the\nanimal, are greatly esteemed for this purpose, and the sportsman,\nwhen he shoots a tiger, has to count over the claws carefully to\nthe coolies in charge of the dead animal, or they will certainly\nmisappropriate them. In the same way a portion of the umbilical cord\nis placed among the clothes of the mother and infant to avert the\nEvil Eye and scare the demons which are then particularly active.\n\nMr. Ferguson may be correct in his opinion that in India, prior to the\ndistribution of the remains of the Buddha at Kusinagara, we have no\nhistorical record of the worship of relics; [95] still the idea must\nhave prevailed widely among the Hindu races, out of whom the votaries\nof the new faith were recruited. With some of these relics of the\nBuddha, such as his begging bowl, which was long kept in a Dagoba or\nVih\u00e2ra erected by King Kanishka, then removed for a time to Benares,\nand finally to Kandah\u00e2r, where it is now held in the highest respect\nby Musalm\u00e2ns, and has accumulated round it a cycle of legends like\nthose connected with the Sangrail, we reach the zone of pure fetishism.\n\nAnother form of amulet is a piece of metal, stone, bone, or similar\nsubstance worn on the person, with an invocation inscribed on it to\nsome special god. These are very commonly used among Muhammadans. By\nHindus the \"Yantras or mystic diagrams are thought to be quite as\neffective in their operation as the Mantras or spells, and, of course,\na combination of the two is held to be absolutely irresistible. An\nenemy may be killed or removed to some other place, or a whole army\ndestroyed, or salvation and supreme felicity obtained by drawing a\nsix-sided or eight-sided diagram and writing a particular Mantra\nunderneath. If this be done with the blood of an animal killed\nsacrificially in a Smas\u00e2na or place where corpses are burned, no power\nin earth or heaven can resist the terrific potency of the charm.\" [96]\nOn the same principle Hindus head their letters with the words Sr\u00ee\nR\u00e2mj\u00ee! \"the great god, R\u00e2ma,\" or the figures 74, of which one not\nvery probable explanation is that they represent the weight in maunds\nof the gold ornaments taken from the R\u00e2jput dead at the famous siege\nof Chithor.\n\nThe equilateral triangle is another favourite mystic sign. According\nto the Christian ideas, the figure of three triangles intersected and\ncontaining five lines, is called the pentangle of Solomon, and when\nit is delineated on the body of a man, it marks the five places in\nwhich our Saviour was wounded; it was, therefore, regarded as a fuga\ndemonum, or a means of frightening demons. [97] Similarly in Northern\nIndia, the equilateral triangle is regarded as a mystic sign, and the\nlittle broadcloth bags hung round the necks of children to avert the\nEvil Eye are made in this shape. The diamond shape is also approved\nbecause it contains two equilateral triangles base to base.\n\nAnother form of mystic sign is the mark of the spread hand with\nthe fingers extended. This is made by the women of the family on\nthe outer wall and round the door-post, and is considered to be\nparticularly efficacious. Mr. Campbell suggests that the custom is\nbased on the belief in the hand being a spirit entry. [98] Natives will\ntell you that it is because the number five, that of the fingers, is\nlucky. However this may be, the custom is very generally prevalent. The\nBloody Hand of Ulster, worn as a crest by the Baronets of one creation,\nis well known. [99] The Uchlas of P\u00fbna strew sand on the spot where\nthe dead man breathed his last. They cover the spot with a basket,\nwhich they raise next morning in the hope of finding the mark of a\npalm, which shows that the dead is pleased and brings vigour on the\nfamily; and the Th\u00e2kurs on the fifth day after the birth of a child\ndip a hand in red powder and water and make a mark on the wall of the\nlying-in room, which they worship. [100] At the rock-cut temple of\nTilok Sendur in Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d, an annual festival is held, and those\nwho come to demand any special benefit, such as health or children,\nmark their vow by staining their hand dipped in red paint against the\nrock wall, fingers upward. If the prayer be heard, they revisit the\nplace and make the same mark, this time with the fingers downward;\nbut whether Mah\u00e2deva is not gracious to his votaries, or whether\nit is that the sense of favours to come is not keen enough after\nthe prayer of the moment has been granted, the hand-stamps pointing\ndownwards are not a tenth in number of those pointing upwards. [101]\nThe stamping of the hand and five fingers immersed in a solution of\nsandal-wood has always been regarded as a peculiarly solemn mode of\nattesting an important document, and it is said that Muhammad himself\nadopted this practice. [102]\n\nThere are numerous varieties of these protective amulets. One purpose\nwhich they serve is the procuring of offspring. Children naturally\nrequire special protection. Thus, the Mirzapur Korwas tie on the\nnecks of their children roots of various jungle plants, such as the\nSiy\u00e2r Singh\u00ee, which owes its name and repute to its resemblance to\nthe so-called horn of the jackal. In cases of disease the Kharw\u00e2rs\nwear leaves of the Bel, a sacred tree, cloves and flowers selected\nby a Br\u00e2hman. In the Konkan, in order that a child may not suffer\nfrom the Evil Eye, a necklace of marking nuts is put round its\nneck. [103] The G\u00fbjars of Haz\u00e2ra hang the berries of the Batkar tree\n(Celtis caucasia) round the necks of men and animals to protect them\nfrom the Evil Eye. [104] The pious Musalm\u00e2n inscribes on his amulet\nthe five verses known as Ay\u00e2tu-l-Hifz or \"verses of protection,\" or\nhe makes a magic square with the letters making up the word H\u00e2fiz,\n\"the protector.\" Many village Musalm\u00e2ns use little stone or glass\ntablets for the same purpose. Some have a hocus-pocus inscription\npurporting to be a verse of the Qur\u00e2n in Arabic; others have the\nname of F\u00e2tima coupled with that of the famous martyrs Hasan and\nHusain. Another amulet of a very elaborate character is described as\ncontaining a piece of the umbilical cord encased in metal, a tiger's\nclaw, two claws of the large horned owl turned in opposite directions,\nand encased in metal, a stone known as the Athr\u00e2h\u00e2 k\u00e2 mank\u00e2, because\nit has the property of turning eight colours according to the light\nin which it is placed (probably a tourmaline or quartzose pebble),\nand a special Evil Eye destroyer in the shape of a jasper or marble\nbead. These five articles are necessaries, but as an extra precaution\nthe amulet contained some crude gold, a whorled shell, an ancient\ncopper coin, some ashes from the fire of a Jogi ascetic, and the\nfive ingredients of the sacred incense. The owner admitted that it\nwould have been improved had it also contained a magic square. [105]\nThis reminds us of the necklace of amber beads hung round the neck\nof Scotch children to keep off ill-luck, and the Irish scapular, a\npiece of cloth on which the name of the Virgin Mary is written on one\nside, and I.H.S. on the other, which are preservatives against evil\nspirits. In old times in England such charms were called Characts,\nand one found with a criminal contained an invocation to the three\nholy kings, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar. [106]\n\nOne of the most valuable of these protectives is the magic\ncircle, which appears in various forms through the whole range\nof folk-lore. The idea is that no evil spirit can cross the sacred\nline. Thus, in Mirzapur they make a circle of grain round the circular\npile of corn on the threshing-floor to guard it from evil. Among some\ncastes the circle round which the bride and bridegroom revolve at\nmarriage is guarded by a circular line of string hung on the necks\nof a number of water-pots surrounding it. We have seen how the Baiga\nperambulates his village and drops a line of spirits round the boundary\nto repel foreign ghosts. This accounts for the stone circles which\nare found both in Europe and in India, and in Ireland are considered\nto be the resort of the fairies. [107]\n\nWe have constant references to the same custom in the\nfolk-tales. Lakshmana, in the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana, draws such a circle round\nS\u00eet\u00e2 when he is obliged to leave her alone. We have many references\nto the circle within which the ascetic or magician sits when he is\nperforming his sorceries. Thus, in the story of Nischayadatta, the\nascetics \"quickly made a great circle with ashes, and entering into\nit, they lighted a fire with fuel, and all remained there muttering\na charm to protect themselves.\" In the tales of the Vet\u00e2la, we find\nthe mendicant under a banyan tree engaged in making a circle, and\nKsantisila makes a circle of the yellow powder of bones, the ground\nwithin which was smeared with blood, and which had pitchers of blood\nplaced in the direction of the cardinal points. [108]\n\nThe same idea appears in the magic circle used as an ordeal, or to\ncompel payment of a debt. Thus, we read in Marco Polo: [109] \"If a\ndebtor have been several times asked by his creditor for payment\nand shall have put him off day by day with promises, then if the\ncreditor once meet the debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round\nhim, the latter must not pass out of this circle until he shall have\nsatisfied the claim, or given security for its discharge. If he in\nany other case presume to pass the circle, he is punished with death,\nas a transgressor against right and justice.\" In Northern India this\ncircle is known as a Gururu or Gaurua, and a person who takes an oath\nstands within it, or takes from inside an article which he claims. In\none form of this ceremony the circle is made on the ground with calf's\ndung by an unmarried girl, and in the centre is placed a vessel of\nwater. If money is in dispute, the amount claimed is placed in the\nwater vessel by the defendant. The narrator tells a story to prove\nthe efficacy of the rite:--\n\n\"My father owed a Kalw\u00e2r one rupee and the Kalw\u00e2r claimed five. The\nmatter was brought before the tribal council, and the Kalw\u00e2r swore to\nthe five rupees upon the Gaurua. Within an hour his boy, while playing\nbehind the house, was carried off by a wolf. He was rescued, but he was\nunder the curse of the Gaurua, and shortly after he put his finger into\na rat hole, was bitten by a snake, and died within the hour.\" [110]\n\n\n\nThe Ring, Bracelet, and Knotted Cord.\n\nFrom the same principle arises the belief in the magic virtue of the\nring, the bracelet, and the knotted cord.\n\nTo begin with rings--we have in Plato the story of Gyges, who by\nmeans of the ring of invisibility introduced himself to the wife of\nCandaules, King of Lycia, murdered the latter and got possession of\nhis kingdom. This is like the cloak or cap which appears so constantly\nin folk-lore. In the Indian tales invisibility is generally obtained\nby means of a magic ointment, to which there are many parallels\nin Western stories. We find also the magic ring, which, like that\nof Ala-ud-d\u00een, when touched procures the presence and aid of the\ndemons. A woman's nose-ring in India has special respect paid to it,\nand for a stranger even to mention it is a breach of delicacy. [111]\nIt is the symbol of married happiness, and is removed when the wearer\nbecomes a widow. Among Muhammadans, Shiah women remove their nose-rings\nduring the Muharram as a sign of mourning. There was an old habit in\nEngland of marrying by the rush ring, \"but it was chiefly practised\nby designing men, for the purpose of debauching their mistresses, who\nsometimes were so infatuated as to believe that this mock ceremony\nwas a real marriage.\" [112] In the same way in India a ring of\nKusa grass is put on the finger during the most sacred rites and at\nmarriage. The custom appears in the folk-tales. The ring represents\nan imperishable bond between the giver and the receiver, and is a\nsymbol of the original blood covenant, which is an important element\nin the belief of all primitive people. [113]\n\nThe idea of the magic ring constantly appears in folk-lore. Thus,\nwe have the ring placed in a sacred square and sprinkled with\nbutter-milk, which immediately gives whatever the owner demands. In\none of the Kashm\u00eer tales the merchant's son speaks to the magic ring,\nand immediately a beautiful house and a lovely woman with golden hair\nappeared. [114] So, in the tales of Somadeva, Sridatta places a ring\non the finger of the unconscious princess and she immediately revives;\nthe disloyal wife here, as in the \"Arabian Nights,\" takes a ring from\neach of her lovers as a token. [115]\n\nThe same idea attaches to the bracelet, which is in close connection\nwith the soul of the wearer. Such is the Chandanh\u00e2r or sandal-wood\nnecklace of Chandan R\u00e2ja, and Sodewa B\u00e2\u00ee is born with a golden\nnecklace round her neck, concerning which her parents consulted the\nastrologers. They announced, \"This is no common child; the necklace of\ngold about your daughter's neck contains your daughter's soul. Let it,\ntherefore, be guarded with the utmost care; for if it were taken off\nand worn by another person, she would die.\" [116] The same idea appears\nin the Kashm\u00eer tales, where Panj Ph\u00fbl refuses to give up her necklace,\nas \"it contains the secret of her life, and was a charm to her against\nall dangers, sickness and trials; deprived of it she might become sick\nand miserable, or be taken away from them and die.\" [117] All this is\nbased on the conception of the external soul, to which reference has\nbeen already made. The M\u00e2ls of B\u00eerbh\u00fbm exchange necklaces at marriages,\nand the Princess Kalingasen\u00e2 wears a bracelet and necklace of lotus\nfibre to secure relief from the pains of love. [118]\n\nThe same idea shows itself in the use of strings and knots. In Northern\nIndia a piece of bat's bone is tied round the ankle as a remedy for\nrheumatism, and answers to the eel-skin, which is used for the same\npurpose in Europe. [119] In the Shetland Islands, to cure a sprain,\na thread of black wool with nine knots is tied on the injured place\nwith a metrical spell. [120] An Italian charm says: \"Take from a live\nhare the ankle bone, remove the hair from his belly, from the hair\nmake a thread, and with it tie the bone to the body of the sufferer,\nand you will see a wonderful cure.\" [121] In Ireland a strand of\nblack wool is tied round the ankle, and a charm is recited to cure\na sprain; a red string is tied round a child's neck in chincough\nand epilepsy. [122] In Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d a thread is tied round the ankle\nas a remedy in fever. If possible, a bit of Ashtara root should be\nfastened in the knot, and before tying it an oblation of butter is\nburnt before it. [123] Similarly, a peacock's feather tied on the\nankle cures a wound. In the Panj\u00e2b, it is a charm against snake-bite to\nsmoke one of the tail feathers of the peacock in a tobacco pipe. [124]\nThe R\u00e2jput father binds round the arm of his new-born infant a root\nof that species of grass known as the Amard\u00fbb or \"imperishable\" D\u00fbb,\nwell known for its nutritive qualities and luxuriant vegetation,\nin the same way as Scotch women wear round their necks blue woollen\nthreads or small cords till they wean their children. [125] We have\nalready noticed the efficacy of various grasses as spirit scarers.\n\nLastly, the cord itself has powers in folk-lore, and we meet with\nthe magic cord, which, tied round the neck of the hero by a witch,\nmakes him turn into a ram or an ape. [126]\n\nThe belief in the efficacy of the magic circle accounts for a variety\nof other customs. Thus, in a family sacrifice among the Chakmas of\nBengal, round the whole sacrificial platform had been run, from the\nhouse mother's distaff, a long white thread which encircled the altar,\nand then carried into the house, was held at the two ends by the good\nman's wife. Among the H\u00e2ris, at marriages, the right hand little\nfinger of the bridegroom's sister's husband is pierced, and a few\ndrops of blood allowed to fall on threads of jute, which are rolled\nup in a tiny pellet. This the bridegroom holds in his hand, while the\nbride attempts to snatch it from him. Her success in the attempt is\nconsidered to be a good omen of the happiness of the marriage. [127]\nHere we have a survival of descent in the female line, the blood\ncovenant, and the magic influence of the cord all combined.\n\nConnected with this is the belief in the forming a connection by\nknotting the magic string. We have the European true love-knot, an\nemblem of fidelity between the pair betrothed. So in Italy interlaced\nserpents and all kinds of interweaving, braiding, and interlacing\ncords are valuable as protectives because they attract the eyes of\nwitches. [128] Thus, among the K\u00e2rans of Bengal, the essential part of\nthe marriage ceremony is believed to be the laying of the bride's right\nhand in that of the bridegroom, and binding their two hands together\nwith a piece of string spun in a special way. [129] This belief in the\nmystic power of knots is common in all folk-lore. [130] The clothes of\nthe bride and bridegroom in Upper India are knotted together as they\nrevolve round the sacred fire. A similar belief explains the wearing\nof the Jane\u00fb or sacred thread by high-caste Hindus. The knots on it,\nknown as Brahma-granthi, or \"the knots of the Creator,\" repel evil\ninfluences, and Muhammadans on their birthdays tie knots in a cord,\nwhich is known as the S\u00e2lgirah or \"year knot.\"\n\n\n\nFace-covering.\n\nAnother device to avoid fascination or other dangerous influence is to\ncover the face so as to prevent the evil glance reaching the victim for\nwhom it is intended. Thus, at widow marriages in Northern India, the\nbride and bridegroom are covered with a sheet during the rite, probably\nin order to avert the envious or malignant influence of the spirit\nof the woman's first husband. It is in secret that the bridegroom\nmarks the parting of the bride's hair with vermilion. So in Bombay,\n[131] the Chitp\u00e2wan bride in one part of the wedding service has her\nhead covered with a piece of broadcloth. The Ramoshis tie the ends\nof the bride's and bridegroom's robes to a cloth which four men of\nthe family hold over them. The Dhors of P\u00fbna put a face-cloth on the\ndead, which is a general practice all over the world. The same belief\nis almost certainly at the root of much of the customs of Pardah and\nthe seclusion of women. It is as much through fear of fascination as\nmodesty that women draw their sheet across the face when they meet a\nstranger in the streets. We come across the same feeling in the rule by\nwhich all doors were closed when the princess in the \"Arabian Nights\"\nwent to the bath, and when not long ago the Mikado of Japan and other\nEastern potentates took their walks abroad. We thus reach by another\nroute the cycle of Godiva legends. [132]\n\n\n\nOmens.\n\nClosely connected with the class of ideas which we have been discussing\nis the belief in omens. This constitutes a very important branch\nof folk-lore both in the West and in the East. The success of a\njourney or enterprise is believed in a great measure to depend on the\nobject which was first seen in the morning, or observed on the road\nat an early period of the march. Thus, according to Theophrastus,\n\"The superstitious man, if a weasel run across his path, will not\npursue his walk until some one else has traversed the road, or until\nhe has thrown three stones across it.\" And Sir Thomas Brown writes:\n\"If an hare cross the highway, there are few above threescore years\nthat are not perplexed thereat, which, notwithstanding, is but an\naugurial terror according to that received expression, Inauspicatum\ndat iter oblatus lepus. And the ground of the conceit was probably\nno greater than this, that a fearful animal passing by us portended\nunto us something to be feared; as upon the like consideration,\nthe meeting of a fox presaged some future imposture.\"\n\nTulasi D\u00e2s, in his R\u00e2m\u00e2yana, sums up the favourable omens:--\n\n\"On the left-hand side a blue-necked jay was picking up food, as if\nto announce the very highest good fortune; on a fair field on the\nright were a crow and a mungoose in the sight of all; a woman was\nseen with a pitcher and a child; a fox showed himself winding about;\nand in front a cow was suckling its calf; a herd of deer came out on\nthe right; a Br\u00e2hman\u00ee kite promised all success; also a Sy\u00e2ma bird\nperched on a tree to the left; a man was met bearing curds, and two\nlearned Br\u00e2hmans with books in their hands.\" [133]\n\nThe face of a Teli or oilman, perhaps from the dirt which accompanies\nhis business, is about the worst which can be seen in the early\nmorning; but, with the curious inconsistency which crops up everywhere\nin phases of similar belief, that of a sweeper is lucky. His face\nshould be always looked at first, but on meeting a Br\u00e2hman, the glance\nshould start from his feet.\n\nThe Thags, like all criminal tribes of the present day, were great\nbelievers in what Dr. Tylor calls Angang or meeting omens. [134] With\nthem, if a wolf crossed the path from right to left it was considered\na bad omen; if from right to left the import was uncertain. The\ncall of the wolf was considered ominous; if heard during the day,\nthe gang had immediately to leave the neighbourhood. The same idea\nattached to a crow sitting silent on a tree, which is curiously in\ncontradistinction to the Roman belief--Saepe sinistra cav\u00e2 praedixit\nab ilice cornix. It was also considered very unlucky if a member of\nthe gang had his turban knocked off by accidentally touching a branch.\n\nThe jungle tribes have a strong belief in such omens. The Korwas of\nMirzapur abandon a journey if a jackal cross the road from the left,\nor if a little bird, known as the Suiya or small parrot, calls in the\nsame direction. The Pat\u00e2ris and Majhw\u00e2rs return if the N\u00eelg\u00e2\u00ea cross\nthe road from the right.\n\nAll natives have more or less the same feeling, and scientific\ntreatises have been written on the subject. Mentioning a monkey in\nthe morning brings starvation for the rest of the day; though looking\non its face is considered lucky. Hence monkeys are commonly tied in\nstables to protect horses, and an old adage says that \"the evil of the\nstable is on the monkey's head.\" So, in Morocco the wealthy Moors keep\na wild boar in their stables, in order that the Jinn and evil spirits\nmay be diverted from the horses and enter into the boar. [135] For the\nsame reason an English groom is fond of keeping a cat near his horses.\n\nIf a dog flaps its ears and shakes its head while any business is\ngoing on, disaster is sure to follow, and people careful in such\nmatters will stop the work if they can. The baying of a dog indicates\ndeath and misfortune, an idea common in British folk-lore. [136]\n\n\n    The time when screech-owls cry and lean dogs howl,\n    And spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves.\n\n\nEven the little house lizard is, like his kinsfolk, the \"murdering\nbasilisks, their softest touch as smart as lizard's stings,\" considered\nby the Beng\u00e2lis very unlucky, and when they hear its twittering they\npostpone a journey. [137]\n\nThe hare is always a bad omen. He is a god among the Kalmucs, who\ncall him Sakya Muni, or the Buddha, and say that on earth he allowed\nhimself to be eaten by a starving man, for which gracious act he was\nraised to domineer over the moon, where they profess to see him. There\nare traces of the same idea in Upper India. [138] The sites of many\ncities are said to have been founded where a hare crossed the path\nof the first settler. The hare is detested by the agricultural and\nfishing population of the Hebrides, and it is one of the ordinary\ndisguises of the witch in European folk-lore. [139]\n\nBlack is, of course, unlucky, and if a man, when digging the\nfoundations of a new house, turns up a piece of charcoal, it is\nadvisable to change the site.\n\nOwls are naturally of evil omen. Even the stout-hearted Z\u00e2lim Sinh,\nthe famous regent of Kota, abandoned his house because an owl hooted\non the roof. [140] The hooting of the owl is a sign that the bird\nmeans to leave the place, and wise people would do well to follow his\nexample. One kind of owl, the Raghui Chiraiya, learns people's names,\nand if any one by chance answer his call he is sure to die.\n\nTo see a Dhobi, or washerman, who is associated with foul raiment,\nis exceedingly dangerous. I once had a bearer who was sadly afflicted\nbecause on tour he had to sleep in the same tent with a Dhobi. The\nold man was constantly bruising his shins over the ropes and pegs,\nbecause he was in the habit of stumbling out before dawn with his\nhands pressed over his eyes to protect himself from the sight of his\nill-omened companion.\n\nA one-eyed man is, as we have already said, very unlucky. When Jaswant\nR\u00e2o Holkar lost one of his eyes, he said, \"I was before bad enough;\nbut now I shall be the Guru, or preceptor, of rogues.\" [141] I once\nhad an office clerk afflicted in this way, and his colleagues refused\nto sit in the same room with him, because their accounts always went\nwrong when he looked in their direction. When it was impossible to\nprovide any other accommodation for him, they insisted that he should\ncover the obnoxious organ with a handkerchief when he had to work in\ntheir neighbourhood.\n\nOne of the last of the Anglo-Indians, who had become thoroughly\norientalized, used to insist on his valet, when he came to wake him,\nholding in his hand a tray containing some milk and a gold coin,\nso that his first glance on waking might fall on these lucky articles.\n\n\n\nNumbers.\n\nThere are mystic qualities attached to numbers. Thus, when Hindus\nhave removed the ashes from a burning ground they write the figures\n49 on the spot where the corpse was cremated. The Pandits explain\nthis by saying that when written in Hindi the figures resemble the\nconch-shell and wheel of Vishnu, or that it is an invocation to the\nforty-nine winds of heaven to come and purify the ground. It is more\nprobably based on the idea that the number seven, as is the case all\nover the world, has some mystic application. So in the folk-tales\nthe number three has a special application to the tests of the hero\nwho endures the assaults of demons or witches for three successive\nnights. The idea of luck in odd numbers is universal, and the seventh\nson of a seventh son is gifted with powers of healing.\n\n\n\nBodily Functions.\n\nThe functions of the body supply many omens. Thus, in Somadeva we read:\n\"My right eye throbbed frequently, as if with joy, and told me that\nit was none other than she.\" [142]\n\n\"When our cheek burns, or ear tingles, we usually say some one is\ntalking of us,\" writes Sir Thomas Brown, \"a conceit of great antiquity,\nand ranked among superstitious opinions by Pliny. He supposes it to\nhave proceeded from the notion of a signifying Genius, or Universal\nMercury, that conducted sounds to their distant subjects, and taught\nto hear by touch.\" The number of beliefs of this class is infinite\nand recorded in numerous popular handbooks.\n\n\n\nLucky and Unlucky Days.\n\nSo, there are days which are lucky and unlucky. A Persian couplet\nlays down that one should not go east on Saturday and Monday;\nwest on Friday and Sunday; north on Tuesday and Wednesday; south\non Thursday. Even Lord Burghley advised his son to be cautious as\nregards the first Monday in April, when Cain was born and Abel slain;\nthe second Monday in August, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed;\nthe last Monday in December, which was the birthday of Judas. Akbar\nlaid down that the clothes which came into his wardrobe on the first\nday of the month Farward\u00een were unlucky. [143] The way some people get\nover omens of this kind is to send some article ahead of the traveller\non the unlucky day, which absorbs the ill omen, which would otherwise\nhave fallen upon him.\n\nThe catalogue of superstitions of this class might be almost\nindefinitely extended. The principles on which most of them depend are\nclear enough. They rest on a sort of sympathetic magic. Things which\nare good-looking, people who are healthy or prosperous, give favourable\nomens, while those that are ugly, or of low caste, or associated with\nmenial or unpleasant duties, and so on, are ominous. Europeans in\nIndia usually quite fail to realize the influence which such ideas\nexercise over the minds of the people. Most of us have been struck\nby the almost unaccountable failure of natives to attend a summons\nfrom the Courts, to keep an appointment to meet a European officer\nfor the inspection of a school or market. If inquiries are made it\nwill often be found that some idea of this kind explains the matter.\n\nThus, Colonel Tod describes how he had a visit from M\u00e2nik Chand. \"He\nlooked very disconsolate and explained that he had seven times left\nhis tent and as often turned back, the bird of omen having each time\npassed him on the adverse side; but that at length he had determined\nto disregard it, as having forfeited confidence he was indifferent\nto the future.\" [144]\n\nThe same idea of good or evil omen attaches to many places and\npersons. \"Nolai was built by R\u00e2ja Nol. Its modern appellation of\nBarnagar has its origin in a strange, vulgar superstition of names of\nill omen, which must not be pronounced before the morning meal. The\ncity is called either Nolai or Barnagar, according to the hour at\nwhich the mention becomes necessary.\" [145] So with the town of Jammu\nin Kashm\u00eer, which is unlucky from its association with Yama, the god of\ndeath; with Talw\u00e2ra in the Hoshy\u00e2rpur District, which is connected with\nthe sword (talw\u00e2r); with Rohtak, which should be called Rustajgarh,\nand with numerous other places in Northern India. Thus, if people want\nto speak of Bulandshahr in the morning they call it by the old Hindi\nname of Unchg\u00e2nw; Bhong\u00e2nw in Mainpuri they call Pachkosa; N\u00e2nauta in\nSah\u00e2ranpur, Ph\u00fbtashahr; Mandwa in Fatehpur, Rotiw\u00e2la, and so on. [146]\n\nSo, there is hardly a village in which it is not considered ominous\nto name before breakfast some one who, from his misery, rascality,\nor some other reason, is considered unlucky. In Mathura there is a\ntank built by R\u00e2ja Patni Mall.\n\n\"Should a stranger visit it in the morning and inquire of any Hindu\nby whom it was constructed, he will have considerable difficulty in\neliciting a straightforward answer. The R\u00e2ja, it is said, was of such\na delicate constitution that he could never at any time take more than\na few morsels of the simplest food; hence arises the belief that any\none who mentions him the first thing in the morning will, like him,\nhave to pass the day fasting.\" [147] When we wonder at people suffering\nbondage of this kind, we must not forget that similar beliefs prevail\nin our own country. \"In Buckie there are certain family names which\nno fisherman will pronounce. The ban lies particularly heavy on\nRoss. Coull also bears it, but not to such a degree. The folks of\nthat village talk of spitting out the bad name.\" [148]\n\nA similar euphemistic form of expression is often used in regard to\nanimals. If you are civil and do not abuse the house rats, they will\nnot damage your goods. [149]\n\nThe Mirzapur Pat\u00e2ris when they have to mention a monkey in the morning,\ncall him Hanum\u00e2n, and the bear Jatari, or \"he with the long hair,\"\nor D\u00eemkhauiya, \"he that eats white ants.\" The Pankas call the camel\nLambgh\u00eencha or \"long-necked.\" \"I asked the R\u00e2ja,\" says Gen. Sleeman,\n\"whether we were likely to fall in with any hares, making use of\nthe term Khargosh, or 'ass-eared.'\" \"Certainly not,\" said the R\u00e2ja,\n\"if you begin by abusing them by such a name. Call them Lambkanna or\n'long-eared,' and you will get plenty.\"\n\nIt is, of course, easy to avoid the effect of evil omens by the use\nof a little tact and wit, as was the case with William the Conqueror,\nand there are many natives who are noted for their cleverness in this\nway. Of an Eastern Sult\u00e2n it is told that, leaving his palace on a\nwarlike expedition, his standard touched a cluster of lamps, called\nSurayya, because they resembled the Pleiades. He would have turned\nback, but one of his officers said, \"My Lord! our standard has reached\nthe Pleiades;\" so he was relieved, advanced, and was victorious.\n\n\n\nFacilitating Departure of and Barring the Ghost.\n\nWe now come to consider the various means adopted to facilitate the\njourney of the departing soul, and to prevent it from returning as\na malignant ghost to bring trouble, disease, or death on the survivors.\n\nFirst comes the custom of placing the dying man on the ground at the\nmoment of dissolution. This is done partly, as we have seen, through\nsome feeling of the sanctity of Mother earth and that anyone resting\non her bosom is safe from demoniacal agency, and partly that the spirit\nmay meet with no obstruction in its passage through the air. This last\nidea prevails very generally. Thus, in Great Britain, death is believed\nto be retarded and the dying person kept in a state of suffering by\nhaving any lock closed or any bolt shut in the dwelling. [150]\n\nThe tortures which the soul undergoes in its journey to the land of\nthe dead are vividly pictured in some of the sacred writings. [151]\nHe is scorched by heat and pierced by wind and cold, attacked by\nbeasts of prey, stumbling through thorns and filth, until he at\nlast reaches the dread river Vaitaran\u00ee, which rolls its flood of\nabominations between him and the other shore. So, when a Hindu dies,\na lamp made of flour is placed in his hands to light his ghost to\nthe realm of Yama. Devout people believe that the spirit takes three\nhundred and sixty days to accomplish the journey, so an offering of\nthat number of lamps is made. In order, also, to help him on his way,\nthey feed a Br\u00e2hman every day for a year; if the deceased was a woman,\na Br\u00e2hman\u00ee is fed. The lamps are lighted facing the south, and this\nis the only occasion on which this is done, because the south is\nthe realm of death, and no one will sleep or have their house door\nopening towards that ill-omened quarter of the sky.\n\nWith the same intention of aiding the spirit on his way, the relations\nhowl during the funeral rites, like the keeners at an Irish wake,\nin order to scare the evil spirits who would obstruct the passage of\nthe soul to its final rest. [152]\n\nAnother plan is to carry out the corpse by a special way, which is then\nbarred up, so that it may not be able to find its way back. The same\nend is attained by carrying out the corpse feet foremost. Thus Marco\nPolo writes: \"Sometimes their sorcerers shall tell them that it is not\ngood luck to carry the corpse out by the door, so they have to break a\nhole in the wall, and to draw it out that way when it is taken to the\nburning.\" It is needless to say that the same custom prevails in Great\nBritain. [153] The Banj\u00e2ras of Kh\u00e2ndesh reverse the process. They move\ntheir huts after a death, and make a special entrance instead of the\nordinary door, which is supposed to be polluted by the passage of the\nspirit of the dead. [154] A somewhat similar custom prevails among the\nMaghs of Bengal. When the friends return from the cremation ground,\nif it is the master of the house who has died, the ladder leading\nup to the house is thrown down, and they must effect an entrance\nby cutting a hole in the back wall and so creeping up. [155] The\ntheory appears to be that the evil spirits who were on the watch\nfor the ghost may be lurking near the route by which the corpse was\nremoved. We have the same idea in the European custom of saluting a\ncorpse which is being carried past. Grose distinctly states that the\nhomage was really offered to the attendant evil spirits. [156] So,\nthe Birhors of Bengal, on the sixth day after birth, take the child\nout of the house by an opening made in the wall, so as to evade the\nevil spirit on the watch at the door. [157]\n\nThe most elaborate precautions are, however, devoted to barring out the\nghost and preventing its return to its former home. The first of these\nconsist of rules to prevent the breach of the curiosity taboo. All\nthrough folk-lore we have instances of the danger of looking back,\nas in the case of Lot's wife. One of the maxims of Pythagoras was:\n\"On setting out on a journey, do not return back; for if you do\nthe fairies will catch you.\" [158] In one of the Kashm\u00eer tales the\nyouth is warned not to look back, otherwise he would be changed into\na pillar of stone. [159] In one of the Italian spells the officiant\nis told: \"Spit behind you thrice and look not behind you.\" [160] In\nan Indian tale the god promises to help the Br\u00e2hman and to follow\nhim. The Br\u00e2hman looks back and the deity becomes a stone. [161]\nThe danger of looking back is that the person's soul may be detained\namong the ghosts of the dead. This is the reason why Hindu mourners\ndo not look back when they are returning from the cremation ground,\nand so we find that in Naxos it is a rule that none of the women who\nfollow the bier must look back, for if she do she will die on the spot,\nor else one of her relations will die. [162]\n\nAnother means is to bar the return of the ghost in a physical\nway. Thus, when the Aheriyas of the North-Western Provinces burn the\ncorpse, they fling pebbles in the direction of the pyre to prevent the\nspirit accompanying them. In the Him\u00e2layas, when a man has attended the\nfuneral ceremonies of a relative, he takes a piece of the shroud worn\nby the deceased and hangs it on some tree in the cremation ground,\nas an offering to the spirits which frequent such places. On his\nreturn, he places a thorny bush on the road wherever it is crossed\nby another path, and the nearest male relative of the deceased, on\nseeing this, puts a stone on it, and pressing it down with his feet,\nprays the spirit of the dead man not to trouble him. [163] Among\nthe Bengal Limbus, the Phedangma attends the funeral, and delivers a\nbrief address to the departed spirit on the general doom of mankind\nand the succession of life and death, concluding with the command to\ngo where his fathers have gone, and not to come back to trouble the\nliving with dreams. [164]\n\nPractically the same custom still prevails in Ireland. When a corpse\nis carried to the grave, it is the rule for the bearers to stop\nhalf-way while the nearest relatives build up a small monument of\nloose stones, and no hand would dare to disturb this monument while\nthe world lasts. [165]\n\nIn the case of the Dh\u00e2ngars and Basors, both menial tribes in the\nNorth-Western Provinces, we come across an usage which appears to\nbe of a very primitive type and to be intended to secure the same\nobject of barring the return of the ghost. After they have buried\nthe corpse they return to the house of the dead man, kill a hog, and\nafter separating the limbs, which are cooked for the funeral feast,\nthey bury the trunk in the courtyard of the house, making an invocation\nto it as the representative of the dead man, and ordering him to rest\nthere in peace and not worry his descendants. In the grave in which\nthey bury this they pile stones and thorns to keep the ghost down.\n\nMany other mourning customs appear to be based on the same\nprinciple. Thus, the old ritual directs that all who return from a\nfuneral must touch the Lingam, fire, cowdung, a grain of barley, a\ngrain of sesame and water--\"all,\" as Professor De Gubernatis says,\n\"symbols of that fecundity which the contact with a corpse might\nhave destroyed.\" [166] The real motive is doubtless to get rid of\nthe ghost, which may have accompanied the mourners from the cremation\nground. In Borneo rice is sprinkled over them with the same object,\nand the Basutos who have carried a corpse to the grave have their\nhands scratched with a knife and magic stuff is rubbed into the wound\nto remove the ghost which may be adhering to them. [167]\n\nIn Upper India, among the lower Hindu castes, when the mourners return\nafter the ceremony, they bathe, water being a scarer of ghosts,\nand at the house door they touch a stone, cowdung, iron, fire, and\nwater, which have been placed outside the house in readiness when\nthe corpse was removed. They then touch each their left ears with\nthe little finger of the left hand, chew leaves of the bitter N\u00eem\ntree as a sign of mourning, and, after sitting some time in silence,\ndisperse. Others, as the Ghasiyas, pass their feet through the smoke\nof burning oil, and others merely rub their feet with oil to drive\naway the ghost. The same idea of barring the return of the ghost by\nmeans of fire is found among the Nats of K\u00e2thi\u00e2w\u00e2r, who burn hay on\nthe face of the corpse before cremating it, and among the Thoris,\nwho brand the great toe of the right foot of the deceased. [168]\n\nThis sitting in silence after the funeral is commonly explained merely\nas a mark of sympathy for the bereaved relatives, but an analogous\ncustom in Ireland leads to the inference that the real reason may be\nto give the ghost time to depart, and not to interrupt in any way its\nprogress to the spirit land. On the west coast of Ireland, after the\ndeath no wail is allowed to be raised until three hours have elapsed,\nbecause the sound of the crying would hinder the soul from speaking\nto God when it stands before Him, and would waken up the great dogs\nthat are watching for the souls of the dead to devour them. [169]\n\nWe have in these rites and in the ordinary ritual some further\nillustrations of the protective influence of various articles which\nscare evil spirits. Thus, after the cremation the officiating Br\u00e2hman\ntouches fire and bathes in order to purify himself and bar the return\nof the ghost; and the relative who lights the funeral pyre keeps a\npiece of iron with him, and goes about with a brass drinking vessel\nin his hand as a preservative against evil spirits while the period\nof mourning lasts. The system of protection is exactly the same\nas in the case of the young mother and her child during the period\nof impurity consequent on parturition. As the Hedley Kow, the North\nBritish goblin, is peculiarly obnoxious at childbirth, so the R\u00e2kshas\u00ee\nof Indian folk-lore carries off the baby if the suitable precautions\nto repel her are neglected. [170]\n\nAnother method of barring the ghost is to bury the dead face\ndownwards. This is common among sweepers of Upper India, whose ghosts,\nas seen in the probable connection of the Ch\u00fbhra and the Churel,\nare always malignant. The same custom prevails among the Ch\u00e2ran\nBanj\u00e2ras of Kh\u00e2ndesh. With this may be contrasted the Irish custom\nof loosening the nails of the coffin before interment, in order to\nfacilitate the passage of the soul to heaven. [171]\n\nA more elaborate ritual is that performed by the Mangars of\nBengal. \"One of the maternal relatives of the deceased, usually the\nmaternal uncle, is chosen to act as priest for the occasion, and to\nconduct the ritual for the propitiation of the dead. First of all he\nputs in the mouth of the corpse some silver coins and some coral,\nwhich is much prized by the Him\u00e2layan races. Then he lights a wick\nsoaked in clarified butter, touches the lips with fire, scatters\nsome parched rice about the mouth, and, lastly, covers the face with\na cloth. Two bits of wood about three feet long are set up on either\nside of the grave. In the one are cut nine steps or notches, forming\na ladder for the spirit of the dead to ascend to heaven; on the other\nevery one present at the funeral cuts a notch to show that he has\nbeen there. As the maternal uncle steps out of the grave, he bids a\nsolemn farewell to the dead and calls upon him to ascend to heaven\nby the ladder prepared for him. When the earth has been filled in,\nthe stick notched by the funeral party is taken away to a distance\nand broken in two pieces, lest by its means the dead man should do\nthe survivors a mischief. The pole used to carry the corpse is also\nbroken up, and the spades and ropes are left in the grave.\" [172]\n\nAmong other devices to bar the return of the spirit may be noted the\ncustom after a death in the family of preparing a resting-place for\nthe ghost, until on the completion of the prescribed funeral rites it\nis admitted to the company of the sainted dead. Thus, among high-caste\nHindus a jar of water is hung on a P\u00eepal tree for the refreshment of\nthe spirit. The lower castes practise a more elaborate ritual. When\nthe obsequies are completed they plant by the bank of a tank a bunch\nof grass, which the chief mourners daily water until the funeral rites\nare over. In Bombay Mr. Campbell writes: [173] \"With a few exceptions\ngenerally among almost all classes of Hindus, when the dead is carried\nto the burning ground, on nearing the cemetery, a small stone is picked\nup and applied to the eyes, chest, and feet of the deceased. This\nstone is called Jivkh\u00e2da or the spirit stone, is considered as the\nrepresentative or type of the deceased, and offerings of milk and\nwater are given to it for ten days.\" Further he says: \"On nearing\nthe burning ground a small stone is picked up, and with it the feet,\nnose, and chest of the deceased are touched thrice. This stone is\ncalled Ashma, and is considered as a type of the deceased, and to\nit funeral oblations are offered for ten days. The bier is then put\ndown, and a ceremony called Visr\u00e2nti Sr\u00e2ddha is performed by the chief\nmourner, who comes forward and offers two balls of rice, called Bh\u00fbt\nor 'spirit,' and Khechar, or 'roamer in the sky,' to the deceased. A\nhole is dug and the balls are buried there, and the litter is raised\nagain on shoulders by four persons and carried to the cemetery.\"\n\nThe same idea of barring the return of the ghost accounts for the\ntombstone and cairn. British evil spirits have been secured in this\nway. Mr. Henderson tells of a vicious spirit which was entombed under\na large stone for the space of ninety years and a day. Should any\nluckless person sit on that stone, he would be unable to leave it\nfor ever. [174] In India, when a Ho or Munda dies, a very substantial\ncoffin is constructed and placed on faggots of brushwood. The body,\ncarefully washed and anointed with oil, is reverently laid in this\ncoffin, and all the clothes, ornaments, and agricultural implements\nthat the deceased was in the habit of using are placed with it, and\nalso any money that he had with him when he died. Then the lid of the\ncoffin is put on and the whole is burned. The bones are collected,\ntaken in procession to the houses of friends, and every place where\nthe deceased was in the habit of visiting. They are finally buried\nunder a large slab, and a megalithic monument is erected to the memory\nof the dead. A quantity of rice is thrown into the grave with other\nfood. [175]\n\nThis custom of parading the corpse also prevails in Ireland.\n\n\"I believe it is the custom in most, if not all, small towns in the\nsouth for a body to be carried, on its way to the graveyard, round\nthe town by the longest way to bid its last farewell to the place. If\nthe body be that of a murdered man, it is, if possible, carried past\nthe house of the murderer. In county Wicklow, if an old church lies\non the way to the grave, the body is borne round it three times.\" [176]\n\nThe Korkus of Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d have a remarkable method of laying the\nghost. \"Each clan has a place in which the funeral rite of every\nmember of that clan must be performed; and however far the Korku may\nhave wandered from the original centre of his tribe, he must return\nthere to set his father's spirit to rest, and enable it to join\nits own family and ancestral ghosts. In this spot a separate stake\n(munda) is set up for every one whose rites are separately performed,\nand if a poor Korku performs them for several ancestors at once, he\nstill puts up only one stake. It stands two or two and a half feet\nabove the ground, planed smooth and squared at the top; on one side\nis carved at the top the likeness of the sun and moon, a spider,\nand a wheat ear, and below it a figure representing the principal\nperson in whose honour it is put up, on horseback, with weapons in\nhis hands. If more than one person's death is being celebrated, the\nrest are carved below as subordinate figures. I could not learn that\nthe spirits are supposed to specially haunt this grove of stakes,\nor that Korkus have any dread of going near it at night; but they\nare far bolder than Hindus in this respect. When the funeral rite\nis to be performed, the first thing is to cut a bamboo and take out\nthe pith, which is to represent the bones of the deceased, unless he\nhas been burnt, in which case the bones themselves will have been\npreserved. A chicken is then sacrificed at the grave, and all that\nnight the mourners watch and dance, and sing and make merry.\n\n\"Next day they go out very early, and cut down some perfectly\nunblemished tree, either teak or Sal\u00e2i, not hollow or decayed or\nmarked with an axe, which they cut to make the Munda stake. It is\nbrought home at once and fashioned by a skilful man. In the afternoon\nit is carried to the place where cattle rest outside the village at\nnoontide, and is washed and covered with turmeric like a bridegroom,\nand five chickens are sacrificed to it. It is then brought home again,\nand the pith representing the bones is taken outside the village and\nhung to some tree for safety during the night.\" (The idea, as we have\nelsewhere seen, is more probably to allow the ghost an opportunity\nof revisiting them.)\n\n\"All the friends and relations have by this time assembled, and\nthis evening the chief funeral dinner is given. Next day, the whole\nparty set out for the place where the stakes of their clan are set\nup, and after digging a hole and putting two copper coins in it,\nand the bones of the deceased or the pith which represents them,\nthey put the stake in and fix it upright. Then they offer a goat\nor chickens to it, which are presently eaten close by, and in the\nevening the whole party returns home.\" [177]\n\nAll this ritual, carried out by one of the most primitive Indian\ntribes, admirably illustrates the principles which we have been\ndiscussing. The obvious intention of the custom is to provide\na resting-place for the spirit of the dead man, so that it may no\nlonger be a source of danger to the survivors.\n\nSimilar customs prevail among other aboriginal races of the Central\nProvinces. In some places they burn their dead and then erect\nplatforms, at the corners of which they place tall, red stones. In\nother places a sort of low square mound is raised over the remains\nof the deceased, at the corners of which are erected wooden posts,\nround which thread is wound to complete the sacred circle, and a\nstone is set up in the centre. Here offerings are presented, as in\nthe jungle worship of their deities, of rice and other grains, fowls\nor sheep. On one occasion after the establishment of the Bhonsla\nor Marh\u00e2ta Government in Gondw\u00e2na a cow was offered to the manes\nof a Gond; but this having come to the notice of the authorities,\nthe relations were publicly whipped, and all were interdicted from\ndoing such an act again.\n\nTo persons of more than usual reputation for sanctity offerings\ncontinue to be presented for many years after their decease. In the\nDistrict of Bhand\u00e2ra rude collections of coarse earthenware in the\nform of horses may be seen, which have accumulated from year to year\non the tombs of such men. [178] The Pauariyas of Chota N\u00e2gpur bury\ntheir dead, except the bodies of their priests, which are carried\non a cot into the forests covered with leaves and branches and kept\nthere, the reason assigned being that if laid in the village cemetery\ntheir ghosts become very troublesome. The bodies of people who die\nof contagious disease are similarly disposed of, the fact of death\nin this way being supposed to be the direct act of one of the deities\nwho govern plagues. [179]\n\nIn a country where immediate burial or cremation is necessary and\nhabitual, we need not expect to meet many examples of the customs,\nof which Mr. H. Spencer gives examples, [180] of placing the body\non a platform or the like in order to secure its personal comfort\nand conciliate the spirit. With the object of keeping a place ready\nfor the spirit, some tribes are careful to preserve the body. The\nSingpoo of the north-eastern frontier keep the bodies of their dead\nchiefs for several years, and the K\u00fbkis dry the dead at a slow fire,\n[181] practices which among more civilized races rise to embalming, as\namong the Chinese and Egyptians. The Th\u00e2rus of the sub-Him\u00e2layan Tar\u00e2\u00ee\nhave a custom of placing the corpse on the village fetish mound during\nthe night after death, and then the mourning goes on. The practice is\nperhaps intended as much to prevent, by the sanctity of the spot on\nwhich it is placed, the spirit from harming the survivors, as from\nany special desire to conciliate it. Among all Hindus, of course,\nas far as exigencies of the rapid disposal of the remains allow,\nit is habitual to treat the dead with respect; corpses are carefully\ncovered with red cloth, and removed reverently for burial or cremation.\n\nThere is also among some tribes the custom of disinterring corpses\nafter temporary burial. Thus, the Bhotiyas of the Him\u00e2layas burn\ntheir dead only in the month of K\u00e2rttik; those who die in the meantime\nare temporarily buried and disinterred when the season for cremation\narrives. The Kathk\u00e2ris, a jungle tribe in Bombay, dig up the corpse\nsome time after burial and hold a wake over the ghastly relics. They\nappear to do this only in the case of persons dying of cholera or\nsmall-pox, with some idea of appeasing the deity of disease. In parts\nof Oudh the custom is said still to prevail among the lower castes\nduring epidemics, and it has recently attracted the attention of the\nsanitary officers. [182]\n\n\n\nThe Funeral Feast.\n\nThe funeral feast is evidently a survival of the feast when the dead\nkinsman was consumed by his relatives, who wished thus to partake\nof the properties of the dead. By another theory the feasting of the\nmourners is intended to resist the attempt of the ghost of the dead\nman to enter their bodies, food being offensive to spirits.\n\n\n\nMutilation a Sign of Mourning.\n\nPerhaps the only distinct survival of the ceremonial mutilation so\ncommon among savages as a sign of mourning, is the shaving which is\ncompulsory on all the clansmen who shared in the death pollution. In\nthe Odyssey, at the death of Antilochus, Peisistratus says, \"This is\nnow the only due we pay to miserable men, to cut the hair and let the\ntear fall from the cheek,\" and at the burial rites of Patroklus \"they\nheaped all the corpse with their hair which they cut off and threw\nthereon.\" The cutting of the hair is always a serious matter. \"Amongst\nthe Maoris many spells were uttered at hair-cutting; one, for example,\nwas spoken to consecrate the obsidian knife with which the hair was\ncut; another was pronounced to avert the thunder and lightning which\nhair-cutting was believed to cause.\" [183] This ceremonial shaving is\nalso perhaps the only survival in Northern India of puberty initiation\nceremonies. In some cases the hair cut appears to be regarded as a\nsacrifice. Thus between the ages of two and five the Bh\u00eels shave the\nheads of their children. The child's aunt takes the hair in her lap,\nand wrapping it in her clothes, receives a cow, buffalo, or other\npresent from the child's parent. [184]\n\n\n\nRespect Paid to Hair.\n\nAll over the world the hair is invested with particular sanctity\nas embodying the strength of the owner, as in the Samson-Delilah\nstory. Vishnu, according to the old story, took two hairs, a white\nand a black one, and these became Balar\u00e2ma and Krishna. Many charms\nare worked through hair, and if a witch gets possession of it she\ncan work evil to the owner. An Italian charm directs, \"When you\nenter any city, collect before the gate as many hairs as you will\nwhich may lie on the road, saying to yourself that you do this to\nremove your headache, and bind one of the hairs to your head.\" [185]\nThe strength of Nisus lay in his golden hair, and when it was pulled\nout he was killed by Minos. It is this power of hair which possibly\naccounts for its preservation as a relic of the dead in lockets and\nbracelets, or, as Mr. Hartland shows, the idea at the root of these\npractices is that of sacramental communion with the dead. [186]\n\nWe have already come across instances of growing hair as a\ncurse. Mr. Frazer gives numerous examples of this custom among savage\nraces, and in the Teutonic mythology the avenger of Baldur will not\ncut his hair until he has killed his enemy.\n\nIn the folk-tales hair is a powerful deus ex machin\u00e2, human hair for\nchoice, but any kind will answer the purpose. It is one of the most\ncommon incidents that the hero recognizes the heroine by a lock of\nher hair which floats down the stream. [187]\n\nA curious instance of mutilation regarded as a charm may be quoted\nfrom Bengal. Should a woman give birth to several stillborn children,\nin succession, the popular belief is that the same child reappears on\neach occasion. So, to frustrate the designs of the evil spirit that\nhas taken possession of the child, the nose or a portion of the ear\nis cut off and the body is cast on a dunghill.\n\n\n\nFood for the Dead.\n\nAnother means for conciliating the spirit of the dead man is to\nlay up food for its use. [188] This is intended partly as provision\nfor the ghost in its journey to the other world. But in some cases\nit would seem that there is a different basis for the custom. As we\nhave seen, it is dangerous to eat the food of fairy-land, and unless\nfood is supplied to the wandering ghost, it may be obliged to eat the\nfood of the lower world and hence be unable to return to the world of\nmen. According to the ancient Indian ritual it was recommended to put\ninto the hands of the dead man the reins of the animal killed in the\nfuneral sacrifice, or in default of an animal victim at least two cakes\nof rice or flour, so that he may throw them to the dogs of Yama, which\nwould otherwise bar his passage, [189] and the same idea constantly\nappears in the folk-tales where the hero takes some food with him which\nhe flings to the fierce beasts which prevent him from gaining the water\nof life or whatever may have been the test imposed upon him. The use\nof pulse in the funeral rites depends upon the same principle, and\nin the Greek belief the dead carried vegetables with them to hell,\neither to win the right of passage or as provisions for the road.\n\n\n\nArticles left with the Corpse.\n\nHence too comes the practice of burning with the corpse the articles\nwhich the dead man was in the habit of using. They rise with the\nfumes of the pyre and solace him in the world of spirits. The Kos told\nColonel Dalton that the reason of this was that they were unwilling\nto derive any immediate benefit by the death of a member of the\nfamily. Hence they burn his wearing apparel and personal effects,\nbut they do not destroy clothes and other things which have not been\nworn. For this reason, old men of the tribe, in a spirit of careful\neconomy, avoid wearing new clothes, so that they may not be wasted\nat the funeral. [190]\n\nThe custom of laying out food for the ghost still prevails in Ireland,\nwhere it is a very prevalent practice during some nights after\ndeath to leave food outside the house, a griddle cake or a dish of\npotatoes. If it is gone in the morning, the spirits must have taken\nit, for no human being would touch the food left for the dead, as it\nmight compel him to join their company. On November Eve food is laid\nout in the same way. [191]\n\nThere are numerous examples of similar practices in India. The Mh\u00e2rs of\nKh\u00e2ndesh, when they remove a corpse, put in its mouth a P\u00e2n leaf with\na gold bead from his wife's necklace. At the grave the brother or son\nof the dead man wets the end of his turban and drops a little water\non the lips of the corpse. [192] So the Greeks used to put a coin in\nthe dead man's mouth to enable him to pay his fare to Charon. In the\nPanj\u00e2b it is a common practice to put in the mouth of the corpse the\nPancharatana or five kinds of jewels, gold, silver, copper, coral,\nand pewter. The leaves of the Tulasi or sweet basil and Ganges water\nare put into the mouth of a dying man, and the former into the ears and\nnostrils also. They are said to be offerings to Yama, the god of death,\nwho on receiving them shows mercy to the soul of the deceased. The\nsame customs generally prevail among the Hindus of Northern India.\n\nAmong the Buddhists of the Him\u00e2laya, Moorcroft was present at the\nconsecration of the food of the dead. [193] The L\u00e2ma consecrated\nbarley and water and poured them from a silver saucer into a brass\nvessel, occasionally striking two brass cymbals together, reciting or\nchanting prayers, to which from time to time an inferior L\u00e2ma uttered\nresponses aloud, accompanied by the rest in an undertone. This was\nintended for the use of the souls in hell, who would starve were it\nnot provided. The music and singing, if we may apply the analogy of\nIndian practices, are intended to scare the vagrant ghosts, who would\notherwise consume or defile the food.\n\nThe same is the case among the Dr\u00e2vidian races. Thus, the Bhuiy\u00e2rs\nof Mirzapur after the funeral feast throw a cupful of oil and some\nfood into the water hole in which the ashes of the dead man are\ndeposited. They say that he will never be hungry or want oil to anoint\nhimself after bathing. The Korwas, when burning a corpse, place with\nit the ornaments and clothes of the deceased, and an axe, which they\ndo not break, as is the habit of many other savages. They say that\nthe spirit of the dead man will want it to hack his way through the\njungles of the lower world. When the Bhuiy\u00e2rs cremate a corpse they\nthrow near the spot an axe, if the deceased was a man, and a Khurpi\nor weeding spud, if a woman. No one would dare to appropriate such\nthings, as he would be forced to join the ghastly company of their\nowners. Where the corpse is burned they leave a platter made of leaves\ncontaining a little boiled rice, and they sprinkle on the ground all\nthe ordinary kinds of grain and some turmeric and salt as food for\nthe dead in the next world.\n\nAll these tribes and many low-caste Hindus in Northern India lay\nout platters of food under the eaves of the house during the period\nof mourning, and they ascertain by peculiar marks which they examine\nnext day whether the spirit has partaken of the food or not. Among the\njungle tribes there is a rule that the food for the dead is prepared,\nnot by the house-mother, but by the senior daughter-in-law, and even\nif incapacitated by illness from performing this duty, she is bound\nat least to commence the work by cooking one or two cakes, the rest\nbeing prepared by one of the junior women of the family.\n\nAmong the more Hinduized Majhw\u00e2rs and Pat\u00e2ris we reach the stage where\nthe clothes, implements of the deceased, and some food are given to\nthe Pat\u00e2ri priest, who, by vicariously consuming them, lays up a store\nfor the use of the dead man in the other world. This is the principle\non which food and other articles are given to the Mah\u00e2br\u00e2hman or\nordinary Hindu funeral priest at the close of the period of mourning.\n\nAmong the Bengal tribes, the M\u00e2l Pahariyas pour the blood of goats\nand fowls on their ancestral memorial pillars that the souls may not\nhunger in the world of the dead. Among the Bh\u00fbmij, at the funeral\nceremony, an outsider, who is often a Laiya or priest, comes forward\nto personate the deceased, by whose name he is addressed, and asked\nwhat he wants to eat. Acting thus as the dead man's proxy, he mentions\nvarious articles of food, which are placed before him. After making a\nregular meal, he goes away, and the spirit of the deceased is believed\nto go with him. So among the Kolis of the Konkan, the dead man's soul\nis brought back into one of the mourners. Among the V\u00e2rlis of Th\u00e2na,\non the twelfth day after death, a dinner is given to the nearest\nrelations, and during the night the spirit of the dead enters into\none of the relations, who entertains the rest with the story of some\nevent in the dead man's life. Among the Sant\u00e2ls, one of the mourners\ndrums by the ashes of the dead, and the spirit enters the body, when\nthe mourner shaves, bathes, eats a cock, and drinks some liquor. [194]\n\nAmong the Bengal Chakmas, a bamboo post or other portion of a dead\nman's house is burned with him, probably in order to provide him with\nshelter in the next world. Among the K\u00e2mis, before they can partake\nof the funeral feast, a small portion of every dish must be placed\nin a leaf plate and taken out into the jungle for the spirit of the\ndead man, and carefully watched until a fly or other insect settles\nupon it. The watcher then covers up the plate with a slab of stone,\neats his own food, and returns to tell the relatives that the spirit\nhas received the offering prepared for him.\n\n\n\nThe Fly as a Life Index.\n\nThe fly here represents the spirit, an idea very common in folk-lore,\nwhere an insect often appears as the Life Index. An English lady has\nbeen known in India to stop playing lawn-tennis because a butterfly\nsettled in the court. In Cornwall wandering spirits take the form\nof moths, ants, and weasels. [195] We have the same idea in Titus\nAndronicus, when Marcus, having been rebuked for killing a fly,\ngives as his reason,--\n\n\n    \"It was a black, ill-favoured fly,\n    Like to the empress Moor; therefore I kill'd him.\"\n\n\nA fly is the guardian spirit of St. Michael's well in Banff. [196]\n\n\n\nRecalling the Ghost.\n\nBut while it is expedient by some or other of these devices to bar or\nlay the ghost, or prevent its return by providing for its journey to,\nand accommodation in the next world, some tribes have a custom of\nmaking arrangements to bring back the soul of the deceased to the\nfamily abode, where he is worshipped as a household spirit. Some of\nthe Central Indian tribes catch the spirit re-embodied in a fowl or\nfish, some bring it home in a pot of water or flour. [197] Among the\nTipperas of Bengal, when a man dies in a strange village separated from\nhis home by the river, they stretch a white string from bank to bank\nalong which the spirit is believed to return. [198] This illustrates\nan idea common to all folk-lore that the ghost cannot cross running\nwater without material assistance. Among the Hos on the evening\nof the cremation day certain preparations are made in anticipation\nof a visit from the ghost. Some boiled rice is laid apart for it,\nand ashes are sprinkled on the floor, in order that, should it come,\nits footsteps may be detected. On returning they carefully scrutinize\nthe ashes and the rice, and if there is the faintest indication of\nthese having been disturbed, it is attributed to the action of the\nspirit, and they sit down shivering with horror and crying bitterly,\nas if they were by no means pleased with the visit, though it be made\nat their earnest solicitation. [199]\n\n\n\nAshes.\n\nThis use of ashes as a means of identifying the ghost, constitutes\nin itself quite an important chapter in folk-lore. It reminds us\nof the Apocryphal legend of Bel and the Dragon. The idea probably\noriginally arose from the respect paid to the ashes of the house\nfire by primitive races, among whom the hearth and the kitchen are\nthe home of the household godlings.\n\nThere are numerous instances of this practice from Europe. In the\nWestern Islands of Scotland on Candlemas Day the mistress takes a\nsheaf of oats, dresses it in woman's apparel, and after putting it in a\nlarge basket beside which a wooden club is placed, cries three times,\n\"Briid is come! Briid is welcome!\" Next morning they look for the\nimpression of Briid's club in the ashes, which is an omen of a good\nharvest. [200] Ash-riddling is a custom in the northern counties. The\nashes being riddled or sifted on the hearth, if any one of the family\nbe to die within the year, the mark of a shoe will be impressed\nupon the ashes. [201] In Wales they make a bonfire, and when it is\nextinguished each one throws a white stone into the ashes. In the\nmorning they search out the stones, and if any one is found wanting,\nhe that threw it will die within the year. [202] In Manxland the\nashes are carefully swept to the open hearth and nicely flattened\ndown by the women before they go to bed. In the morning they look for\nfootmarks on the hearth, and if they find such footmarks directed to\nthe door, it means in the course of the year a death in the family,\nand if the reverse, they expect an addition to it by marriage. [203]\nAccording to one of the Italian charms, \"And they were accustomed to\ndivine sometimes with the ashes from the sacrifices. And to this day\nthere is a trace of it, when that which is to be divined is written\non the ashes with the finger or with the stick. Then the ashes are\nstirred by the fresh breeze, and one looks for the letters which they\nform by being moved.\" [204]\n\nAmongst some Hindus, on the tenth night after the death of a person,\nhe who fired the funeral pyre is required to sift some ashes, near\nwhich a lamp is placed, and the whole covered with a basket. Next\nmorning the ashes are examined, and the ghost is supposed to have\nmigrated into the animal whose mark appears on the ashes. [205] So,\nat the annual feast of the dead, the jungle tribes of Mirzapur spread\nashes on the floor, and a mark generally like that of a chicken's foot\nshows that the family ghosts have visited the house. \"On New Year's\nEve,\" says Aubrey, \"sift or smooth the ashes and leave it so when you\ngo to bed; next morning look, and if you find there the likeness of a\ncoffin, one will die; if a ring, one will be married.\" [206] In North\nScotland, on the night after the funeral, bread and water are placed\nin the apartment where the body lay. The dead man was believed to\nreturn that night and partake of the food; unless this were done the\nspirits could not rest in the unseen world. This probably accounts\nfor the so-called \"food vases\" and \"drinking cups\" found in the long\nbarrows. [207] All Hindus believe that the ghosts of the dead return\non the night of the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee or feast of lamps.\n\n\n\nReplacing Household Vessels.\n\nAfter a death all the household earthen pots are broken and\nreplaced. It has been suggested that this is due either to the\nbelief that the ghost of the dead man is in some of them, or that the\ncustom may have some connection with the idea of providing the ghost\nwith utensils in the next world. [208] In popular belief, however,\nthe custom is explained by the death pollution attaching to all the\nfamily cooking vessels, which, if of metal, are purified with fire. The\nvessel is the home of the spirit: \"At most Hindu funerals a water jar\nis carried round the pyre, and then dashed to the ground, apparently to\nshow that the spirit has left its earthly home. So, the Surat Chondras\nset up as spirit homes large whitewashed earthen jars laid on their\nsides. So, to please any spirit likely to injure a crop, an earthen\njar is set on a pole as the spirit's house, and so at a wedding or\nother ceremonies, jars, sometimes empty, sometimes filled with water,\nare piled as homes for planets and other marriage gods and goddesses,\nthat they may feel pleased and their influence be friendly.\" [209]\n\nWe have already met with the Kalasa or sacred jar. The same idea\nof the pollution of earthen vessels prevailed among the Hebrews,\nwhen an earthen vessel remaining in a tent in which a person died\nwas considered impure for seven days. [210]\n\n\n\nFuneral Rites in Effigy.\n\nWhen a person dies at a distance from home, and it is impossible\nto perform the funeral rites over the body, it is cremated in\neffigy. The special term for this is Kusa-putra, or \"son of the Kusa\ngrass.\" Colonel Tod gives a case of this when R\u00e2ja Ummeda of B\u00fbndi\nabdicated: \"An image of the prince was made, and a pyre was erected on\nwhich it was consumed. The hair and whiskers of Aj\u00eet, his successor,\nwere taken off and offered to the Manes; lamentations and wailing were\nheard in the Queen's apartments, and the twelve days of mourning were\nheld as if Ummeda had really deceased; on the expiration of which\nthe installation of his successor took place.\" [211]\n\n\n\nGhosts Lengthening Themselves.\n\nGhosts, as we have already seen in the case of the Naugaza, have\nthe power of changing their length. In the well-known tale in the\nArabian Nights the demon is shut up in a jar under the seal of the\nLord Solomon, as in one of the German tales the Devil is shut up in\na crevice in a pine tree, and the ghost of Major Weir of Edinburgh\nresided in his walking-stick. [212] Some of the Indian ghosts, like the\nIfr\u00eet of the Arabian Nights, can grow to the length of ten yojanas or\neighty miles. In one of the Bengal tales a ghost is identified because\nshe can stretch out her hands several yards for a vessel. [213] Some\nghosts possess the very dangerous power of entering human corpses,\nlike the Vet\u00e2la, and swelling to an enormous size. The Kharw\u00e2rs of\nMirzapur have a wild legend, which tells how long ago an unmarried\ngirl of the tribe died, and was being cremated. While the relations\nwere collecting wood for the pyre, a ghost entered the corpse, but\nthe friends managed to expel him. Since then great care is taken not\nto leave the bodies of women unwatched. So, in the Panj\u00e2b, when a\ngreat person is cremated the bones and ashes are carefully watched\ntill the fourth day, to prevent a magician interfering with them. If\nhe has a chance, he can restore the deceased to life, and ever after\nretain him under his influence. This is the origin of the custom in\nGreat Britain of waking the dead, a practice which \"most probably\noriginated from a silly superstition as to the danger of a corpse\nbeing carried off by some of the agents of the invisible world, or\nexposed to the ominous liberties of brute animals.\" [214] But in India\nit is considered the best course, if the corpse cannot be immediately\ndisposed of, to measure it carefully, and then no malignant Bh\u00fbt can\noccupy it. We have already met with instances of a similar idea of\nthe mystic effect supposed to follow on measuring or weighing grain.\n\n\n\nKindly Ghosts.\n\nMost of the ghosts whom we have been as yet considering are\nmalignant. There are, however, others which are friendly. Such\nare the German Elves, the Robin Goodfellow, Puck, Brownie and the\nCauld Lad of Hilton of England, the Glashan of the Isle of Man,\nthe Phouka or Leprehaun of Ireland. Such, in one of his many forms,\nis the Brahmadaitya, or ghost of a Br\u00e2hman who has died unmarried. In\nBengal he is believed to be more neat and less mischievous than other\nghosts; the Bh\u00fbts carry him in a palanquin, he wears wooden sandals,\nlives in a Banyan or Bel tree, and Sankhach\u00fbrn\u00ee is his mistress. He\nappears to be about the only respectable bachelor ghost. In one of the\nfolk-tales a ghostly reaper of this class assists his human friend,\nand can cut as much of the crop in a minute as an ordinary person\ncan in a day. [215] So, the Manx Brownie is called the Fenodyree,\nand he is described as a hairy, clumsy fellow who would thresh a whole\nbarnful of corn in a single night for the people to whom he felt well\ndisposed. [216] This Brahmadaitya is the leader of the other ghosts\nin virtue of his respectable origin; he lives in a tree, and, unlike\nother varieties of Bh\u00fbts, does not eat all kinds of food, but only\nsuch as are considered ceremonially pure. He never, like common Bh\u00fbts,\nfrightens men, but is harmless and quiet, never plaguing benighted\ntravellers, nor entering into the bodies of living men or women,\nbut if his dignity be insulted, or any one trespass on his domains,\nhe wrings their necks.\n\n\n\nTree Ghosts.\n\nHence in regard to trees great caution is required. A Hindu will\nnever climb one of the varieties of fig, the Ficus Cordifolia, except\nthrough dire necessity, and if a Br\u00e2hman is forced to ascend the\nBel tree or Aegle Marmelos for the purpose of obtaining the sacred\ntrefoil so largely used in Saiva worship, he only does so after\noffering prayers to the gods in general, and to the Brahmadaitya in\nparticular who may have taken up his abode in this special tree.\n\nThese tree ghosts are, it is needless to say, very numerous. Hence\nmost local shrines are constructed under trees, and in one particular\ntree, the B\u00eera, the jungle tribes of Mirzapur locate B\u00e2gheswar, the\ntiger godling, one of their most dreaded deities. In the Konkan,\naccording to Mr. Campbell, [217] the medium or Bhagat who becomes\npossessed is called Jh\u00e2d, or \"tree,\" apparently because he is a\nfavourite dwelling-place for spirits. In the Dakkhin it is believed\nthat the spirit of the pregnant woman or Churel lives in a tree, and\nthe Abors and Padams of East Bengal believe that spirits in trees\nkidnap children. [218] Many of these tree spirits appear in the\nfolk-tales. Thus, Devadatta worships a tree which one day suddenly\nclave in two and a nymph appeared who introduced him inside the tree,\nwhere was a heavenly palace of jewels, in which, reclining on a couch,\nappeared Vidyatprabh\u00e2, the maiden daughter of the king of the Yakshas;\nin another story the mendicant hears inside a tree the Yaksha joking\nwith his wife. [219] So Daphne is turned into a tree to avoid the\npursuit of her lover.\n\n\n\nThe Brahmaparusha.\n\nBut there is another variety of Br\u00e2hman ghost who is much dreaded. This\nis the Brahmaparusha or Brahma R\u00e2kshasa. In one of the folk-tales he\nappears black as soot, with hair yellow as the lightning, looking\nlike a thunder-cloud. He had made himself a wreath of entrails;\nhe wore a sacrificial cord of hair; he was gnawing the flesh of a\nman's head and drinking blood out of a skull. In another story these\nBrahma R\u00e2kshasas have formidable tusks, flaming hair, and insatiable\nhunger. They wander about the forests catching animals and eating\nthem. [220] Mr. Campbell tells a Marh\u00e2ta legend of a master who became\na Brahmaparusha in order to teach grammar to a pupil. He haunted a\nhouse at Benares, and the pupil went to take lessons from him. He\npromised to teach him the whole science in a year on condition that\nhe never left the house. One day the boy went out and learned that\nthe house was haunted, and that he was being taught by a ghost. The\nboy returned and was ordered by the preceptor to take his bones to\nGaya, and perform the necessary ceremonies for the emancipation of\nhis soul. This he did, and the uneasy spirit of the learned man was\nlaid. [221] We have already encountered similar angry Br\u00e2hman ghosts,\nsuch as Harshu P\u00e2nr\u00ea and Mahen\u00ee.\n\n\n\nThe J\u00e2k and J\u00e2kn\u00ee.\n\nThe really friendly agricultural sprites are the pair known in some\nplaces as the J\u00e2k and J\u00e2kn\u00ee, and in others as Chordeva and Chordev\u00ee,\nthe \"thief godlings.\" With the J\u00e2k we come on another of these curious\nsurvivals from the early mythology in a sadly degraded form. As\nVaruna, the god of the firmament, has been reduced in these later\ndays to Barun, a petty weather godling, so the J\u00e2k is the modern\nrepresentative of the Yaksha, who in better times was the attendant\nof Kuvera, the god of wealth, in which duty he was assisted by the\nGuhyaka. The character of the Yaksha is not very certain. He was\ncalled Punya-janas, \"the good people,\" but he sometimes appears as\nan imp of evil. In the folk-tales, it must be admitted, the Yakshas\nhave an equivocal reputation. In one story the female, or Yakshin\u00ee,\nbewilders travellers at night, makes horns grow on their foreheads,\nand finally devours them; in another the Yakshas have, like the Churel,\nfeet turned the wrong way and squinting eyes; in a third they separate\nthe hero from the heroine because he failed to make due offerings\nto them on his wedding day. On the other hand, in a fourth tale the\nYakshin\u00ee is described as possessed of heavenly beauty; she appears\nagain when a sacrifice is made in a cemetery to get her into the hero's\npower, as a heavenly maiden beautifully adorned, seated in a chariot\nof gold surrounded by lovely girls; and lastly, a Br\u00e2hman meets some\nBuddhist ascetics, performs the Uposhana vow, and would have become\na god, had it not been that a wicked man compelled him by force to\ntake food in the evening, and so he was re-born as a Guhyaka. [222]\n\nIn the modern folk-lore of Kashm\u00eer, the Yaksha has turned into the\nYech or Yach, a humorous, though powerful, sprite in the shape of\na civet cat of a dark colour, with a white cap on his head. This\nsmall high cap is one of the marks of the Irish fairies, and the\nIncubones of Italy wear caps, \"the symbols of their hidden, secret\nnatures.\" The feet of the Yech are so small as to be almost invisible,\nand it squeaks in a feline way. It can assume any shape, and if its\nwhite cap can be secured, it becomes the servant of the possessor,\nand the white cap makes him invisible. [223]\n\nIn the Vishnu Pur\u00e2na we read that Vishnu created the Yakshas as beings\nemaciate with hunger, of hideous aspect, and with big beards, and\nthat from their habit of crying for food they were so named. [224]\nBy the Buddhists they were regarded as benignant spirits. One of\nthem acts as sort of chorus in the Meghad\u00fbta or \"Cloud Messenger\"\nof K\u00e2lid\u00e2sa. Yet we read of the Yaka Alawaka, who, according to the\nBuddhist legend, used to live in a Banyan tree, and slay any one who\napproached it; while in Ceylon they are represented as demons whom\nBuddha destroyed. [225] In later Hinduism they are generally of fair\nrepute, and one of them was appointed by Indra to be the attendant\nof the Jaina Saint Mah\u00e2v\u00eera. It is curious that in Gujar\u00e2t the term\nYaksha is applied to Musalm\u00e2ns, and in Cutch to a much older race of\nnorthern conquerors. [226]\n\nAt any rate the modern J\u00e2k and J\u00e2kn\u00ee, Chordeva and Chordev\u00ee,\nare eminently respectable and kindly sprites. They are, in fact,\nan obvious survival of the pair of corn spirits which inhabit the\nstanding crop. [227] The J\u00e2k is compelled to live apart from the J\u00e2kn\u00ee\nin neighbouring villages, but he is an uxorious husband, and robs\nhis own village to supply the wants of his consort. So, if you see a\ncomparatively barren village, which is next to one more productive,\nyou may be sure that the J\u00e2k lives in the former and the J\u00e2kn\u00ee in\nthe latter. The same is the character of the Chor or Chordeva and\nthe Chorn\u00ee or Chordev\u00ee of the jungle tribes of Mirzapur.\n\n\n\nGhosts which Protect Cattle.\n\nIn the Hills there are various benevolent ghosts or godlings who\nprotect cattle. S\u00e2in, the spirit of an old ascetic, helps the Bhotiyas\nto recover lost cattle, and Siddhua and Buddhua, the ghosts of two\nharmless goatherds, are invoked when a goat falls ill. [228] In the\nsame class is Nagardeo of Garhw\u00e2l, who is represented in nearly every\nvillage by a three-pronged pike or Tris\u00fbla on a platform. When cows\nand buffaloes are first milked, the milk is offered to him. It is\nperhaps possible that from some blameless godling of the cow-pen,\nsuch as Nagardeo, the cultus of Pasupatin\u00e2tha, \"the lord of animals,\"\nan epithet of Siva or Rudra, who has a stately shrine at Hardw\u00e2r,\nwhere his lingam is wreathed with cobras, was derived. Another Hill\ngodling of the same class is Chaumu or Baudh\u00e2n, who has a shrine\nin every village, which the people at the risk of offending him are\nsupposed to keep clean and holy. Lamps are lighted, sweetmeats and\nthe fruits of the earth are offered to him. When a calf dies the\nmilk of the mother is considered unholy till the twelfth day, when\nsome is offered to the deity. He also recovers lost animals, if duly\npropitiated, but if neglected, he brings disease on the herd. [229]\n\nAnother cattle godling in the Hills is Kaluva or Kalbisht, who\nlived on earth some two hundred years ago. His enemies persuaded his\nbrother-in-law to kill him. After his death he became a benevolent\nspirit, and the only people he injured were the enemies who compassed\nhis death. His name is now a charm against wild beasts, and people\nwho are oppressed resort to his shrine for justice. Except in name he\nseems to have nothing to say to K\u00e2lu Kah\u00e2r, who was born of a Kah\u00e2r\ngirl, who by magical charms compelled King Solomon to marry her. His\nfetish is a stick covered with peacock's feathers to which offerings\nof food are made. He has more than a quarter of a million worshippers,\naccording to the last census, in the Meerut Division.\n\n\n\nBugaboos.\n\nWe close this long list of ghostly personages with those who are\nmerely bugaboos to frighten children. Such are Hawwa, probably a\ncorruption through the Pr\u00e2krit of the Sanskrit Bh\u00fbta, and Humma or\nHumu, who is said to be the ghost of the Emperor Humay\u00fbn, who died\nby an untimely death. Akin perhaps to him are the Humanas of Kumaun,\nwho take the form of men, but cannot act as ordinary persons. [230]\n\nThese sprites are to the Beng\u00e2li matron what Old Scratch and Red Nose\nand Bloody Bones are to English mothers, [231] and when a Beng\u00e2li\nbaby is particularly naughty its mother threatens to send for Warren\nHastings. Akin to these is Ghoghar, who represents Ghuggu or the\nhooting of the owl. [232] Nek\u00ee B\u00eeb\u00ee, \"the good lady;\" M\u00e2no or the\ncat; Bh\u00e2kur; Bhokaswa; and Dokarkaswa, \"the old man with the bag,\"\nwho carries off naughty children, who is the Mr. Miacca of the English\nnursery. [233]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.\n\n\n                                Sylvarum numina, Fauni\n                                Et satyri fratres.\n\n                                               Ovid, Metamorp. iii. 163.\n\n                                                Autar ep' aut\u00f4\n                Kyaneos elelikto drak\u00f4n, kephalai de hoi \u00easan\n                Treis hamphistrephees, henos auchenos ekpephyuiai.\n\n                                                       Iliad, xi. 38-40.\n\n\nThe worship of trees and serpents may be conveniently considered\ntogether; not that there is much connection between these two classes\nof belief, but because this course has been followed in Mr. Ferguson's\nelaborate monograph on the subject.\n\nThe worship of trees appears to be based on many converging lines\nof thought, which it is not easy to disentangle. Mr. H. Spencer\n[234] classes it as an aberrant species of ancestor worship:\n\"A species somewhat more disguised externally, but having the same\ninternal nature; and though it develops in three different directions,\nstill these have all one common origin. First, the toxic excitements\nproduced by certain plants are attributed to the agency of spirits or\ndemons; secondly, tribes that have come out of places characterized by\nparticular trees or plants, unawares change the legend of emergence\nfrom them into the legend of descent from them; thirdly, the naming\nof individuals after plants becomes a source of confusion.\"\n\nAccording to Dr. Tylor, [235] again, the worship depends upon man's\nanimistic theory of nature: \"Whether such a tree is looked on as\ninhabited by its own proper life and soul, or as possessed like a\nfetish by some other spirit which has entered it or used it for a\nbody, is often hard to determine. The tree may be the spirits' perch\nor shelter (as we have seen in the case of the Churel or R\u00e2kshasa),\nor the sacred grove is assumed to be the spirits' resort.\"\n\nMr. Frazer has given a very careful analysis of this branch of popular\nreligion. [236] He shows that to the savage in general the world is\nanimate and trees are no exception to the rule; he thinks they have\nsouls like his own and treats them accordingly; they are supposed to\nfeel injuries done to them; the souls of the dead sometimes animate\nthem; the tree is regarded sometimes as the body, sometimes as\nthe home of the tree spirit; trees and tree spirits give rain and\nsunshine; they cause the crops to grow; the tree spirit makes the\nherds to multiply and blesses women with offspring; the tree spirit\nis often conceived and represented as detached from the tree and even\nas embodied in living men and women.\n\nThe basis of the cultus may then perhaps be stated as follows: There\nis first the tree which is regarded as embodying or representing the\nspirit which influences the fertility of crops and human beings. Hence\nthe respect paid to memorial trees, where the people assemble, as at\nthe village P\u00eepal, which is valued for its shade and beauty and its\nlong connection with the social life of the community. This would\nnaturally be regarded as the abode of some god and forms the village\nshrine, a convenient centre for the religious worship of the local\ndeities, where they reside and accept the worship and offerings of\ntheir votaries.\n\nIt may, again, be the last survival of the primitive forest, where\nthe dispossessed spirits of the jungle find their final and only\nresting-place. Such secluded groves form the only and perhaps the\nearliest shrine of many primitive races.\n\nAgain, an allegorical meaning would naturally be attached to various\ntrees. It is invested with a mystic power owing to the mysterious\nwaving of its leaves and branches, the result of supernatural agency;\nand this would account for the weird sounds of the forest at night.\n\nMany trees are evergreen, and thus enjoy eternal life. Every tree is\na sort of emblem of life, reproducing itself in some uncanny fashion\nwith each recurring spring.\n\nIt has some mystic connection with the three worlds--\n\n\n    Quantum vertice ad auras\n    Aetherias tantum radice in Tartara tendit.\n\n\nLike Yggdrassil, it connects the world of man with the world of\ngods, and men may, like Jack of the Beanstalk, climb by its aid to\nheaven. In this connection it may be noted that many Indian tribes\nbury their dead in trees. The Khasiyas of East Bengal lay the body in\nthe hollow trunk of a tree. The N\u00e2gas dispose of their dead in the\nsame way, or hang them in coffins to the branches. The M\u00e2riya Gonds\ntie the corpse to a tree and burn it. The Malers lay the corpse of\na priest, whose ghost often gives trouble, under a tree and cover it\nwith leaves. [237] Similar customs prevail among primitive races in\nmany parts of the world.\n\nThe tree embodies in itself many utilities necessary to human life,\nand many qualities which menace its existence. Its wood is the source\nof fire, itself a fetish. Its fruits, juices, flowers or bark are\nsources of food or possess intoxicating or poisonous attributes,\nwhich are naturally connected with demoniacal influences. Trees\noften develop into curious or uncanny forms, which compel fear or\nadoration. Thus according to the old ritual [238] trees which have\nbeen struck by lightning, or knocked down by inundation, or which\nhave fallen in the direction of the south, or which grew on a burning\nground or consecrated site, or at the confluence of large rivers, or\nby the roadside; those which have withered tops, or an entanglement of\nheavy creepers upon them, or are the receptacles of many honey-combs\nor birds' nests, are reckoned unfit for the fabrication of bedsteads,\nas they are inauspicious and sure to bring disease and death. The\nstep from such beliefs to the worship of any curious and remarkable\ntree is easy.\n\nHence the belief that the planting of a grove is a work of religious\nmerit, which is so strongly felt by Hindus, and the idea that the\ngrove has special religious associations, shown by the marriage\nof its trees to the well, and other rites of the same kind. In the\nKonkan it is very generally believed that barrenness is caused by\nuneasy spirits which wander about, and that if a home be made for the\nspirit by planting trees, it will go and reside there and the curse\nof barrenness will be removed. [239]\n\nThough this branch of the subject has been pushed to quite an\nunreasonable length in some recent books, [240] there may be some\nassociation of tree worship with the phallic cultus, such as is found\nin the Asherah or \"groves\" of the Hebrews, the European Maypole,\nand so on. This has been suggested as an explanation of the honour\npaid by the Gypsy race in Germany to the fir tree, the birch and the\nhawthorn, and of the veneration of the Welsh Gypsies to the fasciated\nvegetable growth known to them as the Broado Koro. [241] In the same\nway an attempt has been made to connect the Bel tree with the Saiva\nworship of the Lingam and the lotus with the Yon\u00ee. But this part of\nthe subject has been involved in so much crude speculation that any\nanalogies of this kind, however tempting, must be accepted with the\nutmost caution.\n\nFurther than this, it may be reasonably suspected that this cultus\nrests to some extent on a basis of totemism. Some of the evidence in\nsupport of this view will be discussed elsewhere, but it is, on the\nanalogy of the various modes in which the Br\u00e2hmanical pantheon has\nbeen recruited, not improbable that trees and plants, like the Tulas\u00ee\nand the P\u00eepal, may have been originally tribal totems imported into\nBr\u00e2hmanism from some aboriginal or other foreign source.\n\nOn the whole it is tolerably certain that there is more in tree\nworship than can be accounted for either by Mr. Ferguson's theory\nthat the worship sprang from a perception of the utility or beauty\nof trees, or by Mr. Spencer's theory of nicknames. It is sufficient\nto say that both fail to account for the worship of insignificant\nand comparatively useless shrubs, weeds, or grasses.\n\nTree worship holds an important part in the popular ritual and\nfolk-lore. This is shown by the prejudice against cutting trees. The\njungle tribes are very averse to cutting certain trees, particularly\nthose which are regarded as sacred. If a Kharw\u00e2r, except at the\ntime of the annual feast, cuts his tribal tree, the Karama, he loses\nwealth and life, and none of these tribes will cut the large S\u00e2l trees\nwhich are fixed by the Baiga as the abode of the forest godling. This\nfeeling prevails very strongly among the Maghs of Bengal. Nothing but\npositive orders and the presence of Europeans would induce them to\ntrespass on many hill-tops, which they regarded as occupied by the tree\ndemons. With the Europeans, however, they would advance fearlessly,\nand did not hesitate to fell trees, the blame of such sacrilege being\nalways laid on the strangers. On felling any large tree, one of the\nparty was always prepared with a green sprig, which he ran and placed\nin the centre of the stump when the tree fell, as a propitiation to\nthe spirit which had been displaced so roughly, pleading at the same\ntime the orders of the strangers for the work. In clearing one spot\nan orderly had to take the d\u00e2h or cleaver and fell the first tree\nhimself before a Magh would make a stroke, and was considered to bear\nall the odium of the work with the disturbed spirits till the arrival\nof the Europeans relieved him of the burden. [242]\n\nIn folk-lore we have many magic trees. We have the Kalpataru or\nKalpadruma, also known as Kalpavriksha, or Manoratha dayaka, the\ntree which grows in Swarga or the paradise of Indra and grants\nall desires. There is, again, the P\u00e2rij\u00e2ta, which was produced at\nthe churning of the ocean, and appropriated by Indra, from whom it\nwas recovered by Krishna. The tree in the Meghad\u00fbta bears clothes,\ntrinkets, and wine, which is like the Juniper tree of the German tale,\nwhich grants a woman a son. Many such trees appear in the Indian\nfolk-tales. The King Jimutaketu had a tree in his house which came\ndown from his ancestors, and was known as \"the giver of desires\"; the\ngenerous Induprabha craved a boon from Indra, and became a wishing\ntree in his own city; and the faithful minister of Yasaketu sees a\nwave rise out of the sea and then a wishing tree appears, \"adorned\nwith boughs glittering with gold, embellished with sprays of coral,\nbearing lovely fruits and flowers of jewels. And he beheld on its trunk\na maiden, alluring on account of her wonderful beauty, reclining on a\ngem-bestudded couch.\" [243] So, in the story of Devadatta, the tree is\ncloven and a heavenly nymph appears. We have trees which, like those\nin the Odyssey, bear fruit and flowers at the same time, and in the\ngarden of the Asura maiden \"the trees were ever producing flowers\nand fruits, for all seasons were present there at the same time.\" [244]\n\nWe have many trees, again, which are produced in miraculous ways. In\none of the modern tales the tiger collects the bones of his friend, the\ncow, and from her ashes spring two bamboos, which when cut give blood,\nand are found to be two boys of exquisite grace and beauty. [245]\nSo in Grimm's tale of \"One Eye, Two Eyes, and Three Eyes,\" the tree\ngrows from the buried entrails of the goat. In another of Somadeva's\nstories the heroine drops a tear on the Jambu flower and a fruit grew,\nwithin which a maiden was produced. [246] The incident of the tree\nwhich grows on the mother's grave and protects her helpless children\nis the common property of folk-lore. Again, we have the heavenly fruit\nwhich was given by the grateful monkey, and freed him who ate it from\nold age and disease, like the tree in Aelian which makes an old man\nbecome younger and younger until he reaches the antenatal stage of\nnon-existence. [247]\n\nWe have many instances of trees which talk. The mango tree shows the\nhero how the magic bird is to be cut out of it; the heroine is blessed\nand aided by the plantain tree, cotton tree, and sweet basil; she is\nrewarded by a plum and fig tree for services rendered to them. [248]\nIn one of the Kashm\u00eer tales the tree informs the hero of the safety\nof his wife. So, in Grimm's tale of the \"Lucky Spinner,\" the tree\nspeaks when the man is about to cut it down. [249]\n\nIn one of the stories, as a link between tree and serpent worship,\nthe great palace of the snake king is situated under a solitary\nAsoka tree in the Vindhyan forest. In the same collection we meet\ncontinually instances of tree worship. The Br\u00e2hman Somadatta worships\na great Asvattha, or fig tree, by walking round it so as to keep it\non his right, bowing and making an oblation; Mrigankadatta takes\nrefuge in a tree sacred to Ganesa; and Narav\u00e2hanadatta comes to\na sandal tree surrounded with a platform made of precious jewels,\nup which he climbs by means of ladders and adores it. [250]\n\nWe have a long series of legends by which certain famous trees are\nsupposed to have been produced from the tooth twig of some saint. The\nfamous hawthorn of Glastonbury was supposed to be sprung from the\nstaff of Joseph of Arimathea, who having fixed it in the ground on\nChristmas Day, it took root immediately, put forth leaves, and the\nnext day was covered with milk-white blossoms. [251] Traditions of\nthe Dantadh\u00e2vana or tooth-brush tree of Buddha still exist at Gonda;\nanother at Ludhi\u00e2na is attributed to Abdul Q\u00e2dir Jil\u00e2ni; there is\na Buddha tree at Saketa, and the great Banyan tree at Broach was\nsimilarly produced by Kab\u00eer. So, the Sant\u00e2ls believe that good men\nturn into fruit-trees. [252]\n\nNext come the numerous sacred groves scattered all over the\ncountry. These, as we have seen, are very often regarded as a\nsurvival from the primeval jungle, where the forest spirits have\ntaken refuge. The idea is common both to the Aryan as well as to the\nDr\u00e2vidian races, from the latter of whom it was possibly derived.\n\nThus, among the jungle races we find that there are many groves,\nknown as Sarna, in which the Cheros and Kharw\u00e2rs offer triennial\nsacrifices of a buffalo or other animal. The Kis\u00e2ns have sacred groves,\ncalled S\u00e2. The Mund\u00e2ri Kols keep \"a fragment of the original forest,\nthe trees in which have been for ages carefully protected, left when\nthe clearance was first made, lest the sylvan gods of the place,\ndisgusted at the wholesale felling of the trees which protected them,\nshould abandon the locality. Even now if a tree is destroyed in\nthe sacred grove, the gods evince their displeasure by withholding\nseasonable rain.\" This idea of the influence of cutting trees on\nweather has been illustrated by Mr. Frazer from the usages of other\nraces. [253] So, among the Kh\u00e2ndhs, \"that timber may never be wanting,\nin case of accidents from fire or from enemies, a considerable grove,\ngenerally of S\u00e2l, is uniformly dedicated by every village to the\nforest god, whose favour is ever and anon sought by the sacrifice of\nbirds, hogs, and sheep, with the usual accompaniments of rice and\nan addled egg. The consecrated grove is religiously preserved, the\ntrees being occasionally pruned, but not a twig cut for use without\nthe formal consent of the village and the formal propitiation of the\ngod.\" [254] Among the Kols, in these groves the tutelary deities of\nthe village are supposed to sojourn when attending to the wants of\ntheir votaries. [255] In the Central Provinces the Badiyas worship\nthe manes of their ancestors in a grove of S\u00e2j trees. [256] In Ber\u00e2r\nthe wood of the Pathrot forests is believed to be dedicated to a\nneighbouring temple, and no one will cut or buy it; and in other places\nin the same province the sacred groves are so carefully preserved,\nthat during the annual festivals held in them it is the custom to\ncollect and burn solemnly all dead and fallen branches and trees. [257]\n\nAmong the higher races the same feelings attach to the holy groves\nof Mathura, each of which has appropriated one of the legends of the\nKrishna myth. Thus, there is a particularly sacred grove at Bhadanw\u00e2ra,\nand it is believed that any one violating the sanctity of the place by\ntelling a lie within its precincts will be stricken with leprosy. In\nanother at Hasanpur Bara the trees are under the protection of the\ncurse of a Faq\u00eer, and in many places people object to having toddy\ncollected from the palm trees, because it necessitates cutting their\nnecks. [258] In the Northern Hills the S\u00e2l and bamboos at Barmdeo are\nnever cut, as they are sacred to the local Dev\u00ee. [259] In Kulu, \"near\nthe village were a number of cypresses, much decayed, and many quite\ndead. Some of my people had begun to strip off their dry branches for\nfuel, when one of the conductors of our caravan came to me in great\nagitation, and implored me to command them to desist. The trees, he\nsaid, were sacred to the deities of the elements, who would be sure\nto revenge any injury done to them by visiting the neighbourhood with\nheavy and untimely snow.\" [260]\n\nIn a village in Lucknow, noticeable among the trees is a \"single\nmango tree, of fine growth and comely shape. It is the survivor of\nsome old grove, which the owner, through straitened circumstances,\nhas reluctantly cut down. He called it J\u00e2k, or Sakhiya, the witness\nof the place where the old grove stood.\" [261] J\u00e2k is, as we have\nseen, the Corn spirit. The preservation of these little patches of\nthe primeval jungle, with a view to conciliate the sylvan spirits of\nthe place, is exactly analogous to what is known in Scotland as the\n\"Gudeman's Croft,\" \"Cloutie's Croft,\" or \"Gudeman's Field.\" Often in\nNorthern India little patches are left uncultivated in the corners\nof fields as a refuge for the spirits, as in North Scotland many\nfarmers leave a corner of the field untilled, and say it is for the\n\"Aul Man,\" or the Devil. [262]\n\nSome trees are, again, considered to be mystically connected with\nthe fortunes of people and places. Thus, the Chilbil tree at Gonda,\nwhich, like others which have already been mentioned, sprouted from\nthe tooth-twig of a saint, was supposed to be mysteriously connected\nwith the fate of the last of the Gonda R\u00e2jas. His kingdom was to\nlast until the day a monkey sat on the tree, and this, it is said,\nhappened on the morning when the Mutiny broke out which ended in\nthe ruin of the dynasty. [263] In the same way the moving wood of\nDunsinane was fateful to the fortunes of Macbeth.\n\nWe have already referred to some of the regular tree sprites,\nlike the Churel, R\u00e2kshasa, and Bansapt\u00ee M\u00e2. They are, like Kliddo,\nthe North British sprite, small and delicate at first, but rapidly\nshooting into the clouds, while everything it overshadows is thrown\ninto confusion. [264]\n\nHow sprites come to inhabit trees is well shown in an instance given\nfrom Bombay by Mr. Campbell. \"In the Dakkhin, when a man is worried\nby a spirit, he gives it a tree to live in. The patient, or one of\nhis relations, goes to a seer and brings the seer to his house,\nfrankincense is burnt, and the sick man's spirit comes into the\nseer's body. The people ask the spirit in the seer why the man is\nsick. He says, 'The ghost of the man you killed has come back, and\nis troubling you.' Then they say, 'What is to be done?' The spirit\nsays, 'Put him in a place in his or in your land.' The people say,\n'How can we put him?' The spirit says, 'Take a cock, five cocoanuts,\nrice, and red lead, and fill a bamboo basket with them next Sunday\nevening, and by waving the basket round the head of the patient,\ntake the ghost out of the patient.' When Sunday afternoon comes they\ncall the exorcist. If the ghost has not haunted the sick man for a\nweek, it is held that the man was worried by that ghost, who is now\ncontent with the proposed arrangement. If the patient is still sick,\nit is held that it cannot be that ghost, but it must be another ghost,\nperhaps a god who troubles him.\n\n\"The seer is again called, and his familiar spirit comes into\nhim. They set the sick man opposite him, and the seer throws rice on\nthe sick man, and the ghost comes into the patient's body and begins to\nspeak. The seer asks him, 'Are you going or not?' The ghost replies,\n'I will go if you give me a cock, a fowl, a cocoanut, red lead, and\nrice.' They then bring the articles and show them to the spirit. The\nspirit sees the articles, and says, 'Where is the cocoanut?' or, 'Where\nis the rice?' They add what he says, and ask, 'Is it right?' 'Yes, it\nis right,' replies the spirit. 'If we drive you out of B\u00e2pu, will you\ncome out?' ask the people. 'I will come out,' replies the ghost. The\npeople then say, 'Will you never come back?' 'I will never return,'\nreplies the ghost. 'If you ever return,' says the seer's spirit, 'I\nwill put you in a tanner's well, sink you, and ruin you.' 'I will,'\nsays the spirit, 'never come back, if you take these things to the\nP\u00eepal tree in my field. You must never hurt the P\u00eepal. If you hurt\nthe P\u00eepal, I will come and worry you.'\n\n\"Then the friends of the patient make the cooked rice in a ball,\nand work a little hollow in the top of the ball. They sprinkle the\nball with red powder, and in the hollow put a piece of a plantain\nleaf, and on the leaf put oil, and a wick, which they light. Then\nthe G\u00e2di, or flesh-eating priest, brings the goat in front of the\nsick man, sprinkles the goat's head with red powder and flowers,\nand says to the spirit, 'This is for you; take it.' He then passes\nthree fowls three times from the head to the foot of the sick man,\nand then from the head lowers all the other articles. The G\u00e2di,\nor Mh\u00e2r, and some friends of the patient start for the place named\nby the spirit. When the party leave, the sick man is taken into the\nhouse and set close to the threshold. They put water on his eyes,\nand filling a pot with water, throw it outside where the articles\nwere, and inside and outside scatter cowdung ashes, saying, 'If you\ncome in you will have the curse of R\u00e2ma and Lakshmana.' When the G\u00e2di\nand the party reach their destination, the G\u00e2di tells the party to\nbring a stone the size of a cocoanut. When the stone is brought, the\nG\u00e2di washes it and puts it to the root of the tree and sets about it\nsmall stones. On the tree and on the middle stone he puts red lead,\nred powder, and frankincense. The people then tell the spirit to stay\nthere, and promise to give him a cocoanut every year if he does them\nno harm. They then kill the goat and the fowls, and, letting the blood\nfall in front of the stone, offer the heart and liver to the spirit,\nand then return home.\" [265]\n\nFrom ceremonies like these, in which a malignant spirit is entombed\nin a tree and its surrounding stones, the transition to the general\nbelief in tree sprites is easy. The use of the various articles to\nscare spirits will be understood from what has been already said on\nthat subject.\n\n\n\nThe Karam Tree.\n\nPassing on to trees which are considered specially sacred, we find a\ngood example in the Karam (Neuclea parvifolia), which is revered by\nthe Kharw\u00e2rs, M\u00e2njhis, and some of the other allied Dr\u00e2vidian races\nof the Vindhyan and Kaim\u00fbr ranges.\n\nIn Sh\u00e2h\u00e2b\u00e2d, their great festival is the worship of the sacred\ntree. \"Commenced early in the bright portion of the month Bh\u00e2don\n(August--September), it continues for fifteen days. It marks the\ngladness with which people wind up their agricultural operations\nall over the world. The festivities begin with a fast during the\nday. In the evening the young men of the village only proceed in a\ngay circle to the forest. A leafy branch of the Karam is selected,\ncut, and daubed with red lead and butter. Brought in due state,\nit is planted in the yard in front of the house, and is decorated\nwith wreaths of wild flowers, such as autumn yields to the Hill men\nwith a bountiful hand. The homely ritual of the Kharw\u00e2r then follows,\nand is finished with the offering of corn and molasses. The worship\nover, the head of the village community serves the men with a suitable\nfeast. But the great rejoicing of the season is reserved for a later\nhour. After dinner the men and women appear in their gala dress,\nand range themselves in two opposite rows. The M\u00e2ndar, or national\ndrum of the aborigines, is then struck, and the dance commences with\na movement forward, until the men and women draw close. Once face to\nface, a gradual movement towards the right is commenced, and the men\nand women advance in a slow but merry circle, which takes about an\nhour to describe.\n\n\"Under the influence of the example of the Hindus, the practice of\na national dance in which women take a prominent part is already on\nthe decline. When indulged in, it is done with an amount of privacy,\nclosed to the public, but open to the members of the race only. It\nis difficult, however, to explain why the Karam tree should be so\ngreatly adored by the Kharw\u00e2rs. It is an insignificant tree, with\nsmall leaves, which hardly affords shelter or shade, and possesses no\ntitle to be considered superior to others in its native forest. Nor\nin the religious belief of the Kharw\u00e2rs have we been able to trace any\nclassic tale connected with the growth of the Karam grove, similar to\nthat of the peaceful olive of old, or aromatic laurel. One important,\nthough the last incident of the Karam worship is the appearance of\nthe demon to the Kharw\u00e2r village men. Generally at the conclusion of\nthe dance the demon takes possession of a Kharw\u00e2r, who commences to\ntalk, tremble, and jump, and ultimately climbs up the branch of the\nKaram and begins to eat the leaves. Consultation about the fortunes\nof the year then takes place, and when the demon has foretold them\nthe festivities are concluded.\" [266]\n\nThis account omits two important points which enable us to explain\nthe meaning of the rite. The first is that when the festivities are\nover the branch of the Karam tree is taken and thrown into a stream\nor tank. This can hardly, on the analogy of similar practices to\nwhich reference has been already made, be anything but a charm to\nproduce seasonable rain. Another is that sprigs of barley grown in\na special way, as at the Upper India festival of the Jay\u00ee, which\nwill be discussed later on, are offered to the tree. This must be\nan invocation to the deity of the tree to prosper the growth of the\nautumn rice, which is just at this time being planted out.\n\nI have seen the Karama danced by the M\u00e2njhis, a Dr\u00e2vidian tribe in\nMirzapur, closely allied to the Kharw\u00e2rs. The people there seem to\naffect no secrecy about it, and are quite ready to come and dance\nbefore Europeans for a small gratuity. The men expect to receive a\nlittle native liquor between the acts, but the ladies of the ballet\nwill accept only a light supper of coarse sugar. The troupe consists\nof about a dozen men and the same number of women. The sexes stand\nin rows opposite to each other, the women clinging together, each\nwith her arms clasped round her neighbour's waist. One man carrying\nthe sacred M\u00e2ndar drum, beats it and leads the ballet, hopping about\nin a curious way on one leg alternately. The two lines advance and\nretreat, the women bowing low all the time, with their heads bending\ntowards the ground, and joining occasionally in the refrain. Most of\nthe songs are apparently modern, bearing on the adventures of R\u00e2ma,\nLakshmana, and S\u00eet\u00e2; some are love songs, many of which are, as might\nhave been expected, rude and indecent. The whole scene is a curious\npicture of genuine aboriginal life. At the regular autumn festival\nthe ceremony degenerates into regular saturnalia, and is, if common\nrumour be trusted, accompanied by an absolute abandonment of decency\nand self-respect which culminates in the most unrestrained debauchery.\n\nThe modern explanation of the dance is embodied in a folk-tale which\nturns on the verbal confusion between Karam, the name of the tree,\nand the Sanskrit Karma, meaning \"good works.\" It is, of course,\ncomparatively modern, and quite useless as a means for ascertaining\nthe real basis of the custom, which is probably a means of propitiating\nthe tree god to grant favourable weather.\n\n\n\nThe Fig Tree.\n\nAmong the sacred trees the various varieties of the fig hold a\nconspicuous place. Many ideas have probably united in securing\nreverence for them. Thus the Banyan with its numerous stems may\nfitly be regarded as the home of gods or spirits. Others are valued\nas a source of food, or because they possess juices valued as drink\nor medicine.\n\nSuch is the Umbar, the Udambara of the Sanskrit writers, which is known\nas Ksh\u00eera Vriksha or \"milk tree,\" and Hemadugha or \"golden juiced,\"\nthe Ficus glomerata of botanists, from the succulent roots of which\nwater can be found in times of drought. The juice has, in popular\nbelief, many valuable properties. A decoction of it is useful for\nbile, melancholy, and fainting; it prevents abortion and increases the\nmother's milk. [267] According to the old ritual, of its wood is made\nthe seat of the father god Vivasvat, which is specially worshipped at\nthe close of the Soma sacrifice; the throne on which Soma is placed\nis made of it, and so is the staff given by the Adhvaryu to the\nsacrificer at the initiation rite, and the staff of the Vaisya student.\n\nSo with the P\u00eepal (Ficus religiosa), which is connected with\nold temples, as it forces its roots into the crumbling masonry,\ngrows to a great age, and, like the poplar, moves its leaves at\nthe slightest breath of wind. The English tradition about the aspen\nis that since its wood was used to make the Cross it ever trembles\nwith shame. The Pippala or Asvattha is said by some to be the abode\nof Brahma, and is sometimes invested with the sacred thread by the\nregular Upan\u00e2yana rite. Others say that in it abide Brahma, Vishnu,\nand Siva, but specially Vishnu in his incarnation as Krishna. Others,\nagain, connect it with B\u00e2sdeo or Vasudeva, the father of Krishna.\n\nThe Vata or Nyagrodha (Ficus Indica) was, according to the ancient\nritual, possessed of many virtues, and the king was directed to drink\nits juice instead of that of the Soma. [268] The famous Allah\u00e2b\u00e2d\nfig tree is mentioned in the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana and in the Uttara R\u00e2ma\nCharitra. R\u00e2ma, S\u00eet\u00e2 and Lakshmana are said to have rested beneath\nits branches. Another legend tells how the Rishi M\u00e2rkandeya had the\npresumption to ask N\u00e2r\u00e2yana to show him a specimen of his delusive\npower. The god in answer to his prayer drowned the whole world in\na sudden flood, and only the Akshaya Vata or imperishable Banyan\ntree raised its head above the waters, with a little child seated\non its topmost bough, that put out its head and saved the terrified\nsaint just as he was on the point of drowning. The Buddhist pilgrim,\nHwen Thsang, says that in his time before the principal room of the\ntemple there was a tree with wide-spreading branches, which was said\nto be the dwelling of a man-eating demon. The tree was surrounded with\nhuman bones, the remains of pilgrims who had offered themselves at the\ntemple, a custom which had been observed from time immemorial. General\nCunningham identifies this tree with the Akshaya Vata, which is still\nan object of worship. The well-known Banyan tree of Ceylon is said\nto be descended from it. [269]\n\nIt was under the Bodhi tree at Gaya that the Buddha obtained\nenlightenment. The great sacred Banyan tree of the Him\u00e2laya is said\nto have reached from Badarin\u00e2th to Nand Pray\u00e2g, a distance of eighty\nmiles. [270] In Bombay women worship the Banyan tree on the fifteenth\nof the month of Jeth in honour of Savitr\u00ee, the pious wife of Satyavan,\nwho when her husband was cutting a Banyan tree was struck by the axe\nand killed. Yama appeared and claimed her husband, but at last he\nwas overcome by the devotion of Savitr\u00ee and restored her husband to\nher. [271]\n\nOf the G\u00fblar (Ficus glomerata) it is believed that on the night of\nthe Div\u00e2l\u00ee the gods assemble to pluck its flowers; hence no one has\never seen the tree in blossom. It is unlucky to grow a G\u00fblar tree\nnear the house, as it causes the death of sons in the family.\n\nHigh-caste Hindu women worship the P\u00eepal tree in the form of Vasudeva\non the Am\u00e2vasya or fifteenth day of the month, when it falls on\nMonday. They pour water at its roots, smear the trunk with red lead and\nground sandalwood, and walk round it one hundred and eight times in the\ncourse of the sun, putting at each circuit a copper coin, a sweetmeat,\nor a Br\u00e2hmanical cord at the root, all of which are the perquisite of\nbeggars. An old woman then recites the tale of the R\u00e2ja Nikunjali and\nhis queen Satyavrat\u00ee, who won her husband by her devotion to the sacred\ntree. Hence devotion to it is supposed to promote wedded happiness.\n\nIn R\u00e2jput\u00e2na the P\u00eepal and Banyan are worshipped by women on the 29th\nday of Bais\u00e2kh (April-May) to preserve them from widowhood. [272]\nThe P\u00eepal is invoked at the rite of investiture with the sacred\nthread at marriages and at the foundation-laying of houses. Vows are\nmade under its shade for the boon of male offspring, and pious women\nveil their faces when they pass it. Many, as they revolve round it,\ntwist a string of soft cotton round the trunk. The vessel of water\nfor the comfort of the departing soul on its way to the land of the\ndead is hung from its branches, and beneath it are placed the rough\nstones which form the shrine of the village godling. Its wood is\nused in parts of the Aran\u00ee, or sacred fire-drill, and for the spoons\nwith which butter is poured on the holy fire. When its branches are\nattacked by the lac insect, a branch on which they have settled is\ntaken to the Ganges at Allah\u00e2b\u00e2d and consigned to the Ganges. This,\nit is believed, saves the tree from further injury.\n\nThe tree should be touched only on Sunday, when Lakshm\u00ee, the goddess\nof wealth, abides in it; on every other day of the week, poverty and\nmisfortune take up their quarters in it. The son of a deceased parent\nshould pour three hundred and sixty brass vessels of water round its\nroot to ensure the repose of the dead man. Hindus on Sunday after\nbathing pour a vessel of water at its root and walk round it four\ntimes. Milk and sugar are sometimes mixed with the water to intensify\nthe charm. When the new moon falls on Monday, pious Hindus walk one\nhundred and eight times round it and wind cotton threads about the\ntrunk. In rich Hindu families small silver models of the tree answer\nthe same purpose. When a statement is made on oath, the witness takes\none of the leaves in his hand and invokes the gods above him to crush\nhim, as he crushes the leaf, if he is guilty of falsehood.\n\nThough Sir Monier-Williams gives currency to it, it may be suspected\nthat the story of the Banyas who objected to P\u00eepal trees being planted\nin their b\u00e2z\u00e2r, as they could not carry on their roguery under the\nshade of the holy tree, has been invented for the delectation of\nthe confiding European tourist. As a matter of fact you will often\nsee merchants plant the tree in the immediate neighbourhood of their\nshops. It is needless to say that this regard for the P\u00eepal extends\nthrough Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Sumatra, and Java. [273]\n\n\n\nThe S\u00e2l.\n\nThe S\u00e2l or S\u00e2khu is also a holy tree. It is held in much respect by\nthe jungle races, who consider it the abode of spirits and erect their\nshrines under its shade. The B\u00e2gdis and Bauris of Bengal are married in\nan arbour made of the branches of the S\u00e2l (Shorea robusta) after they\nhave been first married to a Mahua tree (Bassia latifolia). Patches\nof this tree are often reserved as fragments of the primitive jungle,\nof which it must have constituted an important part.\n\n\n\nThe Sh\u00eesham.\n\nThe Sh\u00eesham or S\u00eeson, the Sinsapa of the Sanskrit writers, is in the\ntales of Somadeva the haunt of the Vet\u00e2la. [274]\n\n\n\nThe Jand.\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b the Jand tree (Prosopis spicigera) is very generally\nreverenced, more especially in those parts where it forms a chief\nfeature in the larger flora of the great arid grazing tracts. It\nis commonly selected to mark the abode or shelter the shrine of\nsome deity. It is to it that, as a rule, rags are dedicated as\nofferings, and it is employed in the marriage ceremonies of many\ntribes. Most Khatris and Br\u00e2hmans perform rites to it, especially at\nfestivals connected with domestic occurrences. A custom prevails in\nsome families of never putting home-made clothes upon the children,\nbut of begging them from friends. This is, as we have already seen,\ndone with the view of avoiding the Evil Eye. The ceremony of putting\non these clothes is usually performed when the child is three years\nof age. It is taken to the Jand tree, from which a bough is cut with\na sickle and planted at the root of the tree as a propitiation of the\nindwelling spirit. The Sw\u00e2stika symbol is made before it with the rice,\nflour, and sugar brought as an offering to the tree. Nine threads from\nthe Mauli, or string used by women to tie up their back hair, are then\ntaken out and cut into lengths, one of which is tied round the tree\nwith the knot characteristic of Siva or Krishna, and another round a\npiece of dried molasses, which is placed on the Sw\u00e2stika. Mantras or\nspells are repeated and the sugar and rice are distributed among the\nwomen and children; for no male adult, except the officiating Br\u00e2hman,\nattends the ceremony. The Br\u00e2hman then dresses the child in the new\nclothes, on which he impresses the mark of his hand in saffron, and\ngirds the child's loins with a hair string, on which is tied the bag\nor purse containing the Br\u00e2hman's fee. The hair string has in front a\ntriangular piece of red silk, which, as we have already noticed, is one\nof the most familiar forms of amulet intended to repel the influence\nof evil spirits. Similarly at marriages, they perform the ceremony of\ncutting off and burning a small branch of the tree, and offerings are\nmade to it by the relations of persons suffering from small-pox. [275]\n\n\n\nThe Aonla.\n\nThe Aonla (Emblica officinalis) is another sacred tree. It is\nconsidered propitious and chaste, and is worshipped in the month\nof K\u00e2rttik (December) by Br\u00e2hmans being fed under it, hair strings\n(mauli) being tied round it, and seven circumambulations made in\nthe course of the sun. The eleventh of the month Ph\u00e2lgun (February)\nis sacred to it, and on this occasion libations are poured at the\nfoot of the tree, a string of red or yellow colour is bound round\nthe trunk, prayers are offered to it for the fruitfulness of women,\nanimals, and crops, and the ceremony concludes with a reverential\ninclination to the sacred tree. [276]\n\n\n\nThe Mahua.\n\nThe Mahua (Bassia latifolia), which so admirably combines beauty\nwith utility, and is one of the main sources whence the jungle tribes\nderive their food and intoxicants, is held in the highest respect by\nthe people of the Central Indian Highlands. It is the marriage tree of\nthe Kurmis, Loh\u00e2rs, Mahilis, Mundas, and Sant\u00e2ls of Bengal. Many of\nthe Dr\u00e2vidian races, such as the Bhuiyas, adore it, and a branch is\nplaced in the hands of the bride and bridegroom during the marriage\nceremony. They also revolve round a bough of the tree planted in the\nground by the Baiga or aboriginal priest. Some of the semi-Hinduized\nBengal Gonds have the remarkable custom of tying the corpses of adult\nmales by a cord to the Mahua tree, in an upright position, previous\nto burial. It is also the rule with them that all adult males go to\nthe forest and clear a space round an \u00c2san tree (Terminalia alata\ntormentosa), where they make an altar and present offerings to the\ntribal godling, Bara Deo, after which they have a general picnic. [277]\n\n\n\nThe Cotton Tree.\n\nThe Salmali or Semal (Bombax heptaphyllum) is likewise sacred, an\nidea perhaps derived from its weird appearance and the value of its\nfibre, which was largely used by the primitive races of the jungle. It\ngave its name to one of the seven Dv\u00eepas or great divisions of the\nknown continent, and to a special hell, in which the wicked are\ntortured with the K\u00fbta Salmali, or thorny rod of this tree. In the\nfolk-tales a hollow cotton tree is the refuge of the heroine. [278]\nThe posts of the marriage pavilion and stake round which the bride and\nbridegroom revolve are very commonly made of its wood among the Kols\nand allied Dr\u00e2vidian tribes, as are also the parrot totem emblems used\nat marriages by the Kharw\u00e2rs and many menial castes. The B\u00e2nsphors,\na branch of the great Dom race in the North-Western Provinces, fix\nup a branch of the G\u00fblar and Semal in the marriage shed. \"Among the\nwild tribes it is considered the favourite seat of gods still more\nterrible than those of the P\u00eepal, because their superintendence\nis confined to the neighbourhood, and having their attention less\noccupied, they can venture to make a more minute scrutiny into the\nconduct of the people immediately around them. The P\u00eepal is occupied\nby one or two of the Hindus triad, the gods of creation, preservation,\nand destruction, who have the affairs of the universe to look after,\nbut the cotton and other trees are occupied by some minor deities,\nwho are vested with a local superintendence over the affairs of a\ndistrict, or perhaps of a single village.\" [279]\n\n\n\nThe N\u00eem.\n\nThe Nimba or N\u00eem (Azidirachta Indica) is sacred in connection with\nthe worship of the godlings of disease, who are supposed to reside in\nit. In particular it is occupied by S\u00eetal\u00e2 and her six sisters. Hence\nduring the season when epidemics prevail, from the seventh day of\nthe waning moon of Chait to the same date in As\u00e2rh, that is during\nthe hot weather, women bathe, dress themselves in fresh clothes,\nand offer rice, sandal-wood, flowers, and sometimes a burnt offering\nwith incense at the root of the tree.\n\nThe N\u00eem tree is also connected with snake worship, as its leaves\nrepel snakes. In this it resembles the Yggdrassil of Europe, the\nroots of which were half destroyed by the serpents which nestled among\nthem. The leaves and wood of the ash tree, the modern successor of the\nmystic tree of Teutonic mythology, are still regarded throughout all\nNorthern Europe as a powerful protective from all manner of snakes\nand evil worms. [280] In Cornwall no kind of snake is ever found near\nthe ashen tree, and a branch of it will prevent a snake from coming\nnear a person. [281] N\u00eem leaves are, it may be noted, useless as a\nsnake scarer unless they are fresh. [282]\n\nThe leaves are also used throughout Northern India as a means of\navoiding the death pollution, or rather as a mode of driving off the\nspirit which accompanies the mourners from the cremation ground. Hence\nafter the funeral they chew the leaves and some water is sprinkled\nover them with a branch of the tree. \"So great is the power of the\nN\u00eem over spirits and spirit disease, that in Bombay, when a woman\nis delivered of a child, N\u00eem leaves and cow's urine are, as a rule,\nkept at the entrance of the lying-in room, in order that the child\nand its mother may not be affected by an evil spirit, and on their\nNew Year's Day it is considered essential for every Hindu to worship\nthe N\u00eem tree and to eat its leaves mixed with pepper and sugar, that\nhe may not suffer from any sickness or disease during the year. In\npractice very few worship the tree, but its leaves are generally\neaten by most of them. Among the Chitp\u00e2wan Br\u00e2hmans, a pot filled\nwith cow's urine is set at the door of the lying-in room with a N\u00eem\nbranch in it, and anyone coming in must dip the branch in the urine\nand with it sprinkle his feet. Among Govardhan Br\u00e2hmans of P\u00fbna, when\na child is born, N\u00eem leaves are hung at the front and back doors of\nthe house. In Ahmadnagar, when a person is bitten by a snake, he is\ntaken to Bhairoba's temple, crushed N\u00eem leaves mixed with chillies\nare given him to eat, and N\u00eem leaves waved round his head. Among\nthe N\u00e2mdeo Shimpis of Ahmadnagar each of the mourners carries from\nthe pyre a twig of the N\u00eem tree, and the Kanphatas of Cutch get the\ncartilage of their ears slit, and in the slit a N\u00eem stick is stuck,\nthe wound being cured by a dressing of N\u00eem oil.\" [283]\n\nWe have already found this tree connected with Sun worship, as in the\ncase of the Nimb\u00e2rak Vaishnavas, as well as with that of S\u00eetal\u00e2, the\ngoddess of small-pox. Among the wilder tribes it is also revered. The\nJogis, a criminal tribe in Madras, reverence it and brand their dogs\nwith a representation of the tree. [284] The Banj\u00e2ras, or wandering\ncarriers, use a branch of the tree as a test of continence. The jealous\nhusband throws it on the ground and says, \"If thou be a true woman,\nlift that N\u00eem branch.\" The Doms, or vagrant sweepers of the Eastern\nDistrict of the North-Western Provinces, hold the N\u00eem tree sacred to\nK\u00e2l\u00ee or S\u00eetal\u00e2, and the Kurmis dedicate it to K\u00e2l\u00ee Bhav\u00e2n\u00ee, and worship\nthis tree and the P\u00eepal under which the image of Dev\u00ee is placed. [285]\n\n\n\nThe Cocoanut.\n\nThe cocoanut is considered one of the most sacred fruits, and is called\nSr\u00eephala, or the fruit of Sr\u00ee, the goddess of prosperity. It is the\nsymbol of fertility, and all through Upper India is kept on shrines\nand presented by the priests to women who desire children. One of the\nmain causes of the respect paid to it seems to be its resemblance to\na human head, and hence it is often used as a type of an actual human\nsacrifice. It is also revered for its uses as food and a source of\nintoxicating liquor. But it is not a native of Northern India, and\nis naturally more revered in its home along the western coast. In\nGujar\u00e2t and Kanara it represents the house spirit, and is worshipped\nas a family god. The Konkan Kunbis put up and worship a cocoanut for\neach of their relations who dies, and before beginning to cut the rice,\nbreak a cocoanut and distribute it among the reapers. The Prabhus, at\nevery place where three roads meet, wave a cocoanut round the face of\nthe bridegroom, and break it into pieces to repel evil influences. The\nMusalm\u00e2ns of the Dakkhin cut a cocoanut and lime into pieces and throw\nthem over the head of the bridegroom to scare evil spirits. Among some\nclasses of ascetics the skull is broken at the time of cremation with\na cocoanut in order to allow the ghost to escape. In Western India, at\nthe close of the rains, cocoanuts are thrown in to pacify the sea. Its\nplace as a substitute for a human sacrifice in Northern India seems\nto have been taken by the pumpkin, which is used in much the same way.\n\n\n\nThe Mimosa.\n\nThe Khair, or Mimosa (Acacia catechu) seems to owe most of the\nestimation in which it is held to its use in producing the sacred\nfire. It forms, on account of its hardness, the base of the Aran\u00ee or\nsacred fire-drill, and in it the wedge of the softer P\u00eepal wood works\nand fire is produced by friction. The Y\u00fbpa or sacrificial post to\nwhich the victim was tied for the sacrifice was often made of this\nwood. In the great horse sacrifice of the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana, twenty-one of\nthese posts were erected, six made of Vilva (Agle marmelos), six of\nKhadira or Acacia, six of Pal\u00e2sa (Butea frondosa), one of Udumbara\n(Ficus glomerata), Sleshmataka (Cordia myxa), and one of Devadru,\nthe Deod\u00e2r pine tree.\n\nOf the Khair tree Bishop Heber thus writes in his Journal: [286]\n\"As I returned home I passed a fine tree of the Mimosa, with leaves at\na little distance so much resembling those of the mountain ash, that\nI was for a moment deceived, and asked if it did not bear fruit. He\nanswered, 'No; but it was a very noble tree, being called the \"Imperial\ntree,\" for its excellent qualities.' That it slept all night, and was\nalive all day, withdrawing its leaves if any one attempted to touch\nthem. Above all, however, it was useful as a preservative against\nmagic; a sprig worn in the turban, or suspended over the bed, was a\nperfect security against all spells, Evil Eye, etc., insomuch that\nthe most formidable wizard would not, if he could help it, approach\nits shade. One indeed, they said, who was very renowned for his power\n(like Lorrinite of Kehama) of killing plants and drying up their sap\nwith a look, had come to this very tree and gazed upon it intently;\n'but,' said the old man, who told me this with an air of triumph,\n'look as he might, he could do the tree no harm,' a fact of which I\nmade no question. I was amused and surprised to find the superstition,\nwhich in England and Scotland attaches to the rowan tree, here applied\nto a tree of nearly similar form.\"\n\nThis superstition regarding the rowan tree and the elder is familiar in\nEuropean folk-lore. In Ireland the roots of the elder and those of an\napple tree which bears red apples, boiled together and drunk fasting,\nexpel evil spirits. In connection with this idea that the mimosa sleeps\nat night, pious Hindus prefer not to eat betel leaves after sunset,\nas catechu forms part of the ingredients with which they are prepared.\n\n\n\nThe Plantain.\n\nThe plantain is also sacred, probably on account of the value of\nits fruit. The leaves are hung on the marriage booth, and a branch\nis placed near the pole or sacred fire round which the bride and\nbridegroom revolve. In Madras, when premature delivery takes place,\nthe child is laid on a plantain leaf smeared with oil, the leaf is\nchanged daily, and the baby is thus treated for the period which is\nless than the normal time of delivery. In Bengal, in consecrating\nan image of Durg\u00e2, a plantain tree is brought in and bathed. It is\nclothed as a woman with Bel apples representing the breasts; nine\nsorts of leaves smeared with red paint are hung round the breast and it\nis worshipped. [287] The leaves are also used as a remedy for wounds\nand ulcers, a practice which prevailed in the time of Shakespeare. In\n\"Romeo and Juliet\" Benvolio says:--\n\n\n    \"Take thou some new infection to thine eye,\n    And the rank poison of the old will die.\"\n\n\nTo which Romeo answers:--\n\n\n    \"Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.\"\n    \"For what, I pray thee?\"\n    \"For your broken skin.\"\n\n\nIn the folk-tales the deserted wife sweeps the ground round a plantain\ntree and it gives her a blessing. [288]\n\n\n\nThe Pomegranate.\n\nSo with the pomegranate, which among the P\u00e2rsis of Bombay is held\nin high respect. Its twigs were used to make the sacred broom, its\nseeds, in order to scare evil spirits, were thrown over the child\nwhen it was girt with the sacred thread, and its juice was squeezed\ninto the mouth of the dying. [289] In its fruit An\u00e2r Sh\u00e2hz\u00e2d\u00ee, the\nPrincess Pomegranate, commonly lies hidden. But it is in Upper India\nconsidered unlucky to have such a tree in the house, as it is envious\nand cannot bear that any one should be lovelier than itself. [290]\n\n\n\nThe Tamarind.\n\nThe Or\u00e2ons of Bengal revere the tamarind and bury their dead under\nits shade. [291] One special rite among the Dr\u00e2vidian races is the\nIml\u00ee ghontn\u00e2 or \"the grinding of the tamarind,\" when the mother of\nthe bridegroom grinds on the family curry stone some pods of the\ntamarind. The tree was a special favourite with the early Musalm\u00e2n\nconquerors, and the finest specimens of it will be found in their\ncemeteries and near their original settlements.\n\n\n\nThe Siras.\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b the leaves of the Siras (Acacia sirisa) are a powerful\ncharm. In many villages in Upper India they will be seen hung up on the\nrope crossing the village cattle path, when epidemics prevail among men\nor animals. [292] In this case the effect of the charm is enhanced by\nadding to them a tile covered with some hocus-pocus formula, written\nby a Faq\u00eer, and rude models of a pair of wooden sandals, a mud rake,\na plough-share and other agricultural implements which are considered\neffectual to scare the demon which brings the plague.\n\n\n\nThe Mango.\n\nThe Mango is used in much the same way. It is, as we shall see, used\nin making the aspersion at rural ceremonies. The leaves are hung up at\nmarriages in garlands on the house door, and on the shed in which the\nrite is performed, and after the wedding is over these are carefully\nconsigned to running water by the bride and bridegroom. It is also used\nas a charm. Before you see a flower on a mango tree shut your eyes\nand make some one lead you to a tree in flower. Rub the flowers into\nyour hands, and you thus acquire the power of curing scorpion stings\nby moving your hand over the place. But this power lasts only for\none year, and must be renewed when the season of flowers again returns.\n\n\n\nThe Tulas\u00ee.\n\nThe Tulas\u00ee or holy basil (Ocymum sanctum) is closely connected with\nthe worship of Vishnu. At the last census over eleven hundred persons\nin the North-Western Provinces recorded themselves as worshippers of\nthe plant. It is known in Sanskrit as Haripriya, or \"the beloved of\nVishnu,\" and Bh\u00fbtaghni, or \"destroyer of demons.\" It seems to owe\nthe favour with which it is regarded to its aromatic and healing\nproperties. Vishnu, so runs the legend, was fascinated with the\nbeauty of Vrind\u00e2, the wife of J\u00e2landhara, to redeem him from whose\nenthralment, the gods applied to Lakshm\u00ee, Gaur\u00ee, and Swadh\u00e2. Each\ngave them seed to sow where Vishnu was enchanted. The seeds given by\nthe deities sprang up as the Dh\u00e2tr\u00ee or Emblica Myrobalan, the M\u00e2lat\u00ee\nor jasmine, and the Tulas\u00ee, or basil, and appearing in female form\nthey attracted the admiration of the deity and saved him from the\nwiles of Vrind\u00e2. [293]\n\nAnother legend comes from Bombay. [294] Tulas\u00ee was daughter of the\nR\u00e2ja Dharmadhwaja, and by her devotions gained the favour of Vishnu,\nbut she married the demon Sankhach\u00fbda, who by the virtue of his\nwife overcame the gods. They appealed to Vishnu, but he could not\nhelp them, as the demon was his votary. At last it was resolved that\nhe should personate her husband and gain her love. When Tulas\u00ee was\naware of the deception she was about to curse him, but he pacified\nher by promising to marry her and make her name immortal. He added\nthat those women who married an image of him to the Tulas\u00ee on the\neleventh day of the month K\u00e2rttik would prosper.\n\nThe Tulas\u00ee is also connected with S\u00eet\u00e2 and Rukmin\u00ee, and the prayer to\nher is: \"I adore that Tulas\u00ee, in whose roots are all the places of\npilgrimage, in whose centre are all the deities, and in whose upper\nbranches are all the Vedas.\" The plant is specially worshipped by\nwomen after bathing, and more particularly at the full moon of K\u00e2rttik,\nif the bathing be in the Ganges. The chief ceremony is, however, the\nmarriage of the infant Krishna to the plant, which is carried out by\npious people, often at a considerable cost, in accordance with the\nstandard ritual.\n\n\n\nThe Pal\u00e2sa.\n\nThe Pal\u00e2sa or Dh\u00e2k is sacred, partly on account of its use in\nproducing the sacred fire, and partly because its orange blossoms\nare used to dye the coloured dust and water thrown about at the\nHol\u00ee festival. It is supposed to be in some way connected with the\nSoma, and by one account was produced from the feather of the falcon\nimbued with the Soma. Its trifoliate leaves represent the trident,\nor the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or birth, life,\nand death. The leaves are used to form the platters employed at various\nfeasts and religious rites; the wood in the Y\u00fbpa, or sacrificial pole,\nand in the funeral pyre.\n\nIn one respect it resembles the rowan, which is also a sacred tree,\nbut why this is so has been much debated. \"Possibly the inaccessible\nrocks on which the tree is not unfrequently found to grow and the\nconspicuous colour of its berries may have counted for something,\nbut this falls decidedly short of a solution of the question. One\nkind of answer that would meet the case, provided it be countenanced\nby facts, may be briefly indicated, namely, that the berries of the\nrowan were used in some early period in the brewing of an intoxicating\ndrink, or better still, of the first intoxicating drink known to the\nTeuto-Aryan Celts.\" [295] The connection between the Pal\u00e2sa and the\nSoma perhaps indicates that this may have been the case. It was again\na Vedic custom to drive the cows from their calves by striking them\nwith a rod of a Pal\u00e2sa tree. In Yorkshire it used to be the custom for\n\"farmers to have whip-stocks of rowan tree wood, and it was held that\nthus supplied, they were safe against having their draught fixed,\nor their horses made restive by a witch. If ever a draught came\nto a standstill, then the nearest witchwood tree was resorted to,\nand a stick cut to flog the horses on with, to the discomfiture of\nthe malevolent witch who had caused the stoppage.\" In some parts of\nScotland the milkmaid carries a switch of the magical rowan to expel\nthe demon which sometimes enters the cow; and in Germany, striking\nthe cow with this magical wand is believed to render her fertile. [296]\n\n\n\nThe Bel.\n\nThe Bel (Aegle marmelos) is specially dedicated to Siva, because\nit has three leaflets in the leaf, and because of its medicinal\nvalue. Siva is called Bilvadanda, \"he with a staff of the Bel wood,\"\nand its leaves are used in his service. Its leaves laid on the Lingam\ncool and refresh the heated deity. The wood is one of those used for\nthe sacrificial post. Its fruit is called Sr\u00eephala, because it is\nsupposed to have been produced from the milk of the goddess Sr\u00ee.\n\n\n\nThe Bamboo.\n\nThe bamboo is sacred on account of its manifold uses and because among\nthe jungle races fire is produced by the friction of two strips of\nbamboo. Besides this it contains a sort of manna, known as B\u00e2nslochan\nor Tabash\u00eer, which is in high repute as a medicine. The flowering of\nthe bamboo is generally regarded as a sure sign of famine. The bamboo\noften appears in the folk-tales. Thus in one of the tales of Somadeva,\n[297] \"they asked Sumeru about the origin of the bow, and he said:\n'Here is a great and glorious wood of bamboo canes; whatever bamboos\nare cut from it and thrown into this lake, become great and wonderful\nbows; and those bows have been acquired by several of the gods, and by\nAsuras and Gandharvas and distinguished Vidyadh\u00e2ras.'\" In one of the\nSant\u00e2l tales, [298] the bamboo grows from the grave of the murdered\ngirl, and remonstrates when the Jogi goes to cut it, but out of a\npiece he finally makes a flute of wondrous sweetness. Among the jungle\nraces the bamboo often is used to make the poles of the marriage shed,\nwhile the central post is made of the wood of the holy Siddh tree,\nthe Hardwickia binata.\n\nIn Gujar\u00e2t, [299] the Turis, to keep off evil spirits, lay two slips of\nbamboo in the lying-in room. The Prabhus of P\u00fbna at their marriages put\nbamboo baskets on the heads of the bride, bridegroom, and guests. The\nMh\u00e2rs and M\u00e2ngs make the married pair stand in bamboo baskets. The\nMu\u00e2sis of Bengal make the wedded pair revolve round a bamboo post. The\nBirhors worship Darha in the form of a split bamboo; the Kach\u00e2ris and\nG\u00e2ros worship a bamboo planted in the ground; the R\u00e2jmah\u00e2l hill-man\nworships three bamboos with streamers, as Chaunda Gus\u00e2\u00een. [300] The\nuse of the bamboo decorated with a streamer as a perch for the deity\nis common at all low-caste shrines in Northern India.\n\n\n\nThe Sandal.\n\nThe Sandal, again, in the form of powder or paste is very largely used\nin all Hindu rites, and in making the marks characteristic of sect\nor caste. \"In Bombay, every evening, the P\u00e2rsis burn sandal chips in\ntheir houses, as the smell of sandal is supposed to drive away evil\nspirits, and the P\u00fbna Ghadsis or musicians say that they are sprung\nfrom sandal wood, because it is one of their tribal guardians. [301]\"\n\n\n\nThe Birch.\n\nThe Bh\u00fbrja, a species of birch, is also sacred. It, too, is supposed\nto drive away evil spirits. Its bark, now called Bhojpatra, is used\nfor writing charms, and for other mystic purposes. When a corpse\nis burnt by low-caste people, when a person dies at the hands of an\nexecutioner, when he dies on a bed, or when he is drowned and his body\ncannot be found, a rite known as Pal\u00e2svidhi is performed. An effigy of\nthe deceased is made, in which twigs of the Pal\u00e2sa tree represent the\nbones, a cocoanut or Bel fruit the head, pearls or cowry shells the\neyes, and a piece of birch bark or the skin of a deer the cuticle. It\nis then filled up with Urad pulse instead of flesh and blood, and a\npresiding priest recites a spell to bring life into the image, which\nis symbolized by putting a lighted lamp close to the head. When the\nlight goes out, life is believed to be extinct and the funeral rites\nare performed in the regular way, the only exception being that the\nperiod of impurity lasts for three, instead of ten days.\n\n\n\nOther Sacred Trees.\n\nThe number of these trees and plants which scare evil spirits or are\ninvested with other mystic qualities is infinite. We may close the\ncatalogue with the Bab\u00fbl or K\u00eekar (Acacia Arabica), which when cut\npours out a reddish juice. One of these trees, when the Musalm\u00e2ns\ntried to cut it near a shrine at Lahore, is said to have poured out\ndrops of blood as a warning. But on the whole it is an unlucky tree,\nand the resort of evil spirits. If you throw water for thirteen days\nsuccessively on a Bab\u00fbl tree, you will get the evil spirits which\ninhabit it into your power. They tell of a man who did this near\nSah\u00e2ranpur, who when taken to his cremation, no sooner was the light\nset to his pyre than he got up and walked home, and is alive to this\nday. His neighbours naturally look on his proceedings with a certain\ndegree of suspicion. The ghost of a man burnt with this wood will not\nrest quietly, and any one who rests on a bed made of it is afflicted\nwith evil dreams. An old servant of mine once solemnly remonstrated\nagainst the use of such a bed by his master. Such a bed, he remarked,\nshould be only used for a clergyman guest, who by virtue of his\nprofession is naturally protected against such uncanny visitations.\n\n\n\nTree Marriages.\n\nWe now come to discuss the curious custom of marriages to trees. This\nprevails widely throughout Northern India. Thus, in some parts of\nK\u00e2ngra, if a betrothed but as yet unmarried girl can succeed in\nperforming the marriage ceremony with the object of her choice round\na fire made in the jungle with certain wild plants, her betrothal\nis annulled, and this informal marriage is recognized. [302] In the\nPanj\u00e2b a Hindu cannot be legally married a third time. So, if he\nwishes to take a third wife, he is married to a Bab\u00fbl tree (Acacia\nArabica), or to the Akh plant (Asclepia gigantea), first, so that\nthe wife he subsequently marries is counted as his fourth, and the\nevil consequences of marrying a third time are thus avoided. [303] In\nBengal, writes Dr. Buchanan, [304] \"Premature marriage is considered\nso necessary to Hindu ideas of prosperity, that even the unfortunate\nchildren who are brought up for prostitution are married with all\ndue ceremony to a plantain tree, before the age when they would be\ndefiled by remaining single.\" In the North-Western Provinces, among\nsome of the higher classes of Br\u00e2hmans, if a man happens to lose one\nor two wives and is anxious to marry a third, the ceremony of his\nthird marriage is first gone through with an Akh plant. The family\npriest takes the intending bridegroom to the fields where there are Akh\nplants and repeats the marriage formula. This is known as Arka Viv\u00e2h,\nor Akh marriage, and it is believed that the plant itself dies soon\nafter being married. In Oudh, it is very unlucky to marry a couple if\nthe ruling stars of the youth form a more powerful combination than\nthose of the female. The way to get out of the difficulty is to marry\nthe girl first to a P\u00eepal tree. In the Panj\u00e2b, rich people who have no\nchildren marry a Br\u00e2hman to a Tulas\u00ee plant. The pseudo-father of the\nbride treats the Br\u00e2hman ever afterwards as his son-in-law, which,\nit is needless to say, is a very good thing for the Br\u00e2hman. [305]\nIf the birth of a child does not follow this ceremony, they have good\nreason for apprehending that a messenger from Yama, the god of death,\nwill harass them on their way to the spirit world.\n\nIn Bombay, among the Kudva Kunbis of Gujar\u00e2t, when there are certain\ndifficulties in the marriage of a girl, she is married to a mango or\nsome other fruit tree. Mr. Campbell [306] accounts for this on the\nprinciple that a spirit fears trees, especially fruit trees. Among\nanother branch of the same tribe, when a girl is marriageable and a\nbridegroom cannot be found, the practice is to substitute a bunch of\nflowers, and the marriage ceremony proceeds. Next day, by which time\nthe flowers have begun to fade, they are thrown into a well, and the\nbride of yesterday is considered a widow. As a widow can marry at any\ntime without social discredit, the parents find a husband for her at\ntheir leisure. [307]\n\nSo in Bengal, the Rautiyas before the wedding go through the form of\nmarriage to a mango tree. [308] Among the Mund\u00e2ri Kols, \"the bride\nand bridegroom are well anointed with turmeric, and wedded, not to\neach other, but the bride to a Mahua tree, and the groom to a mango,\nor both to mango trees. They are made to touch the tree with red\nlead, and then to clasp it, and they are tied to it.\" [309] Among\nthe Kurm\u00ees, the bridegroom on the wedding morning is first married\nto a mango tree. He embraces the tree, is for a time tied to it in a\npeculiar manner with a thread, and he daubs it with red lead. Then\nthe thread is removed from the tree, and is used to attach some of\nthe leaves to the bridegroom's wrist. The bride is similarly wedded\nto a Mahua tree. [310]\n\nSimilarly in the Him\u00e2layas, if anyone desires to marry a third time,\nwhether his other wives are alive or not, he is married to the Akh\nplant. He builds an altar near the plant, or brings a branch home\nand plants it near the altar. The regular marriage ceremony is then\nperformed, and a thread is wound ten times round the plant with\nthe recitation of appropriate verses. Four days the plant remains\nwhere it was fixed, and on the fifth day the celebrant is entitled\nto commence the marriage ceremony with his third wife. Similarly,\na person is married to an earthen jar, when from some conjunction of\nthe planets the omens are unfavourable, or when, from some bodily or\nmental defect, no one will marry the boy or girl. The usual ceremonies\nare gone through, and the neck of the boy or girl is connected by a\nstring with the neck of the vessel, and water is sprinkled over them\nwith a brush made of five leaves. [311]\n\nIn Nep\u00e2l every New\u00e2r girl is, while a child, married to a Bel fruit,\nwhich, after the ceremony, is thrown into some sacred river. When\nshe arrives at puberty a husband is selected for her, but should\nthe marriage prove unpleasant, she can divorce herself by the simple\nprocess of placing a betel-nut under her husband's pillow, and walking\noff. Widows are allowed to re-marry; in fact, a New\u00e2r woman is never\na widow, as the Bel fruit to which she first married is supposed to\nbe always in existence. [312]\n\nBefore considering a possible explanation of this group of customs,\nwe may note other instances of pseudo-marriages. We have, in the first\nplace, instances of the marriage of girls to a god. \"In the Gurg\u00e2on\nDistrict, in the Rew\u00e2ri Tahs\u00eel, at the village of B\u00e2s Doda, a fair\nis held on the 26th of Chait and the two following days. I was told\nthat formerly girls of the Dh\u00eenwar class used to be married to the\ngod at these festivals, and that they always died soon afterwards,\nbut that of late years the practice has been discontinued.\" [313]\n\nAgain, we have some traces of the allied custom of compulsory\nreligious prostitution. It is said that Sant\u00e2l girls are required\nto submit to compulsory prostitution once in their lives at Telk\u00fbpi\nGh\u00e2t. \"It is said that the custom originally arose from the killing\nof a girl by her parents for incontinence; since when, girls have\nbeen permitted to do as they please, and what was once permissive has\nbecome compulsory.\" [314] There is no reference to this in Colonel\nDalton's account of the Sant\u00e2ls, and Mr. Beglar's authority is not\nquite satisfactory. But on the analogy of similar rites in Babylon,\nas described by Herodotus, it is very likely that such a custom once\nprevailed. There is some evidence that similar customs once prevailed\nat the temple of Jaggann\u00e2th and other Indian shrines.\n\nWe have, again, folk-tale references to the same custom in a tradition\nof the Vallabhach\u00e2rya sect of the daughter of a banker, who, by her\ndevotion to him, won the love of the god Krishna in the form of an\nimage. Finally the deity revealed himself, and she went with him to\nBrindaban and remained with her divine husband till he carried her\noff to the heaven of Vishnu. This, however, is hardly perhaps more\nthan an example of the mystic union of the god with his worshippers,\nwhich forms such a large part of the Vaishnava hagiology, and is\nfamiliar in the tales of Krishna and the Gop\u00ees.\n\nThere is, again, among children in the neighbourhood of Sah\u00e2ranpur,\na game which may be a survival of some more primitive rite. At the T\u00eej\nfestival, which occurs in the rainy season, girls dressed in their\nbest go to a tank near the city. After dropping offerings into the\nwater in honour of Khw\u00e2ja Khizr, they divide into two parties, each of\nwhich selects a leader, one of whom is known as the bride and the other\na bridegroom. The latter is decorated with a paper crown decked with\ntinsel. The clothes of the pair are knotted together, and they are made\nto walk round a Tulas\u00ee plant or a P\u00eepal tree on the banks of the tank,\nin a mock form of the marriage ritual. Meanwhile each party chaffs\nthe other, saying, \"Your bride (or bridegroom) is one-eyed.\" They\nreturn home with merriment of this kind, and when they come to the\nhouse the knot tied in the garments of the pair is unloosed.\n\nWe have, again, instances of the marriages of, or to animals. In parts\nof the Panj\u00e2b, if a man have lost two or three wives in succession,\nhe gets a woman to catch a bird and adopt it as her daughter. He then\nmarries the bird, and immediately pays over the bride-gift to the\nwoman that adopted his bird-bride, which he divorces. After this he can\nget himself married to another woman, and she will probably live. [315]\n\nSo, there have been many instances of R\u00e2jas marrying animals with\nthe customary rites. Some years ago, one of the G\u00e2ekw\u00e2rs of Baroda\nspent a large sum in marrying some favourite pigeons, and a R\u00e2ja of\nNadiya spent a l\u00e2kh of rupees in marrying two monkeys.\n\nLastly, there are numerous survivals of what can hardly be anything\nelse but tree marriage. Among the B\u00e2wariyas, a vagrant tribe in Sirsa,\nthe bride and bridegroom go outside the village to a Jand tree, which,\nas we have seen already, is regarded as sacred, move round it seven\ntimes, and then cut off a branch with an axe. [316] In a Bh\u00eel marriage,\nthe pair walk round the Saly\u00e2ra tree, which is placed in the marriage\nbooth, twelve times. [317] We have a similar custom among most of the\nmenial tribes. The Kols make the marriage booth of nine bamboo poles,\nwith a bamboo or a branch of the Siddh tree as the central post. As\nthe bridegroom smears the parting of the bride's hair with red lead,\nhe makes a daub of the same substance on the tree. Much the same\ncustom prevails among all the inferior castes. The worship of trees\nat marriage prevails in Madras, where some R\u00e2jas worship at their\nmarriages the fire and the Vahni tree, a twig of which is used as an\narrow at the hunting feast at the Navar\u00e2tri or Dasahra. [318]\n\nOn the whole, it seems probable that this custom of pseudo-marriages\nmay be based on various principles. The popular explanation of the\ncustom is, as we have seen, that it is intended to avoid the curse\nof widowhood, the tree-husband being always alive; the woman, even if\nher husband die, can never be a widow, nor can the parents be liable\nto the contempt which, according to popular Hindu belief, awaits\nthose who keep a girl who has reached maturity unmarried. But when\nwe find the same custom prevailing among races who habitually permit\npre-nuptial infidelity, and among whom every marriageable widow is\neither subjected to the levirate or made over to a stranger, it seems\nobvious that this cannot be the original explanation of the practice.\n\nAgain, according to Mr. Frazer, who has collected numerous examples\nof the custom, \"it is difficult to separate from totemism the custom\nobserved by totem clans in Bengal of marrying the bride and bridegroom\nto trees before they are married to each other.\" [319]\n\nBut the idea that, as we have seen in one of the cases of tree\nmarriages, the tree itself is supposed to die soon after the ceremony,\nseems to point to the fact that the marriage may be intended to divert\nto the tree some evil influence, which would otherwise attach to the\nwedded pair. We have an instance of a somewhat analogous practice from\nBombay. \"Among the Konkan Kunbis, when a woman is in labour and cannot\nget a speedy delivery, some gold ornament from her hair is taken to\na R\u00fb\u00ee plant (the Dh\u00e2k--Callotropis gigantea of Northern India), and\nafter digging at its roots, one of the roots is taken out, and the\nornament is buried in its stead. The root is then brought home and\nput in the hair of the woman in labour. It is supposed that by this\nmeans the woman gets speedy delivery. As soon as she is delivered\nof a child, the root is taken from her hair and brought back to the\nR\u00fb\u00ee plant, and after digging at its root the ornament is taken out\nand the root placed in its former place.\" [320] The idea seems to be\nthat the evil influence hindering parturition is thus transferred to\nthe plant. And this may be one explanation of the practice where, as\nwe have seen, a man is married to a bird, or so on, when his former\nwives have died. The bird acts as the scape-animal, and carries the\ndisease spirit away with it.\n\nLastly, we have seen instances in which the wedded pair are made\nto clasp the tree or are tied to it in some special way. There\nare numerous cases in which women, in order to procure offspring,\nclasp an idol, like that of Hanum\u00e2n and one of the other guardian\ndeities. The clasping of the tree at marriage may possibly be a sort\nof sympathetic magic to bring on the pair the fertility and power of\nreproduction, of which vegetable life is the well-known symbol. We\nhave the same principle of the wedding of the grove to its well,\nand every Hindu who goes to the expense of making a tank, does not\ndrink of its waters until he has married the tank to a plantain or\nsome other tree growing on its banks.\n\n\n\nTree and Serpent Worship.\n\nIn the story of the king and his son, told in the Bait\u00e2l Pach\u00eesi,\nthe king supplicates the sacred tree to give him a son. The request is\ngranted, and the king then implores the tree to make his people happy;\nthe result was that poor wretches, hitherto living in the woods,\ncame forth and concerted measures to seize his kingdom. Rather than\nshed blood, the old king, his queen, and his son retired to a lofty\nmountain. There the son finds something white lying under a mimosa\ntree. On inquiry he learnt that it is a heap of serpents' bones left\nthere by Garuda, who comes daily to feed on serpents. On hearing this,\nthe king goes towards a temple, but is arrested by the cry of a woman,\nwho says: \"My son to-day will be eaten by Garuda.\" She and her people\nwere, in fact, serpents in human shape. The king was moved to pity,\nand as in the famous legend of Buddha and the tigress, he offered to\nexpose himself to Garuda in the room of her son. This is discovered;\nGaruda releases the king, and at his request re-animates the serpents\nto whom the bones belong. [321]\n\nHere we have an example of the combination of tree and serpent worship,\nand it would be easy to adduce more instances, as has been done by\nMr. Ferguson and other writers of his school. But in dealing with\nthis phase of belief much caution is required. As Dr. Tylor observes:\n\"Serpent-worship unfortunately fell years ago into the hands of\nspeculative writers, who mixed it up with occult philosophies,\nDruidical mysteries, and that portentous nonsense called the Arkite\nsymbolism, till now sober students hear the very name of ophiolatry\nwith a shiver.\" [322]\n\nIt is almost needless to say that snake-worship prevails largely\nin Northern India. The last census showed in the North-Western\nProvinces over twenty-five thousand N\u00e2ga worshippers; one hundred and\ntwenty-three persons recorded themselves as votaries of G\u00fbga, the\nsnake god. There are also a certain number who worship S\u00e2np Deot\u00e2,\nor the snake godling, and Ah\u00eeran, another deity of the same class,\nwho is worshipped in Sult\u00e2npur by daily offerings of red lead, water,\nand rice. Sokha, said to be the ghost of a Br\u00e2hman killed by a snake,\nhas nearly fourteen thousand worshippers. In the Panj\u00e2b, again, there\nare over thirty-five thousand special votaries of the snake godlings,\nof which the great majority worship G\u00fbga.\n\nThat the cultus of the snake has been derived from aboriginal beliefs\nappears tolerably certain. The Hindus of Vedic times looked on the\nserpent with fear and dislike. It was impersonated as Ahi or Vritra,\nthe snake demon which brings darkness and drives away the kindly\nrain. The regular snake-worship, as we now find it, was obviously of\na later date.\n\nIt does not appear difficult to disentangle the ideas on which\nsnake-worship is based. To begin with, the snake is dreaded and revered\non account of the mysterious fear which is associated with it, its\nstealthy habits, its sinuous motion, the cold fixity of its gaze,\nthe protrusion of its forked tongue, the suddenness and deadliness\nof its attacks. It would be particularly dreaded by women, whose\nhabits of walking barefoot in fields in the early dawn, and groping\nin dark corners of their huts, render them specially exposed to its\nmalice. The chief basis of the cultus would then be fear, as in the\ncase of the tiger and other beasts of prey.\n\nIt would soon be discovered that there were various harmless snakes\nwhich would, as house-hunters, come to be identified with the ancestral\nghosts as the protectors of houses and goods. The power of controlling\nand taming the more venomous snakes would then be discovered, and the\nsnake-charmer would come to be regarded as the wisest of mankind,\nas a wizard, and finally as a priest. We have thus three aspects\nunder which the snake is worshipped by many savage races--as a dreaded\nenemy, as the protector of home and treasure, as the accompaniment and\nattribute of wisdom. The village temple would be often in early times\na storehouse of treasure, and the snake, respected as its guardian,\nwould finally, as in Kashm\u00eer, be installed there as a god.\n\nNext, we have the early connection between the serpent and the powers\nof nature, the cloud and the rain, as appears in the familiar Vedic\nlegend of Indra and the Dragon Ahi, and Seshan\u00e2ga, the great world\nserpent, which appears in so many of the primitive mythologies.\n\nThe serpent would again receive respect as the emblem of life; his\nshape would, as in many forms of primitive ornament, be associated\nwith the ring, as a symbol of eternity; he is excessively long-lived,\nand periodically renews his life.\n\nHe has, further, as in the Saiva cultus, become associated with\nphallicism, and with the sexual powers, as in the Adam legend. \"The\nserpent round the neck of Siva denotes the endless cycle of recurring\nyears, and a second necklace of skulls about his person, with numerous\nother serpents, symbolizes the eternal revolution of ages and the\nsuccessive dissolution and regeneration of the races of mankind.\" [323]\n\nLastly, the cultus may have a totemistic basis. As Strabo describes the\nOphiogeneis or serpent races of Phrygia actually retaining physical\naffinity with the snakes to whom they were to be believed to be\nallied, the Cheros of the eastern districts of the North-Western\nProvinces and the Bais R\u00e2jputs of Oudh profess to be descended from\nthe Great Serpent. Gautama Buddha himself is said to have been of\nserpent lineage.\n\nBut the great serpent race was that of the N\u00e2gas, to whom\nmuch ill-considered argument and crude speculation have been\ndevoted. According to one theory they were Skythic emigrants from\nCentral Asia, but whether antecedent or subsequent to the so-called\nAryan inroad is disputed. They seem to have been accustomed to use\nthe serpent as a national symbol, and hence became identified with the\nsnake. Some of the myths seem to imply that they suffered persecution\nat the hands of the Br\u00e2hmans, such as the tale of the burning of\nthe Kh\u00e2ndava forest, the opening scenes of the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, and the\nexploits of the youthful Krishna. They are, again, associated with\nBuddhism on monuments like those of Ajanta, and another theory would\nmake them out to be the Dasyus, or aboriginal races of Upper India,\nwho were the first to adopt Buddhism and were exterminated in the\nBr\u00e2hmanical revival. Little, in fact, is known of them, save that\nthey may have been early worshippers of the snake, may have embraced\nBuddhism, and may have introduced the worship into India from some\nnorthern home. [324] But Mr. Ferguson's theory that snake-worship\nwas of purely Turanian origin is, to say the least, very doubtful,\nand his belief that Saivism is antagonistic to snake-worship, and\nthat Vaishnavism, which he regards as a modification of Buddhism,\nencourages it, is opposed by the numerous examples of the connection\nof the serpent with the Lingam.\n\n\n\nSeshan\u00e2ga.\n\nBelow the seven P\u00e2t\u00e2las, according to the Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, is Vishnu\nincarnated as Seshan\u00e2ga, and known by the name Ananta, or \"Endless.\" He\nhas a thousand heads adorned with the mystical Sw\u00e2stika, and in each\nhead a jewel to give light. He is accompanied by Varun\u00ee, the goddess\nof wine (who has nowadays been replaced by Madain, who is venerated by\nCham\u00e2rs in Oudh), supports the world on his head, holds in one hand\na pestle and in the other a plough, which, as we shall see later on,\nconnects him with agriculture.\n\n\n\nSnake Shrines.\n\nIn various places snakes are provided with special shrines. Thus, in\nGarhw\u00e2l, Seshan\u00e2ga is honoured at Pandukeswar; Bhekal N\u00e2g at Ratg\u00e2on;\nSangal N\u00e2g at Talor; B\u00e2npa N\u00e2g at Marg\u00e2on, and many others of the same\nkind. [325] In fact, all along the Him\u00e2laya the worship extensively\nprevails. Kailang N\u00e2g is the chief Him\u00e2layan godling, and as the\nVedic Ahi controls the clouds, so he gives fine weather. A victim\nis killed, and one of his disciples, after drinking the blood, gets\ninto a state of afflatus. Finally, he gasps out that the sacrifice is\naccepted, and falls down in a state of exhaustion. The old shrine to\nthe serpent deity at K\u00e2ngra, known as Baghsu N\u00e2g, has been converted\ninto a Saiva temple under the name of Baghsun\u00e2tha, another instance\nof the adoption of strange deities into orthodox Hinduism.\n\n\"The N\u00e2g is specially the guardian of cattle and\nwater-springs. According to the legend, the valleys of Kashm\u00eer and\nNep\u00e2l were in some remote period the abode of N\u00e2gas. The milk of a\ncow is usually presented to a N\u00e2g, and goats and sheep are usually\nsacrificed to him, as to other godlings. So far as I am aware, the only\nplace in the Him\u00e2laya where the living snake is worshipped is at the\nfoot of the Rotung pass.\" [326] The Nep\u00e2l serpent king is Karkotaka,\nwho dwelt in the lake N\u00e2gav\u00e2sa, and Siva in the form of Karkotaka\nN\u00e2ga has a temple at Barha Kotra in the B\u00e2nda District.\n\nIn one of the Nep\u00e2l temples is a representation of a N\u00e2g Kany\u00e2, a\nserpent maiden or mermaid, sitting on a tortoise. [327] This serpent\nmaiden constantly appears in Indian folk-lore. Such is Vijay\u00e2vat\u00ee,\ndaughter of Gandam\u00e2lin, one of the snake kings, who is of surpassing\nloveliness, rescues and marries the hero. She is represented by the\nMelusina of European folk-lore, and one of her kindred survived to\nour own day, to appear as Elsie Venner in one of the finest novels\nof this generation. [328]\n\nCurious as it may appear, all the Kashm\u00eer temples were originally\nsurrounded by artificial tanks, constructed in order to propitiate the\nN\u00e2gas. Ancient stones covered with figures of snakes are occasionally\nto be seen worked up into the walls of modern buildings. Abul Fazl\nsays that in his time there were nearly seven hundred figures of\nsnake gods existing in Kashm\u00eer. The snake, it is needless to say,\nis a common emblem in temples all over the country. An ancient temple\nat Bil\u00e2spur in the Central Provinces has, as its only image, that of\nthe cobra. [329]\n\nSnake-worship appears constantly in history and legend. There is a\npassage in Plutarch from which it appears to have been the custom\nto sacrifice an old woman (previously condemned to death for some\ncrime) to the serpent gods by burying her alive on the banks of\nthe Indus. Ktesias also mentions the worship of snakes, and in the\nBuddhist legends snakes are often referred to as the guardian deities\nof towns. [330]\n\nIn the folk-tales, Narav\u00e2hanadatta worships snakes in a grove sacred to\nthem, and Bh\u00eemabhatta goes to the temple of the chief of the snakes,\nwhich he finds full of long wreaths of flowers in form like serpents,\nand a great lake sacred to V\u00e2suki, studded with red lotuses, which\nseemed like clouds of smoke from the fume of snake poison. [331]\n\nA curious legend tells how Kadr\u00fb and Vinat\u00e2 were the two wives of the\npatriarch Kasyapa, the former being the mother of the serpent race,\nand the other of the birds. A discussion arose between them regarding\nthe colour of the tails of the horses of the sun, Vinat\u00e2 insisting\nthat they were white and Kadr\u00fb that they were black. It was agreed\nthat whichever of the two was proved to be wrong should serve the\nother. So Kadr\u00fb contrived to fasten one of her black snakes on to the\nback of one of the horses, and Vinat\u00e2, thinking this was the real tail,\naccepted defeat; so the snakes rule the birds for ever.\n\nNahusha, according to one version of his legend, aspired to the love\nof the queen of India when her husband concealed himself because\nhe had killed a Br\u00e2hman. A thousand Rishis bore the litter of the\npresumptuous sinner through the air, and when in his pride he touched\nAgastya Muni with his foot, the offended sage cursed him, and he became\na serpent. Finally he was pardoned by the intercession of Yudhisthira,\nthrew off his serpent form, and was raised to the heaven of the gods.\n\nNear Jait, in the Mathura District, is a tank with the broken statue\nof a hooded serpent in it. Once upon a time a R\u00e2ja married a princess\nfrom a distant land, and wished to bring her home with him. She refused\nto come until he announced his lineage. Her husband told her that she\nwould regret her curiosity, but she persisted. At last he took her to\nthe river and warned her again, but in vain. Then he told her not to\nbe alarmed at anything she saw, adding that if she did so, she would\nlose him. Saying this, he began to descend slowly into the water, all\nthe time trying to dissuade her, till the water rose to his neck. Then,\nafter a last attempt to induce her to abandon her curiosity, he dived\nand reappeared in the form of a N\u00e2ga, and raising his head over the\nwater, he said, \"This is my lineage. I am a N\u00e2gavansi.\" His wife could\nnot suppress an exclamation of grief, on which the N\u00e2ga was turned\ninto stone, where he lies to this day. Here we have another instance\nof the consequences of the violation of the curiosity taboo. [332]\n\nThe town of Nigohan in the Lucknow District is said to have been\nfounded by Raja N\u00e2huk of the Chandravansi line of kings. Near it is a\nlarge tank, in which the legend says that the R\u00e2ja, transformed into\na snake for the sin of killing a Br\u00e2hman, was compelled to live. Here\nat length the P\u00e2ndava brothers, in their wanderings after their battle\nwith the Kauravas, came, and as they went to draw water, the serpent\nput to each of them five questions touching the vanity of human wishes\nand the advantages of absorption from the world. Four out of the five\nbrethren failed to answer and were dragged under the water, but the\nriddle was solved by the fifth. The spell was thus loosed, and the\nR\u00e2ja's deliverer had come. The P\u00e2ndu put his ring round the body of\nthe serpent, and he was restored to human form. In his gratitude he\nperformed a great sacrifice, and to this day the cultivators digging\nsmall wells in the centre of the tank in the dry season, come across\nthe burnt barley, rice, and betel-nuts used in the sacrifices. [333]\n\nThe old Buddhist traveller thus describes the serpent deity in the\ntemple at Sankisa in the Farrukh\u00e2b\u00e2d District--\"A white-eared dragon is\nthe patron of this body of the priests. It is he who causes fertilizing\nand seasonable showers of rain to fall within their country, and\npreserves it from plagues and calamity, and so causes the priesthood\nto dwell in security. The priests, in gratitude for these favours,\nhave erected a dragon chapel, and within it placed a seat for his\naccommodation; and, moreover, they make special contributions in the\nshape of religious offerings to provide the dragon with food. Towards\nthe end of each season of rest, the dragon incontinently assumes the\nform of a little serpent, both of whose ears are white. The body of\npriests, recognizing him, place in the midst for his use a copper\nvessel full of cream. The serpent then proceeds to come down from\nthe highest part of the alcove, all the while moving, as though he\nwould pay his respects to all those around him. He then suddenly\ndisappears. He makes his appearance once every year.\" [334]\n\nAccording to Gen. Cunningham, the only spot which can be identified\nwith any certainty at Sankisa is the tank of the N\u00e2ga, which still\nexists to the south-east of the ruins. The name of the N\u00e2ga is K\u00e2rewar,\nwhich appears to mean \"the black one,\" and that of the tank Kandaiya\nT\u00e2l. Milk is still offered to him on every day of May, the N\u00e2gpancham\u00ee\nfestival in August, and at any other time when rain is wanted. [335]\n\nThere are many instances of this control of the N\u00e2ga over the\nweather. Thus, in Nep\u00e2l, when R\u00e2ja Gunkamdeva committed incest, the\ngods in their wrath withheld the rain. Finally the R\u00e2ja managed to\ncatch the great N\u00e2ga Karkotaka, and the other N\u00e2gas came and worshipped\nhim and gave him each a likeness of himself drawn with his own blood,\nand declared that whenever there was a drought hereafter, plentiful\nrain would fall as soon as these pictures were worshipped.\n\nSo, Gorakhn\u00e2tha confined the nine N\u00e2gas, and there was a drought until\nMatsyendran\u00e2tha appeared and released them, on which the clouds gave\nrain. [336]\n\nThe plan of propitiating the N\u00e2ga with an offering of milk is found\nalso in the case of the Durham legend of the Lambton worm and the\ndragon of Deerhurst in Gloucestershire. [337]\n\nThe sacred dragons of this kind are innumerable. The Buddhist cave\nat Pabhosa in the Allah\u00e2b\u00e2d District was the home of a monster of\nthis class, who was subdued by Buddha. [338] That in the dragon tank\nat R\u00e2magr\u00e2ma used to assume the form of a Br\u00e2hman. [339] Dr. Buchanan\ntells of another at Bh\u00e2galpur. \"They showed me a hole in a rock opening\ninto a hollow space close by the path leading up to their village. They\nsaid that this hole was the abode of a very large serpent, which\nthey considered a kind of god. In cold weather they never saw it,\nbut in the hot season it was constantly observed lying in the hollow\nbefore its den. The people pass by it without apprehension, thinking\nit understands their language, and would on no account injure one of\nthem, should even a child or a drunken person fall on it.\" [340]\n\nBut all such snakes are not friendly. In the Hitopadesa, the faithful\nmungoose takes the place in the legend of Bethgelert of the hound and\nkills the deadly snake. Some reference to this famous folk-tale will be\nmade in another connection. Agh\u00e2sura, \"the evil demon,\" the king of the\nserpents, tried to devour the divine infant Krishna. When he and his\nfoster-father Nanda were asleep together, a huge boa-constrictor laid\nhold of Nanda by the toe, and would speedily have devoured him, but\nKrishna, hearing his cries, ran to his side and lightly set his foot\non the monster's head. At the very touch the serpent was transformed,\nand assumed the figure of a lovely youth; \"for years ago a Ganymede\nof Heaven's Court, by name Sudarsana, in pride of beauty and exalted\nbirth, had vexed the holy sage Angiras when in deep contemplation,\nby dancing backwards and forwards before him, and by his curses had\nbeen metamorphosed into a snake, in that vile shape to expiate his\noffence, until the advent of Krishna.\" [341] We have already spoken\nof another famous Mathura snake, the N\u00e2ga of Jait, whose tail is\nsupposed to reach underground to Brindaban, seven miles away. [342]\nThe curious dragon cave at Kausambhi at Allah\u00e2b\u00e2d was one of the last\nnotable discoveries of the Arch\u00e6ological Survey. [343]\n\n\n\nThe Snake Gods.\n\nBesides the sacred N\u00e2gas there are the regular snake gods. The serpent\ndeity of Benares is N\u00e2g\u00eeswar, who is represented by a serpent twining\nround the chief idol, and like his kindred rules the weather. The\nN\u00e2g Ku\u00e2n, or dragon well, is one of the oldest shrines in the\ncity. [344] T\u00e2r\u00e2 is the snake goddess of the Kols, and the Kh\u00e2ndhs\ncall her T\u00e2r\u00e2 Penu, the heavenly \"star snake.\" V\u00e2suki, the \"abider,\"\nnow known as B\u00e2suk N\u00e2g, has many shrines, and in all of them, as at\nD\u00e2raganj, near Allah\u00e2b\u00e2d, described by Sir Monier-Williams, [345]\nthe priest in charge is always a man of low caste, a fact pointing to\nthe non-Aryan character of the worship. He forms one of the triad of\nthe snake gods which rule the snakes of earth and hell, his fellows\nbeing Sesha and Takshaka, \"he who cuts off.\" V\u00e2suki often appears in\nthe folk-tales. We find him resisting Garuda, the destroyer of his\nsubjects. His brother's son Kirtisena is, according to one legend,\na Br\u00e2hman, and weds a mortal maiden by the Gandharva form; his eldest\nbrother Vasunemi presents a benevolent Savara with a magic lute;\nV\u00e2suki himself marries the princess Yasodhar\u00e2, and their son is\nPriyadarsana. V\u00e2suki has a thousand ears. Once he served the gods by\nbecoming the rope which the mount Mandara was whirled round, and the\nsea was churned and produced Sr\u00ee or Lakshm\u00ee, goddess of wealth. [346]\nThe foot of the celebrated iron pillar at Delhi was driven so deep in\norder that it might rest on the head of V\u00e2suki. A Br\u00e2hman told the\nking that this would secure the stability of his kingdom. The R\u00e2ja\ndoubted this, and had the pillar dug up, when its base was found wet\nwith the blood of the serpent king. Owing to the incredulity of the\nR\u00e2ja it could never again be firmly fixed, and his want of faith led\nto the ultimate downfall of his dynasty. The same tale has reached\nthe Him\u00e2laya, and is told of the foundation of Almora. [347]\n\n\n\nThe Sinhas.\n\nNext come the Sinhas, or snake godlings of the Panj\u00e2b and the western\nparts of the North-Western Provinces. \"They are males, and though\nthey cause fever they are not very malevolent, often taking away\npain. They have got great power over milch cattle, and the milk of the\neleventh day after calving is sacred to them, and libations of milk\n(as in the case of the Sankisa dragon) are always acceptable. They are\ngenerally distinguished by some colour, the most commonly worshipped\nbeing K\u00e2l\u00ee, 'the black one,' Hari, 'green,' Bh\u00fbra, 'grey,' Sinh. But\nthe diviner will often declare a fever to be caused by some Sinh no\none has ever heard of before, but to whom a shrine must be built. And\nso they multiply in a most perplexing manner. Dead men also have a\nway of becoming snakes--a fact which is revealed in a dream, when\nagain a shrine must be built. If a peasant sees a snake he will\nsalute it, and if it bite him, he or his heirs, as the case may be,\nwill build a shrine on the spot to prevent the recurrence of such an\noccurrence. They are the servants of V\u00e2suki N\u00e2ga, King of P\u00e2t\u00e2la,\nor Tartarus, and their worship is certainly connected with that of\nthe Pitris or ancestors, though it is difficult to see exactly in\nwhat the connection lies.\" [348]\n\n\n\nConnection of Snakes with Ancestor-worship.\n\nThe connection is thus explained by Mr. Spencer: \"The other self of\nthe dead relative is supposed to come back occasionally to the old\nhouse; how else is it possible of the survivors sleeping there to\nsee him in their dreams? Here are creatures which commonly, unlike\nwild animals, come into houses; come in, too, secretly at night. The\nimplication is clear. That snakes which specially do this are the\nreturned dead, is inferred by people in Asia, Africa, and America;\nthe haunting of houses being the common trait of the kind of snakes\nreverenced and worshipped.\" [349] The benevolent household snake,\nwhich in the folk-tales assists the hero and protects the family of\nwhich he is the guardian, thus represents the soul of some deceased\nancestor which has taken up its residence there. That the dead do\nappear as snakes is familiar in European folk-lore. Thus, for instance,\nthe pious \u00c6neas saw his father Anchises in the snake which crept from\nhis tomb. We have already come across the same idea in the case of\nthe Sat\u00ee. It was an old European idea that this household snake, if\nnot conciliated, and when dead buried under the threshold, a sacred\nplace, prevented conception. [350]\n\n\n\nDeified Snake Heroes.\n\nWe have already mentioned the regular snake godling G\u00fbga. With him are\noften worshipped his father Jaur or Jewar Sinh, and Arjan and Sarjan,\nhis twin half-brothers. [351]\n\nP\u00eepa, the Br\u00e2hman, is another deity of the same class in R\u00e2jput\u00e2na. He\nwas in the habit of giving milk to a serpent whose retreat was on\nthe banks of the Sampu, or Snake Lake. The serpent used in return to\npresent him daily with two pieces of gold. Being obliged to go away on\nbusiness, he gave instructions to his son to continue the offering;\nbut the youth, deeming it a good opportunity of becoming master of\nthe treasure, took a stick with him, and when the serpent came forth\nfor his expected food, he struck him violently. But the snake managed\nto retreat into his hole. On his return, the young Br\u00e2hman related\nhis adventures to his mother. She was horrified at the account, and\nforthwith made arrangements for sending her son away out of danger. But\nin the morning when she went to call him she found to her horror that\nher son was dead, and a huge snake lay coiled up beside his body. P\u00eepa\non his return was inconsolable, but, stifling his thoughts of revenge,\nhe propitiated the monster with copious libations of milk. The serpent\nwas appeased, and revealed to P\u00eepa the treasures which he guarded,\ncommanding him to erect a monument which should transmit the knowledge\nof the event to future ages. Hence P\u00eepa has become a sort of snake\ngodling, and the town of P\u00eepar and the Sampu Lake still by their\nnames commemorate the legend. [352]\n\nThis famous tale, which was originally founded on a story in the\nPanchatantra, has come into European folk-lore through the Gesta\nRomanorum, and forms an excellent example of a genuine Indian folk-tale\nwhich has been naturalized in Western lands. [353] The incident of\nthe animals which produce gold is common both in European and Indian\nfolk-lore. Even Marabhuti in the tale of Somadeva is able to spit\ngold, and every one knows Grimm's pretty tale of the \"Three little\nmen in the wood,\" in which a piece of gold drops from the mouth of\nthe good girl every time she speaks.\n\n\n\nSnake Treasure Guardians.\n\nSnakes throughout folk-lore are the guardians of treasure. [354] The\ngriffins of Scythia guarded the treasures coveted by the Arimaspians;\nthe dragon watched the golden apples of the Hesperides; in the\nNibelungenlied the dragon Fafnir keeps guard over a vast treasure\nof gold, which Sigurd seizes after he has killed the monster. It\nis a common Indian belief that when a very rich man dies without\nan heir, he cannot take away his thoughts from his treasure, and\nreturns to guard it in the form of a monstrous serpent. But after a\ntime he becomes tired of this serpent life, and either in a dream,\nor assuming the human voice, he asks the persons living near the\ntreasure to take it and offer him one of their dearest relatives\nin return. When some avaricious person complies with the serpent's\nwishes, he gets possession of the wealth, and the serpent then enters\ninto some other state of existence. Instances of treasure speaking are\nnot uncommon. Some time ago two old ladies, whose houses were divided\nby a wall, formally applied to me to have the wall excavated in the\npresence of respectable witnesses, because a treasure-guarding snake\nwas often heard speaking from inside the wall, and begging some one\nto take over the wealth which was in his charge.\n\nSnake charmers are supposed to have the power of recognizing these\nserpent treasure guardians, follow them stealthily to their holes, and\nask them to point out the deposit. This they will do in consideration\nof the offering of a drop of blood from the little finger of a\nfirst-born son, [355] an obvious survival of human sacrifice, which\nis constantly found connected with the serpent cultus.\n\nVarious suggestions have been made to account for the idea of snakes\nguarding treasure. By one theory there is some connection between the\nsnake and primitive metallurgy; by another, that the snake may have\nbeen the totem of the early jewellers; by a third, that the jewelled\nhead of the snake is at the bottom of the matter. [356] But it seems\nmore probable that the idea is based on the conception of the snake\nas a haunter of houses and temples, and the divine protector of the\ninmates and their wealth.\n\nIndian folk-lore is full of such stories. In the Dakkhin tale,\nSeventee B\u00e2\u00ee gets possession of the enormous diamond which the cobra\nused to take about in his mouth; and in the Bengal story Faq\u00eer Chand\nobtains the serpent's crest-jewel. [357] The same idea appears in\nthe Arabian Nights. Mr. Forbes tells rather a ghastly tale on this\nsubject. He personally investigated a mysterious chamber supposed to\ncontain treasure. Viewed from above it was a gloomy dungeon of great\ndepth. He desired his men to enter it, but they positively refused,\nalleging that \"wherever money was concealed, there existed one of\nthe Genii in the mortal form of a snake to guard it.\" He at last\nprevailed on them to descend by means of ropes. They had not been at\nthe bottom many seconds, when they called out vehemently that they\nwere encircled by a large snake. Finally he observed something like\nbillets of wood, or rather more resembling a ship's cable coiled\nup in a dark hole. Then he saw the monster raise his head over an\nimmense length of body, coiled in volumes on the ground. A large\nsnake was subsequently destroyed by fire, but no treasure was found,\n\"the owner having doubtless already removed it.\" [358]\n\n\n\nPowers of Snakes in Folk-lore.\n\nManifold are the powers of snakes in folk-lore. He can strike people\ndead with his look from a distance, like the \"death-darting eye of\ncockatrice\" in \"Romeo and Juliet.\" He has the power of spitting fire\nfrom his mouth, which destroys his enemies and consumes forests. His\nsaliva is venomous, and there are many stories of snakes spitting\nvenom into food. In one of the versions of Bethgelert, the prince,\nbut for his guardian bird, would have drunk as water the venom of the\nblack snakes which drips from a tree. In the legends of R\u00e2ja Ras\u00e2lu,\nG\u00fbga, and Newal D\u00e2\u00ee, the snake has power to kill and restore to life;\nit has the faculty of metamorphosis and flying through the air. In one\nof the Kashm\u00eer tales, the Br\u00e2hman, wishing to get rid of his wife,\ngives her a snake in a bag; but when she opens it, it turns into a\nbeautiful little boy. [359] We have, again, the world-wide story\nof the snake rescued by the traveller, which rewards the service\nrendered to him by biting his benefactor. When Indra carried off\nthe nectar, the snakes licked the bed of Kusa grass on which the\nvessel lay. The sharp edges of the grass cut them as they licked,\nso they have had double tongues ever since. [360] Every Indian rustic\nbelieves in the Domunha or snake with a mouth at both ends, which is,\nas might have been expected, most virulent. There are snake women,\nlike Lamia or Vasudeva, the mystic serpent, who go about at night,\nand by day resume their hateful form. The humanity of the serpent\nrace comes out clearly in the legend of Saf\u00eedon, which attributes the\nleprosy still found in the Panj\u00e2b to the sacrilegious acts of V\u00e2suki,\nthe king of the serpents. [361]\n\n\n\nModern Snake-worship.\n\nSome instances may be given of the form assumed by the worship of\nthe snake in modern times.\n\nThe great snake festival is the N\u00e2gpancham\u00ee, or \"Dragon's fifth,\" held\non the fifth day of the month of Bh\u00e2don. In the Hills it is called the\nRikh\u00ee or Birur\u00ee Pancham\u00ee. Rikheswara has now become a title of Siva\nas lord of the N\u00e2gas, a form in which he is represented as surrounded\nby serpents and crowned with the chaplet of hooded snakes. On the day\nof the feast the people paint figures of serpents and birds on the\nwalls of their houses, and seven days before the festival they steep\na mixture of wheat, gram, and pulse in water. On the morning of the\nfeast they take a wisp of grass, tie it up in the form of a snake,\ndip it in the water in which the gram has been steeped, and offer it\nwith money and sweetmeats to the serpents. [362]\n\nIn Udaypur on this day they strew particular plants about the\nthresholds of houses to prevent the entrance of venomous reptiles, and\nin Nep\u00e2l the day is observed as the anniversary of a great struggle\nbetween a famous N\u00e2ga and Garuda, the foe of the serpent race. [363]\nIn the eastern districts of the North-West Provinces on this day milk\nand dried rice are poured into a snake's hole; while doing this they\ncall out \"Snake! snake!\" The feeding of snakes on this holiday is done\nin much the same way in Bombay. [364] After the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee in K\u00e2ngra,\na festival is held to bid good-bye to the snakes, at which an image\nof the N\u00e2ga made of cowdung is worshipped. If a snake be seen after\nthis it is called \"ungrateful,\" and immediately killed. [365]\n\nIn the North-Western Provinces the usual custom is for the head of the\nfamily to bathe on the morning of the feast, to paint on the wall of\nhis sleeping-room two rude representations of serpents, and to make\nofferings to Br\u00e2hmans. On this day people pray to what Dr. Buchanan\ncalls \"the chief eight dragons of the pit,\" [366] girls throw some\nplaythings into the water, and labourers take a holiday and worship\nthe tools of their craft.\n\nIn Beh\u00e2r during the month of S\u00e2wan (August) crowds of women calling\nthemselves N\u00e2gin, or \"wives of the snake,\" go about begging for two\nand a half days, during which period they neither sleep under a roof\nnor eat salt. Half the proceeds of the begging are given to Br\u00e2hmans,\nand the other half invested in salt and sweetmeats, which are eaten\nby all the people of the village. [367]\n\nIn Garhw\u00e2l, the ground is freely smeared with cowdung and mud,\nand figures of five, seven, or nine serpents are rudely drawn with\nsandal-wood powder or tumeric; rice, beans, or peas are parched; lamps\nare lighted and waved before them; incense is burnt and food and fruit\noffered. These observances take place both morning and evening, and the\nnight is spent in listening to stories in praises of the N\u00e2ga. [368]\n\nIn parts of the North-Western Provinces, with the usual N\u00e2gpancham\u00ee,\nis performed what is known as the Guru\u00ee festival. On that day\nofferings are made by women to the Dragon godling N\u00e2g Deot\u00e2. Girls\nlet dolls float in the water of some convenient river or tank, and\nthe village lads beat the dolls with long switches specially cut\nfor the purpose. The legend of this rite is thus told. When R\u00e2ja\nJanamej\u00e2ya held the Sarpa Sattra or snake rite in order to destroy\nTakshaka, the king of the serpents, all the snakes were captured by\nspells and killed. But Takshaka escaped and was found to have taken\nrefuge with Indra, on whose throne he seated himself in the shape of\na mosquito. Indra was ordered to produce the fugitive, and begged the\nlife of Takshaka, which was granted on condition that he was banished\nfrom the land. So the snake king took the shape of a Br\u00e2hman lad\nand retired to the Caucasus. There he settled and married, but he\nfoolishly told the story to his wife, and she being unable to keep\nthe secret, it finally reached the ears of Janamej\u00e2ya, who sentenced\nhim to death. Takshaka then retorted by ordering Janamej\u00e2ya to cause\neveryone in his dominions to kill his wife as a revenge for his own\nwife's treachery. Janamej\u00e2ya was unwilling to issue such a cruel\norder, so he consulted the Br\u00e2hmans. Finally, it was proclaimed\nthat on the N\u00e2gpancham\u00ee, every woman, to prove her devotion to her\nhusband, should make a doll and offer it up as a vicarious sacrifice\nfor herself. It would seem that the rite is the survival of some rite\nof human sacrifice in connection with snake-worship.\n\nThe Agarw\u00e2la Banyas, who say that they are descended from R\u00e2ja V\u00e2suki,\nhave a special rite in honour of Astika Muni, who is said to have been\nthe instructor of V\u00e2suki. They bathe and make marks representing the\nsnake on the walls of the house, which they worship, feed Br\u00e2hmans, and\ndo the \u00c2rt\u00ee or lamp rite. Each woman takes home with her some of the\nsesamum offered to the snake, which they sprinkle with the recitation\nof a spell in their houses as a means of driving away venomous snakes.\n\n\n\nCure of Snake-bite.\n\nIn Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d there were once two brothers, R\u00e2jawa and Soral; the\nghost of the former cures snake-bite, and that of the latter cattle\nmurrain. The moment a man is bitten, he must tie a string or a strip\nof his dress and fasten it round his neck, crying, \"Mercy! O God\nR\u00e2jawa!\" To call on Ghori B\u00e2dsh\u00e2h, the Delhi Emperor, who conquered\nthe country, or R\u00e2mj\u00ee D\u00e2s B\u00e2ba will do as well. At the same time\nhe makes a vow to give so much to the god if he recovers. When he\ngets home they use various tests to ascertain if the poison is in\nhim still. They take him in and out over the threshold, and light\na lamp before him, acts which are supposed to have the effect of\ndeveloping latent poison. They then give him salt and leaves of\nthe bitter N\u00eem tree. If he can take them he is safe. These are all,\nas we have already seen, scarers of evil spirits, in this case the\nsnake demon. If he cannot take them, the whole village goes out and\ncries to R\u00e2jawa Deo until he recovers. No one (Sir C. A. Elliott's\ninformant told him) had been ever known to die of a snake-bite after\nthis treatment. But the god has no power over the dreaded Biscobra,\nwhich takes its name from the Hindi Bishkh\u00e2pra, Sanskrit Vishakharpara,\nor \"poison-headed,\" which is said to be so deadly that its very breath\nis venomous, one of the numerous popular delusions out of which it\nis hopeless to argue the rustic. The bitten man must not untie the\nstring round his neck till the day when he goes to offer what he vows,\nwhich should be, at latest, on the next Dasahra; but if he attempts\nto cheat the god by offering ever so little less than he promised,\nhe will die on the spot in agonies. [369]\n\nAll through Upper India the stock remedy for snake-bite is the exorcism\nof the Ojha or sorcerer, a performance known as Jh\u00e2r Ph\u00fbnk, consisting\nof a series of passes, massage, and incantations, which are supposed\nto disperse the venom. Many, too, have faith in the so-called \"Snake\nstone,\" which seems to be usually a piece of bone soaked in blood\nand repeatedly baked. This is supposed to have absorbent properties\nand to draw the venom out of the wound. It probably works by faith,\nand is as effective as the Achates or Agate of which Pliny writes:\n\"People are persuaded that it availeth much against the venomous\nspiders and scorpions, which property I could very well believe to\nbe in the Sicilian Agate, for that so soon as serpents come within\nthe air and breath of the said province of Sicily, as venomous as\nthey be otherwise, they die thereupon.\" [370]\n\n\n\nThe Snake in Folk-lore.\n\nThe references to the snake in folk-lore and popular belief are\nso numerous that only a few examples can be given. The Dh\u00e2man\n(Ptyas mucosus), a quite harmless snake, is said in Bombay to give\na fatal bite on Sundays, and to kill cattle by crawling under them,\nor putting its tail up their nostrils. Its shadow is also considered\nmalignant. It is believed to suck the milk of cattle, and that if a\nbuffalo is looked on by it, it immediately dies. Of the Ghonas snake\nit is believed that it bites only at night, and at whatever hour of\nthe night the victim is bitten, he dies just before daybreak. [371]\n\nAbout these snake stones some curious tales are told. By one account,\nwhen a goat kills a snake, it eats it and then ruminates, after which\nit spits out a bead, which, when applied to a snake-bite, absorbs the\npoison and swells. If it be put into milk, and squeezed, the poison\ndrips out of it like blood, and the bitten person is cured. If it be\nnot put in milk it will burst in pieces. By another account, in the\npouch-like appendages of the older Adjutant birds (Leptoptilos Argala)\nthe fang of a snake is sometimes found. This, if rubbed over the place\nwhere a poisonous snake has bitten a man, is supposed to prevent the\nvenom spreading to the vital parts of the body. Others say that it is\nfound within the head of the Adjutant, and that it is only necessary\nto rub it to the bitten place and put it into milk, when it becomes\nblack through the venom. What was known as the Ovum Anguinum of the\nBritons is said to have been a bead which assists children to cut\ntheir teeth and cures the chincough and the ague. Mr. Campbell [372]\nsays he once possessed one of these \"snake's eggs,\" which was a blue\nand white glass bead and supposed to be a charm used by the women of\nthe prehistoric races.\n\nA very common incident in the folk-tales is that the heroine is beset\nby snakes which come out of her nose or mouth at night and kill her\nnewly-wedded husband, as the evil spirit kills the husband of Sara\nin the marriage chamber, until the hero lies awake and succeeds in\ndestroying them.\n\nAnother power snakes possess is that of identifying the rightful heirs\nof kingdoms, and, as in the case of Drona, who found the Ah\u00eer Adir\u00e2ja\nsleeping in the shade of the hood of a cobra, announce that he is born\nto rule. [373] So in the mythology the N\u00e2ga king Machalinda spreads\nhis hood over the Buddha to protect him from the rain and flies. [374]\nMany of these N\u00e2gas indeed are friendly, as in the case of the Banj\u00e2ra,\nwho, in order to avoid octroi duty, declared his valuable goods to be\nGlauber salts, and Glauber salts they became until they were restored\nto their original condition by the intercession of the kindly N\u00e2ga of\nthe Gundwa tank. [375] In one of Somadeva's tales the friendly snake\nclings round the R\u00e2ja till he promises to release the Bodhisattwa\nout of prison.\n\n\n\nSnakes and Euphemism.\n\nSnakes should, of course, be addressed euphemistically as \"Maternal\nuncle,\" or \"Rope,\" and if a snake bites you, you should never mention\nits name, but say, \"A rope has touched me.\" The Mirzapur Kharw\u00e2rs\ntell of a man who once came on a N\u00e2gin laying her eggs. When she\nsaw him she fell at his feet and asked him to throw the eggs in a\nwater-hole. So he took up the eggs on a bamboo sieve and went with her\nto the brink. The N\u00e2gin plunged in and said, \"Do not be afraid! Come\non!\" He followed her, the waters dried up, and he came to the palace\nof the N\u00e2g, who entertained him royally, and offered to give him\nanything he wished. The boor asked only for a pan, pot, and spoon,\nwhich the N\u00e2ga gave him, and he came home to find his relations doing\nthe death ceremonies in his honour, believing he had been carried\noff by a tiger. He said nothing of his adventures till the day of\nhis death, when he told the story. So the N\u00e2ga in other tales of the\nsame class blesses and rewards the lucky man who has delivered the\nyoung snake from his persecutors who caught him while in the upper\nair. So in the Arabian Nights, the relations of Jullanar of the sea\nshow their gratitude to the king who is kind to her on earth.\n\nOn the basis of the same idea which has been already referred to\nin the case of the Churel, it is believed that if the shadow of a\npregnant woman fall on a snake it becomes blind. [376]\n\n\n\nThe Snake Jewel.\n\nThe snake, like the \"toad ugly and venomous,\" wears on his head\nthe Mani or precious jewel, which is a stock subject in Indian\nfolk-tales. Thus, in one of Somadeva's stories, \"when Nala heard this,\nhe looked round, and beheld a snake coiled up near the fire, having\nhis head encircled with the rays of the jewels of his crest.\" [377]\nIt is sometimes metamorphosed into a beautiful youth; it equals the\ntreasure of seven kings; it can be hidden or secured only by cowdung\nor horsedung being thrown over it; and if it is acquired the serpent\ndies. It lights the hero on his way to the palace under the sea where\nis the silver jewelled tree; or it is possessed by the sleeping beauty,\nwho cannot return to her home beneath the waters, and loses the hero\nuntil it is recovered. Its presence acts as an amulet against evil,\nand secures the attainment of every wish. It protects the owner from\ndrowning, the waters parting on each side of him, and allowing him\nto pass over rivers dry-shod. [378]\n\n\n\nThe Rainbow and the Snake.\n\nSo the rainbow is connected with the snake, being the fume of a\ngigantic serpent blown up from underground. In Persia it was called\nthe \"celestial serpent.\" We have already seen that the Milky Way is\nregarded as the path of the N\u00e2gas in the sky. It is possibly under\nthe influence of the association of the snake, a treasure guardian,\nthat the English children run to find where the rainbow meets the\nearth, and expect to find a crock of gold buried at its base. [379]\n\n\n\nThe Household Snake.\n\nThe belief in the influence of the guardian domestic or national snake\nis universal. When the Persians invaded Athens the people would not\nleave the city till they learned that the guardian snake had refused\nits food and abandoned the citadel. A snake at Lanuvium and at Epirus\nresided in a grove and was waited on by a virgin priestess, who entered\nnaked and fed it once a year, when by its acceptance or refusal of\nthe offering, the prospects of the harvest were ascertained. The\nTeutons and Celts had also their sacred guardian snake.\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b Hills, every householder keeps an image of the\nN\u00e2ga or harmless snake, as contrasted with the S\u00e2np, which is\nvenomous. This snake is put in charge of the householder's homestead,\nand is held responsible that no cobra or dangerous serpent enters\nit. It is supposed to have the power of driving all cobras out of\nthe place. Should rain drive the house snake out of his hole, he is\nworshipped. No image of a cobra or other venomous snake is ever made\nfor purposes of worship. Ant-hills are believed to be the homes of\nsnakes, and there the people offer sugar, rice, and millet for forty\ndays. [380] These correspond to the benevolent domestic snakes, of\nwhom Aubrey says that \"the Bramens have them in great veneration;\nthey keep their corne. I think it is Tavernier mentions it.\" [381]\n\nThey are, in fact, as we have already seen, the representatives of\nthe benevolent ancestral ghosts. Hence the deep-rooted prejudice\nagainst killing the snake, which is both guardian and god. \"If,\"\nsays Mr. Lang, [382] \"the serpent were the deity of an earlier race,\nwe could understand the prejudice against killing it, as shown in the\nApollo legend.\" The evidence accumulated in this chapter will perhaps\ngo some way to settle this question, as far as India is concerned.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTOTEMISM AND FETISHISM.\n\n\n                    Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,\n                    Cum faber incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,\n                    Maluit esse deum.\n\n                                              Horace, Sat. I. viii. 1-3.\n\n\n\"A totem is a class of material objects, which a savage regards with\nsuperstitious respect, believing that there exists between them\nand every member of the class an intimate and altogether special\nrelation.\" [383] As distinguished from a fetish, a totem is never\nan isolated individual, but always a class of objects, generally\na class of animals or plants, rarely a class of inanimate objects,\nvery rarely a class of artificial objects.\n\n\n\nOrigin of Totemism.\n\nAs regards the origin of totemism great diversity of opinion\nexists. Mr. Herbert Spencer considers that \"it arose from a\nmisinterpretation of nicknames; savages first took their names from\nnatural objects, and then confusing these objects with their ancestors\nof the same name, paid the same respect to the material totem as\nthey were in the habit of doing to their own ancestors.\" [384] The\nobjection to this is, as Mr. Frazer shows, that it attributes to\nverbal misunderstandings far more influence than, in spite of the\ncomparative mythologists, they ever seem to have exercised.\n\nSir J. Lubbock derives the idea from the practice of naming persons\nand families after animals, but \"in dropping the intermediate links\nof ancestor-worship and verbal misunderstanding, he has stripped the\ntheory of all that lent it even an air of plausibility.\" [385]\n\nRecent inquiries in the course of the Ethnographical Survey of Bengal\nand the North-Western Provinces enable us perhaps to approach to a\nsolution of the problem.\n\nTo begin with, at a certain stage of culture the idea of the connection\nbetween men and animals is exceedingly vivid, and reacts powerfully\non current beliefs. The animal or plant is supposed to have a soul\nor spirit, like that of a human being, and this soul or spirit is\ncapable of transfer to the man or animal and vice vers\u00e2. This feeling\ncomes out strongly in popular folk-lore, much of which is made up of\ninstances of metamorphosis such as these. The witch or sorcerer is\nalways changing into a tiger, a monkey, or a fish; the princess is\nalways appearing out of the aubergine or pomegranate.\n\nWe have, again, the familiar theory to which reference has already\nbeen made, that the demon or magician has an external soul, which he\nkeeps occasionally in the Life Index, which is often a bird, a tree,\nand an animal. If this life index can be seized and destroyed, the\nlife of the monster is lost with it.\n\nThese principles, which are thoroughly congenial to the beliefs of all\nprimitive races, naturally suggest a much closer union between man and\nother forms of animal or vegetable life than people of a higher stage\nof development either accept or admit. With people, then, at this\nstage of culture, the theory that the ancestor of the clan may have\nbeen a bear or a tortoise would present no features of improbability.\n\nThis theory accounts, as Mr. Frazer shows, for many of the obscure\nrites of initiation which prevail among most savage tribes and in a\nmodified form among the Br\u00e2hmanized Hindus. The basis of such rites\nis probably to extract the soul of the youth and temporarily transfer\nit to the totem, from which in turn fresh life is infused into him.\n\nLastly, the result of the Indian evidence is that it is only in\nconnection with the rules of exogamy that totemism at the present\nday displays any considerable degree of vitality. The real basis of\nexogamy in Northern India seems to be the totem sept, which, however,\nflourishes at the present day only among the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes and those\nallied to them. But it would, it is almost certain, be incorrect to say\nthat while totemism is at present most active among the Dr\u00e2vidians,\nin connection with marriage, it was peculiar to them. It is more\nreasonable to infer that it continues to flourish among these races,\nbecause of their isolation from Br\u00e2hmanical influence. As among the\ninferior races of the Gangetic valley, the primitive family customs\nconnected with marriage, birth, and death have undergone a process\nof denudation from their connection with the more advanced Hindu\nraces which surround them, so to a large degree in Northern India,\nthe totemistic sept names have been gradually shed off, and replaced\nby an eponymous, local, or territorial nomenclature. In short, under\nthe pressure of higher culture, the kindred of the swan, turtle, or\nparrot have preferred to call themselves Kanaujiya or \"men of Kanauj,\"\nSarwariya or \"residents of the land beyond the Sarju river,\" and\nRaghuvansa or Bhriguvansa, \"descendants of the sages Raghu or Bhrigu.\"\n\nWe find, then, among such races, as might have been expected, that\nat the present day the totemistic sept system exists only in obscure\nand not easily recognizable forms. Folk etymology has also exercised\nconsiderable influence, and a sept ashamed of its totemistic title\nreadily adopts some title of the eponymous type, or a local cognomen\nsounding something like the name of the primitive totem. It is perhaps\ntoo much to expect that a careful exploration of the sept titles or\ntribal customs of Northern India will lead to extensive discoveries of\nthe primitive totemistic organization. The process of trituration which\nhas affected the caste nomenclature for such a lengthened period, and\nthe obscuration of primitive belief by association with more cultured\ntribes, have been so continuous as to leave only a few fragments and\nisolated survivals; but it is by a course of such inquiry that the\ntotemistic basis of the existing caste system can alone be reached.\n\nI have considered this question in the light of the most recent\nevidence in another place, [386] and it is needless to repeat the\nresults which were there arrived at.\n\nFor the purpose of such an investigation it is convenient to have\nsome sort of working classification of the tests of, and the forms\nin which, totemism usually appears. These have been laid down by the\nlate Professor Robertson-Smith as follows:--\n\n(a) The existence of stocks named after plants, animals, or similar\ntotems.\n\n(b) The prevalence of a conception that the members of the stock\nare of the blood of the eponym, or are sprung from a plant, etc.,\nof the species chosen as the totem.\n\n(c) The ascription of a sacred character to the totem.\n\n\n\nStocks Named from Animals, Plants, etc.\n\nFirst as to the stocks named from animals, plants, etc. There are\ntwo divisions of the P\u00fbra Br\u00e2hmans of the Dakkhin, known as Bakriy\u00e2r\nand Chheriy\u00e2r, founded on the names of the male and female goat. In\nUpper India, the K\u00e2chhis or market gardeners, and the Kachhw\u00e2ha sept\nof R\u00e2jputs allege that they take their names from the Kachchhapa or\ntortoise, as the Kurmis refer their name to the K\u00fbrma or turtle. The\nAhban R\u00e2jputs and the Ahiw\u00e2sis of Mathura connect their names with\nAhi, the dragon. The Kalhans R\u00e2jputs derive their name from the\nK\u00e2lahans or black goose. Among Br\u00e2hmans and other high castes,\nBh\u00e2radvaja, \"the lark, the bringer of food,\" has given its name\nto many sections. Mr. Risley thinks that the fact of there being a\nKasyapa division of Kumh\u00e2rs or potters, who venerate the tortoise,\npoints to the name being a corruption of Kachchhapa, the tortoise,\nin which case their name would have the same origin as that of the\nK\u00e2chhis already mentioned.\n\nMany people, again, claim kindred with the sun and moon. Such are the\nNatchez of North America and the Incas of Peru. [387] There are many\nchildren of the sun and moon in Arabia, [388] and gypsies of the east\nof Europe have a legend that they are descended from the sun and moon;\nthe sun having debauched his moon sister, was condemned to wander for\never, in consequence of which their descendants can never rest. [389]\nSo in India, the S\u00fbrajbansi and Chandrabansi R\u00e2jputs are said to take\ntheir names from S\u00fbraj, the sun, and Chandra, the moon, respectively.\n\nAccording to Captain J. Montgomerie, [390] round Kashm\u00eer, and among\nthe aboriginal tribes of the Him\u00e2layan slopes, men are usually named\nafter animals, as the Bakhtiy\u00e2ris, one of the nomad tribes of Persia,\nname their children usually not after the Prophet, but after wild\nanimals, such as the wolf, tiger, and the like, adding some descriptive\nepithet. In the same way a tribe of Lodi Path\u00e2ns in the Panj\u00e2b are\nknown as N\u00e2har or \"wolf.\" This is said to be due to their rapacity,\nand may be as likely a nickname as a survival of totemism. [391]\n\n\n\nTotem Names among the Dr\u00e2vidians.\n\nThe evidence of this point is, as has been already said, much\nmore distinct among the Dr\u00e2vidians than among the more Hinduized\nraces. Details of such names among the Agariyas, Nats, Baisw\u00e2rs, and\nGhasiyas have been given in detail elsewhere. [392] Thus, to take\nthe Dh\u00e2ngars, a caste in Mirzapur, allied to the Or\u00e2ons of Bengal,\nwe find that they have eight exogamous septs, all or most of which\nare of totemistic origin. Thus, Ilha is said to mean a kind of fish,\nwhich members of this sept do not eat; Kujur is a kind of jungle herb\nwhich this sept does not use; Tirik is probably the Tirki or bull sept\nof the Or\u00e2ons. In Chota N\u00e2gpur, members of this sept do not touch any\ncattle after their eyes are open. It illustrates the uncertainty of\nthese usages that in other places they say that the word Tirki means\n\"young mice,\" which they are prohibited from using. [393] Again,\nthe Mirzapur sept of the Dh\u00e2ngars, known as Lakara, is apparently\nidentical with that called Lakrar among the Bengal Or\u00e2ons, who must not\neat tiger's flesh as they are named after the tiger; in Mirzapur they\nderive their name from the Lakar Bagha, or hy\u00e6na, which they will not\nhunt or kill. The Bara sept is apparently the same as the Barar of the\nOr\u00e2ons, who will not eat the leaves of the Bar tree or Ficus Indica. In\nMirzapur they will not cut this tree. The Ekka sept in Mirzapur say\nthat this name means \"leopard,\" an animal which they will not kill,\nbut in Chota N\u00e2gpur the same word is said to mean \"tortoise\" and to\nbe a totemistic sept of the Or\u00e2ons. So, the Mirzapur Dh\u00e2ngars have\na Tiga sept, which they say takes its name from a jungle root which\nis prohibited to them; but the Or\u00e2ons of Bh\u00e2galpur have a Tig sept,\nwhich, according to them, means \"monkey.\" The last of the Mirzapur\nsepts is the Kh\u00e2ha, which, like the Khakkar sept of the Or\u00e2ons, means\n\"crow,\" and neither will eat the bird. Similar instances might be\nalmost indefinitely repeated from usages of the allied tribes in\nMirzapur and the adjoining Bengal Districts.\n\n\n\nThe Panj\u00e2b Snake Tribe.\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b there is a special snake tribe. They observe every\nMonday and Thursday in the snake's honour, cooking rice and milk,\nsetting a portion aside for the snake, and never eating or making\nbutter on those days. If they find a dead snake, they put clothes\nupon it, and give it a regular funeral. They will not kill a snake,\nand say that its bite is harmless to them. The snake, they say, changes\nits form every hundred years, and then becomes a man or a bull. [394]\nSo, in Senegambia, \"a python is expected to visit every child of the\nPython clan within eight days after birth; and the Psylli, a snake\nclan of ancient Africa, used to expose their infants to snakes in\nthe belief that the snakes would not harm true-born children of the\nclan.\" [395] So, in Northern India the Bais R\u00e2jputs are children of\nthe snake, and supposed to be safe from its bite, and N\u00e2ga R\u00e2ja is\nthe tribal godling of the B\u00e2jgis. There is a well-known legend of a\nqueen of India, who is said to have sent to Alexander, among other\ncostly presents, a girl, who, having been fed with serpents from her\ninfancy, partook of their venomous nature. The well-known tale of\nElsie Venner has been already referred to in the same connection.\n\n\n\nTotemism in Proper Names.\n\nThe subject of Indian proper names has not yet received the attention\nit deserves. The only attempt to investigate the subject, so far,\nis that of Major Temple. [396] In his copious lists there is ample\nevidence that names are freely adopted from those of animals, plants,\netc. Thus we have Bagha, \"Tiger\"; Bheriya, \"Wolf\"; Billa, \"Cat\";\nCh\u00fbha, \"Rat,\" and so on from animals; Bagla, \"Heron\"; Tota, \"Parrot,\"\nand so on from birds; Ajgar, \"Python\"; Mendak, \"Frog\"; Kachhua,\n\"Tortoise;\"; Bhaunra, \"Bumble Bee\"; Ghun, \"Weevil\"; D\u00eemak, \"White\nAnt,\" etc. From plants come B\u00fbta, \"Tree\"; Harabansa, \"Green Bamboo\"\n(or more probably Hari-vansa, \"the genealogy of Hari\" or Vishnu); N\u00eema,\n\"N\u00eem tree\"; P\u00eepal, \"P\u00eepal tree\"; Gul\u00e2ba, \"Rose\"; Imliya, \"Tamarind\";\nSewa, \"Apple\"; Il\u00e2cha, \"Cardamum\"; Mirchi, \"Pepper\"; Bhutta, \"Maize.\"\n\nThe evidence of nomenclature must, of course, be received with\ncaution. The essence of totemism is a confessed belief in animal\ndescent, a name declaring that descent and some sacredness attached\nto the animal or other fancied ancestor. Many of these names may be\nnicknames, or titles of opprobrium selected, as we have already shown,\nto baffle the Evil Eye or the influence of demons. Besides, as has been\npointed out, it does not necessarily follow because an Englishman lives\nin \"Acacia Villa\" or \"Laburnum Cottage,\" and calls his daughter \"Rose\"\nor \"Violet,\" that he is in the totemistic stage. At the same time,\nit is quite possible that further inquiry will discover undoubted\ninstances of totemism in the nomenclature of Northern India, as is\nthe case with other races in a similar stage of culture.\n\n\n\nDescent from the Totem.\n\nWe next come to Professor Robertson-Smith's second test, the belief\nin descent from the totem. This branch of the subject has been very\nfully illustrated by Mr. Frazer. [397] As in old times in Georgiana,\naccording to Marco Polo, all the king's sons were born with an\neagle on the right shoulder marking their royal origin, [398] so\nChandragupta, king of Ujjain, was the son of a scorpion. \"His mother\naccidentally imbibed the scorpion's emission, by means of which she\nconceived.\" [399] The Jaitwas of R\u00e2jput\u00e2na trace their descent from\nthe monkey god Hanum\u00e2n, and confirm it by alleging that the spine\nof their princes is elongated like a tail. In the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana, one of\nthe wives of King S\u00e2gara gives birth to a son who continues the race;\nthe other wife produces an Ikshv\u00e2ku, a gourd or cane containing sixty\nthousand sons. The famous Chandragupta was miraculously preserved by\nthe founder of his race, the bull Chando. [400] The wolf is in the\nsame way traditionally connected with the settlement of the Janw\u00e2r\nR\u00e2jputs in Oudh, and they believe that the animal never preys on their\nchildren. Every native believes that children are reared in the dens\nof wolves, and there is a certain amount of respectable evidence in\nsupport of the belief. [401]\n\nSimilar examples are numerous among the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes. The Cheros\nof the Vindhyan plateau claim descent from the N\u00e2ga or dragon. The\nR\u00e2ja and chief members of the Chota N\u00e2gpur family wear turbans so\narranged as to make the head-dress resemble a serpent coiled round\nthe skull, with its head projecting over the wearer's brow. The seal\nof the Mah\u00e2r\u00e2ja and the arms of his family show as a crest a cobra\nwith a human face under its expanded hood, surrounded with all the\ninsignia of royalty. The Sant\u00e2l legend ascribes the origin of the\ntribe to the wild goose, and similar stories are told by the family\nof the R\u00e2ja of Sinhbh\u00fbm, the Hos, the Malers, and the K\u00fbrs. [402]\n\n\n\nSpecial Respect Paid to the Totem.\n\nNext come instances of special respect paid to the totem. Some idea\nof the kind may be partly the origin of the worship of the cow and\nthe serpent. Dr. Ball describes how some Kh\u00e2ndhs refused to carry the\nskin of a leopard because it was their totem. [403] The Kadanballis of\nKanara will not eat the S\u00e2mbhar stag, the Bargaballis the Barga deer,\nand the Kuntiballis the woodcock. The Vaydas of Cutch worship the\nmonkey god whom they consider to be their ancestor, and to please him\nin their marriage ceremony, the bridegroom goes to the bride's house\ndressed up as a monkey and there leaps about in monkey fashion. [404]\nIt is possibly from regard to the totem that the Parih\u00e2r R\u00e2jputs of\nR\u00e2jput\u00e2na will not eat the wild boar, but they have now invented a\nlegend that one of their princes went into a river while pursuing a\nboar and was cured of a loathsome disease. [405] There is a Celtic\nlegend in which a child is turned into a pig, and Gessa is laid\non Diarmid not to kill a pig, as it has the same span of life as\nhimself. [406]\n\nThe Bengal B\u00e2wariyas take the heron as their emblem, and must not eat\nit. [407] The Orissa Kumh\u00e2rs abstain from eating, and even worship\nthe S\u00e2l fish, because the rings on its scales resemble the wheel\nwhich is the symbol of their craft. [408] The peacock is a totem\nof the J\u00e2ts and of the Kh\u00e2ndhs, as the Yizidis worship the T\u00e2ous,\na half mythical peacock, which has been connected with the Phoenix\nwhich Herodotus saw in Egypt. [409] The Parhaiyas have a tradition\nthat their tribe used to hold sheep and deer sacred, and used the\ndung of these animals instead of cowdung to plaster their floors. So\nthe Kariyas do not eat the flesh of sheep, and may not even use a\nwoollen rug. The same prohibition of meats appears to be a survival\nof totemism in Arabia. [410]\n\n\n\nThe Devak.\n\nOne of the best illustrations of this form of totemism is that of the\nDevak or family guardian gods of Ber\u00e2r and Bombay. Before concluding\nan alliance, the Kunbi and other Ber\u00e2r tribes look to the Devak,\nwhich literally means the deity worshipped at marriage ceremonies;\nthe fact being that certain families hold in honour particular trees\nand plants, and at the marriage ceremony branches of these trees are\nset up in the house. It is said that a betrothal, in every other\nrespect irreproachable, will be broken off if the two houses are\ndiscovered to pay honour to the same tree, in other words if they\nworship the same family totem and hence must belong to one and the\nsame endogamous group. [411]\n\nThe same custom prevails in Bombay. \"The usual Devaks are some\nanimals, like the elephant, stag, deer, or cock, or some tree, as\nthe Jambul, Ber, Mango, or Banyan. The Devak is the ancestor or the\nhead of the house, and so families which have the same guardian do not\nintermarry. If the Devak be an animal, its flesh is not eaten; but if\nit be a fruit tree, the use of the fruit generally is not forbidden,\nthough some families abstain from eating the fruit of the tree which\nforms their Devak or badge.\" [412] Mr. Campbell gives numerous examples\nof these family totems, such as wheat bread, a shell, an earthen pot,\nan axe, a Banyan tree, an elephant. Oil-makers have as their totem an\niron bar, or an oil-mill; scent-makers use five piles, each of five\nearthen pots, with a lighted lamp in the middle. The Bangars' Devak is\na conch-shell, that of the Pardesi R\u00e2jputs an earthen pot filled with\nwheat, and so on. Many of these are probably tribal or occupational\nfetishes, of which instances will be given in another place.\n\n\n\nThe V\u00e2hanas and Avat\u00e2ras.\n\nSome have professed to find indications of totemism in the V\u00e2hanas\nand Avat\u00e2ras, the \"Vehicles\" and the \"Incarnations\" of the mythology;\nbut this is far from certain. It has been suggested that these may\nrepresent tribal deities imported into Hinduism. Brahma rides on the\nHansa or goose; Vishnu on Garuda, half eagle and half man, which is\nthe crest of the Chandravansi R\u00e2jputs; Siva on his bull Nandi; Yama\non a buffalo; K\u00e2rttikeya on a peacock; K\u00e2madeva on the marine monster\nMakara, or on a parrot; Agni on a ram; Varuna on a fish. Ganesa is\naccompanied by his rat, whence his name Akhuratha, \"rat-borne.\" This\nan ingenious comparative mythologist makes out to represent \"the pagan\nSun god crushing under his feet the mouse of night.\" [413] V\u00e2yu rides\non an antelope, Sani or Saturn on a vulture, and Durg\u00e2 on a tiger.\n\nThe same is the case with the Avat\u00e2ras or incarnations of the\ndeities. Vishnu appears in the form of V\u00e2r\u00e2ha, the boar; Kurma, the\ntortoise; Matsya, the fish; Nara Sinha, the man-lion; Kalki, the white\nhorse. Rudra and Indra are also represented in the form of the boar.\n\n\n\nThe Boar as a Totem.\n\nHow the boar came to be associated with Vishnu has been much\ndisputed. One and not a very plausible explanation which has\nbeen suggested is that it is because the boar is a destroyer of\nsnakes. [414] We know that in R\u00e2jput\u00e2na there was a regular spring\nfestival at which the boar was killed because he was regarded as the\nspecial enemy of Gaur\u00ee, the R\u00e2jput tribal goddess. [415]\n\nThe comparative mythologists account for the spring boar festival\nby connecting it with the ceremonial eating of the boar's head at\nChristmas in Europe, as a symbol of the gloomy monster of winter,\nkilled at the winter solstice, after which the days get longer and\nbrighter. [416] Mr. Frazer explains it by the killing of the Corn\nSpirit in the form of the boar. [417]\n\nBut it is, perhaps, simpler to believe with Sir A. Lyall [418] that\n\"when the Br\u00e2hmans convert a tribe of pig-worshipping aborigines,\nthey tell their proselytes that the pig was an Avat\u00e2r of Vishnu. The\nM\u00eenas in one part of R\u00e2jput\u00e2na used to worship the pig. When they\ntook a turn towards Isl\u00e2m they changed their pig into a saint called\nFather Adam, and worshipped him as such.\" Mr. Frazer has pointed\nout that the \"customs of the Egyptians touching the pig are to be\nexplained as based upon an opinion of the extreme sanctity rather\nthan of the extreme uncleanness of the animal; or rather to put it\nmore correctly, they imply that the animal was looked on not simply\nas a filthy and a disgusting creature, but as a being endowed with\nhigh supernatural powers, and that as such it was regarded with that\nprimitive sentiment of religious awe and fear in which the feelings\nof reverence are almost equally blended.\"\n\nThere are indications of the same belief in India. Thus, in Baghera\n\"the boar is a sacred animal, and the natives there say that if any\nman were to kill a wild boar in the neighbourhood, he would be sure to\ndie immediately afterwards, while no such fatal result would follow if\nthe same man killed a boar anywhere else.\" [419] In the same way the\nPrabhus of Bombay eat wild pork once a year as a religious duty. The\nVaddars of the Dakkhin say that they are not troubled with ghosts,\nbecause the pork they eat and hang in their houses scares ghosts. We\nknow that among the Dr\u00e2vidian races and many of the menial tribes\nof Hindust\u00e2n the pig is the favourite offering to the local godlings\nand to the deities of disease. Swine's teeth are often worn by Hindu\nascetics, and among the Kolarian races the women are forbidden to\neat the flesh. In Northern India the chief place where the worship of\nVishnu in his V\u00e2r\u00e2ha or boar incarnation is localized is at Soron on\nthe banks of the B\u00fbrh\u00ee Gang\u00e2, or old Ganges, in the Etah District. The\nname of the place has been derived from Sukarakshetra, \"the place of\nthe good deed,\" because here Vishnu slew the demon Hiranyakesu. It\nis certainly Sukarakshetra, \"the plain of the hog.\" [420]\n\nGaruda, another of these vehicles, is the wonder-working bird common\nto many mythologies--the Rukh of the Arabian Nights, the Eorosh of\nthe Zend, the Simurgh of the Persians, the Anka of the Arabs, the\nKargas of the Turks, the Kirni of the Japanese, the Dragon of China,\nthe Norka of Russia, the Phoenix of classical fable, the Griffin of\nchivalry and of Temple Bar.\n\nFrom totemism we get a clue to many curious usages, especially in the\nmatter of food. From this idea probably arose the unclean beasts of\nthe Hebrew ritual. Many Hindu tribes will not eat the onion or the\nturnip. Br\u00e2hmans and Bachgoti R\u00e2jputs object to potatoes. The R\u00e2jputs\nplace a special value on the wood of the N\u00eem tree; one clan alone,\nthe Raikw\u00e2rs, are forbidden to use it as a tooth-stick. Some Kolarian\ntribes, as we have already seen, refuse to use the flesh or wool of\nthe sheep. The Murmu, or Sant\u00e2ls of the blue bull sept, will not eat\nthe flesh of that animal. The system of the Or\u00e2ons is more elaborate\nstill, for no sub-tribe can eat the plant or animal after which it\nis named. So, the Bansetti Binjhiyas, who take their name from the\nbamboo, do not touch the tree at a wedding; the Harbans Cham\u00e2rs, who\nare said to be in some way connected with a bone (hadda), cannot wear\nbones in any shape; the Rikhi\u00e2san Chiks do not eat beef or pork; the\nSanu\u00e2ni Dhenu\u00e2rs cannot wear gold; the Dhanu\u00e2r Khariyas cannot eat rice\ngruel. Numerous instances of this kind are given by Mr. Risley. [421]\nThe transition from such observances and restrictions to the elaborate\nfood regulations of the modern castes is not difficult.\n\n\n\nFetishism Defined.\n\nFetishism is \"the straightforward, objective admiration of\nvisible substances fancied to possess some mysterious influence\nor faculty.... The original downright adoration of queer-looking\nobjects is modified by passing into the higher order of imaginative\nsuperstition. First, the stone is the abode of some spirit, its\ncurious shape or position betraying possession. Next, the strange\nform or aspect argues some design or handiwork of supernatural beings,\nor is the vestige of their presence upon earth, and one step further\nleads us to the regions of mythology and heroic legend.\" [422]\nThe unusual appearance of the object is thus supposed to imply an\nindwelling ghost, without which deviation from the ordinary type\nwould be inexplicable. Hence fetishism depends on animism and the\nghost theory, to which in order of time it must have succeeded.\n\n\n\nFetishism Illustrated in Afgh\u00e2nist\u00e2n.\n\nThe process by which the worship of such a fetish grows is well\nillustrated by a case from Afgh\u00e2nist\u00e2n. \"It is sufficient for an Afgh\u00e2n\ndevotee to see a small heap of stones, a few rags, or some ruined tomb,\nsomething, in short, upon which a tale can be invented, to imagine at\nonce that some saint is buried there. The idea conceived, he throws\nsome more stones upon the heap and sticks up a pole or flag; those\nwho come after follow the leader; more stones and more rags are added;\nat last its dimensions are so considerable that it becomes the vogue;\na Mullah is always at hand with a legend which he makes or had revealed\nto him in a dream; all the village believe it: a few pilgrims come;\ncrowds follow; miracles are wrought, and the game goes on, much to\nthe satisfaction of the holy speculator, who drives a good trade by\nit, till some other Mullah more cunning than himself starts a saint\nof more recent date and greater miraculous powers, when the traffic\nchanges hands.\" [423]\n\nThe same process is daily going on before our eyes in Northern India,\nand it would be difficult to suggest anything curious or abnormal\nwhich the Hindu villager will not adopt as fetish.\n\n\n\nThe Lorik Legend.\n\nThe legend of Lorik is very popular among the Ah\u00eer tribe, and has been\nlocalized in the Mirzapur District in a curious way which admirably\nillustrates the principles which we have been discussing. The\nstory is related at wearisome length, but the main features of it,\naccording to the Sh\u00e2h\u00e2b\u00e2d version, are as follows: Siudhar, an Ah\u00eer,\nmarries Chandan\u00ee, and is cursed by P\u00e2rvat\u00ee with the loss of all\npassion. Chandan\u00ee forms an attachment for her neighbour Lorik and\nelopes with him. The husband pursues, fails to induce her to return,\nfights Lorik and is beaten. The pair go and meet Mahapatiya, a Dus\u00e2dh,\nthe chief of the gamblers. He and Lorik play until the latter loses\neverything, including the girl. She urges that her jewels did not\nform part of the stake, and induces them to gamble again. She stands\nopposite Mahapatiya and distracts his attention by giving him a\nglance of her pretty ankles. Finally Lorik wins everything back. The\ngirl then tells Lorik how she has been insulted, and Lorik with his\nmighty sword cuts off the gambler's head, when it and the body are\nturned into stone.\n\nLorik had been betrothed to a girl named Satman\u00e2in, who was not of\nage and had not joined her husband. Lorik had an adopted brother\nnamed Semru. Lorik and Chandan\u00ee, after killing the gambler, went on\nto Hardoi, near Mongir, where Lorik defeated a R\u00e2ja and conquered his\ncountry. Lorik was finally seized and put into a dungeon, whence he\nwas released by the aid of the goddess Durg\u00e2.\n\nHe again conquered the R\u00e2ja, recovered Chandan\u00ee, had a son born to\nhim, and gained considerable wealth. So they determined to return to\ntheir native land.\n\nMeanwhile Semru, Lorik's brother by adoption, had been killed by the\nKols and all his cattle and property were plundered. Lorik's real\nwife, Satman\u00e2in, had grown into a handsome woman, but still remained\nin her father's house. Lorik was anxious to test her fidelity; so\nwhen she came to sell milk in his camp, not knowing her husband,\nhe stretched a loin cloth across the entrance. All the other women\nstepped over it, but the delicacy of Satman\u00e2in was so excessive that\nshe would not put her foot across it. Lorik was pleased, and filling\nher basket with jewels, covered them with rice. When she returned,\nher sister saw the jewellery and charged her with obtaining them as\nthe price of her dishonour. She indignantly denied the accusation,\nand her nephew, Semru's son, prepared to fight Lorik to avenge the\ndishonour of his aunt. Next day the matter was cleared up to the\nsatisfaction of all parties.\n\nLorik then reigned with justice, and incurred the displeasure of Indra,\nwho sought to destroy him. So the goddess Durg\u00e2 took the form of his\nmistress Chandan\u00ee and tempted him. He succumbed to her wiles, and\nshe struck him so that his face turned completely round. Overcome by\ngrief and shame, he went to Benares, and there he and his friends were\nturned into stone and sleep the sleep of magic at Manikarnika Gh\u00e2t.\n\n\n\nThe Mirzapur Version.\n\nThe Mirzapur version is interesting from its association with\nfetishism. As you descend the M\u00e2rkundi Pass into the valley of the\nSon, you observe a large isolated boulder split into two parts,\nwith a narrow fissure between them. Further on in the bed of the Son\nis a curious water-worn rock, which, to the eye of faith, suggests\na rude resemblance to a headless elephant. On this foundation has\nbeen localized the legend of Lorik, which takes us back to the time\nwhen the Aryan and the aboriginal Dasyu contended for mastery in\nthe wild borderland. There was once, so the tale runs, a barbarian\nking who reigned at the fort of Agori, the frontier fortress on the\nSon. Among his dependents was a cowherd maiden, named Manjan\u00ee, who\nwas loved by her clansman Lorik. He, with his brother S\u00e2nwar, came\nto claim her as his bride. The R\u00e2ja insisted on enforcing the Jus\nprimae noctis. The heroic brethren, in order to escape this infamy,\ncarried off the maiden. The R\u00e2ja pursued on his famous wild elephant,\nwhich Lorik decapitated with a single blow.\n\nWhen they reached in their flight the M\u00e2rkundi Pass, the wise Manjan\u00ee\nadvised Lorik to use her father's sword, which, with admirable\nforethought, she had brought with her. He preferred his own weapon,\nbut she warned him to test both. His own sword broke to pieces\nagainst the huge boulder of the Pass, but Manjan\u00ee's weapon clave it\nin twain. So Lorik and his brother, with the aid of the magic brand,\ndefeated the infidel hosts with enormous slaughter, and carried off\nthe maiden in triumph.\n\nIf you doubt the story, there are the cloven boulder and the petrified\nelephant to witness to its truth, and both are worshipped to this day\nin the name of Lorik and his bride with offerings of milk and grain.\n\nThis tale embodies a number of incidents which constantly appear in\nthe folk-tales. We have the gambling match in the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata and in\nthe tale of Nala and Damayant\u00ee, as well as in the Celtic legend of\nthe young king of Easaidh Ruadh. [424] The magic sword and the various\nfidelity tests appear both in the folk-tales of the East and West.\n\nOf living creatures turned into stone we have many instances in\nconnection with the P\u00e2ndava legend, as in Cornwall, the granite rocks\nknown as the \"Merry Maidens\" and the \"Pipers\" are a party who broke\nthe Sabbath, were struck by lightning, and turned into stone. [425]\n\n\n\nJir\u00e2y\u00e2 Bhav\u00e2n\u00ee.\n\nOf a similar type is Jir\u00e2y\u00e2 Bhav\u00e2n\u00ee, who is worshipped at Jungail,\nsouth of the Son. In her place of worship, a cave on the hillside,\nthe only representative of the goddess is an ancient rust-eaten coat\nof mail. This gives her name, which is a corruption of the Persian\nZirah, meaning a coat of armour. Close by is a little stream, known\nas the Suaraiya, the meaning of which is, of course, assumed to be\n\"Hog river,\" from the Hindi S\u00fbar, a pig. Here we have all the elements\nof a myth. In one of the early fights between Hindu and Musalm\u00e2n,\na wounded hero of Isl\u00e2m came staggering to the bank of the stream,\nand was about to drink, when he heard that its name was connected\nwith what is an abomination to the true believer. So he preferred\nto die of thirst, and no one sees any incongruity in the fact that\nthe armour of a martyr of the faith has become a form of the Hindu\ngoddess. The shrine is now on its promotion, and Jir\u00e2y\u00e2 Bhav\u00e2n\u00ee will\nbe provided with a Sanskrit etymology and develop before long into\na genuine manifestation of K\u00e2l\u00ee.\n\n\n\nVillage Fetish Stones.\n\nIt is hardly necessary to say that, as Sir J. Lubbock has shown, the\nworship of fetish stones prevails in all parts of the world. [426]\nThere is hardly a village in Northern India without a fetish of this\nkind, which is very often not appropriated to any special deity, but\nrepresents the Gr\u00e2madevat\u00e2 or G\u00e2nw-dev\u00ee, or Deoh\u00e2r, the collective\nlocal divine cabinet which has the affairs of the community under\nits charge.\n\nWhy spirits should live in stones has been debated. Mr. Campbell\nperhaps presses the matter too far when he suggests that stones were\nby early man found to contain fire, and that heated stones being found\nuseful in disease, cooking, and the like may have strengthened the\nidea. \"The earliest theory was perhaps that as the life of the millet\nwas in the millet seed and the life of the Mango tree was in the Mango\nstone, a human spirit could live in a rock or a pebble. The belief\nthat the soul, or part of the soul of a man, lives in his bones,\nseems closely connected with the belief in the stone as a spirit\nhouse. Probably it was an early belief that the bones should be kept,\nso that if the spirit comes back and worries the survivors he may\nhave a place to go to.\" [427]\n\nIt is quite possible that the worship of stocks and stones may not in\nall places be based on exactly the same train of ideas. To the ruder\nraces, the more curious or eccentric the form of the stone is, the more\nlikely it is to be the work and possibly the abode of a spirit, and\nin a stoneless land, like the Gangetic plain, any stone is a wonder,\nand likely to be revered. The conception of the worshipper will always\nvary in regard to it. To the savage it will be the actual home or\nthe occasional resting-place of the spirit; to the idolater of more\nadvanced ideas it will be little more than a symbol, which reminds\nhim of the deity without shape or form whom he is bound to worship.\n\nOther fetish stones, again, by their form prove that they are the\nwork of another or a higher race. Thus, on the village fetish mounds\nwe often find the carved relics of some Buddhistic shrine, or the\nprehistoric stone implements, which were the work of a forgotten\npeople.\n\nLastly, many stones lend themselves directly to the needs of the\nphallic cultus.\n\nOne form of stone is regarded with special reverence, those that have\nholes or perforations. Among these may be mentioned the S\u00e2lagr\u00e2ma, a\nsort of ammonite found in the Gandak river, which has perforations,\nsaid to be the work of the Vajrak\u00eeta insect and hence sacred to\nVishnu. The story goes that the divine N\u00e2r\u00e2yana once wandered through\nthe world in the form of the Vajrak\u00eeta or golden bee. The gods,\nattracted by his beauty, also took the form of bees, and whirled\nabout him in such numbers that Vishnu, afraid of the consequences,\nassumed the form of a rock and stopped the moving of Garuda and the\ngods. On this Garuda, followed by all the gods, made each a separate\ndwelling in the rock for the conversion of the infidels. So the Cornish\nMilpreve, or adder stone which is a preservative against vipers, is a\nball of coralline limestone, the sections in the coral being thought\nto be entangled young snakes. [428] In Italy, pieces of stalagmite\nfull of cavities are valued as amulets.\n\nThe respect for these perforated stones rests, again, on the well-known\nprinciple that looking through a stone which has a hole bored through\nit improves the sight.\n\nAll over the world it is a recognized theory that creeping through the\norifice in a perforated stone or under an arching stone or tree is\na valuable remedy in cases of disease. Mr. Lane describes how women\nin Cairo walk under the stone on which the decapitated bodies of\ncriminals are washed, in the hope of curing ophthalmia or procuring\noffspring. The woman must do this in silence, and with the left foot\nforemost. [429] In Cornwall, Mr. Hunt writes: \"In various parts of\nthe country there are, amongst the granitic masses, rocks which have\nfallen across each other, leaving small openings, or there are holes,\nlow and narrow, extending under a pile of rocks. In nearly every case\nof this kind, we find it is popularly stated that any one suffering\nfrom rheumatism or lumbago would be cured if he crawled through the\nopening. In some cases nine times are insisted on to make the charm\ncomplete.\" [430] So, walking under a bramble which has formed a second\nroot in the earth is a cure for rheumatism, and strumous children\nwere passed nine times through a cleft ash tree, against the sun. The\ntree was then bound up, and if the bark grew the child was cured,\nif the tree died the death of the child was sure to follow. [431]\n\nIn the same way at many shrines it is part of the worship to creep\nthrough a narrow orifice from one side to the other. At Kankhal,\nworshippers at the temple of Daksha creep through a sort of tunnel\nfrom one side to the other. The same is the rule at the temple at\nKabraiya in the Ham\u00eerpur District, and at many other places of the\nsame kind. [432]\n\nThe same principle probably accounts for the respect paid to the\ngrindstone. Part of the earliest form of the marriage ritual consisted\nin the bride standing on the family grindstone. At the present day she\nputs her foot upon it and knocks down little piles of heaped grain. It\nis waved over the heads of the pair to scare evil spirits. In Bombay\nit is said that sitting on a grindstone shortens life, and the Kunbis\nof Kol\u00e2ba place a grindstone in the lying-in room, and on it set a\nrice flour image of a woman, which is worshipped as the goddess,\nand the baby is laid before it. Such a stone readily passes into\na fetish, as at Ahmadnagar, where there is a stone with two holes,\nwhich any two fingers of any person's hand can fill, and the mosque\nwhere it stands is, in consequence, much respected. [433]\n\nMuch, however, of the worship of stones appears to be the result of\nthe respect paid to the tombstone or cairn, which, as we have already\nsaid, keeps down the ghost of the dead man, and is often a place in\nwhich his spirit chooses to reside.\n\nThese rude stones are very often smeared with ruddle or red ochre. We\nhave here a survival of the blood sacrifice of a human being or animal\nwhich was once universal. [434] Such sacrifices rest on the principle\nthat it is necessary to supply attendants to the dead or to the tribal\ngods in the other world; and the commutation of human sacrifices,\nfirst into those of animals, and then into a mere scarlet stain on\nthe fetish stone, is a constantly recurring fact in the history of\ncustom. [435] It may be worth while to discuss this transition from\nthe Indian evidence.\n\n\n\nHuman Sacrifice among the Indo-Aryans.\n\nThat human sacrifice prevailed among the early Aryans in India is\ngenerally admitted. The whole question has been treated in detail by\nthat eminent Hindu scholar, Rajendra L\u00e2la Mitra. He arrives at the\nconclusion that, looking to the history of the ancient civilization\nand the ritual of the Hindus, there is nothing to justify the belief\nthat the Hindus were incapable of sacrificing human victims to their\ngods; that the Sunasepha hymns of the Rig Veda Sanhita most probably\nrefer to a human sacrifice; that the Aitareya Br\u00e2hmana refers to an\nactual and not to a typical human sacrifice; that the Parushamedha\noriginally required the actual sacrifice of men; that the Taitareya\nBr\u00e2hmana enjoys the killing of a man at the horse sacrifice; that\nthe Satapatha Br\u00e2hmana sanctions human sacrifice in some cases, but\nmakes the Parushamedha emblematic; that the Pur\u00e2nas recognize human\nsacrifices to Chandik\u00e2, but prohibit the Parushamedha rite; that the\nTantras enjoin human sacrifices to Chandik\u00e2, and require that when\nhuman victims are not available, an effigy of a human being should\nbe sacrificed to her. [436]\n\n\n\nHuman Sacrifice in the Folk-tales.\n\nThere is ample evidence from the folk-tales of the existence of\nhuman sacrifice in early times. We have in the tales of Somadeva\nconstant reference to human sacrifices made in honour of Chandik\u00e2\nor Ch\u00e2mund\u00e2. We find one Muravara, a Turushka or Indo-Scythian, who\nproposes to make a human sacrifice in memory of his dead father; we\nhave expiatory sacrifices to Chandik\u00e2 to save the life of a king. In\none of the Panj\u00e2b tales a ship will not leave port till a human victim\nis offered. In one of the modern tales we have an account of a man\nand his family who sacrifice themselves before the god Jyoti Bara,\n\"the great diviner,\" who is worshipped by the S\u00e2nsya gypsies. [437]\n\nThe folk-tales also disclose ample evidence of cannibalism. The\nMagian cannibals of the Book of Sindibad used to eat human flesh\nraw, and the same tale is told by Herodotus of the Massagetae, the\nPadaei of India, whom Col. Dalton identifies with the Birhors of\nChota N\u00e2gpur, and of the Essedones near Lake Moeotis. [438] It is\nneedless to say that Indian folk-tales abound with references to the\nsame practices. We have cannibal R\u00e2kshasas in abundance, and in one of\nSomadeva's stories Devasw\u00e2min, the Br\u00e2hman, looks out and finds his\n\"wife's mouth stained with blood, for she had devoured his servant\nand left nothing of him but the bones.\" And in the tale of Asokadatta\nwe have a woman who climbs on a stake and cuts slices of the flesh\nof an impaled criminal, which she eats. [439] In the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata we\nfind the legend of Kalmashapada, who, while hunting, meets Saktri,\nson of Vasishtha, and strikes him with his whip. The incensed sage\ncursed him to become a cannibal. This curse was heard by Viswamitra,\nthe rival of Vasishtha, and he so contrived that the body of the\nking became possessed by a man-eating R\u00e2kshasa. Kalmashapada devoured\nSaktri and the hundred sons of Vasishtha, who finally restored him to\nhis original state. In a tale recently collected among the Dr\u00e2vidian\nM\u00e2njhis, a girl accidentally cuts her finger and some of the blood\nfalls upon the greens, whereupon her brothers, finding that it\nflavoured the mess, killed and devoured her. [440]\n\n\n\nHuman Sacrifice in Modern Times.\n\nUp to quite modern times the same was the case, and there is some\nevidence to show that the custom has not quite ceased.\n\nUntil the beginning of the present century, the custom of offering a\nfirst-born child to the Ganges was common. Akin to this is the Gang\u00e2\nJ\u00e2tra, or murder of sick relatives on the banks of the sacred river,\nof which a case occurred quite recently at Calcutta. At Katwa, near\nCalcutta, a leper was burnt alive in 1812; he threw himself into a\npit ten cubits deep which was filled with burning coals. He tried\nto escape, but his mother and sister thrust him in again and he was\nburnt. They believed that by so doing he would gain a pure body in\nthe next birth. [441] Of this religious suicide in Central India,\nSir J. Malcolm wrote: \"Self-sacrifice of men is less common than it\nused to be, and the men who do it are generally of low tribes. One\nof their chief motives is that they will be born R\u00e2jas at their next\nincarnation. Women who have been long barren, vow their first child, if\none be given to them, to Omk\u00e2r Mandh\u00e2ta. The first knowledge imparted\nto the infant is this vow, and the impression is so implanted in his\nmind, that years before his death he seems like a man haunted by his\ndestiny. There is a tradition that anyone saved after the leap over\nthe cliff near the shrine must be made R\u00e2ja of the place; but to make\nthis impossible, poison is mixed with the last victuals given to the\ndevoted man, who is compelled to carry out his purpose.\" [442]\n\nThe modern instances of human sacrifice among the Kh\u00e2ndhs of Bengal and\nthe Mers of R\u00e2jput\u00e2na are sufficiently notorious. It also prevailed\namong some of the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes up to quite recent times. The\nKharw\u00e2rs, since adopting Hinduism, performed human sacrifices to K\u00e2l\u00ee\nin the form of Chand\u00ee. Some of our people who fell into their hands\nduring the Mutiny were so dealt with. The same was the case with the\nBhuiyas, Kh\u00e2ndhs, and Mundas. Some of the Gonds of Sarguja used to\noffer human sacrifice to Burha Deo, and still go through a form of\ndoing so. [443] There is a recent instance quoted among the Tiyars,\na class of boatmen in Benares; one Tonur\u00e2m sacrificed four men in\nthe hope of recovering the treasures of seven R\u00e2jas; another man was\nkilled to propitiate a R\u00e2kshasa who guarded a treasure supposed to be\nconcealed in a house where the deed was committed. [444] About 1881\na village headman sacrificed a human being to K\u00e2l\u00ee in the Sambalpur\nDistrict, and a similar charge was made against the chief of Bastar\nnot many years ago.\n\nOf the Karh\u00e2da Br\u00e2hmans of Bombay, Sir J. Malcolm writes: [445]\n\"The tribe of Br\u00e2hmans called Karh\u00e2da had formerly a horrid custom\nof annually sacrificing to their deities a young Br\u00e2hman. The Sakt\u00ee\nis supposed to delight in human blood, and is represented with fiery\neyes and covered with red flowers. This goddess holds in one hand a\nsword and in the other a battle-axe. The prayers of her votaries are\ndirected to her during the first nine days of the Dasahra feast, and\non the evening of the tenth a grand repast is prepared, to which the\nwhole family is invited. An intoxicating drug is contrived to be mixed\nwith the food of the intended victim, who is often a stranger whom the\nmaster of the house has for several months treated with the greatest\nkindness and attention, and sometimes, to lull suspicion, given him\nhis daughter in marriage. As soon as the poisonous and intoxicating\ndrug operates, the master of the house unattended takes the devoted\nperson into the temple, leads him three times round the idol, and on\nhis prostrating himself before it, takes this opportunity of cutting\nhis throat. He collects with the greatest care the blood in a small\nbowl, which he first applies to the lips of the ferocious goddess,\nand then sprinkles it over her body; and a hole having been dug at\nthe feet of the idol for the corpse, he deposits it with great care\nto prevent discovery. After this the Karh\u00e2da Br\u00e2hman returns to his\nfamily, and spends the night in mirth and revelry, convinced that\nby the bloodthirsty act he has propitiated the goddess for twelve\nyears. On the morning of the following day the corpse is taken from\nthe hole in which it had been thrown, and the idol deposited till\nnext Dasahra, when a similar sacrifice is made.\"\n\nThere seems reason to suspect that even in the present day such\nsacrifices are occasionally performed at remote shrines of K\u00e2l\u00ee or\nDurg\u00e2 Dev\u00ee. Within the last few years a significant case of the kind\noccurred at Benares. There are numerous instances from Nep\u00e2l. [446]\nAt Jaypur, near Vizagapatam, the R\u00e2ja is said, at his installation\nin 1861, to have sacrificed a girl to Durg\u00e2. [447] A recent case of\nsuch sacrifice with the object of recovering hidden treasure occurred\nin Ber\u00e2r; a second connected with witchcraft at Muzaffarnagar. [448]\nAt Chanda and Lanji in the Province of N\u00e2gpur there are shrines to\nK\u00e2l\u00ee at which human sacrifices to the goddess have been offered almost\nwithin the memory of this generation.\n\nBesides the religious form of human sacrifice in honour of one of\nthese bloodthirsty deities, there are forms of the rite which depend\non the mystic power attributed to human flesh and blood in various\ncharms and black magic.\n\nIn connection with human flesh a curious story is told of a man who\nwent to bathe in the Ganges, and met one of the abominable Faq\u00eers known\nas Augars or Aghorpanthis, who carry about with them fragments of a\nhuman corpse. He saw the Faq\u00eer cut off and eat a piece of the flesh\nof a corpse, and he then offered him a piece, saying that if he ate\nit he would become enormously rich. He refused the ghastly food, and\nthe Faq\u00eer then threw a piece at him which stuck to his head, forming a\npermanent lump. [449] In one of the tales of Somadeva the witches are\nseen flying about in the air, and say, \"These are the magic powers of\nwitches' spells, and are due to the eating of human flesh.\" In another\nthe hero exchanges an anklet with a woman for some human flesh. [450]\n\nThe same mysterious power is attributed to human blood. The blood of\nthe Jinn has, it is hardly necessary to say, special powers of its\nown. Thus, in one of the Kashm\u00eer stories the angel says: \"This is\na most powerful Jinn. Should a drop of his blood fall to the ground\nwhile life is in him, another Jinn will be quickly formed therefrom,\nand spring up and slay you.\" [451] Bathing in human blood has been\nregarded as a powerful remedy for disease. The Emperor Constantine\nwas ordered a bath of children's blood, but moved by the prayers\nof the parents, he forbore to apply the remedy and was rewarded by\na miraculous recovery. In one of the European folk-tales a woman\ndesirous of offspring is directed to take a horn and cup herself,\ndraw out a clot of blood, place it in a pot, lute it down and only\nuncover it in the ninth month, when a child would be found in the\npot. In the German folk-tales, bathing in the blood of innocent\nmaidens is a cure for leprosy. [452]\n\nThe same beliefs largely prevail in India. In 1870, a Musalm\u00e2n butcher\nlosing his child was told by a Hindu conjuror that if he washed his\nwife in the blood of a boy, his next infant would be healthy. To\nensure this result a child was murdered. A similar case occurred\nin Muzaffarnagar, where a child was killed and the blood drunk by\na barren woman. [453] In one of the tales of Somadeva the pregnant\nqueen asks her husband to gratify her longing by filling a tank with\nblood for her to bathe in. He was a righteous man, and in order to\ngratify her craving he had a tank filled with the juice of lac and\nother extracts, so that it seemed to be full of blood. In another\ntale the ascetic tells the woman that if she killed her young son and\noffered him to the divinity, another son would certainly be born to\nher. Quite recently at Muzaffarnagar a childless J\u00e2t woman was told\nthat she would attain her desire if she bathed in water mixed with\nthe blood of a Br\u00e2hman child. A Hindu coolie at Mauritius bathed\nin and drank the blood of a girl, thinking that thereby he would be\ngifted with supernatural powers. It would be easy to add largely to\nthe number of instances of similar beliefs. [454]\n\n\n\nSurvivals of Human Sacrifice.\n\nThere are, in addition, numerous customs which appear to be survivals\nof human sacrifice, or of the blood covenant, which also prevailed\nin Arabia. [455] Among the lower castes in Northern India the\nparting of the bride's hair is marked with red, a survival of the\noriginal blood covenant, by which she was introduced into the sept\nof her husband. We see that this is the case from the rites of the\nmore savage tribes. Among the Kewats of Bengal, a tiny scratch is\nmade on the little finger of the bridegroom's right hand and of the\nbride's left, and the drops of blood drawn from these are mixed with\nthe food. Each then eats the food with which the other's blood has\nbeen mixed. Among the Sant\u00e2ls blood is drawn in the same way from the\nlittle finger of the bride and bridegroom, and with it marks are made\non both above the clavicle. [456]\n\n\n\nHuman Sacrifice and Buildings.\n\nOne standing difficulty at each decennial census has been the\nrumour which spreads in remote tracts that Government is making the\nenumeration with a view of collecting victims to be sacrificed at\nsome bridge or other building, or that a toll of pretty girls is to\nbe taken to reward the soldiery after some war. Thus, about a fort\nin Madras it had long been a tradition that when it was first built a\ngirl had been built into the wall to render it impregnable. [457] It\nis said that a R\u00e2ja was once building a bridge over the river Jargo at\nChun\u00e2r, and when it fell down several times he was advised to sacrifice\na Br\u00e2hman girl to the local deity. She has now become the Mar\u00ee or ghost\nof the place, and is regularly worshipped in time of trouble. [458] In\nKumaun the same belief prevails, and kidnappers, known as Dokhutiya,\nor two-legged beasts of prey, are said to go about capturing boys\nfor this purpose. In K\u00e2thi\u00e2w\u00e2r, if a castle was being built and the\ntower would not stand, or if a pond had been dug and would not hold\nwater, a human victim was offered. [459] The rumour that a victim was\nrequired spread quite recently in connection with the Hughli Bridge at\nCalcutta and the Benares water-works. The Narmad\u00e2, it was believed,\nwould never allow herself to be bridged until she carried away part\nof the superstructure, and caused the loss of lives as a sacrifice. At\nAhmad\u00e2b\u00e2d, by the advice of a Br\u00e2hman, a childless V\u00e2nya was induced to\ndig a tank to appease the goddess S\u00eetal\u00e2. The water refused to enter\nit without the sacrifice of a man. As soon as the victim's blood fell\non the ground, the tank filled and the goddess came down from heaven\nand rescued the victim. [460] In building the fort of Sikandarpur\nin Baliya, a Br\u00e2hman and a Dus\u00e2dh girl were both immolated. [461]\nThe Vadala lake in Bombay refused to hold water till the local\nspirit was appeased by the sacrifice of the daughter of the village\nheadman. When the Shorkot fort was being built one side repeatedly\nfell down. A Faq\u00eer advised the R\u00e2ja to put a first-born son under the\nrampart. This was done and the wall stood. The child's mother went to\nMecca, and returned with an army of Muhammadans; but they could not\ntake the fort. Then a Faq\u00eer transformed himself into a cock and flew\non the roof of the palace, where he set up a loud crow. The R\u00e2ja was\nfrightened and abandoned the place. As he was leaving it, he shouted,\n\"Shame on thee, O Fort! to remain standing!\" and the walls at once\nfell down. [462]\n\n\n\nModifications of Human Sacrifice.\n\nThere are also many instances of the transition from human sacrifices\nto those of a milder form. Thus, when Ahmad\u00e2b\u00e2d was building, M\u00e2nik\nB\u00e2wa, a saint, every day made a cushion, and every night picked it to\npieces. As he did so the day's work fell down. The Sult\u00e2n refrained\nfrom sacrificing him, but got him into a small jar and kept him there\ntill the work was over. [463] The Vill\u00e2lis of P\u00fbna on the fifteenth\nday after a death shape two bricks like human beings, dress them,\nand lay them on a wooden stool. They weep by them all night, and\nnext day, taking them to the burning ground, cremate them. Among\nthe Telugu Br\u00e2hmans of P\u00fbna, if a man dies at an unlucky time,\nwheaten figures of men are made and burnt with the corpse. The Konkani\nMar\u00e2thas of Kanara on the feast of Rauln\u00e2th get a man to cut his hand\nwith a knife and let three drops of blood fall on the ground. [464]\nFormerly in Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d, men used to swing themselves from a pole,\nas in the famous Bengal Charakh P\u00fbj\u00e2. In our territories this is now\nuncommon, as the village headmen being afraid of responsibility for\nan accident, generally, instead of a man, fasten up a white pumpkin,\nwhich they swing about. [465]\n\nAt the installation of a Bhuiya R\u00e2ja, a man comes forward whom the\nR\u00e2ja touches on the neck, as if about to cut off his head. The victim\ndisappears for three days; then he presents himself before the R\u00e2ja,\nas if miraculously restored to life. Similarly, the Gonds, instead of\na human sacrifice, now make an image of straw, which they find answers\nthe purpose. The Bhuiyas of Keunjhar used to offer the head of their\nprime minister to Thakur\u00e2n\u00ee M\u00e2\u00ee. She is now transformed into the Hindu\nDurg\u00e2 and accepts a sacrifice of goats and sheep. [466] In Nep\u00e2l,\nafter the Sithi J\u00e2tra feast, the people divide into two parties and\nhave a match at stone-throwing; formerly this used to be a serious\nmatter, and any one who was knocked down and fell into the hands of\nthe other side was sacrificed to the goddess Kankeswar\u00ee. The actual\nkilling of the victim, as in the case of sacrifices to the goddess\nBachhl\u00e2 Dev\u00ee, has now been discontinued under the influence of British\nofficers. [467] We shall meet later on in another connection other\ninstances of mock fights of the same kind.\n\n\n\nMomi\u00e2\u00ee.\n\nIn connection with human sacrifice may be mentioned the curious\nsuperstition about Momi\u00e2\u00ee or mummy.\n\nThe virtues of human fat as a magical ointment appear all through\nfolk-lore. Othello, referring to the handkerchief which he had given\nto Desdemona, says,--\n\n\n    \"It was dyed in the mummy which the skilful\n    Conserved of maidens' hearts.\"\n\n\nWriting of witches Reginald Scot says: \"The devil teacheth them to\nmake ointment of the bowels and members of children, whereby they\nride in the air and accomplish all their desires. After burial they\nsteal them out of their graves and seethe them in a cauldron till\nthe flesh be made potable, of which they make an ointment by which\nthey ride in the air.\" In Macbeth the first witch speaks of--\n\n\n    \"Grease that sweaten\n    From the murderer's gibbet.\"\n\n\nIndian witches are believed to use the same mystic preparation to\nenable them to fly through the air, as their European sisters are\nsupposed to use the fat of a toad. [468] Human fat is believed to be\nspecially efficacious for this purpose. In one of Somadeva's stories\nthe Br\u00e2hman searches for treasure with a candle made of human fat in\nhis hand. [469] One of the Mongol Generals, Marco Polo tells us, was\naccused of boiling down human beings and using their fat to grease\nhis mangonels; and Carpini says that when the Tartars cast Greek\nfire into a town they used to shoot human fat with it, in order to\ncause the fire to burn more quickly. [470] So, in Europe a candle\nof human fat is said to have been used by robbers with the Hand of\nGlory to prevent the inmates waking, and on the Scotch border the\ntorch used in the mystic ceremony of \"saining\" was made from the fat\nof a slaughtered enemy. [471]\n\nIn India, the popular idea about Momi\u00e2\u00ee is that a boy, the fatter and\nblacker the better, is caught, a small hole is bored in the top of\nhis head, and he is hung up by the heels over a slow fire. The juice\nor essence of his body is in this way distilled into seven drops of\nthe potent medicine known as Momi\u00e2\u00ee.\n\nThis substance possesses healing properties of a supernatural\nkind. Sword cuts, spear thrusts, wounds from arrows and other weapons\nof warfare are instantly cured by its use, and he who possesses it\nis practically invulnerable. In Kumaun, this substance is known as\nN\u00e2r\u00e2yan Tel or R\u00e2m Tel, the \"oil of Vishnu or R\u00e2ma.\"\n\nIt is further believed that a European gentleman, known as the\nMomi\u00e2\u00ee-w\u00e2la S\u00e2hib, has a contract from Government of the right of\nenticing away suitable boys for this purpose. He makes them smell a\nstick or wand, which obliges them to follow him, and he then packs\nthem off to some hill station where he carries on this nefarious\nmanufacture.\n\nAs an instance of this belief, \"A very black servant of a friend of\nmine states that he had a very narrow escape from this S\u00e2hib at the\nNauchandi fair at Meerut, where Government allows him to walk about\nfor one day and make as many suitable victims as he can by means of\nhis stick. The S\u00e2hib had just put his hand in his pocket and taken out\nthe stick, which was dry and shrivelled and about a span long, when\nthe servant with great presence of mind held out his hands and said,\n'Bas! Bas!' 'Enough! enough!' Thus intimidated, the S\u00e2hib went away\ninto the crowd. In connection with Momi\u00e2\u00ee, a lady here narrowly escaped\na very uncanny reputation. Some of her servants gave out that she\npossessed a Momi\u00e2\u00ee stick, for which she had paid a hundred rupees. On\nhearing this an inquiry was made which brought out that the lady had\nmissed a pod of vanilla about seven inches long, of a very special\nquality, that she kept rolled up in a piece of paper among some of her\ntrinkets. The ayah who mislaid it was scolded for her carelessness,\nand told that it was worth more than she thought. She promptly put\ntwo and two together. The shrivelled appearance which is supposed to\nbe peculiar to mysterious sticks, such as snake charmers produce,\nthe fuss made about it, and the value attached to it convinced her\nthat her mistress owned a Momi\u00e2\u00ee stick.\" [472]\n\nThese mystic sticks appear constantly in folk-lore. We have the\ncaduceus of Hermes, the rod of Moses, the staff of Elisha, the\nwand of Circe, or of Gwydion or Skirni. In one of Somadeva's tales\nthe Kap\u00e2lika ascetic has a magic stick which dances. In one of the\nKashm\u00eer tales the magic wand placed under the feet of the prince makes\nhim insensible, when laid under his head he revives. Many people in\nEngland still believe in the divining rod which points out concealed\nsprings underground. [473]\n\nEvery native boy, particularly those who are black and fat, believes\nhimself a possible victim to the wiles of the dreaded Momi\u00e2\u00ee S\u00e2hib,\nwho frequents hill stations because he is thus enabled to carry on\nhis villainous practices with comparative impunity and less danger\nof detection. Even to whisper the word Momi\u00e2\u00ee is enough to make the\ncrowd of urchins who dog the steps of a district officer when he is on\nhis rounds through a town, disperse in dismay. Surgeons are naturally\nexposed to the suspicion of being engaged in this awful business, and\nsome years ago most of the coolies deserted one of the hill stations,\nbecause an enthusiastic anatomist set up a private dissecting-room of\nhis own. Freemasons, who are looked on by the general native public\nas a kind of sorcerers or magicians, are also not free from this\nsuspicion. That such ideas should prevail among the rural population\nof India is not to be wondered at, when in our own modern England it\nis very commonly believed that luminous paint is made out of human\nfat. [474]\n\n\n\nThe D\u00e2napurw\u00e2la S\u00e2hib.\n\nAnother of these dreaded S\u00e2hibs is the D\u00e2napurw\u00e2la S\u00e2hib, or gentleman\nfrom Dinapur. Why this personage should be connected with Dinapur,\na respectable British cantonment, no one can make out. At any rate,\nit is generally believed that he has a contract from Government for\nprocuring heads for some of the museums, and he too has a magic stick\nwith which he entices unfortunate travellers on dark nights and chops\noff their heads with a pair of shears. The influence of these magic\nwands by smelling may perhaps be associated with the fact that the\nnose is a spirit entry, as we have seen in the case of sneezing.\n\n\n\nFetish Stones.\n\nTo return after this digression to fetish stones. Of this phase\nof belief we have well-known instances in the coronation stone in\nWestminster Abbey, which is associated with the dream of Jacob, and\nthe Hajuru'l Aswad of Mecca, which Sir R. Burton believed to be an\na\u00ebrolite. No one will bring a stone from the Sacred Hill at Govardhan\nnear Mathura, because it is supposed to be endowed with life. The\nY\u00e2davas, who are connected with the same part of the country, had\na stone fetish, described in the Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, which brought rain\nand plenty. There are numerous legends connected with many of these\nfetish stones, such as that in the temple of Daksha at Kankhal and\nGorakhn\u00e2tha in Kheri, [475] which are said to owe the fissures in\nthem to the blow of the battle-axe or sword of one of the iconoclast\nMuhammadan Emperors. Of Gorakhn\u00e2tha it is said that Aurangzeb attempted\nto drag up the great Lingam, and failed to do so even with the aid\nof elephants. When he came to investigate the cause of his failure,\ntongues of flame burst from the bottom of the pillar.\n\nThe stalactites in the Beh\u00e2r Hills are regarded as the images of the\ngods. [476] The pestle and mortar in which a noted Darvesh of Oudh\nused to grind his drugs are now worshipped, and a leading family in\nthe Lucknow District keep before their family residence a large square\nstone which they reverence. They say that their ancestors brought it\nfrom Delhi, and that it is the symbol of their title to the estates,\nwhich were granted to them by one of the Emperors. He enjoined them\nto take it as the foundation of their settlement, and since that\ntime each new R\u00e2ja on his accession presents flowers, sweetmeats,\nand money to it. [477]\n\nA great rock in the river above Badarin\u00e2th, the famous shrine in\nthe Hills, is worshipped as Brahm Kap\u00e2l or the skull of Brahma, and\nNand\u00e2 Dev\u00ee, the mountain goddess of the Him\u00e2laya, is worshipped in\nthe form of two great stones glittering with mica, and reflecting the\nrays of the sun. [478] At Amosi in the Lucknow District they worship\nat marriages and birth of boys the door-post of the house of an old\nR\u00e2jput leader, named Bin\u00e2ik, who is honoured with the title of B\u00e2ba or\n\"father.\" [479] At Deodh\u00fbra in the Hills the grey granite boulders\nnear the crest of the ridge are said to have been thrown there in\nsport by the P\u00e2ndavas. Close to the temple of Dev\u00ee at the same place\nare two large boulders, the uppermost of which is called Ransila, or\n\"the stone of battle,\" and is cleft through the centre by a deep,\nfresh-looking fissure, at right angles to which is a similar rift\nin the lower rock. A small boulder on the top is said to have been\nthe weapon with which Bh\u00eemsen produced these fissures, and the print\nof his five fingers is still to be seen upon it. Ransila itself is\nmarked with the lines for playing the gambling game of Pach\u00eesi, which,\nthough it led to their misfortunes, the P\u00e2ndavas even in their exile\ncould not abandon. There are many places where the marks of the hoofs\nof the horse of Bh\u00eemsen are shown. [480] \"One spot on the margin\nof Lake Regillus was regarded during many ages with superstitious\nawe. A mark, resembling in shape a horse's hoof, was discernible in\nthe volcanic rock; and this mark was believed to have been made by\none of the celestial chargers.\" [481]\n\n\n\nFetishes among the Sant\u00e2ls.\n\nThe Sant\u00e2ls, like all uncivilized races, have a whole army of\nfetishes. A round piece of wood, nearly a foot in length, the top\nof which is painted red, is called Banh\u00ee, or \"the protector of\nthe jungle.\" Another stands for Lagh\u00fb, the goddess of the earth,\nwho is sometimes represented by a mountain. An oblong piece of wood,\npainted red, stands for Mah\u00e2m\u00e2\u00ee, \"the great Mother,\" Dev\u00ee's daughter;\na small piece of white stone daubed with red is Burhiy\u00e2 M\u00e2\u00ee, or \"the\nold Mother,\" her granddaughter; an arrow-head stands for D\u00fbdh\u00e2 M\u00e2\u00ee,\n\"the milk Mother,\" the daughter of Burhiy\u00e2; a trident painted red\nrepresents the monkey god Hanum\u00e2n, who executes all the orders of\nDev\u00ee. \"Sets of these symbols are placed, one on the east and one on\nthe west of their huts to protect them from evil spirits, snakes,\ntigers, and all sorts of misfortune.\" [482]\n\nVery similar to this is the worship of B\u00eern\u00e2th, the fetish of the\nMirzapur Ah\u00eers. His platform, which is made of clay, usually contains\none, three, or five rude wooden images, each about three feet high,\nwith a rough representation of a human face sculptured on the top. He\nwas, it is said, an Ah\u00eer who was killed by a tiger, and he is now\nworshipped by them in times of trouble. His special function is\nto protect the cattle from beasts of prey. The worshipper bathes,\nplasters his platform with fresh clay, and laying his offering on it,\nsays: \"B\u00eern\u00e2th! Keep our cattle safe and you will get more.\" The same\nform of worship prevails all along the Central Indian Hills. \"In the\nsouth of the Bhand\u00e2ra District the traveller frequently meets with\nsquared pieces of wood, each with a rude figure carved in front,\nset up close to each other. These represent Bangar\u00e2m, Bangar\u00e2 B\u00e2\u00ee,\nor Dev\u00ee, who is said to have one sister and five brothers, the sister\nbeing styled K\u00e2l\u00ee, and four out of the five brothers being known as\nGantar\u00e2m, Champar\u00e2m, N\u00e2ikar\u00e2m, and Potlinga. They are all deemed to\npossess the power of sending disease and death upon men, and under\nthese or other names seem to be generally feared in the region east\nof N\u00e2gpur. Bh\u00eemsen, again, is generally adored under the form of one\nor two pieces of wood standing three or four feet in length above the\nground, like those set up in connection with Bangar\u00e2m's worship.\" [483]\n\n\n\nFetish Stones which Cure Disease.\n\nMany of these stones have the power of curing disease, and the water\nwith which they have been bathed is considered a useful medicine. This\nis the case with a number of sacred Mah\u00e2deva Lingams all over the\ncountry. A common proverb speaks of the old woman who is ready enough\nto eat the Pras\u00e2d or offering to the god, but hesitates to drink the\nwater in which his feet have been washed. In Western India no orthodox\nBr\u00e2hman will eat his food till he has thrice sipped the water in which\nhis S\u00e2lagr\u00e2ma stone has been washed. [484] We have already noticed\nthe fetish bowl, the washings of which are administered by midwives\nto secure easy parturition. So, in Western lands the stones fetched\nby Merlin had the power of healing if washed in water and the patient\nbathed in it. [485] Stone celts are, in Cornwall, supposed to impart\na healing effect to water in which they have been soaked. [486] In\nJava a decoction of the lichen which grows on fetish stones is used\nas a remedy for disease. [487] In the Isle of Lewis cattle disease\nis attributed to the bites of serpents, and the suffering animals are\nmade to drink water into which charm stones are put; in the Highlands\nlarge crystals of a somewhat oval shape were kept by the priests to\nwork charms with, and water poured thereon was given to cattle as a\npreventative of disease. [488]\n\n\n\nFetish Stones the Abode of Spirits.\n\nThe virtue of all these fetish stones rests in their embodying the\nspirits of gods or deified men. As we have shown, this is a common\nprinciple of popular belief. In one of Miss Stokes's Indian tales,\n\"The man who went to seek his fate,\" the fate is found in stones,\nsome standing up and some lying down. The man beats the stone which\nembodies his fate because he is miserably poor. Mr. H. Spencer thinks\nthat the idea of persons being turned into stones may have arisen from\ninstances of actual petrifaction of trees and the like; but this is\nnot very probable, and it is much simpler to believe with Dr. Tylor\nthat it depends on the principles of animism. [489]\n\n\n\nFamily Fetishes.\n\nSome fetishes, like the Bombay Devaks, are special to particular\nfamilies. Such is the case with the Th\u00e2rus, a non-Aryan tribe in the\nsub-Him\u00e2layan Tar\u00e2\u00ee. Each member of the tribe constructs a hollow\nmound in front of his door, and thereon erects a stake of Pal\u00e2sa\nwood (Butea frondosa), which is regarded as the family fetish and\nperiodically worshipped.\n\n\n\nTool Fetishes.\n\nNext comes the worship of the tool fetish, which, according to Sir\nA. Lyall, is \"the earliest phase or type of the tendency which later\non leads those of one guild or walk in life to support and cultivate\none god, who is elected in lieu of the individual trade fetishes\nmelted down to preside over their craft or trade interests.\" [490]\n\nA good example of this is the pickaxe fetish of the Thags.\n\nWhen K\u00e2l\u00ee refused to help them in the burial of their victims\nshe gave them one of her teeth for a pickaxe, and the hem of her\nlower garment for a noose. Hence the pickaxe was venerated by the\nThags. Its fabrication was superintended with the utmost care, and it\nwas consecrated with many ceremonies. A lucky day was selected, and\na smith was appointed to forge it with the most profound secrecy. The\ndoor was closed against all intruders; the leader never left the forge\nwhile the manufacture was going on; and the smith was allowed to do no\nother work until this was completed. Next came the consecration. This\nwas done on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, and care was taken\nthat the shadow of no living thing fell upon the axe. The consecrator\nsat with his face to the west, and received the implement in a brass\ndish. It was then washed in water which was allowed to fall into\na pit made for the purpose. Then further ablutions followed, the\nfirst in sugar and water, the second in sour milk, and the third in\nspirits. The axe was then marked from the head to the point with seven\nspots of red lead, and replaced on the brass dish with a cocoanut,\nsome cloves, white sandalwood, and other articles.\n\nA fire was next made of cowdung and the wood of the Mango and\nBer tree. All the articles deposited on the brass plate, with the\nexception of the cocoanut, were thrown into the fire, and when the\nflame rose the Thag priest passed the pickaxe with both hands seven\ntimes through the fire. The cocoanut was then stripped of its husk and\nplaced on the ground. The officiant, holding the axe by the point,\nasked: \"Shall I strike?\" The bystanders assented, and he then broke\nthe cocoanut with the blunt end of the weapon, exclaiming, \"All hail,\nDev\u00ee! Great Mother of us all!\" The spectators responded, \"All hail,\nDev\u00ee, and prosper the Thags.\" If the cocoanut was not broken at one\nblow, all the labour was lost; the goddess was considered unpropitious,\nand the entire ceremony had to be repeated. The broken shell and\nkernel of the cocoanut were then thrown into the fire, the pickaxe\nwrapt in white cloth was placed on the ground towards the west,\nand all present prostrated themselves before it. [491]\n\nHere we have another example of magic in its sympathetic form, the\nuse of sundry spirit scarers, which have been already discussed,\nand the cocoanut representing an actual human victim.\n\n\n\nWeapons and Implement Fetishes.\n\nIn the same way soldiers and warlike tribes worship their\nweapons. Thus, the sword was worshipped by the R\u00e2jputs, and when a man\nof lower caste married a R\u00e2jput girl, she was married, as in the case\nof Holkar, to his sword with his kerchief bound round it. [492] This\nsword-worship is specially performed, as by the Baisw\u00e2rs of Mirzapur\nand the Gautam sept of R\u00e2jputs. The Nep\u00e2lese worship their weapons\nand regimental colours at the Dasahra festival. At the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee, or\nfeast of lamps, on the first day they worship dogs; on the second day\ncows and bulls; on the third day capitalists worship their treasure\nunder the name of Lakshm\u00ee, the goddess of wealth; on the fourth day\nevery householder worships as deities the members of his family,\nand on the fifth day sisters worship their brothers. [493]\n\nThe same customs prevail among the artisan castes in Northern\nIndia. The hair-scraper of the tanner is worshipped by curriers,\nand the potter's wheel, regarded as a type of productiveness, is\nreverenced at marriages by many of the lower castes. Even the clay\nwhich has been mixed by the potter has mystic powers. When a person\nhas been bitten by a mad dog, a lump of this clay is brought, and the\nwound is touched with it while a spell is recited. [494] Carpenters\nworship their yard measure; Cham\u00e2rs swear by the shoemaker's last, and\nthe children of the Darzi or tailor are made to worship the scissors.\n\nIn Bengal, the Alakhiya sect of Saiva ascetics profess profound respect\nfor their alms-bag; the carpenters worship their adze, chisel, and saw;\nthe barbers their razors, scissors, and mirror. At the Sr\u00eepancham\u00ee,\nor fifth day of the month of M\u00e2gh, the writer class worship their\nbooks, pens, and inkstand. The writing implements are cleaned, and\nthe books, wrapped in white cloth, are strewn over with flowers and\nthe leaves of young barley. [495]\n\nThe same customs prevail in Bombay. A mill is the Devak or guardian\nof oil-makers; dancing girls worship a musical instrument; jewellers\nworship their pincers and blowpipe; curriers worship an axe, and\nmarket gardeners a pair of scales. [496]\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b, farmers worship their oxen in August, their plough at\nthe Dasahra festival, and they have a ceremony at the end of October to\ndrive away ticks from their cattle; shepherds worship their sheep at\nthe full moon of July; bankers and clerks worship their books at the\nDiw\u00e2l\u00ee festival; grain-sellers worship their weights at the Dasahra,\nDiw\u00e2l\u00ee, and Hol\u00ee, and, in a way, every morning as well. Oilmen worship\ntheir presses at odd times; artisans salute their tools daily when they\nbathe; and generally the means of livelihood, whatever they may be,\nare worshipped with honour at the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee, Dasahra, and Hol\u00ee. [497]\nSo the Pokharna Br\u00e2hmans, who are said to have been the navvies who\noriginally excavated the lake at Pushkar, worship in memory of this\nthe Kud\u00e2la, or mattock. [498]\n\nAll these customs are as old as the time of the Chaldeans, \"who\nsacrifice unto their net and burn incense unto their drag, because\nby them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous.\" [499]\n\nAmong these implement fetishes the corn-sieve and the plough, the\nbasket, the broom, and the rice-pounder are of special importance.\n\n\n\nThe Corn-sieve.\n\nThe corn-sieve or winnowing basket, the Mystica vannus Iacchi of\nVirgil, has always enjoyed a reputation as an emblem of increase and\nprosperity, and as possessing magical powers. The witch in Macbeth\nsays:--\n\n\n    \"Her husband's to Aleppo gone, Master of the Tiger;\n    But in a sieve I'll thither sail.\"\n\n\nIt was used in Scotland to foretell the future at Allhallow\nEve. Divination was performed with a pair of shears and a sieve. Aubrey\ndescribes how \"the shears are stuck in a sieve, and the maidens hold up\nthe sieve with the top of their fingers by the handle of the shears,\nthen say, 'By St. Peter and St. Paul, he hath not stolen it.' After\nmany adjurations the sieve will turn at the name of the thief.\" [500]\n\nIn India the sieve is the first cradle of the baby, and in Bombay\nthe winnowing fan in which a newly-born child is laid is used on the\nfifth day for the worship of Satv\u00e2\u00ee. This makes it impure, and it is\nhenceforward used only for the house sweepings. In Northern India,\nwhen a mother has lost a child, she puts the next in a sieve and\ndrags it about, calling it Kadheran or Ghas\u00eetan, \"the dragged one,\"\nso as to baffle the Evil Eye by a pretence of contempt.\n\nAll through Upper India, at low-caste marriages, the bride's\nbrother accompanies the pair as they revolve in the marriage shed,\nand sprinkles parched grain over them out of a sieve as a charm for\ngood luck and a means of scaring the demon which causes barrenness. So\nIrish brides in old times used to be followed by two attendants bearing\nhigh over the heads of the couple a sieve filled with meal, a sign\nof the plenty that would be in the house, and an omen of good luck\nand the blessing of children. [501] We have already seen that this\nrite survives in the custom of flinging rice over the newly-married\npair as they leave for the honeymoon.\n\nThis habit of scaring the spirits of evil by means of the sieve\nappears in a special usage at the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee festival. Very early\nin the morning the house-mother takes a sieve and a broom, and\nbeats them in every corner of the house, exclaiming, \"God abide,\nand poverty depart!\" The fan is then carried outside the village,\ngenerally to the east or north, and being thrown away, is supposed,\nlike the scapegoat, to bear away with it the poverty and distress\nof the household. The same custom prevails in Germany. The Posterli\nis imagined to be a spectre in the shape of an old woman. In the\nevening the young fellows of the village assemble, and with loud\nshouts and clashing of tins, ringing of cow-bells and goat-bells,\nand cracking of whips, tramp over hill and dale to another village,\nwhere the young men receive them with like uproar. One of the party\nrepresents the Posterli, or they draw it in a sledge in the shape of\na puppet, and leave it standing in a corner of the other village. In\nthe same way the Eskimo drive the demon Tuna out of their houses. [502]\n\nAmong the Kols, when a vacancy occurs in the office of the village\npriest, the winnowing fan with some rice is used, and by its magical\npower it drags the person who holds it towards the individual on\nwhom the sacred mantle has fallen. The same custom prevails among\nthe Or\u00e2ons. [503]\n\nThe Greeks had a special name, Koskinomantis, for the man who\ndivined in this way with the sieve, and the practice is mentioned by\nTheocritus. [504] The sieve is very commonly used in India as a rude\nform of the planchette. Through the wicker-work of the raised side\nor back a strong T-shaped twig is fixed, one end of which rests on\nthe finger. A question is asked, and according as the sieve turns\nto the right or left, the answer is \"Yes\" or \"No.\" This is exactly\nwhat is known as \"Cauff-riddling\" in Yorkshire and Scotland. [505]\nIn the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces, when the\nOjha or \"cunning man\" is called in to cure disease, or possession by\nevil spirits, he puts some sesamum into a sieve, shakes it about,\nand then proceeds to identify the ghost concerned by counting the\nnumber of grains which remain stuck between the reeds. At a Sant\u00e2l\ncremation, a man takes his seat near the ashes, and tosses rice on\nthem with a winnowing fan till a frenzy appears to seize him, and he\nbecomes inspired and says wonderful things. [506]\n\nIt is one of the curiosities of comparative folk-lore that this\ninstrument should be credited with magical powers all over two\ncontinents. [507]\n\nThe winnowing basket, again, perhaps from its association, like\nthe winnowing fan, with the sacred grain, has mystic powers. In\nScotland it was used in the rite of creeling as a means of scaring\nbarrenness. \"The young wedded pair, with their friends, assemble in a\nconvenient spot. A small creel or basket is prepared for the occasion,\ninto which they put some stones; the young men carry it alternately,\nand allow themselves to be caught by the maidens, who have a kiss when\nthey succeed. After a great deal of innocent mirth and pleasantry,\nthe creel falls at length to the young husband's share, who is obliged\ngenerally to carry it for a long time, none of the young women having\ncompassion upon him. At length his fair mate kindly relieves him from\nhis burden; and her complaisance, in this particular, is considered\nas a proof of her satisfaction at the choice she has made. [508]\"\n\nIn Bengal, at the full moon immediately following the Durg\u00e2 P\u00fbj\u00e2, the\nfestival of Lakshm\u00ee, the goddess of wealth, is held. In every Hindu\nhouse a basket, which serves as the representative of prosperity, is\nset up and worshipped. This basket, or corn measure, is filled with\npaddy, encircled with a garland of flowers, and covered with a piece\nof cloth. They sit up all night and watch for Lakshm\u00ee to arrive,\nand any negligence in watching is believed to bring misfortune on\nthe family. [509]\n\n\n\nThe Broom.\n\nThe same idea applies to the broom used in sweeping the house or\ncollecting the grain on the threshing-floor. We have already seen\nthe use of it to drive out poverty. \"Pythagoras warned his followers\nagainst stepping over a broom. In some parts of Bavaria, housemaids\nin sweeping out the house are careful not to step over the broom for\nfear of the witches. Again, it is a Bavarian rule not to step over a\nbroom while a confinement is taking place in a house; otherwise the\nbirth will be tedious, and the child will always remain small with\na large head. But if anyone has stepped over a broom inadvertently,\nhe can undo the spell by stepping backwards over it again.\" [510]\nSo, in Bombay, they say you should never step over a broom, or you\nwill cause a woman to suffer severely in childbed.\n\nIn Bombay, some old Hindu woman, to cure a child affected by the\nEvil Eye, waves salt and water round its face and strikes the ground\nwith a broom three times; and among the Bani Isr\u00e2\u00eels of Bombay,\nwhen the midwife drives off the blast of the Evil Eye, she holds in\nher left hand a shoe, a winnowing fan, and a broom. [511] In Italy,\nthe broom is an old Latin charm against sorcery. The Beriyas, a gypsy\ntribe of the Ganges-Jumna Du\u00e2b, drive off the disease demon with a\nbroom. In Oudh, it is said, when a broomstick has been done with,\nit should always be laid down, and not left standing. Mah\u00e2-Br\u00e2hmans,\nwho gain by officiating at funeral ceremonies, are alleged to violate\nthis rule in order to cause deaths. [512]\n\n\n\nThe Rice-pounder.\n\nThe rice-pounder, too, has magical powers. We have seen that it is\none of the articles waved round the heads of the bride and bridegroom\nto scare evil spirits. In Bengal, it is worshipped when the child\nis first fed with grain. And there is a regular worship of it in the\nmonth of Bais\u00e2kh, or May. The top is smeared with red lead, anointed\nwith oil, and offerings of rice and holy D\u00fbrva grass made to it. The\nworship has even been provided with a Br\u00e2hmanical legend. A Guru once\nordered his disciple to pronounce the word Dhenk at least one hundred\nand eight times a day. N\u00e2rada Muni was so pleased with his devotion,\nas he is the patron deity of the rice-pounder, that he paid him a\nvisit riding on one, and carried off his votary to heaven. [513]\n\n\n\nThe Plough.\n\nNext comes the plough as a fetish. The carrying about of the plough\nand the prohibition common in Europe against moving it on Shrove\nTuesday and other holidays have, like many other images of the same\nclass, been connected with Phallicism. [514] But, considering the\nrespect which an agricultural people would naturally pay to the chief\nimplement used in husbandry, it is simpler to class it with the other\ntool fetishes of a similar kind. In India, as in Europe on Plough\nMonday, [515] there is a regular worship of the plough at the end of\nthe sowing season, when the beam is coloured with turmeric, adorned\nwith garlands, and brought home from the field in triumph. After that\nday it is considered unlucky to use it or lend it. The beam is put\nup in the village cattle track when rinderpest is about, as a charm\nto drive away the disease. Among some castes the polished share is\nfixed up in the marriage shed during the ceremony. Among the Or\u00e2ons,\nthe bride and bridegroom are made to stand on a curry stone, under\nwhich is placed a sheaf of corn resting on the plough yoke, and among\nthe same people their god Darha is represented by a plough-share set\nupon an altar dedicated to him. [516] Here we have the mystic influence\nof grain and iron combined with the agricultural implement fetish.\n\n\n\nFire.\n\nFire is undoubtedly a very ancient Hindu protective fetish, and its\nvirtue as a scarer of demons is very generally recognized. One of\nthe earliest legends of the Hindu race is that recorded in the Rig\nVeda, where Agni, the god of fire, concealed himself in heaven, was\nbrought down to earth by M\u00e2tarisvan, and made over to the princely\ntribe of Bhrigu, in which we have the Oriental version of the myth\nof Prometheus. In the Vedas, Agni ranks next to the Rain god, and\ntakes precedence of every other god in connection with sacrificial\nrites. Even the Sun godling is regarded as a form of the heavenly\nfire. One of the titles of Agni is Pramantha, because on each occasion\nwhen he was required he was summoned by the friction of the Aran\u00ee,\nor sacred fire-drill. This word Pramantha is probably the equivalent\nof the Prometheus of the Greeks.\n\n\n\nOrigin of Fire-worship.\n\nAccording to Dr. Tylor, \"the real and absolute worship of fire falls\ninto two great divisions, the first belonging to fetishism, the\nsecond to polytheism proper, and the two apparently representing an\nearlier and later stage of theological ideas. The first is the rude,\nbarbarous adoration of the actual flame which he watches writhing,\ndevouring, roaring like a wild animal; the second belongs to an\nadvanced generalization that any individual fire is a manifestation\nof one general elemental being, the fire god.\" [517] In a tropical\ncountry it would naturally be associated with the worship of the sun,\nand with that of the sainted dead as the medium by which the spirit\nwings its way to the other world. Among many races fire is provided\nfor the ghost after interment, to enable it to warm itself and cook\nits food. As Mr. Spencer points out, the grave fire would tend to\ndevelop into kindred religious rites. [518]\n\n\n\nThe Sacred Fire.\n\nBut it is almost certainly erroneous to class the sacred fire as an\ninstitution peculiar to the so-called Aryan races. The Homa is, of\ncourse, one of the most important elements of the modern Hindu ritual;\nbut at the same time it prevails extensively as a means of propitiating\nthe local or village godlings among many of the Dr\u00e2vidian races, who\nare quite as likely to have discovered for themselves the mystical\nart of fire production by mechanical means, as to have adopted it by\na process of conscious or unconscious imitation from the usages of\ntheir Hindu neighbours.\n\nThe production of fire by means of friction is a discovery which would\nnaturally occur to jungle races, who must have constantly seen it occur\nby the ignition of the bamboo stalks rubbed together by the blasts\nof summer. From this would easily be developed the very primitive\nfire-drill or Asgara, used to this day by the Cheros, Korwas, Bhuiyas\nand other Dr\u00e2vidian dwellers in the jungle. These people even to the\npresent day habitually produce fire in this way. A small round cavity\nis made in a dry piece of bamboo, in which two men alternately with\ntheir open hands revolve a second pointed piece of the wood of the same\ntree. Smoke and finally fire are rapidly produced in this way, and the\nsparks are received on a dry leaf or other suitable tinder. The use\nof the flint and steel is also common, and was possibly an early and\nindependent invention of the same people. Even to the present day in\nsome of their more secret worship of the village godlings of disease,\nfire is produced for the fire sacrifice by this primitive method.\n\n\n\nThe Fire-drill.\n\nWhat has been called the Aryan fire-drill, the Aran\u00ee, which in\none sense means \"foreign\" or \"strange,\" and in another \"moving\"\nor \"entering,\" \"being inserted,\" is not apparently nowadays used\nin the ordinary ritual for the production of fire for the Homa or\nfire sacrifice. The rites connected with the sacred fire have been\ngiven in detail in another place. [519] In Northern India, at least,\nthe production of the sacred fire has become the speciality of one\nbranch of the Br\u00e2hmans, the Gujar\u00e2ti, who are employed to conduct\ncertain special services occasionally conducted at large cost by\nwealthy devotees, and known as Jag or Yaksha, in the sense of some\nparticular religious rite.\n\nThe Aran\u00ee in its modern form consists of five pieces. The Adhararan\u00ee is\nthe lower bed of the instrument, and is usually made of the hard wood\nof the Khadira or Khair--Acacia catechu. In this are bored two shallow\nholes, one, the Garta, a small shallow round cavity, in which the\nplunger or revolving drill works and produces fire by friction. Close\nto this is a shallow oblong cavity, known as the Yon\u00ee or matrix,\nin which combustible tinder, generally the husk of the cocoanut,\nis placed, and in which the sparks and heated ashes are received\nand ignited. The upper or revolving portion of the drill is known\nas Uttararan\u00ee or Pramantha. This consists of two parts, the upper\nportion a piece of hard, round wood which one priest revolves with\na rope or cord known as Netra. This part of the implement is known\nas Mantha or \"the churner.\" It has a socket at the base in which the\nSanku, a spike or dart, is fixed. This Sanku is made of a softer wood,\ngenerally that of the P\u00eepal, or sacred fig tree, than the Adhararan\u00ee\nor base; and each Aran\u00ee is provided with several spare pieces of fig\nwood for the purpose of replacing the Sanku, as it becomes gradually\ncharred away by friction. The last piece is the Upamantha or upper\nchurner, which is a flat board with a socket. This is pressed down\nby one priest, so as to force the Sanku deep and hard into the Garta\nor lower cavity, and to increase the resistance.\n\nThe working of the implement thus requires the labour of two priests,\none of whom presses down the plunger, and the other who revolves the\ndrill rapidly by means of the rope. It is not easy to obtain specimens\nof the implement, which is regarded as possessing mystical properties,\nand the production of the sacred fire is always conducted in secret.\n\nWe have in one of the African folk-tales a reference to the production\nof the fire by friction, in which the hy\u00e6na gets his ear burnt. [520]\nIn one of the tales of Somadeva we read, \"Then the Br\u00e2hman blessed\nthe king and said to him, 'I am a Br\u00e2hman named N\u00e2ga Sarman, and bear\nthe fruit, I hope, from my sacrifice. When the god of fire is pleased\nwith this Vilva sacrifice, then Vilva fruits of gold will come out\nof the fire cavity. Then the god of fire will appear in bodily form,\nand grant me a boon, and so I have spent much time in offering Vilva\nfruits.' Then the seven-rayed god appeared from the sacrificial cavity,\nbringing the king a golden Vilva fruit of his tree of valour.\" [521]\n\nThe Agnikunda, the hole or enclosed space for the sacred fire, out\nof which, according to the popular legend, various R\u00e2jput tribes were\nproduced, is thus probably derived from the Garta or pit out of which\nthe sparks fly in the fire-drill.\n\nThe Agnihotri Br\u00e2hman has to take particular care to preserve the\ngerm of the sacred fire, as did the Roman vestal virgins. It is in\ncharge of the special guardians at some shrines, such as those of\nSambhun\u00e2th and Kharg Jogin\u00ee at Nep\u00e2l. [522]\n\n\n\nThe Muhammadan Sacred Fire.\n\nBut it is not only in the Hindu ritual that the sacred fire holds\na prominent place. Thus, in ancient Ireland, the sacred fire was\nobtained by the friction of wood and the striking of stones, and\nit was supposed \"that the spirits of fire dwelt in these objects,\nand when the priests invoked them to appear, they brought good luck\nto the household for the coming year, but if invoked by other hands\non that special day, their influence was malific.\" [523]\n\nSo, among the Muhammadans in the time of Akbar, \"at noon of the day\nwhen the sun enters the 19th degree of Aries, the whole world being\nsurrounded by the light, they expose a round piece of a white shining\nstone, called in Hindi S\u00fbrajkrant. [524] A piece of cotton is then held\nnear it, which catches fire from the heat of the stone. The celestial\nfire is committed to the care of proper persons.\" [525] Perhaps the\nbest example of the Muhammadan sacred fire is that at the Im\u00e2mb\u00e2ra\nat Gorakhpur. There it was first started by a renowned Shiah Faq\u00eer,\nnamed Roshan 'Ali, and has been maintained unquenched for more than\na hundred years, a special body of attendants and supplies of wood\nbeing provided for it. There seems little reason to believe that the\nfire is a regular Muhammadan institution; it has probably arisen from\nan imitation of the customs of the Hindu Jogis.\n\nIt is respected both by Hindus and Musalm\u00e2ns, and as in the case\nof the fires of the same kind, maintained by many noted Jogis, its\nashes have a reputation as a cure for fever. We shall meet with the\nsame belief of the curative effects of the ashes of the sacred fire\nin the case of the Hol\u00ee. The ashes of the Jogi's fire form a part of\nmany popular charms. In Italy, the holy log burnt on Christmas Eve,\nwhich corresponds to the Yule log of the North of Europe, is taken with\ndue observances to the Faunus, or other spirits of the forest. [526]\nIn Ireland part of the ashes from the bonfire on the 24th of June is\nthrown into sown fields to make their produce abundant. [527] The\nceremony of strewing ashes on the penitent on Ash Wednesday dates\nfrom Saxon times. [528] A modern Muhammadan of the advanced school\nhas endeavoured to rationalize the curative effect of the ashes of\nthe Gorakhpur fire by the suggestion that it is the potash in it\nwhich works the cure, but probably the element of faith has much to\ndo with it. [529]\n\n\n\nVolcanic Fire; Will-o'-the-Wisp.\n\nFire of a volcanic nature is, as might be expected, regarded with\nveneration. Such is the fire which in some places in Kashm\u00eer rises\nout of the ground. [530]\n\nThe meteoric light or Shah\u00e2ba is also much respected. In Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d\nthere is a local godling, known as Khapra B\u00e2ba, who lives on the edge\nof a tank, and is said to appear in the darkness with a procession\nof lights. [531] In Rohilkhand and the western districts of Oudh,\none often hears of the Shah\u00e2ba. In burial-grounds, especially where\nthe bodies of those slain in battle are interred, it is said that\nphantom armies appear in the night. Tents are pitched, the horses are\ntethered, and lovely girls dance before the heroes and the Jinn who\nare in their train. Sometimes some foolish mortal is attracted by the\nspectacle, and he suffers for his foolhardiness by loss of life or\nreason. Sometimes these ignes fatui mislead the traveller at night,\nas Robin Goodfellow \"misleads night wanderers, laughing at their\nharm,\" or the Cornish piskies, who show a light and entice people\ninto bogs. [532] There appears to be in Northern India no trace of\nthe idea which so widely appears in Europe, that such lights are the\nsouls of unbaptized children. [533]\n\n\n\nThe Tomb Fetish.\n\nNext comes the respect paid to the cairn which covers the remains of\nthe dead or is a mere cenotaph commemorating a death. We have already\nseen instances of this in the pile of stones which marks the place\nwhere a tiger has killed a man, and in the cairns in honour of the\njungle deities, or the spirits which infest dangerous passes. The\nrationale of these sepulchral cairns is to keep down the ghost of\nthe dead man and prevent it from injuring the living. We see the same\nidea in the rule of the old ritual, that on the departure of the last\nmourner, after the conclusion of the funeral ceremony, the Adhv\u00e2ryu,\nor officiating priest, should place a circle of stones behind him,\nto prevent death overtaking those who have gone in advance. [534]\n\nThe primitive grave-heap grows into the cairn, and the cairn into the\ntomb or St\u00fbpa. [535] In the way of a tomb Hindus will worship almost\nanything. The tomb of an English lady is worshipped at Bhand\u00e2ra in the\nCentral Provinces. At Murmari, in the N\u00e2gpur District, a similar tomb\nis smeared with turmeric and lime, and people offer cocoanuts to it in\nthe hope of getting increased produce from their fields. The tomb of an\nEnglish officer near the Fort of Bijaygarh in the Aligarh District was,\nwhen I visited the place some years ago, revered as the shrine of the\nlocal village godling. There is a similar case at R\u00e2walpindi. There\nis a current tale of some people offering brandy and cigars to the\ntomb of a European planter who was addicted to these luxuries in his\nlifetime, but no one can tell where the tomb actually exists. [536]\n\n\n\nMiscellaneous Fetishes.\n\nWe have already referred to the S\u00e2lagr\u00e2ma fetish. Akin to this is\nthe Vishnupada, the supposed footmark of Vishnu, which is very like\nthe footmark of Hercules, of which Herodotus speaks. [537]\n\nThere is a celebrated Vishnupada temple at Gaya, where the footprint of\nVishnu is in a large silver basin under a canopy, inside an octagonal\nshrine. Pindas or holy balls and various kinds of offerings are placed\nby the pilgrims inside the basin and around the footprint. [538]\nIt was probably derived from the footmark of Buddha, which is a\nfavourite subject in the early Buddhistic sculptures. Dr. Tylor,\ncuriously enough, thinks that it may have some connection with the\nfootmarks of extinct birds or animals imprinted on the strata of\nalluvial rocks. [539]\n\nEven among Muhammadans we have the same idea, and the Qadam-i-Ras\u00fbl,\nor mosque of the footprint of the Prophet at Lucknow, used to contain\na stone marked with his footmarks, which was said to have been brought\nby some pilgrim from Arabia. It disappeared during the Mutiny. [540]\nThere is another in a mosque at Chun\u00e2r and at many other places.\n\nThe same respect is paid to the footprint of R\u00e2manand in his monastery\nat Benares, and the pin of Brahma's slipper is now fixed up in the\nsteps of the bathing-place at Bith\u00fbr, known as the residence of the\ninfamous N\u00e2na S\u00e2hib, where it is worshipped at an annual feast.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nANIMAL-WORSHIP.\n\n\n                T\u00f4 de kai Automed\u00f4n hypage zygon \u00f4keas hippous\n                Chanthon kai Balion, t\u00f4 hama pnoi\u00easi petesth\u00ean\n                Tous eteke Zephyr\u00f4 anem\u00f4 Harpuia Podarg\u00ea\n                Boskomen\u00ea leim\u00f4ni para rhoon \u00d4keanoio.\n\n                                                     Iliad, xvi. 148-51.\n\n\n\nOrigin of Animal-worship.\n\nWe now come to consider the special worship of certain animals. The\norigin of this form of belief may possibly be traced to many different\nsources.\n\nIn the first place, no savage fixes the boundary line between man\nand the lower forms of animal life so definitely as more civilized\nraces are wont to do. The animal, in their belief, has very much the\nsame soul, much the same feelings and passion as men have, a theory\nexemplified in the way the Indian ploughman speaks to his ox, or the\nshepherd calls his flock.\n\nTo him, again, the belief is familiar that the spirits of his ancestors\nappear in the form of animals, as among the Dr\u00e2vidian races they\ncome in the shape of a tiger which attacks the surviving relatives,\nor as a chicken which leaves the mark of its footsteps in the ashes\nwhen it re-visits its former home.\n\nSo, all these people believe that the witch soul wanders about at\nnight, and for want of a better shape enters into some animal, takes\nthe form of a tiger or a bear, or flies through the air like a bird.\n\nAll through folk-lore we find the idea that man has kinship with\nanimals generally accepted. We constantly find the girl wooed by the\nfrog, marrying the pigeon, elephant, eagle, or whale. Every child\nin the nursery reads of the frog Prince, and no savage sees any\nparticular incongruity in his marriage and transformation. In more\nthan one of the Indian tales the childless wife longs for a child\nand is delivered of a snake.\n\nThe incident of animal metamorphosis is also familiar. Thus, in one\nof Somadeva's tales his mistress turns a man into an ox; in another\nhis wife transforms him into a buffalo; in a third the angry hermit\nturns the king into an elephant. [541] Everyone remembers the terrific\nscene of transformation into various animals which makes up the tale\nof the second Qalandar in the Arabian Nights. Animals, too, constantly\nassume other shapes. In one of the Bengal stories the mouse becomes a\ncat. In other Indian tales the golden deer becomes the mannikin demon,\nthe white hind becomes the white witch, the hero's mother becomes a\nblack bitch, the hero himself a parrot, and so on. [542] In fact a\nlarge part of the incidents of Indian stories turns on various forms\nof metamorphosis, and every English child knows how the lover of Earl\nMar's daughter took the shape of a dove.\n\nWe have again the very common incident in the folk-tales of animals\nunderstanding the speech of human beings, and men learning the tongue\nof birds, and the like. Solomon, according to the Qur\u00e2n, knew the\nlanguage of animals; in the tales of Somadeva, the Vaisya Bh\u00e2sh\u00e2jna\nknows the language of all beasts and birds, a faculty which in Germany\nis gained by eating a white snake. [543]\n\nThen there is the large cycle of tales in which the grateful animal\nwarns the hero or heroine of approaching danger, as in the story of\nBopuluchi, or brings news, or produces gold. The idea of grateful\nanimals assisting their benefactors runs through the whole range of\nfolk-lore. [544]\n\nAnother series of cognate ideas has been very carefully analyzed by\nMr. Campbell. The spirits of the dead haunt two places, the house\nand the tomb. Those who haunt the house are friendly; those who haunt\nthe tomb are unfriendly. Two classes of animals correspond to these\ntwo classes of spirits--an at-home, fearless class, as the snake, the\nrat, flies and ants and bees, into which the home-haunting or friendly\nspirits would go; and a wild, unsociable class, such as bats and owls,\ndogs, jackals, or vultures, into which the unfriendly or tomb-haunting\nspirits would go. In the case of some of these tomb-haunting animals,\nthe dog, jackal, and vulture, the feeling towards them as tomb-haunters\nseems to have given place to the belief that as the spirit lives in\nthe tomb where the body is laid, so, if the body be eaten by an animal,\nthe spirit lives in the animal, as in a living tomb. [545]\n\nOther animals, again, are invested with particular qualities,\nfierceness and courage, strength or agility, and eating part of their\nflesh, or wearing a portion as an amulet, conveys to the possessor the\nqualities of the animal. A familiar instance of this is the belief in\nthe claws and flesh of the tiger as amulets or charms against disease\nand the influence of evil spirits.\n\nMany animals, too, are respected for their use to man or as scarers\nof demons, as the cow; as possessors of wisdom, like the elephant or\nsnake; as semi-human in origin or character, as the ape. But it is,\nperhaps, dangerous to attempt, as Mr. Campbell has done, to push the\nclassification much farther, because the respect paid to any particular\nanimal is possibly based on varied and diverging lines of belief.\n\nLastly, as Mr. Frazer has shown, many animals are regarded as\nrepresenting the Corn spirit, and are either revered or killed in\ntheir divine forms to promote the return of vegetation with each\nrecurring spring.\n\n\n\nHorse-worship.\n\nTo illustrate some of these principles from the worship of certain\nspecial animals, we may begin with the horse.\n\nWar horses were so highly prized by the early Aryans in their battles\nwith the aborigines, that the horse, under the name of Dadhikra,\n\"he that scatters the hoar frost like milk,\" soon became an object\nof worship, and in the Veda we have a spirited account of the worship\npaid to this godlike being. [546]\n\nAnother horse often spoken of in the early legends is Sy\u00e2ma Karna,\n\"he with the black ears,\" which alone was considered a suitable victim\nin the horse sacrifice or Asvamedha. One hundred horse sacrifices\nentitled the sacrificer to displace Indra from heaven, so the deity\nwas always trying to capture the horse which was allowed to roam about\nbefore immolation. The saint G\u00e2lava, who was a pupil of Visvamitra,\nwhen he had completed his studies, asked his tutor what fee he should\npay. The saint told him that he charged no fee, but he insisted in\nasking, till at last the angry Rishi said that he would be content\nwith nothing less than a thousand black-eared horses. After long\nsearch G\u00e2lava found three childless R\u00e2jas, who had each two hundred\nsuch horses, and they consented to exchange them for sons. G\u00e2lava then\nwent to Yay\u00e2ti, whose daughter could bear a son for any one and still\nremain a virgin. By her means the three R\u00e2jas became fathers of sons,\nVisvamitra took them, and to make up the number, had himself two sons\nby the same mystic bride.\n\nIn the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, Uchchaihsravas, \"he with the long ears,\" or\n\"he that neighs loudly,\" is the king of the horses, and belongs to\nIndra. He is swift as thought, follows the path of the sun, and is\nluminous and white, with a black tail, made so by the magic of the\nserpents, who have covered it with black hair. In the folk-tales he\nconsorts with mares of mortal birth, and begets steeds of unrivalled\nspeed, like the divine Homeric coursers of \u00c6neas. [547] In the\ntales of Somadeva we find the king addressing his faithful horse,\nand praying for his aid in danger, as Achilles speaks to his steeds\nXanthos and Balios, and in the Karling legend of Bayard. [548] We\nmeet also with the horse of Manidatta, which was \"white as the moon;\nthe sound of its neighing was as musical as that of a clear conch or\nother sweet-sounding instrument; it looked like the waves of the sea\nof milk surging on high; it was marked with curls on the neck, and\nadorned with the crest jewels, the bracelet, and other signs, which\nit seemed it had acquired by being born in the race of Gandharvas.\"\n\nAt a later mythological stage we meet Kalki, the white horse which is\nto be the last Avat\u00e2ra of Vishnu, and reminds us of the white horse\nof the Book of Revelation. We meet in the Rig Veda with Yatudhanas,\nthe demon horse, which feeds now upon human flesh (like the Bucephalus\nof the legend of Alexander), now upon horseflesh, and now upon milk\nfrom cows. He has a host of brethren, such as Arvan, half horse,\nhalf bird, on which the Daityas are supposed to ride. Dadhyanch or\nDadh\u00eecha has a curious legend. He was a Rishiand. Indra, after teaching\nhim the sciences, threatened to cut his head off if he communicated\nthe knowledge to any one else. But the Aswins tempted him to disobey\nthe god, and then, to save him from the wrath of Indra, cut off his\nhead and replaced it with that of a horse. Finally Indra found his\nhorse-head in the lake at Kurukshetra, and using it as Sampson did\nthe jaw-bone of the ass, he slew the Asuras. We have, again, Vishnu\nin the form of Hayagr\u00eeva, or \"horse-necked,\" which he assumed to\nsave the Veda, carried off by two Asuras, and in another shape he\nis Hayasiras or Hayas\u00eersha, which vomits forth fire and drinks up\nthe waters. In the Pur\u00e2nas we meet the Daitya Kesi, who assumes the\nform of a horse and attacks Krishna, but the hero thrusts his hand\ninto his mouth and rends him asunder. A large chapter of Scottish\nfolk-lore depends on the doings of magic horses such as these. [549]\n\nThe flying horse of the Arabian Nights has been transferred into\nmany of the current folk-tales, and has found its way into European\nfolk-lore. [550] In the same connection we meet the magic bridle;\nthe flying car, such as Pushpaka, the flying vehicle of Kuvera, the\ngod of wealth; the flying bed, the Ur\u00e2n Khatola of the Indian tales;\nthe flying boat, and the flying shoes. [551]\n\nThere are numerous other horses famous in Hindu legend. The saint Alam\nSayyid of Baroda was known as Ghor\u00ea K\u00e2 P\u00eer, or the horse saint. His\nhorse was buried near him, and Hindus hang images of the animal on\ntrees round his tomb. [552] We have already spoken of G\u00fbga and his\nmare Jav\u00e2diy\u00e2. The horse of the king of Bhilsa or Bhadr\u00e2vat\u00ee was of\ndazzling brightness, and regarded as the palladium of the kingdom,\nbut in spite of all the care bestowed upon it, it was carried off by\nthe P\u00e2ndavas.\n\nThere is a stock horse miracle story told in connection with L\u00e2l Beg,\nthe patron saint of the sweepers. The king of Delhi lost a valuable\nhorse, and the sweepers were ordered to bury it, but as the animal was\nvery fat, they proceeded to cut it up for themselves, giving one leg to\nthe king's priest. They took the meat home and proceeded to cook it,\nbut being short of salt, they sent an old woman to buy some. She went\nto the salt merchant's shop and pressed him to serve her at once,\n\"If you do not hurry,\" said she, \"a thousand rupees' worth of meat\nwill be ruined.\" He informed the king, who, suspecting the state of\nthe case, ordered the sweepers to produce the horse. They were in\ndismay at the order, but they laid what was left of the animal on a\nmound sacred to L\u00e2l Beg, and prayed to him to save them, whereupon\nthe horse stood up, but only on three legs. So they went to the king\nand confessed how they had disposed of the fourth leg. The unlucky\npriest was executed, and the horse soon after died also. [553]\n\nThe horse is regarded as a lucky and exceedingly pure animal. When a\ncooking vessel has become in any way defiled, a common way of purifying\nit is to make a horse smell it. In the Dakkhin it is said that evil\nspirits will not approach a horse for fear of his foam. [554] In\nNorthern India, the entry of a man on horseback into a sugar-cane field\nduring sowing time is regarded as auspicious. This taking of omens\nfrom horses was well known in Germany, and Tacitus says, \"Proprium\ngentis equorum praesagia ac monitus experiri, hinnitus ac fremitus\nobservant.\" [555] There does not appear to be in India any trace of\nthe idea prevalent in England that the horse has the power of seeing\nghosts, or that it can cure diseases such as whooping cough. [556]\nBut, like the bull, the stallion is believed to scare the demon of\nbarrenness. In the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana, Kausaly\u00e2 touches the stallion in the\nhope of obtaining sons, and with the same object the king and queen\nsmell the odour of the burnt marrow or fat of the horse. The water\nin which a fish is washed has the same effect on women in Western\nfolk-lore. With the same object, at the Asvamedha, the queen lies at\nnight beside the slain sacrificial horse. [557]\n\nIt is popularly supposed that the horse originally had wings, and that\nthe chestnuts or scars on the legs are the places where the wings\noriginally grew. Eating horseflesh is supposed to bring on cramp,\nand when a Sepoy at rifle practice misses the target, his comrades\ntaunt him with having eaten the unlucky meat. [558]\n\n\n\nModern Horse-worship.\n\nOf modern horse-worship there are many examples. The Palliw\u00e2l\nBr\u00e2hmans of Jaysalmer worship the bridle of a horse, which Colonel Tod\nsupposes to prove the Scythic origin of the early colonists, who were\nequestrian as well as nomadic. [559] Horse-worship is still mixed up\nwith the creed of the Buddhists of Yun\u00e2n, who doubtless derived it\nfrom India. [560]\n\nIn Western India this form of worship is common. It is the chief object\nof reverence at the Dasahra festival. Some R\u00e2jput Bh\u00eels worship a deity\ncalled Ghor\u00e2deva or a stone horse; the Bh\u00e2tiyas worship a clay horse\nat the Dasahra, and the Ojha Kumh\u00e2rs erect a clay horse on the sixth\nday after birth, and make the child worship it. Rag horses are offered\nat the tombs of saints at Gujar\u00e2t. The Kunbis wash their horses on\nthe day of the Dasahra, decorate them with flowers, sacrifice a sheep\nto them, and sprinkle the blood on them. [561] The custom among the\nDr\u00e2vidian races of offering clay horses to the local gods has been\nalready noticed. The Gonds have a horse godling in Kodapen, and at the\nopening of the rainy season they worship a stone in his honour outside\nthe village. A Gond priest offers a pottery image of the animal and a\nheifer, saying, \"Thou art our guardian! Protect our oxen and cows! Let\nus live in safety!\" [562] The heifer is then sacrificed and the meat\neaten by the worshippers. The Devak or marriage guardian of some of\nthe Dakkhin tribes is a horse.\n\n\n\nThe Worship of the Ass.\n\nThe contempt for the ass seems to have arisen in post-Vedic\ntimes. Indra had a swift-footed ass, and one of the epithets of\nVikramaditya was Gadharbha-r\u00fbpa, or \"he in the form of an ass.\" The\nVishnu Pur\u00e2na tells of the demon Dhenuka, who took the form of an\nass and began to kick Balar\u00e2ma and Krishna, as they were plucking\nfruit in the demon's grove. Balar\u00e2ma seized him, with sundry of his\ncompanions and flung him on the top of a palm tree. Khara, a cannibal\nR\u00e2kshasa who was killed by R\u00e2ma Chandra, also used to take the form of\nan ass. Muhammad said, \"The most ungrateful of all voices is surely the\nvoice of asses.\" Muhammadans believe that the last animal which entered\nthe ark was the ass to which Ibl\u00ees was clinging. At the threshold the\nbeast seemed troubled and could enter no farther, when Noah said unto\nhim, \"Fie upon thee! Come in!\" But as the ass was still in trouble\nand did not advance, Noah cried, \"Come in, though the Devil be with\nthee!\" So the ass entered, and with him Ibl\u00ees. Thereupon Noah asked,\n\"O enemy of Allah! Who brought thee into the ark?\" And Ibl\u00ees answered,\n\"Thou art the man, for thou saidest to the ass, 'Come in, though the\nDevil be with thee!'\" [563]\n\nThe worship of the ass is chiefly associated with that of S\u00eetal\u00e2, whose\nvehicle he is. The Agarw\u00e2la sub-caste of Banyas have a curious rule of\nmaking the bridegroom just before marriage mount an ass. This is done\nin secret, and though said to be intended to propitiate the goddess\nof small-pox, is possibly a survival of some primitive form of worship.\n\nIn folk-lore the ass constantly appears. We have in Somadeva the\nfable of the ass in the panther's skin, which also appears in the\nfifth book of the Panchatantra. Professor Weber asserts that it was\nderived from the original in \u00c6sop, but this is improbable, as it is\nalso found in the Buddhist J\u00e2takas. In one of the Kashm\u00eer tales we\nhave the bird saying, \"If any person will peel off the bark of my\ntree, pound it, mix the powder with some of the juice of its leaves\nand then work it into a ball, it will be found to work like a charm;\nfor any one who smells it will be turned into an ass.\" [564] We have\ninstances of ass transformation in Apuleius and Lucian, and in German\nand other Western folk-tales.\n\n\n\nThe Lion.\n\nThe lion, from his comparative rarity in Northern India, appears\nlittle in popular belief. It is one of the vehicles of P\u00e2rvat\u00ee,\nand rude images of the animal are sometimes placed near shrines\ndedicated to Dev\u00ee. There is a current idea that only one pair of\nlions exists in the world at the same time. They have two cubs, a\nmale and a female, which, when they arrive at maturity, devour their\nparents. In the folk-tales the childless king is instructed that he\nwill find in the forest a boy riding on a lion, and this will be his\nson. The lovely maiden in the legend of Jimutav\u00e2hana is met riding on\na lion. We have the lion Pingalika, king of beasts, with the jackal\nas his minister, and in one of the cycle of tales in which the weak\nanimal overcomes the more powerful, the hare by his wisdom causes\nthe lion to drown himself. The basis of the famous tale of Androcles\nis probably Buddhistic, but only a faint reference to it is found\nin Somadeva. In one of the modern stories the soldier takes a thorn\nout of the tiger's foot, and is rewarded with a box which contains\na manikin, who procures for him all he desires. [565]\n\n\n\nThe Tiger.\n\nThe tiger naturally takes the place of the lion. According to the\ncomparative mythologists, \"the tiger, panther, and leopard possess\nseveral of the mystical characteristics of the lion as the hidden\nsun. Thus, Dionysos and Siva, the phallical god par excellence,\nhave these animals as their emblems.\" [566] Siva, it is true, is\nrepresented as sitting in his ascetic form on a tiger skin, but it\nis his consort, Durg\u00e2, who uses the animal as her vehicle. Quite\napart from the solar myth theory, the belief that witches are changed\ninto tigers, and the terror inspired by him, are quite sufficient to\naccount for the honour bestowed upon him.\n\nMuch also of the worship of the tiger is probably of totemistic\norigin. Thus the Baghel R\u00e2jputs claim descent, and from him (b\u00e2gh,\nvy\u00e2ghra, \"the spotted one\") derive their name. This tribe will not,\nin Central India, destroy the animal. So, \"no consideration will\ninduce a Sumatran to catch or wound a tiger, except in self-defence, or\nimmediately after the tiger has destroyed a friend or a relation. When\na European has set traps for tigers, the people of the neighbourhood\nhave been known to go by night to the spot and explain to the tiger\nthat the traps were not set by them, nor with their consent.\" The Bh\u00eels\nand the Bajr\u00e2wat R\u00e2jputs of R\u00e2jput\u00e2na also claim tiger origin. [567]\n\nAnother idea appearing in tiger-worship is that he eats human flesh,\nand thus obtains possession of the souls of the victims whom he\ndevours. For this reason a man-eating tiger is supposed to walk along\nwith his head bent, because the ghosts of his victims sit on it and\nweigh it down. [568]\n\nHe is, again, often the disguise of a sorcerer of evil temper, an\nidea similar to that which was the basis of the European dread of\nlycanthropy and the were-wolf. \"Accounts differ as to the way in which\nthe were-wolf was chosen. According to one account, a human victim\nwas sacrificed, one of his bowels was mixed with the bowels of animal\nvictims, the whole was consumed by the worshippers, and the man who\nunwittingly ate the human bowel was changed into a wolf. According\nto another account, lots were cast among the members of a particular\nfamily, and he upon whom the lot fell was the were-wolf. Being led\nto the brink of a tarn, he stripped himself, hung his clothes on an\noak tree, plunged into the tarn, and swimming across it, went into\ndesert places. There he was changed into a wolf, and herded with\nwolves for nine years. If he tasted human blood before the nine years\nwere out he had to remain a wolf for ever. If during the nine years\nhe abstained from preying on men, then, when the tenth year came\nround, he recovered his human shape. Similarly, there is a negro\nfamily at the mouth of the Congo who are supposed to possess the\npower of turning themselves into leopards in the gloomy depths of\nthe forest. As leopards, they knock people down, but do no further\nharm, for they think that if, as leopards, they once lapped blood,\nthey would be leopards for ever.\" [569]\n\nHence in India the jungle people who are in the way of meeting him\nwill not pronounce his name, but speak of him as G\u00eedar, \"the jackal,\"\nJ\u00e2nwar, \"the beast,\" or use some other euphemistic term. They do\nthe same in many cases with the wolf and bear, and though they\nsometimes hesitate to kill the animal themselves, they will readily\nassist sportsmen to destroy him, and make great rejoicings when he is\nkilled. A Shik\u00e2ri will break off a branch on the road as he goes along,\nand say, \"As thy life has departed, so may the tiger die!\" When he is\nkilled they will bring forward some spirits and pour it on the head of\nthe animal, addressing him, \"Mah\u00e2r\u00e2ja! During your life you confined\nyourself to cattle, and never injured your human subjects. Now that\nyou are dead, spare us and bless us!\" In Akola the gardeners are\nunwilling to inform the sportsmen of the whereabouts of a tiger or\npanther which may have taken up its quarters in their plantation,\nfor they have a superstition that a garden plot loses its fertility\nfrom the moment one of these animals is killed there. So, with the\nAinos of Japan, who when a bear is trapped or wounded by an arrow,\ngo through an apologetic or propitiatory ceremony. [570]\n\nIn Nep\u00e2l they have a regular festival in honour of the tiger known\nas the B\u00e2gh J\u00e2tra, in which the worshippers used to dance in the\ndisguise of tigers.\n\n\n\nTiger-worship among the Jungle Races.\n\nBut, as is natural, the worship of the tiger prevails more widely\namong the jungle races. We have already met with B\u00e2gheswar, the tiger\ndeity of the Mirzapur forest tribes. The Sant\u00e2ls also worship him,\nand the Kis\u00e2ns honour him as Banr\u00e2ja, or \"lord of the jungle.\" They\nwill not kill him, and believe that in return for their devotion\nhe will spare them. Another branch of the tribe does not worship\nhim, but all swear by him. The Bhuiy\u00e2rs, on the contrary, have no\nveneration for him, and think it their interest to slay him whenever\nthey have an opportunity. The Ju\u00e2ngs take their oaths on earth from\nan ant-hill, and on a tiger's skin; the ant-hill is a sacred object\nwith the Khariyas, and the tiger skin is brought in when the Hos and\nSant\u00e2ls are sworn. Among the eastern Sant\u00e2ls, the tiger is worshipped,\nbut in R\u00e2mgarh only those who have suffered from the animal's ferocity\ncondescend to adore him. If a man is carried off by a tiger, the B\u00e2gh\nBh\u00fbt, or \"Tiger ghost,\" is worshipped, and an oath on a tiger's skin\nis considered most solemn. [571]\n\n\n\nB\u00e2gh Deo, the Tiger Godling.\n\nFurther west the Kurkus of Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d worship the tiger godling,\nB\u00e2gh Deo, who is the W\u00e2gh Deo of Ber\u00e2r. At Petri in Ber\u00e2r is a sort\nof altar to W\u00e2gh\u00e2\u00ee Dev\u00ee, the tiger goddess, founded on a spot where a\nGond woman was once seized by a tiger. She is said to have vanished as\nif by some supernatural agency, and the Gonds who desire protection\nfrom wild beasts present to her altar gifts of every kind of animal\nfrom a cow downwards. A Gond presides over the shrine and receives\nthe votive offerings.\n\nIn Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d the Bhomka is the priest of B\u00e2gh Deo. \"On him devolves\nthe dangerous duty of keeping tigers out of the boundaries. When a\ntiger visits a village, the Bhomka repairs to B\u00e2gh Deo, and makes his\nofferings to the god, and promises to repeat them for so many years on\ncondition that the tiger does not appear for that time. The tiger, on\nhis part, never fails to fulfil the compact thus solemnly made by his\nlord; for he is pre-eminently an upright and honourable beast--'pious\nwithal,' as Mandeville says, not faithless or treacherous like the\nleopard, whom no compact can bind. Some Bhomkas, however, masters\nof more powerful spell, are not obliged to rely on the traditional\nhonour of the tiger, but compel his attendance before B\u00e2gh Deo; and\nsuch a Bhomka has been seen, a very Daniel among tigers, muttering\nhis incantations over two or three at a time as they crouched before\nhim. Still more mysterious was the power of K\u00e2libh\u00eet Bhomka (now,\nalas! no more). He died, the victim of misplaced confidence in a\nLouis Napoleon of tigers, the basest and most bloodthirsty of his\nrace. He had a fine large S\u00e2j tree into which, when he uttered his\nspells, he would drive a nail. On this the tiger came and ratified the\ncontract with enormous paw manual. Such was that of Tim\u00fbr the Lame,\nwhen he dipped his mighty hand in blood and stamped its impression\non a parchment grant.\" [572]\n\nIn the same way in other parts of the Central Provinces the village\nsorcerers profess to be able to call tigers from the jungles, to\nseize them by the ears, and control their voracity by whispering to\nthem a command not to come near their villages, or they pretend to\nknow a particular kind of root, by burying which they can prevent\nthe beasts of the forest from devouring men or cattle. With the same\nobject they lay on the pathway small models of bedsteads and other\nthings which are supposed to act as charms and stop their advance.\n\n\n\nMagical Powers of Dead Tigers.\n\nAll sorts of magical powers are ascribed to the tiger after death. The\nfangs, the claws, the whiskers are potent charms, valuable for love\nphilters and prophylactics against demoniacal influence, the Evil Eye,\ndisease and death. The milk of a tigress is valuable medicine, and it\nis one of the stock impossible tasks or tests imposed upon the hero\nto find and fetch it, as he is sent to get the feathers of the eagle,\nwater from the well of death, or the mystical cow guarded by D\u00e2nos or\nR\u00e2kshasas. [573] The fat is considered a valuable remedy for rheumatism\nand similar maladies. The heart and flesh are tonics, stimulants and\naphrodisiacs, and give strength and courage to those who use them. The\nMiris of Assam prize tiger's flesh as food for men; it gives them\nstrength and courage; but it is not suited for women, as it would\nmake them too strong-minded. [574] The whiskers are believed, among\nother qualities which they possess, to be a slow poison when taken\nwith food, and the curious rudimentary clavicles, known as Santokh or\n\"happiness,\" are highly valued as amulets. There is a general belief\nthat a tiger gets a new lobe to his liver every year. A favourite\namulet to repel demoniacal influence consists of the whiskers of the\ntiger or leopard mixed with nail parings, some sacred root or grass,\nand red lead, and hung on the throat or upper arm. This treatment\nis particularly valuable in the case of young children immediately\nafter birth. Tiger's flesh is also a potent medicine and charm, and\nit is burnt in the cow-stall when cattle disease prevails. The flesh\nof the tiger, or if that be not procurable, the flesh of the jackal\nis burnt in the fields to keep off blight from the crops.\n\n\n\nTigers, Propitiation of.\n\nSome tigers are supposed to be amenable to courtesy. In one of\nthe Kashm\u00eer tales, the hero in search of tiger's milk shoots an\narrow and pierces one of the teats of the tigress, to whom he\nexplains that he hoped she would thus be able to suckle her cubs\nwith less trouble. In other tales we find the tiger pacified if\nhe is addressed as \"Uncle.\" [575] So, Colonel Tod describes how a\ntiger attacked a boy near his camp, and was supposed to have, like\nthe fierce R\u00e2kshasa of the Nep\u00e2l legend, released the child when he\nwas addressed as \"Uncle.\" [576] \"This Lord of the Black Rock, for\nsuch is the designation of the tiger, is one of the most ancient\nbourgeois of Morwan; his stronghold is K\u00e2la Pah\u00e2r, between this\nand Magaw\u00e2r; and his reign during a long series of years has been\nunmolested, notwithstanding numerous acts of aggression on his bovine\nsubjects. Indeed, only two nights before he was disturbed gorging on\na buffalo belonging to a poor oilman of Morwan. Whether the tiger\nwas an incarnation of one of the Mori lords of Morwan, tradition\ndoes not say; but neither gun, bow, nor spear has ever been raised\nagainst him. In return for this forbearance, it is said, he never\npreyed on man; or if he seized one, would, on being entreated with\nthe endearing epithet of 'Uncle,' let go his hold.\" [577]\n\n\n\nTiger-worship among the Gonds.\n\nAmong the Gonds tiger-worship assumes a particularly disgusting\nform. At marriages among them, a terrible apparition appears of two\ndemoniacs possessed by B\u00e2gheswar, the tiger god. They fall ravenously\non a bleating kid, and gnaw it with their teeth till it expires. \"The\nmanner,\" says Captain Samuells, who witnessed the performance,\n\"in which the two men seized the kid with their teeth and killed\nit was a sight which could only be equalled on a feeding day in the\nZoological Gardens or a menagerie.\" [578]\n\n\n\nMen Metamorphosed into Tigers.\n\nThe only visible difference between the ordinary animal and a man\nmetamorphosed into a tiger was explained to Colonel Sleeman to consist\nin the fact that the latter had no tail. In the jungles about Deori\nthere is said to be a root, which if a man eats, he is converted\ninto a tiger on the spot; and if, when in this state, he eats another\nspecies of root, he is turned back into a man again.\n\n\"A melancholy instance of this,\" said Colonel Sleeman's informant,\n\"occurred in my own father's family when I was an infant. His washerman\nRaghu was, like all washermen, a great drunkard. Being seized with a\nviolent desire to ascertain what a man felt like in the state of a\ntiger, he went one day to the jungle and brought back two of these\nroots, and desired his wife to stand by with one of them, and the\ninstant she saw him assume the tiger's shape to thrust the root she\nheld into his mouth. She consented, and the washerman ate his root\nand instantly became a tiger, whereupon she was so terrified that\nshe ran off with the antidote in her hand. Poor old Raghu took to the\nwoods, and there ate a good many of his friends from the neighbouring\nvillages; but he was at last shot, and recognized from his having\nno tail. You may be quite sure when you hear of a tiger having no\ntail that it is some unfortunate man who has eaten of that root,\nand of all the tigers he will be found the most mischievous.\" [579]\n\nThis is a curious reversal of the ordinary theory regarding the tail\nof the tiger, to which a murderous strength is attributed. A Hindu\nproverb says that the hair of a tiger's tail may be the means of\nlosing one's life. This has been compared by Professor De Gubernatis\nwith the tiger Mantikora spoken of by Ktesias, which has on its tail\nhairs which are darts thrown by it for the purpose of defence. [580]\n\nA Nep\u00e2l legend describes how some children made a clay image of a\ntiger, and thinking the figure incomplete without a tongue, went\nto fetch a leaf to supply the defect. On their return they found\nthat Bhairava had entered the image and had begun to devour their\nsheep. The image of B\u00e2gh Bhairava and the deified children are still\nto be seen at this place. We have the same legend in the Panchatantra\nand the tales of Somadeva, where four Br\u00e2hmans resuscitate a tiger\nand are devoured by it. [581]\n\nWe have many instances in the folk-tales of the tiger befooled. In\none of the tales told by the M\u00e2njhis of Mirzapur the goat has kids\nin the tiger's den, and when he arrives she makes her kids squall\nand pretends that she wants some tiger's flesh for them. [582] In a\nPanj\u00e2bi tale the farmer's wife rides up to the tiger calling out,\n\"I hope I may find a tiger in this field, for I have not tasted\ntiger's flesh since the day before yesterday, when I killed three,\"\nwhereupon the tiger runs away. The tale which tells how the jackal\nsucceeds in getting the tiger back into the cage and thus saves the\nBr\u00e2hman is common in Indian folk-lore. [583]\n\n\n\nDog-worship.\n\nIn the Nep\u00e2l legend which we have been discussing we find Bhairava\nassociated with the tiger, but his prototype, the local godling\nBhairon, has the dog as his sacred animal, and his is the only temple\nin Benares into which the dog is admitted. [584]\n\nTwo conflicting lines of thought seem to meet in dog-worship. As\nMr. Campbell says, \"There is a good house-guarding dog, and an evil\nscavenging and tomb-haunting dog. Some of the products of the dog\nare so valued in driving off spirits that they seem to be a distinct\nelement in the feeling of respect shown to the dog. Still it seems\nbetter to consider the dog as a man-eater, and to hold that, like\nthe tiger, this was the original reason why the dog was considered\na guardian.\" [585] It is perhaps in this connection that the dog is\nassociated with Yama, the god of death.\n\nAn ancient epithet of the dog is Kritajna, \"he that is mindful\nof favours,\" which is also a title of Siva. The most touching\nepisode of the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata is where Yudhisthira refuses to enter the\nheaven of Indra without his favourite dog, which is really Yama in\ndisguise. These dogs of Yama probably correspond to the Orthros and\nKerberos of the Greeks, and Kerberos has been connected etymologically\nwith Sarvari, which is an epithet of the night, meaning originally\n\"dark\" or \"pale.\" [586] The same idea shows itself in the P\u00e2rsi\nrespect for the dog, which may be traced to the belief of the early\nPersians. The dog's muzzle is placed near the mouth of the dying P\u00e2rsi\nin order that it may receive his parting breath and bear it to the\nwaiting angel, and the destruction of a corpse by dogs is looked on\nwith no feeling of abhorrence. The same idea is found in Buddhism,\nwhere on the early coins \"the figure of a dog in connection with a\nBuddhist St\u00fbpa recalls to mind the use to which the animal was put in\nthe bleak highlands of Asia in the preferential form of sepulchre over\nexposure to birds and wild beasts in the case of deceased monks or\npersons of position in Tibet. Strange and horrible as it may seem to\nus to be devoured by domestic dogs, trained and bred for the purpose,\nit was the most honourable form of burial among Tibetans.\" [587]\n\nThe Kois of Central India hold in great respect the P\u00e2ndava brethren\nArjuna and Bh\u00eema. The wild dogs or Dhol are regarded as the D\u00fbtas\nor messengers of the heroes, and the long black beetles which appear\nin large numbers at the beginning of the hot weather are called the\nP\u00e2ndavas' goats. None of them will on any account interfere with\nthese divine dogs, even when they attack their cattle. [588]\n\n\n\nDog-worship: Bhairon.\n\nIn modern times dog-worship appears specially in connection with the\ncultus of Bhairon, the Br\u00e2hmanical Bhairava, the Bhairoba of Western\nIndia. No Mar\u00e2tha will lift his hand against a dog, and in Bombay\nmany Hindus worship the dog of K\u00e2la Bhairava, though the animal is\nconsidered unclean by them. Khand\u00ea R\u00e2o or Khandoba or Khandoji is\nregarded as an incarnation of Siva and much worshipped by Mar\u00e2thas. He\nis most frequently represented as riding on horseback and attended by a\ndog and accompanied by his wife Malsur\u00e2, another form of P\u00e2rvat\u00ee. His\nname is usually derived from the Khanda or sword which he carries,\nbut Professor Oppert without much probability would connect it with\nthat of the aboriginal Kh\u00e2ndhs who are supposed to have been original\nsettlers in Kh\u00e2ndesh, after whom it was called. [589] In many temples\nof Bhaironn\u00e2th, as at Benares and Hardw\u00e2r, he is depicted on the\nwall in a deep blue colour approaching to black, and behind him\nis the figure of the dog on which he rides. Sweetmeat sellers make\nlittle images of a dog in sugar, which are presented to the deity as\nan offering.\n\nAt Loh\u00e2ru, in the Panj\u00e2b, a common-looking grave is much respected\nby the Hindus. It is said to contain the remains of a dog formerly\npossessed by the chief of the victorious Th\u00e2kurs, which is credited\nwith having done noble service in battle, springing up and seizing\nthe wounded warriors' throats, many of whom it slew. Finally it was\nkilled and buried on the spot with beat of drum, and has since been an\nobject of worship and homage. \"Were it not,\" says General Cunningham,\n\"for the Sagparast of Naishapur, mentioned in Khusru's charming Darvesh\ntales, this example of dog-worship would probably be unique.\" [590]\nThis is, it is hardly necessary to say, a mistake.\n\nThus, close to Bulandshahr, there is a grove with four tombs, which\nare said to be the resting-place of three holy men and their favourite\ndog, which died when the last of the saints departed this life. They\nwere buried together, and their tombs are held in much respect by\nMuhammadans. [591]\n\nIn P\u00fbna, Datt\u00e2treya is guarded by four dogs which are said to stand\nfor the four Vedas, and at Jejuri and N\u00e2gpur children are dedicated\nto the dogs of Khand\u00ea R\u00e2o. The Ghis\u00e2dis, on the seventh day after a\nbirth, go and worship water, and on coming back rub their feet on a\ndog. At Dharw\u00e2r, on the fair day of the Dasahra at Malah\u00e2ri's temple,\nthe V\u00e2ggayya ministrants dress in blue woollen coats and meet with bell\nand skins tied round their middles, the pilgrims barking and howling\nlike dogs. Each V\u00e2ggayya has a wooden bowl into which the pilgrims\nput milk and plantains. Then the V\u00e2ggayyas lay down the bowls, fight\nwith each other like dogs, and putting their mouths into the bowls,\neat the contents. [592] In Nep\u00e2l, there is a festival, known as\nthe Khich\u00e2 P\u00fbj\u00e2, in which worship is done to dogs, and garlands of\nflowers are placed round the neck of every dog in the country. [593]\nAmong the Gonds, if a dog dies or is born, the family has to undergo\npurification. [594]\n\n\n\nDogs in Folk-lore: The Bethgelert Legend.\n\nThe famous tale of Bethgelert, the faithful hound which saves the\nchild of his master from the wolf and is killed by mistake, appears\nall through the folk-tales and was probably derived from India. In the\nIndian version the dog usually belongs to a Banya or to a Banj\u00e2ra,\nwho mortgages him to a merchant. The merchant is robbed and the dog\ndiscovers the stolen goods. In his gratitude the merchant ties round\nthe neck of the dog a scrap of paper, on which he records that the\ndebt has been satisfied. The dog returns to his original master,\nwho upbraids him for deserting his post, and, without looking at the\npaper, kills him, only to be overcome by remorse when he learns the\nhonesty of the faithful beast. This famous tale is told at Haidar\u00e2b\u00e2d,\nLucknow, S\u00eetapur, Mirzapur, and Kashm\u00eer. In its more usual form, as\nin the Panchatantra and the collection of Somadeva, the mungoose takes\nthe place of the dog and kills the cobra on the baby's cradle. [595]\n\nThroughout folk-lore the dog is associated with the spirits of the\ndead, as we have seen to be the case with Sy\u00e2ma, \"the black one,\" and\nSabala or Karvara, the \"spotted ones,\" the attendants of Yama. [596]\nHence the dog is regarded as the guardian of the household, which\nthey protect from evil spirits. According to Aubrey, [597] \"all\nover England a spayed bitch is accounted wholesome in a house; that\nis to say they have a strong belief that it keeps away evil spirits\nfrom haunting of a house.\" As in the Odyssey, the two swift hounds of\nTelemachus bear him company and recognize Athene when she is invisible\nto others, and the dogs of Virgil howl when the goddess approaches,\nso the Muhammadans believe that dogs recognize Azra\u00eel, the angel of\ndeath, and in Northern India it is supposed that dogs have the power\nof seeing spirits, and when they see one they howl. In Shakespeare\nKing Henry says:--\n\n\n    \"The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign;\n    The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;\n    Dogs howled and hideous tempests shook down trees.\"\n\n\nHence in all countries the howling of dogs in the vicinity of a house\nis an omen of approaching misfortune.\n\nThe respect for the dog is well shown in the case of the Bauris of\nBengal, who will on no account kill a dog or touch its body, and the\nwater of a tank in which a dog has been drowned cannot be used until\nan entire rainy season has washed the impurity away. They allege\nthat as they kill cows and most other animals, they deem it right\nto fix on some beast which should be as sacred to them as the cow to\nthe Br\u00e2hman, and they selected the dog because it was a useful animal\nwhen alive and not very nice to eat when dead, \"a neat reconciliation\nof the twinges of conscience and cravings of appetite.\" [598]\n\nVarious omens are in the Panj\u00e2b drawn from dogs. When out hunting,\nif they lie on their backs and roll, as they generally do when they\nfind a tuft of grass or soft ground, it shows that plenty of game\nwill be found. If a dog lies quietly on his back in the house, it\nis a bad omen, for the superstition runs that the dog is addressing\nheaven for support, and that some calamity is bound to happen. [599]\n\nWe have seen already that some of the Central Indian tribes respect the\nwild dog. The same is the case in the Hills, where they are known as\n\"God's hounds,\" and no native sportsman will kill them. [600] In one\nof Grimm's tales we read that the \"Lord God had created all animals,\nand had chosen out the wolf to be his dog,\" and the dogs of Odin were\nwolves. [601] Another sacred dog in Indian folk-lore is that of the\nhunter Shambuka. His master threw him into the sacred pool of Uradh\nin the Him\u00e2laya. Coming out dripping, he shook some of the water\non his owner, and such was the virtue of even this partial ablution\nthat on their death both hunter and dog were summoned to the heaven\nof Siva. [602]\n\nAll over Northern India the belief in the curative power of the tongue\nof the dog widely prevails. In Ireland they say that a dried tongue\nof a fox will draw out thorns, however deep they be, and an old late\nLatin verse says:--\n\n\n    In cane bis bina sunt, et lingua medicina\n    Naris odoratus, amor intiger, atque latratus. [603]\n\n\nAmong Musalm\u00e2ns the dog is impure. The vessel it drinks from must be\nwashed seven times and scrubbed with earth. The Qur\u00e2n directs that\nbefore a dog is slipped in chase of game, the sportsman should call\nout, \"In the name of God, the great God!\" Then all game seized by\nhim becomes lawful food.\n\n\n\nThe Goat.\n\nThe goat is another animal to which mystic powers are attributed. In\nthe mythology of the West he is associated with Dionysos, Pan, and\nthe Satyr. In England it is commonly believed that he is never seen\nfor twenty-four hours together, and that once in this space he pays\na visit to the Devil to have his beard combed. [604] The Devil, they\nsay, sometimes appears in this form, which accounts for his horns\nand tail. The wild goat was associated with the worship of Artemis,\nthe Arab unmarried goddess. [605] In the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana, Agamukh\u00ee, or\n\"goat's face,\" is the witch who wishes S\u00eet\u00e2 to be torn to pieces.\n\nMr. Conway asks whether this idea about the goat is due to the smell\nof the animal, its butting and injury to plants, or was it demonized\nmerely because of its uncanny and shaggy appearance? [606] Probably\nthe chief reason is because it has a curious habit of occasionally\nshivering, which is regarded as caused by some indwelling spirit. The\nThags in their sacrifice used to select two goats, black, and perfect\nin all their parts. They were bathed and made to face the west, and if\nthey shook themselves and threw the water off their hair, they were\nregarded as a sacrifice acceptable to Dev\u00ee. Hence in India a goat\nis led along a disputed boundary, and the place where it shivers is\nregarded as the proper line. Plutarch says that the Greeks would not\nsacrifice a goat if it did not shiver when water was thrown over it.\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b it is believed that when a goat kills a snake it eats it\nand then ruminates, after which it spits out a Manka or bead, which,\nwhen applied to a snake-bite, absorbs the poison and swells. If it be\nthen put in milk and squeezed, the poison drips out of it like blood,\nand the patient is cured. If it is not put in milk, it will burst to\npieces. [607] It hence resembles the Ovum Anguinum, or Druid's Egg,\nto which reference has been already made. [608] If a person suffers\nfrom spleen, they take the spleen of a he-goat, if the patient be a\nmale; or of a she-goat, if the patient be a female. It is rubbed on\nthe region of the spleen seven times on a Sunday or Tuesday, pierced\nwith acacia thorns and hung on a tree. As the goat's spleen dries,\nthe spleen of the patient reduces.\n\nThe horn is regarded as somehow most closely connected with the\nbrain. So, in the \"Merry Wives of Windsor,\" Mrs. Quickly says:\n\"If he had found the young man, he would have been horn mad,\" and\nHorace gives the advice, \"Fenum habet in cornu longe fuge.\" Martial\ndescribes how in his time the Roman shrines were covered with horns,\nDissimulatque deum cornibus ora frequens. [609]\n\nIt is for this reason that the local shrines in the Him\u00e2laya are\ndecorated with horns of the wild sheep, ibex, and goat. In Persia many\nhouses are adorned with rams' heads fixed to the corners near the roof,\nwhich are to protect the building from misfortune. In Bilochist\u00e2n and\nAfghanist\u00e2n it is customary to place the horns of the wild goat and\nsheep on the walls of forts and mosques. [610] Akbar covered his Kos\nMinars or mile-stones with the horns of the deer he had killed. The\nconical support of the Banj\u00e2ra woman's head-dress was originally\na horn, and many classes of Faq\u00eers tie a piece of horn round their\nnecks. We have the well-known horn of plenty, and it is very common\nin the folk-tales to find objects taken out of the ears or horns of\nthe helpful animals. [611]\n\n\n\nGoat and Totemism.\n\nWe perhaps get a glimpse of totemism in connection with the goat in\nsome of the early Hindu legends. When Parusha, the primeval man,\nwas divided into his male and female parts, he produced all the\nanimals, and the goat was first formed out of his mouth. There is,\nagain, a mystical connection between Agni, the fire god, Br\u00e2hmans,\nand goats, as between Indra, the Kshatriyas, and sheep, Vaisyas and\nkine, S\u00fbdras and the horse. These may possibly have been tribal totems\nof the races by whom these animals were venerated. [612] The sheep,\nas we have already seen, is a totem of the Keriyas. The Aheriyas,\na vagrant tribe of the North-Western Provinces, worship Mekhasura or\nMeshasura in the form of a ram.\n\n\n\nCow and Bull Worship.\n\nBut the most famous of these animal totems or fetishes is the cow or\nbull. According to the school of comparative mythology the bull which\nbore away Europe from Kadmos is the same from which the dawn flies\nin the Vedic hymn. He, according to this theory, is \"the bull Indra,\nwhich, like the sun, traverses the heaven, bearing the dawn from\neast to west. But the Cretan bull, like his fellow in the Gnossian\nlabyrinth, who devours the tribute children from the city of the Dawn\ngoddess, is a dark and malignant monster, akin to the throttling snake\nwho represents the powers of night and darkness.\" [613] This may be\nso, but the identification of primitive religion, in all its varied\nphases, with the sun or other physical phenomena is open to the obvious\nobjection that it limits the ideas of the early Aryans to the weather\nand their dairies, and antedates the regard for the cow to a period\nwhen the animal was held in much less reverence than it is at present.\n\n\n\nRespect for the Cow Modern.\n\nThat the respect for the cow is of comparatively modern date is best\nestablished on the authority of a writer, himself a Hindu. \"Animal\nfood was in use in the Epic period, and the cow and bull were often\nlaid under requisition. In the Aitareya Br\u00e2hmana, we learn that an\nox, or a cow which suffers miscarriage, is killed when a king or\nhonoured guest is received. In the Br\u00e2hmana of the Black Yajur Veda\nthe kind and character of the cattle which should be slaughtered in\nminor sacrifices for the gratification of particular divinities are\nlaid down in detail. Thus a dwarf one is to be sacrificed to Vishnu,\na drooping-horned bull to Indra, a thick-legged cow to V\u00e2yu, a barren\ncow to Vishnu and Varuna, a black cow to P\u00fbshan, a cow having two\ncolours to Mitra and Varuna, a red cow to Indra, and so on. In a larger\nand more important ceremonial, like the Aswamedha, no less than one\nhundred and eighty domestic animals, including horses, bulls, goats,\nsheep, deer, etc., were sacrificed.\n\n\"The same Br\u00e2hmana lays down instructions for carving, and the\nGopatha Br\u00e2hmana tells us who received the portions. The priests\ngot the tongue, the neck, the shoulder, the rump, the legs, etc.,\nwhile the master of the house wisely appropriated to himself the\nsirloin, and his wife had to be satisfied with the pelvis. Plentiful\nlibations of Soma beer were to be allowed to wash down the meat. In\nthe Satapatha Br\u00e2hmana we have a detailed account of the slaughter\nof a barren cow and its cooking. In the same Br\u00e2hmana there is an\namusing discussion as to the propriety of eating the meat of an ox\nor cow. The conclusion is not very definite. 'Let him (the priest)\nnot eat the flesh of the cow and the ox.' Nevertheless Yajnavalkya\nsaid (taking apparently a very practical view of the matter), 'I,\nfor one, eat it, provided it is tender.'\" [614]\n\nThe evidence that cows were freely slaughtered in ancient times could\nbe largely extended. It is laid down in the early laws that the meat\nof milch cows and oxen may be eaten, and a guest is called a Goghna or\n\"cow-killer,\" because a cow was killed for his entertainment. [615]\nIn the Grihya S\u00fbtra we have a description of the sacrifice of an ox to\nKshetrapati, \"the lord of the fields.\" In another ancient ritual the\nsacrifice of a cow is stated to be very similar to that of the Sat\u00ee,\nand, according to an early legend, kine were created from Parusha,\nthe primal male, and are to be eaten as they were formed from the\nreceptacle of food. [616]\n\nIt need hardly be said that the worship of the cow is not peculiar\nto India, but prevails widely in various parts of the world. [617]\n\n\n\nOrigin of Cow-worship.\n\nThe explanation of the origin of cow-worship has been a subject of\nmuch controversy. The modern Hindu, if he has formed any distinct\nideas at all on the subject, bases his respect for the cow on her\nvalue for supplying milk, and for general agricultural purposes. The\nPanchag\u00e2vya, or five products of the cow--milk, curds, butter, urine,\nand dung--are efficacious as scarers of demons, are used as remedies in\ndisease, and play a very important part in domestic ritual Gaurochana,\na bright yellow pigment prepared from the urine or bile of the cow,\nor, as is said by some, vomited by her or found in her head, is\nused for making the sectarial mark, and as a sedative, tonic, and\nanthelmintic. In Bombay it is specially used as a remedy for measles,\nwhich is considered to be a spirit disease. [618]\n\nThere is, again, something to be said for the theory which finds in\nthese animals tribal totems and fetishes. [619] We have a parallel\ncase among the Jews, where the bull was probably the ancient symbol of\nthe Hyksos, which the Israelites having succeeded them could adopt,\nespecially as it may have been retained in use by their confederates\nthe Midianites; and it appears in the earliest annals of Israel as\na token of the former supremacy of Joseph and his tribe, and was\nsubsequently adopted as an image of Iahveh himself.\n\nSo, speaking of Egypt, Mr. Frazer writes: \"Osiris was regularly\nidentified with the bull Apis of Memphis and the bull Mnevis of\nHeliopolis. But it is hard to say whether these bulls were embodiments\nof him as the corn spirit, as the red oxen appear to have been, or\nwhether they were not entirely distinct deities which got fused with\nOsiris by syncretism. The fact that these two bulls were worshipped\nby all the Egyptians, seems to put them on a different footing from\nthe ordinary sacred animals, whose cults were purely local. Hence,\nif the latter were evolved from totems, as they probably were, some\nother origin would have to be found for the worship of Apis and\nMnevis. If these bulls were not originally embodiments of the corn\ngod Osiris, they may possibly be descendants of the sacred cattle\nworshipped by a pastoral people. If this were so, ancient Egypt\nwould exhibit a stratification of the three great types of religion\ncorresponding to the three great stages of society. Totemism or\n(roughly speaking) the worship of wild animals--the religion of\nsociety in the hunting stage--would be represented by the worship\nof the local sacred animals; the worship of cattle--the religion of\nsociety in the pastoral stage--would be represented by the cults of\nApis and Mnevis; and the worship of cultivated plants, especially\nof corn--the religion of society in the agricultural stage--would be\nrepresented by the worship of Osiris and Isis. The Egyptian reverence\nfor cows, which were never killed, might belong either to the second\nor third of these stages.\" [620]\n\nThere is some evidence that the same process of religious development\nmay have taken place in India. It is at least significant that the\nearlier legends represent Indra as created from a cow; and we know that\nIndra was the Kuladevat\u00e2 or family godling of the race of the Kusikas,\nas Krishna was probably the clan deity of some powerful confederation\nof R\u00e2jput tribes. Cow-worship is thus closely connected with Indra and\nwith Krishna in his forms as the \"herdman god,\" Govinda or Gop\u00e2la;\nand it is at least plausible to conjecture that the worship of the\ncow may have been due to the absorption of the animal as a tribal\ntotem of the two races, who venerated these two divinities.\n\nFurther, the phallic significance of the worship, in its modern form\nat least, and its connection with fertility cannot be altogether\nignored. [621] This is particularly shown in the close connection\nbetween Siva's bull Nandi and the Lingam worship; and there seems\nreason to suspect that the bull is intended to intercept the evil\ninfluences which in the popular belief are continually emitted from\nthe female principle through the Yon\u00ee. As we have already seen, the\ndread of this form of pollution is universal. Hence when the Lingam\nis set up in a new village the people are careful in turning the spout\nof the Yon\u00ee towards the jungle, and not in the direction of the roads\nand houses, lest its evil influence should be communicated to them; and\nin order still further to secure this object, the bull Nandi is placed\nsitting as a guardian between the Yon\u00ee and the inhabited site. [622]\n\nCow-worship assumes another form in connection with the theory of\ntransmigration. It has become part of the theory that the soul migrates\ninto the cow immediately preceding its assumption of the human form,\nand she escorts the soul across the dreaded river Vaitaran\u00ee, which\nbounds the lower world.\n\n\n\nCow-worship: Its Later Development.\n\nThough cow-worship was little known in the Vedic period, by the time\nof the compilation of the Institutes of Manu it had become part of the\npopular belief. He classes the slaughter of a cow or bull among the\ndeadly sins; \"the preserver of a cow or a Br\u00e2hman atones for the crime\nof killing a priest;\" [623] and we find constant references in the\nmedi\u00e6val folk-lore to the impiety of the Savaras and other Dr\u00e2vidian\nraces who killed and ate the sacred animal. Saktideva one day,\n\"as he was standing on the roof of his palace, saw a Chand\u00e2la coming\nalong with a load of cow's flesh, and said to his beloved Vindumat\u00ee:\n'Look, slender one! How can the evil-doer eat the flesh of cows, that\nare the object of veneration to the three worlds?' Then Vindumat\u00ee,\nhearing that, said to her husband: 'The wickedness of this act is\ninconceivable; what can we say in palliation of it? I have been born\nin this race of fishermen for a very small offence owing to the might\nof cows. But what can atone for this man's sin?'\" [624]\n\n\n\nRe-birth through the Cow.\n\nWhen the horoscope forebodes some crime or special calamity, the\nchild is clothed in scarlet, a colour which repels evil influences,\nand tied on the back of a new sieve, which, as we have seen, is a\npowerful fetish. This is passed through the hindlegs of a cow, forward\nthrough the forelegs towards the mouth, and again in the reverse\ndirection, signifying the new birth from the sacred animal. The usual\nworship and aspersion take place, and the father smells his child,\nas the cow smells her calf. This rite is known as the Hiranyagarbha,\nand not long since the Mah\u00e2r\u00e2ja of Travancore was passed in this way\nthrough a cow of gold. [625]\n\nThe same idea is illustrated in the legend of the Pushkar Lake, which\nprobably represents a case of that fusion of races which undoubtedly\noccurred in ancient times. The story runs that Brahma proposed to\ndo worship there, but was perplexed where he should perform the\nsacrifice, as he had no temple on earth like the other gods. So he\ncollected all the other gods, but the sacrifice could not proceed as\nSavitr\u00ee alone was absent; and she refused to come without Lakshm\u00ee,\nP\u00e2rvat\u00ee, and Indr\u00e2n\u00ee. On hearing of her refusal, Brahma was wroth,\nand said to Indra: \"Search me out a girl that I may marry her and\ncommence the sacrifice, for the jar of ambrosia weighs heavy on my\nhead.\" Accordingly Indra went and found none but a G\u00fbjar's daughter,\nwhom he purified, and passing her through the body of a cow,\nbrought her to Brahma, telling him what he had done. Vishnu said:\n\"Br\u00e2hmans and cows are really identical; you have taken her from the\nwomb of a cow, and this may be considered a second birth.\" Siva said:\n\"As she has passed through a cow, she shall be called G\u00e2yatr\u00ee.\" The\nBr\u00e2hmans agreed that the sacrifice might now proceed; and Brahma\nhaving married G\u00e2yatr\u00ee, and having enjoined silence upon her, placed\non her head the jar of ambrosia and the sacrifice was performed. [626]\n\n\n\nRespect Paid to the Cow.\n\nThe respect paid to the cow appears everywhere in folk-lore. We have\nthe cow K\u00e2madhen\u00fb, known also as K\u00e2madugh\u00e2 or K\u00e2maduh, the cow of\nplenty, Saval\u00e2, \"the spotted one,\" and Surabh\u00ee, \"the fragrant one,\"\nwhich grants all desires. Among many of the lower castes the cow-shed\nbecomes the family temple. [627] In the old ritual, the bride, on\nentering her husband's house, was placed on a red bull's hide as a\nsign that she was received into the tribe, and in the Soma sacrifice\nthe stones whence the liquor was produced were laid on the hide of\na bull. When a disputed boundary is under settlement, a cow skin is\nplaced over the head and shoulders of the arbitrator, who is thus\nimbued with the divine influence, and gives a just decision. It is\ncurious that until quite recently there was a custom in the Hebrides of\nsewing up a man in the hide of a bull, and leaving him for the night\non a hill-top, that he might become a spirit medium. [628] The pious\nHindu touches the cow's tail at the moment of dissolution, and by her\naid he is carried across the dread river of death. I have more than\nonce seen a criminal ascend the scaffold with the utmost composure\nwhen he was allowed to grasp a cow's tail before the hangman did\nhis office. The tail of the cow is also used in the marriage ritual,\nand the tail of the wild cow, though nowadays only used by grooms,\nwas once the symbol of power, and waved over the ruler to protect\nhim from evil spirits. Quite recently I found that one of the chief\nBr\u00e2hman priests at the sacred pool of Hardw\u00e2r keeps a wild cow's tail\nto wave over his clients, and scare demons from them when they are\nbathing in the Brahma Kund or sacred pool.\n\nThe Hill legend tells how Siva once manifested himself in his fiery\nform, and Vishnu and Brahma went in various directions to see how\nfar the light extended. On their return Vishnu declared that he had\nbeen unable to find out how far the light prevailed; but Brahma said\nthat he had gone beyond its limits. Vishnu then called on K\u00e2madhen\u00fb,\nthe celestial cow, to bear testimony, and she corroborated Brahma with\nher tongue, but she shook her tail by way of denying the statement. So\nVishnu cursed her that her mouth should be impure, but that her tail\nshould be held holy for ever. [629]\n\n\n\nModern Cow-worship.\n\nThere are numerous instances of modern cow-worship. The J\u00e2ts and\nG\u00fbjars adore her under the title of G\u00e2\u00fb M\u00e2t\u00e2, \"Mother cow.\" The\ncattle are decorated and supplied with special food on the Gopashtam\u00ee\nor Gokulashtam\u00ee festival, which is held in connection with the\nKrishna cultus. In Nep\u00e2l there is a New\u00e2ri festival, known as the\nG\u00e2\u00ea J\u00e2tra, or cow feast, when all persons who have lost relations\nduring the year ought to disguise themselves as cows and dance round\nthe palace of the king. [630] In many of the Central Indian States,\nabout the time of the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee, the Maun Char\u00e2\u00fbn, or silent tending\nof cattle, is performed. The celebrants rise at daybreak, wash and\nbathe, anoint their bodies with oil, and hang garlands of flowers\nround their necks. All this time they remain silent and communicate\ntheir wants by signs. When all is ready they go to the pasture in\nprocession in perfect silence. Each of them holds a peacock's feather\nover his shoulder to scare demons. They remain in silence with the\ncattle for an hour or two, and then return home. This is followed\nby an entertainment of wrestling among the Ah\u00eers or cowherds. When\nnight has come, a gun is fired, and the Mah\u00e2r\u00e2ja breaks his fast and\nspeaks. The rite is said to be in commemoration of Krishna feeding\nthe cows in the pastures of the land of Braj. [631]\n\nDuring an eclipse, the cow, if in calf, is rubbed on the horns and\nbelly with red ochre to repel the evil influence, and prevent the\ncalf being born blemished. Cattle are not worked on the Am\u00e2vas or\nIdes of the month. There are many devices, such as burning tiger's\nflesh, and similar prophylactics, in the cow-house to drive away\nthe demon of disease. So, on New Year's Day the Highlander used to\nfumigate his cattle shed with the smoke of juniper. [632] Cow hair is\nregarded as an amulet against disease and danger, in the same way as\nthe hair of the yak was valued by the people of Central Asia in the\ntime of Marco Polo. [633] An ox with a fleshy excrescence on his eye\nis regarded as sacred, and is known as Nadiya or Nandi, \"the happy\none,\" the title of the bull of Siva. He is not used for agriculture,\nbut given to a Jogi, who covers him with cowry shells, and carries\nhim about on begging excursions. One of the most unpleasant sights at\nthe great bathing fairs, such as those of Pray\u00e2g or Hardw\u00e2r, is the\nmalformed cows and oxen which beggars of this class carry about and\nexhibit. The Gonds kill a cow at a funeral, and hang the tail on the\ngrave as a sign that the ceremonies have been duly performed. [634]\nThe Kurkus sprinkle the blood of a cow on the grave, and believe\nthat if this be not done the spirit of the departed refuses to rest,\nand returns upon earth to haunt the survivors. [635] The Vrishotsarga\npractised by Hindus on the eleventh day after death, when a bull calf\nis branded and let loose in the name of deceased, is apparently an\nattempt to shift on the animal the burden of the sins of the dead man,\nif it be not a survival of an actual sacrifice.\n\n\n\nFeeling against Cow-killing.\n\nOf the unhappy agitation against cow-killing, which has been in recent\nyears such a serious problem to the British Government in Northern\nIndia, nothing further can be said here. To the orthodox Hindu,\nkilling a cow, even accidentally, is a serious matter, and involves\nthe feeding of Br\u00e2hmans and the performance of pilgrimages. In the\nHills a special ritual is prescribed in the event of a plough ox\nbeing killed by accident. [636] The idea that misfortune follows the\nkilling of a cow is common. It used to be said that storms arose on\nthe P\u00eer Panj\u00e2l Pass in Kashm\u00eer if a cow was killed. [637]\n\nGeneral Sleeman gives a case at S\u00e2gar, where an epidemic was attributed\nto the practice of cattle slaughter, and a popular movement arose\nfor its suppression. [638] Sindhia offered Sir John Malcolm in\n1802 an additional cession of territory if he would introduce an\narticle into the Treaty with the British Government prohibiting the\nslaughter of cows within the territory he had been already compelled\nto abandon. The Emperor Akbar ordered that cattle should not be killed\nduring the Pach\u00fbsar, or twelve sacred days observed by the Jainas;\nSir John Malcolm gives a copy of the original Firm\u00e2n. [639] Cow-killing\nis to this day prohibited in orthodox Hindu States, like Nep\u00e2l.\n\n\n\nBull-worship among Banj\u00e2ras.\n\nThere is a good example of bull-worship among the wandering tribe of\nBanj\u00e2ras. \"When sickness occurs, they lead the sick man to the foot\nof the bullock called Hat\u00e2diya; for though they say that they pay\nreverence to images, and that their religion is that of the Sikhs,\nthe object of their worship is this Hat\u00e2diya, a bullock devoted\nto the god B\u00e2laj\u00ee. On this animal no burden is ever laid, but he\nis decorated with streamers of red-dyed silk and tinkling bells,\nwith many brass chains and rings on neck and feet, and strings of\ncowry shells and silken tassels hanging in all directions. He moves\nsteadily at the head of the convoy, and the place he lies down on\nwhen tired, that they make their halting-place for the day. At his\nfeet they make their vows when difficulties overtake them, and in\nillness, whether of themselves or cattle, they trust to his worship\nfor a cure.\" The respect paid by Banj\u00e2ras to cattle seems, however,\nto be diminishing. Once upon a time they would never sell cattle to\na butcher, but nowadays it is an every-day occurrence. [640]\n\n\n\nSuperstitions about Cattle.\n\nInfinite are the superstitions about cattle, their marks, and every\nkind of peculiarity connected with them, and this has been embodied\nin a great mass of rural rhymes and proverbs which are always on the\nlips of the people. Thus, for instance, it is unlucky for a cow to\ncalve in the month of Bh\u00e2don. The remedy is to swim it in a stream,\nsell it to a Muhammadan, or in the last resort give it away to a\nGujar\u00e2ti Br\u00e2hman. Here may be noticed the curious prejudice against\nthe use of a cow's milk, which prevails among some tribes such as\nthe Hos and some of the aboriginal tribes of Bengal. The latter use\na species of wild cattle, the Mithun, for milking purposes, but will\nnot touch the milk of the ordinary cow. [641]\n\n\n\nThe Buffalo.\n\nThe respect paid to the cow does not fully extend to the buffalo. The\nbuffalo is the vehicle of Yama, the god of death. The female buffalo\nis in Western India regarded as the incarnation of Savitr\u00ee, wife of\nBrahma, the Creator. Durg\u00e2 or Bhav\u00e2n\u00ee killed the buffalo-shaped Asura\nMahisa, Mahis\u00e2sura, after whom Mais\u00fbr is called. According to the\nlegend as told in the M\u00e2rkandeya Pur\u00e2na, Dit\u00ee, having lost all her\nsons, the Asuras, in the fight with the gods, turned herself into\na buffalo in order to annihilate them. She underwent such terrible\nausterities to propitiate Brahma, that the whole world was shaken and\nthe saint Suparsva disturbed at his devotions. He cursed Dit\u00ee that her\nson should be in the shape of a buffalo, but Brahma so far mitigated\nthe curse that only his head was to be that of a buffalo. This was\nMahis\u00e2sura, who ill-treated the gods, until they appealed to Vishnu\nand Siva, who jointly produced a lovely representation of a Bhav\u00e2n\u00ee,\nthe Mahis\u00e2surmardan\u00ee, who slew the monster. This Mahis\u00e2sura is supposed\nto be the origin of the godling Mahasoba, worshipped in Western India\nin the form of a rude stone covered with red lead.\n\nAnother of these buffalo demons is Dundubhi, \"he that roars like the\nsound of the kettle-drum,\" who in the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana bursts with his horns\nthe cavern of Bali, son of Indra and king of monkeys. Bali seized him\nby the horns and dashed him to pieces. The comparative mythologists\nregard him as one of the forms of the cloud monster the sun. [642]\n\nSadasiva, one of the forms of Mah\u00e2deva, took the form of a buffalo to\nescape the P\u00e2ndavas, and sank into the ground at Ked\u00e2rn\u00e2th. The upper\nportion of his body is said to have come to the surface at Mukh\u00e2r\nBind in Nep\u00e2l, where he is worshipped as Pasupatin\u00e2tha. When the\nP\u00e2ndavas were freed from their guilt, they in their gratitude built\nfive temples in honour of the hinder parts of the deity, which are\nnow known as the P\u00e2nch Ked\u00e2r-Kedarn\u00e2th, Madhya Maheswar, Rudran\u00e2th,\nTungun\u00e2th, and Kalpeswar.\n\nThe buffalo is constantly sacrificed at shrines in honour of Durg\u00e2\nDev\u00ee. The Toda worship of the buffalo is familiar to all students of\nIndian ethnology.\n\n\n\nThe Antelope.\n\nThe black buck was in all probability the tribal totem of some of the\nraces occupying the country anciently known as \u00c2ry\u00e2varta. Mr. Campbell\naccounts for the respect paid to the animal by the use of hartshorn as\na remedy for faintness, swoons, and nervous disorders. [643] But this\nhardly explains the respect paid to it, and the use of its dung by the\nBengal Parhaiyas instead of cowdung to smear their floors looks as\nif it were based on totemism. [644] This too is shown by the regard\npaid its skin. As Mr. Frazer has proved, it is a custom among many\nsavage tribes to retain the skin as an image of the deity which the\nanimal represented. [645] Hence according to the old ritual, the skin\nof the antelope was the prescribed dress of the student of theology,\nand it is still the seat of the ascetic. [646]\n\nThe antelope constantly appears in the folk-tales as a sort of Deus\nex machin\u00e2, which leads the hero astray in the chase and brings\nhim to the home of the ogress or the ensorcelled maiden. [647]\nIn the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, the King Par\u00eekshit is led astray by a gazelle,\nand King P\u00e2ndu dies when he meets his wife Madr\u00ee, because he had\nonce killed under similar circumstances a gazelle with his mate. In\nthe Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, Bharata loses the fruits of his austerities by\nbecoming enamoured of a fawn. These fairy hinds appear throughout\nthe whole range of folk-lore. A Nep\u00e2lese legend tells how the three\ngods Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma once appeared in the form of deer,\nwhence the place where they were seen is known as Mrigasthali. [648]\n\n\n\nThe Elephant.\n\nThe elephant naturally claims worship as the type of strength and\nwisdom. To the rustic he impersonates Ganesa, the god of wisdom, the\nremover of obstacles, who is propitiated at the commencement of any\nimportant enterprise, such as marriage and the like. Many legends are\ntold to account for his elephant head. One tells how his mother P\u00e2rvat\u00ee\nwas so proud of her baby that she asked Sani to look at him, forgetting\nthe baneful effects of the look of the ill-omened deity. When he looked\nat the child its head was burned to ashes, and Brahma, to console her,\ntold her to fix on the first head she could find, which happened to\nbe that of the elephant. By another account she put Ganesa to guard\nthe door while she was bathing, and when he refused to allow Siva to\nenter, the angry god cut off his head, which was afterwards replaced\nby that of the elephant. Again, one of his tusks was broken off by\nParasur\u00e2ma with the axe which Siva, father of Ganesa, had given him.\n\nAgain, there are the Lokap\u00e2las, the eight supporters of the\nworld. These eight pairs of elephants support the earth. Indra with\nAir\u00e2vata and Abhramu support the east; Agni with Pundar\u00eeka and Kapil\u00e2\nthe south-east; Yama with V\u00e2mana and Pingal\u00e2 the south; S\u00fbrya with\nKumuda and Anupam\u00e2 the south-west; Varuna with Anjana and Anjanavat\u00ee\nthe west; V\u00e2yu with Pushpadanta and Subhadant\u00ee the north-west;\nKuvera on the north with Sarvabhauma, and Soma on the north-east with\nSuprat\u00eeka. As usual, there are differences in the enumeration.\n\nFrom these all the modern elephants are descended. As Abul Fazl writes:\n\"When occasion arises people read incantations in their names and\naddress them in worship. They also think that every elephant in the\nworld is offspring of one of them. Thus, elephants of a white skin and\nwhite hairs are related to the first, and elephants with a large head\nand long ears, of a fierce and bold temper, and eyelids far apart,\nbelong to the second. Such as are good-looking, black, and high in\nthe back, are the offspring of the third. If tall, ungovernable,\nquick in understanding, short-haired, and with red and black eyes,\nthey come from the fourth. If bright black, with one tusk longer than\nthe other, with a white breast and belly, and long and thick forefeet,\nfrom the fifth. If fearful, with prominent veins, a short hump and\nears, and a long trunk, from the sixth. If thin-bellied, red-eyed,\nand with a long trunk, from the seventh. And if of a combination of\nthe preceding seven qualities, from the eighth.\" [649]\n\nThrough India the reverence for the white elephant of Burma and Siam\nhas arisen. The figure of the elephant appears on some of the pillars\nof Asoka. There is an elephant gate at Fatehpur S\u00eekri, one of the\nKing Huvishka at Mathura, and another connected with the dynasty\nof Kanauj at Dabh\u00e2on in the Azamgarh District. Delhi contains the\nremarkable elephant statues, believed by General Cunningham to have\nbeen erected in honour of Jaymal and Patta, the two R\u00e2jput heroes\nwho defended the Fort of Chithor against Akbar. [650]\n\nThe elephant constantly occurs in folk-lore. In the projection of\nits forehead it possesses a pearl, known as the Kunjara Mani, or Gaja\nMukta, which is invested with magical qualities. In the folk-tales the\nwooden horse of Troy is represented by an artificial elephant filled\nwith soldiers; other elephants have the power of flying through\nthe air; in other stories, as in one of La Fontaine's fables, an\nelephant selects a king by raising him up with his trunk; the elephant\nKuvalyap\u00eeda is the guardian of a kingdom, and touching an elephant\nis one of the tests of a woman's chastity. We have also numerous\ninstances of the metamorphosis of human beings into elephants. [651]\n\nThe hair of the elephant's tail is in high repute as an amulet, and\nlittle village children, when an elephant passes, pat the dust where\nhis feet have rested and sing a song, of which one version is--\n\n\n    H\u00e2thi h\u00e2thi, b\u00e2r d\u00e9\n    Sone k\u00ee tarw\u00e2r d\u00e9--\n\n\n\"Give us a hair, elephant, like a sword of gold.\"\n\nIn Europe, it may be noted, the hair from the tail of a horse is\ncommonly regarded as a cure for wens. [652]\n\nIn the Fatehpur District there is an elephant turned into stone. The\nfamous Jaychand of Kanauj, it is said, as in the Carthage legend,\noffered to Par\u00e2sara Rishi as many villages as an elephant could walk\nround. It traversed an enormous extent of country, and finally halted\nat Ir\u00e2datnagar, where it was turned into stone, and once a year an\nenormous fair is held in its honour. [653]\n\n\n\nThe Cat.\n\nThe cat is everywhere invested with demoniac qualities, and is the\ncompanion of the witch. In \"Macbeth\" the first witch says, \"Thrice\nthe brinded cat has mewed.\" Among Muhammadans the cat is a pure\nanimal, and to kill a cat is very unlucky, and brings on trouble and\nsickness. So, among Hindus, the killing of a cat can be expiated only\nby the performance of the rite known as the Prajapati Yajna, which\nsecures the birth of male issue. They say that Mah\u00e2deva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee\nwere one day playing dice, and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee called in Ganesa in his form\nas a rat to upset the dice with his tail and cause her to make a good\nthrow. Mah\u00e2deva was wroth, and called in a demon like a cat, but he\nwas afraid to kill Ganesa. Then Mah\u00e2deva cursed any one in after days\nwho should kill a cat. We have the same tale in the Ras\u00e2lu cycle,\nwhere the rat of Dhol R\u00e2ja changes the course of the game between\nhim and R\u00e2ja Sarkap. The cat is respected because she is the vehicle\nof Shashth\u00ee, the protectress of children, and part of the orthodox\nHindu rite at dinner is giving food to the cat. Among the Or\u00e2ons,\nas we have seen, the birth fiend Chordeva comes in the form of a cat.\n\n\n\nThe Rat and Mouse.\n\nThe rat is sacred as the vehicle of Ganesa. In Bombay, \"to call\na rat a rat is considered by lower classes of Hindus as unlucky,\nand so they call him Undir M\u00e2ma, or 'the rat uncle.' He is so called\nbecause he is probably supposed to be the spirit of an uncle. It is\nconsidered a great sin to kill a rat, and so, when rats give trouble\nin a house, the women of the house make a vow to them that, if they\ncease troubling, sweet balls will be given to them on a certain day,\nand it is believed by the Hindus that when such a vow has been made,\nthe rats cease troubling them for some time.\" [654] In parts of England\nit is believed that a field mouse creeping over the back of a sheep\ngives it paralysis, and that this can be cured only by shutting up a\nmouse in a hollow of the trunk of the witch elm or witch hazel tree\nand leaving it to die of famine. [655]\n\nThe curiously deformed idiot boys which are collected at the shrine\nof Sh\u00e2h Daula at Gujar\u00e2t are known from their wizened appearance as\nthe rats of Sh\u00e2h Daula. [656]\n\n\n\nThe Squirrel.\n\nThe little Indian squirrel is called in the Panj\u00e2b R\u00e2ma Chandra K\u00e2\nBhagat, or the saint of R\u00e2ma Chandra, because when he was building\nthe bridge across the strait to Lanka, the squirrel helped by shaking\ndust from his tail, and the god stroked it on the back, hence the\ndark marks which it bears to the present day. Many of the Dr\u00e2vidian\ntribes claim descent from the squirrel.\n\n\n\nThe Bear.\n\nThe bear is regarded as a scarer of disease, and sickly children are\ntaken for a ride on the back of a tame bear or one of his hairs is worn\nround the neck as an amulet. It was J\u00e2mbavat, the king of the bears,\nwho carried off the celebrated amulet, Syamantaka. He was pursued\nby Krishna, to whom he surrendered the gem and gave him his daughter\nJ\u00e2mbavat\u00ee to wife. He afterwards with his army of bears assisted R\u00e2ma\nin his invasion of Lanka.\n\n\n\nThe Jackal.\n\nThe jackal is an important character in the folk-tales, where he\nassumes the part taken in Europe by the fox. Many are the tales told\nof his acuteness. The pack is supposed to howl only at each watch\nof the night, and the leader says, Main Dilli k\u00e2 B\u00e2dsh\u00e2h h\u00fbn--\"I am\nKing of Delhi\" thrice, and his companions say, Ho! ho! ho!--\"Yes! of\ncourse you are.\"\n\n\n\nThe Hare.\n\nOf the hare in the moon we have spoken already, and also referred\nto the animal in connection with omens. In Cornwall, when a girl has\nloved not wisely but too well, she haunts her deceiver in the shape\nof a white hare. [657]\n\n\n\nBirds: The Crow.\n\nPassing on to birds, the crow is a famous totem or sacred bird. [658]\nIt personifies in Indian tradition the soul of the dead man; hence,\nto give food to the crows, known in Northern India as K\u00e2gaur, is\nequivalent to offering food to the Manes. R\u00e2ma in the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana orders\nS\u00eet\u00e2 to make this offering, and Yama, in reward for its services,\nconceded to it the right of eating the funeral meats, for which\nreason the souls of the dead, when this food is given to the crows,\nare enabled to pass into a better world. Hence the bird is known as\nBalipushta or \"nourished by offerings,\" and Balibhuj or \"devourer of\noblations.\" [659]\n\nIn the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, the son of Drona, one of the few survivors of the\nKauravas, sees an owl killing the crows on a sacred fig tree, and this\nsuggests to him the idea of attacking the camp of the P\u00e2ndavas. This\ncontest of the owl and the crow forms the subject of one of the tales\nof Somadeva. [660] The incident of the wicked crow, which bit the\nfoot of S\u00eet\u00e2, is related in the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana. The Bh\u00e2tus of Central India,\na class of migratory athletes, worship N\u00e2r\u00e2yana and the bamboo, with\nwhich all their feats are performed. When they bury their dead they\nplace rice and oil at the head of the grave, and stand near to worship\nwhatever animal comes to eat the offerings. They draw the happiest\nomen of the state of the departed from crows visiting the spot. [661]\n\nIn the Garuda Pur\u00e2na a tale is told of a wicked hunter who was\nkilled by a tiger in the depths of the forest, and his ghost became a\ntroublesome Bh\u00fbt, until one day a crow carried off one of the bones\nand dropped it into the Ganges, when the sinner was at once carried\nin a heavenly chariot to the mansions of the blessed. This legend is\nlocalized in the Hills and tells how Karma Sarma was killed by a tiger\nin the forest. A crow took up one of his bones and carried it to the\nshrine at Tungkshetra, and such is the virtue of the soil there that\nthe hunter was at once carried off to the heaven of Indra. [662]\n\nBhusundi is the legendary crow of the battlefield, who drinks the blood\nof the slain. He had more blood than he could drink in the wars of the\ntwo Asuras, Sumbha and Nisumbha, who contended with the gods. He just\nquenched his thirst in the wars of R\u00e2ma, but broke his beak against\nthe hard, dry ground, which had soaked in the small amount of blood\nshed by the comparatively degenerate heroes of the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata. He\nnow croaks over the armies as they go out to war, and looks for some\nArmageddon, when his thirst will at last be satisfied.\n\nManifold are the ideas about crows and omens taken from their\nappearance and cawing. Some people think a crow has only one eye, which\nhe shifts from one cavity to the other as he finds it convenient. In\nthe Panj\u00e2b, if a crow picks up a woman's handkerchief and then drops\nit, she will not use it, but gives it to a beggar. [663] The brains\nof a crow are a specific against old age, but the cawing of a crow\nis ominous at the beginning of a journey. If a crow hops and caws\non the roof a guest may be expected. Musalm\u00e2ns have both fear and\nrespect for the crow, because it was he showed Cain how to bury Abel.\n\n\n\nThe Hand of Glory.\n\nIt is a common belief in Europe that the Hand of Glory, or the\ndried-up hand of a criminal who has been executed, is a powerful\ncharm for thieves. In Ireland, \"if a candle is placed in a dead hand,\nneither wind nor water can extinguish it, and if carried into a house,\nthe inmates will sleep the sleep of the dead as long as it remains\nunder the roof, and no power on earth can wake them as long as the\ndead hand holds the candle.\" The hand of a dead man is also used\nto stir the milk when butter will not form. [664] So, in Northern\nIndia, thieves have a superstition that the ashes of a corpse will,\nif sprinkled by the door of a house, prevent the inmates from awaking\nduring the commission of a burglary. The Hand of Glory, according to\nSir G. Cox, is \"the light flashing from the dim and dusky storm-cloud,\"\n[665] but this can hardly, with the utmost ingenuity, be invoked\nto explain the similar usage of Indian burglars, who carry about\nwith them the stick out of a crow's nest, the Gad k\u00ee Lakr\u00ee, which\nopens locks and holds the household spell-bound. The Indian thief,\nlike his English brother, by the way, often carries about a piece of\ncharcoal as a charm in his operations.\n\n\n\nThe Fowl.\n\nAmong some of the Indian races the value set on the fowl may possibly,\nas Mr. Campbell suggests, depend on the feeling that the spirits of\nthe dead wandering near their ancient homes find an asylum in the\ndomestic fowls. [666] At any rate, as a sacrifice, the black fowl\nis very generally preferred. This is so among the Dr\u00e2vidian races of\nCentral India. In Ireland the first egg laid by a little black hen,\neaten the very first thing in the morning, will keep you from fever\nfor the year. [667] In Germany it was held that to find treasure,\nthat is to say, to scare the fiends which guard and hide it, one\nshould use a black he-goat and a black fowl. [668]\n\nOne of the Italian charms directs, \"To bewitch one till he die, take\na black hen and pluck from it every feather; and this done, keep them\nall carefully, so that not one be lost. With these you may do any harm\nto grown-up people or children.\" [669] Another possible reason for the\nrespect paid to the fowl is that the corn spirit is often killed in\nthe form of a cock to promote the periodical vegetation of the crops.\n\n\n\nThe Dove and Pigeon.\n\nThe dove is held in much respect by Musalm\u00e2ns. \"Among the Northern\nSemites the dove is sacred to Ashtoreth and has all the marks of a\ntotem, for the Syrians would not eat it. It was not merely a symbol,\nbut received divine honour. In Arabia we find a dove idol in the\nQaaba, and sacred doves surround it.\" [670] So, the Kheshgi Path\u00e2ns\nof Qas\u00fbr in the Panj\u00e2b will not kill pigeons; they are similarly\nprotected by Hindus at Bharatpur, and among Muhammadans they rank\nas the Sayyid among birds. In Northern India a house with pigeons\nis supposed to be safe from ghosts. The dove is believed to utter\na peculiar note four times in succession, in which she bewails her\nneglected lover. She says,--\n\n\n    Pis\u00fbn thi, k\u00e2t\u00fbn thi:\n    Ay\u00e2 th\u00e2, chal\u00e2 gay\u00e2.\n\n\n\"While I was grinding flour and spinning, he came and departed.\" [671]\n\n\n\nThe Goose or Swan.\n\nThe goose or swan is possibly an illustration of what may be a\ntribal totem. It is said in the Bh\u00e2gavata Pur\u00e2na that at one time\nthere existed one Veda, one god Agni, and one caste. This we learn\nfrom the commentator was in the Krita age, and the one caste he\ntells us of was named Hansa or Swan. The Hansas are, again, in the\nVishnu Pur\u00e2na, said to be one of four castes or tribes existing in\na district exterior to India, and finally we learn from the Linga\nPur\u00e2na that Hansa was a name of Brahma himself. It is reasonable to\nsuppose that we have a swan tribe in the Indian Hansas. [672] As an\nargument in favour of the theory that the Hansa was a tribal totem,\nwe find that the Kalhans R\u00e2jputs of Oudh are said to take their name\nfrom the K\u00e2la Hansa or Black Swan; that R\u00e2jputs nowadays will not eat\nit; and that the same respect is shown to a bird of allied type, the\nBr\u00e2hmani Duck, and its mate, the Chakwa, Chakwi of our rivers. They\nwere once two lovers, separated by fate, changed into ducks, and\nall through the night they call sadly to each other across the broad\nstream of the Ganges, which keeps them apart.\n\nTo the Hansa is ascribed the fabulous power of being able to separate\nmilk from water after the two have been mixed together. [673] In\nEngland the goose is supposed to have some uncanny way of predicting\nweather. [674] In Welsh belief the wild goose is a witch, especially\nif first seen on the first Thursday night of the lunar month. [675]\nThe ancient Greeks ascribed to the swan the gift of prophecy and\nsong; the sacred geese of the capital were respected at Rome, and\nthe ancient Germans considered it a prophetic bird. The goose was\na favourite Buddhist emblem, and a flock of them is depicted on the\nLion Pillar at Betiya in Tirh\u00fbt. [676]\n\nIn the story of Nala and Damayant\u00ee, a flock of these birds arranges\nthe interviews between the lovers, and in the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata the Rishis\ntake the form of a swan to convey the divine message. According to\nthe comparative mythologists, it is needless to say, the Hansa is\nthe sun. [677]\n\n\n\nSundry Sacred Birds.\n\nMention has already been made of Garuda, half man, half bird, the\nvehicle of Vishnu. He is the son of one of the daughters of Daksha,\nwhom we have already met with in connection with the moon, and the\nsage Kasyapa. According to the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, he was given leave to\ndevour wicked men, but not to touch a Br\u00e2hman. Once he did devour\na Br\u00e2hman, but the holy man so burnt his throat that he was glad\nto disgorge him. In the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana we meet with Jat\u00e2yu, who is said\nto be a son of Garuda and king of the vultures. He tried to stop\nthe chariot in which R\u00e2vana was abducting S\u00eet\u00e2, and though wounded,\nwas able to carry the news to R\u00e2ma.\n\nA bird known as the Malah\u00e2ri or \"filth destroyer\" is a sort of totem\nof the Kanjar gipsies. If they see it singing on a green branch to\nthe front or right, it is an auspicious omen, and they start at once\non the prowl.\n\nSo with the Khanjar\u00eet, in Sanskrit Khanjan\u00e2kriti, the wagtail, which\nis also known as R\u00e2m Chiraiya or \"the bird of R\u00e2ma.\" It is associated\nwith Vishnu, because the marks on its throat are said to resemble the\nS\u00e2lagr\u00e2ma. It comes from the heaven of R\u00e2ma in the end of the rains,\nand remains till the close of spring, and then bears back to R\u00e2ma a\nreport of the state of the world and the crops. When it first appears\nevery one bows to it. A Sanskrit text lays down that when a person\nfirst sees the bird, if he be standing near a Br\u00e2hman, or near water,\nor sitting on an elephant, or at daybreak, or when the bird is flying\nnear or sitting on a serpent, it is considered propitious. When a\nperson first sees it in the east, it brings him good luck all through\nthe year; when seen in the south-east, it predicts loss by fire;\nto the south-west, fighting; to the west, acquisition of wealth;\nif seen to the north-east, the observer will gain good clothes and\njewels. He who sees it in the north-west will die. The superstitions\nin Europe connected with the magpie and cuckoo are of much the same\nclass. In Ireland it is said, \"Beware of killing the water wagtail,\nfor it has three drops of the Devil's blood in its little body,\nand ill-luck ever goes with it and follows it.\" [678]\n\nThe Ojhiy\u00e2ls or wizards of the Central Provinces sell the skins of a\nspecies of Buceros, called Dhanchirya, which are used to hang up in\nthe house to secure wealth (dhan), whence its name; and thigh bones\nof the same bird are hung round the wrists of children as a charm\nagainst evil spirits. [679]\n\n\n\nThe Hoopoe.\n\nThe legend of the hoopoe is thus told by Arrian: \"To the king of the\nIndians was born a son. The child had elder brothers, who, when they\ncame to man's estate, turned out to be very unjust and the greatest of\nreprobates. They despised their brother because he was the youngest;\nand they scoffed at their father and their mother, whom they despised\nbecause they were old and grey-headed. The boy, accordingly, and his\naged parents could no longer live with these wicked men, and away they\nfled from home, all three together. In the course of the protracted\njourneys which they had then to undergo, the old people succumbed\nto fatigue and died, and the boy showed them no light regard, but\nburied them in himself, having cut off his head with a sword. Then,\nas the Brachmanes (Br\u00e2hman) tell us, the all-seeing sun, in admiration\nof this surprising act of piety, transformed the boy into a bird,\nwhich is most beautiful to behold, and which lives to a very advanced\nage. So on his head there grew up a crest, which was, as it were,\na memorial of what he had done in the time of his flight.\" [680]\n\nSomadeva gives another story of this bird. Rajatadanshtra one day\nsaw his sister Somaprabh\u00e2 playing on a Pinjara, and when she would\nnot give it to him, took the form of a bird and flew away with it\nto heaven. She cursed him that he should become a bird with a golden\ncrest, but promised that when in his bird shape he should fall into\na blind well, \"and a merciful person draws you out, and you do him\na service in return, you shall be released from this curse.\" [681]\n\nThe Muhammadan tradition is that the Hudhud, or hoopoe, had the\npower of finding water which the devils have buried under the earth,\nand she assisted Solomon to find water for ablution, and helped him\nto find Bilq\u00ees, the queen of Sheba. In Sweden the appearance of the\nhoopoe is looked on as an omen of war. [682]\n\n\n\nThe Woodpecker.\n\nSo of the woodpecker, which is said to have been a R\u00e2ja in a former\nbirth, and still to retain his royal crest. In Italian tradition the\nwoodpecker (Picus Martis) is a digger in forests, where he lives alone\nand digs and hews, and knows all hidden secrets and treasures. [683]\nIn India the Titihr\u00ee, or sandpiper, is said to sleep with his legs\nin the air and thus supports the firmament.\n\n\n\nThe Peacock.\n\nThe peacock is, of course, a sacred bird. He is specially venerated\nby the J\u00e2ts, who strongly object to seeing the bird killed near their\nvillages. A bunch of the feathers is waved over the sick to scare\nthe demon of disease. As we have already seen, it is a charm against\nsnake-bite to smoke one of its feathers in a pipe. In Europe the loud\ncalling of the bird presages a death.\n\n\n\nThe Pheasant.\n\nOnce upon a time the Mon\u00e2l pheasant of the Hills and the Kalchuniya\nhad a dispute as to when the sun arose. The Mon\u00e2l woke first and then\nwalked between the legs of the other, who was so injured that he has\nnever been able to do anything but skip ever since.\n\n\n\nThe Kite.\n\nYoung kites do not open their eyes till they are shown a bit of\ngold. The best cure for weak eyes is to apply to them antimony mixed\nwith the yolk of a kite's egg, a good instance of sympathetic magic,\nbecause the kite is the most long-sighted of birds. When sweepers\nsuffer from rheumatic pains, they kill a kite on Tuesday, cut up\nthe bones, and tie them to the affected part, which brings about an\nimmediate cure. [684]\n\n\n\nThe Partridge.\n\nThe partridge and the peacock once contended in dancing, and when the\nturn of the partridge came he borrowed the pretty feet of the peacock,\nwhich he has never returned since. R\u00e2ja Nala, at one period of his\nlife, came under the malignant influence of Sani or Saturn and lost\nall he possessed in the world. At last, as he was starving, he managed\nto catch a black partridge and set about roasting it. But the ill-luck\nof the evil planet asserted itself and the dead bird came to life and\nflew away. The result is the black marks of charring which still remain\nupon its body. Now it cries in the words, Subh\u00e2n ter\u00ee qudrat--\"Great\nis the power of the Almighty,\" because it was saved from the fire.\n\n\n\nThe Parrot.\n\nLast among sacred birds comes the parrot. Of course, according to\nProfessor De Gubernatis and his school, he represents the sun. [685]\nThe bird appears constantly in the folk-tales as gifted with the power\nof speaking and possessed of wisdom. The wife of the sage Kasyapa was,\naccording to the Vishnu Pur\u00e2na, the mother of all the parrots. In the\nfolk-tales we have the parrot who knows the four Vedas who is like\nthe falcon in the Squire's tale of Chaucer. [686] In others he warns\nthe hero of fortune, befriends the heroine, and is the companion of\nR\u00e2ja Ras\u00e2lu. [687] The talking parrot constantly warns the deceived\nhusband. The bird seems to have been a sort of marriage totem among\nthe Dr\u00e2vidian races, for images of it made of the wood of the cotton\ntree or of clay are hung up in the marriage shed among the Kols and\nlower castes in the North-Western Provinces.\n\n\n\nThe Alligator.\n\nThe alligator and crocodile are revered because of their habit of\nkilling human beings. Writing of South Africa, Mr. Macdonald says:\n\"To the Bathlapin the crocodile is sacred, and by all it is revered,\nbut rather under the form of fear than of affection. I have often\nthought that the 'river calling' of South Africa, where there are\nno crocodiles, is the survival of an ancient recollection of the\ntime when the ancestors of the present Kaffirs dwelt on the margins\nof rivers infested by these murderous brutes, and where they often\nsaw their women drawn underneath when going to the river to fetch\nwater.\" [688] The crocodile may thus be the type of many of the\nIndian water demons to whom reference has been already made. Hence,\nit is a general rule among savages to spare crocodiles, or rather\nonly to kill them in obedience to the law of blood feud, that is,\nas a retaliation for the slaughter of men by crocodiles. In India\nit became a favourite form of religious suicide to be devoured by\nthe crocodiles at Gangas\u00e2gar. Makara, a sort of marine monster, half\ncrocodile and half shark, is the vehicle of K\u00e2madeva, the god of love,\nand Gang\u00e2 M\u00e2\u00ee is depicted as riding on an alligator. They are sometimes\nput into tanks and worshipped, and fishermen have a tradition that,\nif duly appeased, they never attack them. [689]\n\n\n\nFish.\n\nFish are in many places regarded as sacred. The salmon of knowledge\nappears in the Celtic folk-lore. [690] The sacred speckled trout are\nfound in many Irish wells, and the same idea prevails in many parts\nof Europe. [691] We find the fish figuring in the Hindu myth of the\nCreation. Manu, while he was bathing, found a fish in the water,\nwhich said, \"I will save thee from the flood which shall destroy\nthe world.\" The fish grew and was about to go to the ocean, when he\ndirected Manu to build a boat. When the deluge came, the fish dragged\nthe boat by his horn to a place of safety. The myth appears in other\nforms, more or less akin to the Hebrew story based on Babylonian\ntradition.\n\nThere are many places in India where fish are protected, such as\nthose at Kota and in the Mah\u00e2nad\u00ee river, the Betwa at Bhilsa, Hardw\u00e2r,\nMathura, Mirzapur, Benares, Nep\u00e2l, and in Afghanist\u00e2n. [692] In the\nS\u00e2raswata pool in the Him\u00e2laya lived the sacred fish called Mrikunda;\nthey are fed on the fourteenth of the light half of each month,\nand oblations are offered for the repose of the Manes of deceased\nrelations. [693] It is a common custom among pious Hindus to feed\nfish at sacred places with a l\u00e2kh or more of little balls of flour\nwrapped up in Bhojpatra or birch bark or paper with the name of R\u00e2ma\nwritten upon it. Their eating the name of the deity ensures their\nsalvation, and thus confers religious merit on the giver. The fish\nis the vehicle of Khw\u00e2ja Khizr, the water god, and hence has become a\nsort of totem of the Shiah Musalm\u00e2ns and the crest of the late royal\nfamily of Oudh. Pictures of fish are constantly drawn on the walls\nof houses as a charm against demoniacal influence.\n\n\n\nThe Fish in Folk-lore.\n\nThe fish constantly appears in the folk-tales. We have in Somadeva\nthe fish that laughed when it was dead; the fish that swallows the\nhero or heroine or a boat. [694] In one of the Kashm\u00eer tales we have\nthe fish swallowing the ring, which is like the tale which Herodotus\ntells of Polycrates. In another we have the Oriental version of the\nstory of Jonah, where the merchant is found by the potter in the\nbelly of the fish. [695] So, Pradyumna, son of Krishna and Rukmin\u00ee,\nwas thrown into the ocean by the demon Sambara, and recovered from\nthe belly of a fish by his wife M\u00e2y\u00e2 Dev\u00ee. In many of the modern\ntales the fish takes the form of the Life Index. The king Bhartari,\nthe brother of the celebrated R\u00e2ja Vikramaditya, who is now a godling\nand spends part of the day at Benares and part at the Chun\u00e2r Fort,\nhad a fish, \"the digestion of which gave him knowledge of all\nthat occurred in the three worlds.\" By a divine curse the nymph\nAdrik\u00e2 was transformed into a fish which lived in the Jumn\u00e2. Here\nshe conceived by the king Uparichara, was caught by a fisherman,\ntaken to the king and opened, when she regained her heavenly form,\nand from her were produced Matsya, the male, and Matsy\u00e2, the female\nfish, the progenitors of the finny race. The fish often plays a part\nin the miraculous conception myths, as in the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata we read\nof a fish which devours the seed, and a girl having eaten it brings\nforth a child. The fish incarnation of Vishnu possibly represents the\nadoption of a fish totem into Br\u00e2hmanism. It is needless to say that\nthe legendary fish has been identified with the sun by the school of\ncomparative mythologists. [696]\n\n\n\nThe Eel.\n\nThe eel is a totem of the Mund\u00e2ri Kols of Bengal and of the Or\u00e2ons,\nneither of whom will eat it. In Northern England an eel skin tied round\nthe leg is a cure for cramp. Eel fat, in the European tales, is used\nas a magic ointment, and gives the power of seeing the fairies. [697]\n\n\n\nThe Tortoise.\n\nThe tortoise, again, is sacred. Vishnu appeared as a tortoise in the\nSatya Yuga or first age to recover some things of value which had been\nlost in the deluge. In the form of a tortoise he placed himself at\nthe bottom of the sea of milk, and made his back the basis on which\nthe gods and demons, using the serpent V\u00e2suki as a rope, churned the\nocean by means of the mount Mandara. The Ganr\u00e2r, a tribe of Bengal\nfishermen, make sacrifices of the river tortoise to the goddess\nKolokum\u00e2r\u00ee, the daughter of the deep; this is the only sacrifice\nshe will accept, and she brings sickness on those who fail to make\nthis offering. [698] The tortoise is a totem of the Mund\u00e2ri Kols,\nand the Kharw\u00e2rs and M\u00e2njhis of Mirzapur worship clay images of it,\nwhich they keep in their house, because on one occasion it conveyed\ntheir first ancestor across a river in flood.\n\nThe Gonds have a similar tradition that the tortoise saved their\nancestor Lingo from the clutches of the alligator. The tortoise is\nalso a helper in one of the German tales. [699] In one of Somadeva's\nstories, the tortoise is sacrificed by a Br\u00e2hman to the Manes of his\nfather. [700]\n\n\n\nThe Frog.\n\nThe frog, again, is invested with mystical powers. The monstrous toad\nof Berkeley Castle is said to be really a seal. [701]\n\nIn English folk-lore it is associated with witches, and wears a\nprecious jewel in its head. Hindus believe that the female frog is the\nspirit of Mandodar\u00ee, the wife of R\u00e2vana. It is a common belief that\nthe fat of the frog forms a magic ointment which enables witches to fly\nthrough the air. [702] According to a Scotch Saga, the middle piece of\na white snake roasted by the fire gives a knowledge of supernatural\nthings to anyone who shall put his finger in the fat which drops\nfrom it. According to one of the Indian legends, Agni, the fire god,\ntook refuge in the water to escape the gods, but the frogs, suffering\nfrom the heat, informed the gods, and the angry deity cursed them that\ntheir speech should henceforth be inarticulate. The frog by his voice\nannounces the coming of rain; hence when rain holds off it is a common\ncharm to pour water over a frog, another instance of sympathetic magic.\n\n\n\nInsects.\n\nEven insects are in some cases regarded with veneration. In Cornwall,\nthe ants are \"the small people\" in their state of decay from off the\nearth; it is deemed most unlucky to destroy a colony of ants. [703]\n\nThe ant-hill is, as we have seen, used as an altar by some of the\nDr\u00e2vidian tribes, and on it they take their oaths. Hence ants are\ncarefully fed on certain days by both Hindus and Jainas, and are\nregarded as in some way connected with the souls of the sainted\ndead. We have in many of the folk-tales the ant as a helper.\n\nSo, in many parts of the Panj\u00e2b, the many-coloured grasshopper, which\nfeeds on the leaves of the Mad\u00e2r or great swallow wort, is called\nR\u00e2mj\u00ee-k\u00ee-g\u00e2\u00ea or \"R\u00e2ma's cow,\" which reminds us of the respect paid\nby English children to the ladybird insect. [704] So, the Greeks and\nRomans called the Cicada Mantis or \"the soothsayer,\" and it is often\ndelineated on their tombs as a charm against evil. Mystic powers of\nthe same kind are attributed to the spider, and to Daddy Longlegs in\nour nurseries.\n\nThe souls of the dead are believed to enter into flies and bees. Hence\nin parts of Great Britain news of a death in a family is whispered\ninto the beehive. [705] In one of Somadeva's tales we find the monkeys\ntrying to warm themselves over a firefly, which is gifted with various\nmiraculous powers. [706] A fly falling into an inkstand is a lucky\nomen. In the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana Hanum\u00e2n metamorphoses himself into a fly to\nreach S\u00eet\u00e2, and there are many instances of this in the tales.\n\nLastly, comes the Tassar silkworm. In Mirzapur, when the seed of the\nsilkworm is brought to the house, the Kol or Bhuiy\u00e2r puts it in a\nplace which has been carefully plastered with cowdung to bring good\nluck. From that time the owner must be careful to avoid ceremonial\nimpurity; he must give up cohabitation with his wife, he must not\nsleep on a bed, he must not shave nor have his nails cut, nor anoint\nhimself with oil, nor eat food cooked with butter, nor tell lies,\nnor do anything opposed to his simple code of morality. He vows to\nSing\u00e2rmat\u00ee Dev\u00ee that if the worms are duly born he will make her an\noffering. When the cocoons open and the worms appear, he collects the\nwomen of his house and they sing the usual song as at the birth of\na baby into the family, and some red lead is smeared on the parting\nof the hair of all the married women of the neighbourhood. He feeds\nhis clansmen, and duly makes the promised offering to Sing\u00e2rmat\u00ee\nDev\u00ee. When the worms pair, the rejoicings are made as at a marriage.\n\nIn Bengal, in addition to these precautions, the women, apparently\nthrough fear of sexual pollution, are carefully excluded from the\nsilkworm shed. [707] We have the same idea in the Western Isles of\nScotland, where they send a man very early on the morning of the first\nof May to prevent any woman from crossing, for that, they say, would\nprevent the salmon from coming into the river all the year round. [708]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE BLACK ART.\n\n                            Simulacraque cerea figit\n                        Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus.\n\n                                             Ovid, Heroides, vi. 91, 92.\n\n\nFrom the Baiga or Ojha, who by means of his grain sieve fetish\nidentifies the particular evil spirit by which his patient is\nafflicted, we come to the regular witch or wizard. He works in India by\nmeans and appliances which can be readily paralleled by the procedure\nof his brethren in Western countries. [709]\n\n\n\nThe Witch.\n\nThe position of the witch has been so clearly stated by Sir A. Lyall,\nthat his remarks deserve quotation. \"The peculiarity of the witch\nis that he does everything without the help of the gods. It begins\nwhen a savage stumbles on a few natural effects out of the common\nrun of things, which he finds himself able to work by unvarying rule\nof thumb. He becomes a fetish to himself. Fetishism is the adoration\nof a visible object supposed to possess active power. A witch is one\nwho professes to work marvels, not through the aid or counsel of the\nsupernatural beings in whom he believes as much as the rest, but by\ncertain occult faculties which he conceives himself to possess. There\nis a real distinction even in fetishism between the witch and the\nbrother practitioner on a fetish, or between the witch and the Shaman,\nwho rolls about the ground and screams out his oracles; and this\nline, between adoration and inspiration, vows and oracles on the one\nside, and thaumaturgy by occult, incomprehensible arts on the other,\ndivides the two professions from bottom to top. Hence, the witch,\nand not the man who works through the fetish, is proscribed. Hence\nany disappointment in the aid which the aboriginal tribes are entitled\nto expect from their gods to avoid averting disease or famine, throws\nthe people on the scent of witchcraft.\" [710]\n\nAgain, \"The most primitive witchcraft looks very like medicine in the\nembryonic state; but as no one will give the aboriginal physician\nany credit for cures or chemical effects produced by simple human\nknowledge, he is soon forced back into occult and mystic devices,\nwhich belong neither to religion nor to destiny, but are a ridiculous\nmixture of both; whence the ordinary kind of witchcraft is generated.\"\n\nAnd he goes on to show how \"the great plagues, cholera and the\nsmall-pox, belong to the gods; but a man cannot expect a great\nincarnation of Vishnu to cure his cow, or find his lost purse; nor\nwill public opinion tolerate his going to any respectable shrine\nwith a petition that his neighbour's wife, his ox, or his ass may be\nsmitten with some sore disease.\" This, however, must be taken with\nthe correction that, as we have seen already, the deities which rule\ndisease are of a much lower grade than the divine cabinet which rules\nthe world. The main difference then between the hedge priest and the\nwitch is, as Sir A. Lyall shows, that the former serves his god or\ndevil, whereas the latter makes the familiar demon, if one is kept,\nserve him.\n\n\n\nWitchcraft: How Developed.\n\nThe belief in witchcraft is general among the lower and less advanced\nIndian races. Colonel Dalton's assertion that the Ju\u00e2ngs, who were\nquite recently in the stage of wearing leaf aprons, do not believe\nin witchcraft or sorcery, must be accepted with great caution. It\nis quite certain that all the allied Dr\u00e2vidian races, even those at\na somewhat higher state of culture than the Ju\u00e2ngs, such as Kols,\nKharw\u00e2rs, and Cheros, firmly believe in witchcraft. But all these\npeople observe the most extreme reticence on the subject. If you ask\na Mirzapur Hill-man if there are any witches in his neighbourhood,\nhe will look round furtively and suspiciously, and even if he admits\nthat he has heard of such people, he will be very reluctant to give\nmuch information about them.\n\nA belief in witchcraft is, then, primarily the heritage of the more\nisolated and least advanced races, like the Kols and Bh\u00eels, Sant\u00e2ls and\nTh\u00e2rus. In fact, whatever may be the ethnical origin of the theory, it\nis at present in Northern India almost specialized among the Dr\u00e2vidian,\nor aboriginal peoples. It also widely prevails among those who lead a\nnomadic life and are thus brought more directly in contact with nature\nin her wilder and sterner moods, such as the Nat and the Kanjar, the\nH\u00e2b\u00fbra and the S\u00e2nsiya. So, in Europe sorcery and fortune-telling,\nthe charming of disease, the making of love philters, and so on are\nthe function of the Romani; and Mr. Leland hazards the supposition\nthat Herodias was a gipsy. [711]\n\nThe belief that a certain person is a witch is probably generated\nin various ways. Many a one becomes reputed as a witch from the\nrealization of some unlucky prophecy, or the fulfilment of some\ncasual, passionate curse or imprecation upon an enemy or rival. The\nold Scottish rhymes exactly express this feeling:--\n\n\n    There dwelt a weaver in Moffat toun,\n    That said the minister would die sune;\n    The minister died, and the fouk o' the toun\n    They brant the weaver wi' the wadd o' the lume,\n    And ca'd it weel-waned on the warloch loon. [712]\n\n\nWith this is intimately connected the belief in the Evil Eye,\nand that certain persons have the power of calling down on their\nenemies the influence of evil spirits; and, as in Western lands,\nsuch a power is often attributed to persons afflicted with ugliness,\ndeformity, crankiness of temper, liability to sudden fits of passion,\nepilepsy, and the like. Disease or death, famine, accident, or any\nform of trouble, never, in popular belief, come naturally. There is\nalways behind calamity some malignant power which selects the victim,\nand the attribution of this faculty to any one naturally regarded as\nuncanny, or who practises rites or worship strange to orthodox belief,\nis in the opinion of the rustic only reasonable.\n\n\n\nThe Jigar Khor.\n\nOne particularly dreaded form of witch is the Jigar Khor or\nliver-eater, of whom Abul Fazl gives a description: \"One of this class\ncan steal away the liver of another by looks and incantations. Other\naccounts say that by looking at a person he deprives him of his\nsenses, and then steals from him something resembling the seed of a\npomegranate, which he hides in the calf of his leg; after being swelled\nby the fire, he distributes it among his fellows to be eaten, which\nceremony concludes the life of the fascinated person. A Jigar Khor is\nable to communicate his art to another by teaching him incantations,\nand by making him eat a bit of the liver cake. These Jigar Khors\nare mostly women. It is said they can bring intelligence from a long\ndistance in a short space of time, and if they are thrown into a river\nwith a stone tied to them, they nevertheless will not sink. In order to\ndeprive any one of this wicked power, they brand his temples and every\njoint of his body, cram his eyes with salt, suspend him for forty days\nin a subterraneous chamber, and repeat over him certain incantations.\"\n\nOf the modern Jigar Khors of the Panj\u00e2b we are told that when a witch\nsucceeds in taking out a man's liver, she will not eat it for two and\na half days. If after eating it she is put under the influence of an\nexorciser, she can be forced to take the liver of some animal and put\nit back to replace that taken from the original victim. [713] In one\nof the tales of Somadeva the wicked wife of the barber is a witch,\nand when he is asleep she takes out his entrails and sucks them,\nand then replaces them as before. [714]\n\n\n\nThe Witch in Folk-lore.\n\nWe have already learned to look to the folk-tales for the most\ntrustworthy indications of popular belief, and here the dark shadow of\nwitchcraft overclouds much of their delicate fancy. Here we find the\nwitch taking many forms--of an old woman in trouble, of a white hind\nwith golden horns, of a queen. Others, like the archwitch K\u00e2lar\u00e2tr\u00ee\nor \"black night,\" are of repulsive appearance; she has dull eyes,\na depressed, flat nose. Her eyebrows, like those of the werewolves or\nvampires of Slavonia, [715] meet together; she has large cheeks, widely\nparted lips, projecting teeth, a long neck, pendulous breasts, a large\nbelly, and broad, expanded feet. \"She appears as if the Creator had\nmade a specimen of his skill in producing ugliness.\" Like the Jigar\nKhor she obtains her powers by eating human flesh, or like modern\nwitches, who claim to possess the D\u00e2yan k\u00e2 Mantra or D\u00e2kin\u00ee's spell,\nby which she can tear out the heart of her victim.\n\nThe powers of such witches are innumerable. They can find anything on\nearth, can open or patch up the sky, possess second sight, can restore\nthe dead to life, can set fire to water, can turn stones into wax,\ncan separate lovers, can metamorphose the hero into any shape they\nplease. They control the weather and cause storms and tempests. If\nthey follow one they hate and measure his footsteps in the dust,\nhe at once becomes lame. [716]\n\nThey carry on their unholy revels in cemeteries and cremation\ngrounds. They meet under the leadership of the dreaded Bhairava,\nas German witches assemble on the Blocksberg. So Diana Herodias\nleads the Italian witches who meet at the walnut tree of Benevento,\nas those of Cornwall collect at Trewa. [717]\n\nMany witches obtain power over the fever demon. She fastens a string\nround the hero's neck, and by a spell turns him into an ape. She often\nkills a child, and the heroine, like Genoveva, is falsely accused,\nand expelled from her home, until the plot is discovered and she is\nrestored to her husband's love. Lastly, we have the conflict between\nthe powers of good and evil, the benevolent and malignant witch, which\nforms one of the stock incidents of the European folk-tales. [718]\nThe malignant, liver-eating witch is naturally associated with the\ntomb-haunting badger. One of them appeared quite recently at Ahmad\u00e2b\u00e2d,\nand being supposed to carry off children in the disguise of a badger,\nwas called Adam Khor, or the devourer of the sons of men. [719]\n\n\n\nInstruction in Witchcraft.\n\nWriting of Italy, Mr. Leland says: [720]--\"Among the priestesses of the\nhidden spell, an elder dame has usually in hand some younger girl, whom\nshe instructs, firstly, in the art of bewitching or injuring enemies,\nand secondly, in the more important processes of annulling or unbinding\nthe spells of others, or causing mutual love or conferring luck.\"\n\nSo, among the Agariyas of Bengal, there are old women, professors\nof witchcraft, who stealthily instruct the young girls. \"The latter\nare all eager to be taught, and are not considered proficient till\na fine forest tree selected to be experimented on is destroyed by\nthe potency of their charms; so that the wife a man takes to his\nbosom has probably done her tree, and is confident in the belief that\nshe can, if she pleases, dispose of her husband in the same manner,\nif he makes himself obnoxious.\" [721]\n\nSo, in Bombay, when a Guru, or teacher, wishes to initiate a candidate\ninto the mysteries of the Black Art, he directs the candidate to\nwatch a favourable opportunity for the commencement of the study, the\nopportunity being the death of a woman in childbirth. As soon as this\nevent takes place, the candidate is instructed what to do. He watches\nthe procession as the dead is being taken to the burning or burial\nground, and takes care to see who the bearers are. He then takes a\nsmall tin box in his hand, and picking up a pinch of the earth out\nof the hind footsteps of the two rear bearers, he keeps the earth\nin the tin box. Then he watches where the dead body is being burnt,\nand goes home.\n\n\"Next day he goes to the spot, and taking a little of the ashes of\nthe corpse, puts it in the tin box. Subsequently, on a suitable day,\nthat is on a new moon or on an eclipse day, he goes to the burning\nground at midnight, and taking off his clothes, he sits on the ground,\nand placing the tin box in front of him, lights a little incense, and\nrepeats the incantations taught to him by his guru or teacher. When\nhe has practised the repetition of the incantations, the spirit Hadal\nbecomes subject to his control, and by her help he becomes able to\nannoy any one he pleases.\n\n\"Among the troubles which the witch or magician brings upon his\nenemies, the following are said to be the most common in the Dakkhin as\nwell as in the Konkan. The witch causes star-shaped or cross-like marks\nof marking-nuts on the body of the person she has a grudge against. The\npeculiarity of these marks is that they appear in numbers in different\nparts of the body, and as suddenly disappear. The other troubles are\nthe drying-up of the milk of milch cattle, or turning the milk into\nblood; stopping or retarding the growth of the foetus in cattle, and\nturning them into moles; stealing grain or other field produce from\nthe farm-yards of the victim; letting loose wolves, jackals, or rats\ninto the victim's field; pricking needles or thorns into the victim's\neyes or body; applying turmeric to the eyes of a female victim, or\nputting lampblack into her eyes; or tearing the open end of her robe;\nand causing death to an enemy by means of a method of the Black Art,\ncalled M\u00fbth, literally 'a handful.'\n\n\"The M\u00fbth generally consists of a handful of rice or Urad pulse\n(Phaseolus radiatus) charmed and sent by the witch against her enemy\nthrough the agency of the familiar spirit. It is likened to a shock of\nelectricity sudden and sharp, which strikes in the centre of the heart,\ncauses vomiting and spitting of blood, and may, if not warded against,\nend in the death of the victim. Practised experts pretend to see the\nM\u00fbth rolling through the air, like a red-hot ball, and say that they\ncan avert its evil consequences in two ways--either by satiating it,\nwhich is done so as to cause a little bleeding, and allowing the blood\nto drop on a charmed lemon, which is afterwards cut and thrown into a\nriver; or by reversing its action and sending it back to the person\nwho issued it, which is done by charging a lemon and throwing it in\nthe direction whence the M\u00fbth has been seen to come. The operation\nof a M\u00fbth is most dreaded in many parts of Bombay, and especially in\nthe Konkan. Cases of sudden illness, blood vomiting, or sudden death\nare frequently attributed to the agency of a M\u00fbth or charmed handful\nof rice or pulse sent by an enemy.\" [722]\n\nWe have here examples of the dread of the woman dying at her\nconfinement, which we have already noticed in the case of the Churel,\nand the nudity charm is also familiar.\n\n\n\nWitch Seasons.\n\nIn Central India, witches are supposed, by the aid of their familiars,\nwho are known as B\u00eer, or \"the hero,\" to inflict pain, disease, and\ndeath upon human beings. Their power of witchcraft, like that of all\nIndian witches, exists on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and twenty-ninth\nof each month, and in particular at the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee or feast of lamps,\nand the Naur\u00e2tr\u00ee or nine days devoted to the worship of Durg\u00e2.\n\nIn the same way the Irish witches flit on November Eve, and \"on that\nnight mortal people should keep at home, or they will suffer for it;\nfor souls of the dead have power over all things on that night of\nthe year, and they hold a festival with the fairies, and drink red\nwine from the fairy cups and dance to fairy music till the moon goes\ndown.\" [723] Of the Allhallows demon Professor Rhys writes: \"This\nnight was the Saturnalia of all that was hideous and uncanny in the\nworld of spirits. It had been fixed as the time of all others when the\nSun god, whose power had been gradually falling off since the great\nfeast associated with him on the first of August, succumbed to his\nenemies, the powers of darkness and of winter. It was their first\nhour of triumph after an interval of subjection, and the popular\nimagination pictured them stalking abroad with more than ordinary\ninsolence and aggressiveness.\" [724]\n\nAt other times the Indian witches appear, dress, talk, and eat like\nother women, but \"when the fit is on them, they are sometimes seen\nwith their eyes glaring red, their hair dishevelled and bristled,\nwhile their heads are often turned round in a strange, convulsive\nmanner. On the nights of those days, they are believed to go abroad,\nand after casting off their garments, to ride about on tigers and\nother wild animals; and if they desire to go on the water, alligators\ncome like the beasts of the forests at their call, and they disport\nin rivers and lakes upon their backs till dawn of day, about which\nperiod they always return home, and resume their usual forms and\noccupations.\" [725]\n\n\n\nWitches Taking the Form of Tigers.\n\nThe idea that witches take the form of tigers is widespread. Colonel\nDalton describes how a Kol, tried for the murder of a wizard, stated\nin his defence that his wife having been killed by a tiger in his\npresence, he stealthily followed the animal as it glided away after\ngratifying its appetite, and saw that it entered the house of one\nP\u00fbsa, a Kol, whom he knew. He called out P\u00fbsa's relations, and when\nthey heard the story, they not only credited it, but declared that\nthey had long suspected P\u00fbsa of possessing such power; on entering\nthey found him, and not a tiger; they delivered him bound into the\nhands of his accuser, who at once killed him. In explanation of their\nproceedings, they deposed that P\u00fbsa had one night devoured an entire\ngoat, and roared like a tiger while he was eating it; and on another\noccasion he had informed his friends that he felt a longing for a\nparticular bullock, and that very night the bullock was carried off\nby a tiger. [726]\n\nMr. Campbell gives a very similar story from Bombay, in which a\nman-eating tiger was supposed to be a witch in disguise. [727] All\nthese stories very closely resemble the European were-wolf and similar\nlegends. [728] In Mirzapur they tell a tale of one of the Dr\u00e2vidian\nBhuiy\u00e2rs, whose wife went recently on the Pura Mamu\u00e2r Hill, when an\nevil spirit in the form of a tiger attacked and killed her. This was\nafter her death ascertained to be the case by the inquiries of the\nvillage Baiga, who now does an annual ceremony and sacrifice near\nthe place. For such witch tigers the favourite remedy is to knock\nout their teeth to prevent their doing any more mischief and becoming\nthe Indian equivalent of the Loupgarou. [729]\n\n\n\nWitches Extracting Substances from their Victims.\n\nAnother remedy is thus described by Abul Fazl: \"The sorceress casts\nsomething out of her mouth like the grain of a pomegranate, which\nis believed to be part of the heart which she has eaten. The patient\npicks it up as part of his own intestine and greedily swallows it. By\nthis means, as if his heart was replaced in his body, he recovers\nhis health by degrees.\"\n\nThe idea that witches extract substances out of a sick person's body\nis very common. [730] The witch in Macbeth says, \"I will drain him\ndry as hay.\" In the same way the original object of kissing is said\nto be to extract an evil spirit out of a person. Many people get a\nholy man to kiss a sick child and blow over some water which is given\nit to drink, and thus the evil spirit is removed.\n\nGeneral Sleeman gives the case of a trooper who had taken some\nmilk from an old woman without payment, and was seized with severe\ninternal pains, which he attributed to her witchcraft. She was sent\nfor, but denied having bewitched him. She admitted, however, that\n\"the household gods may have punished him for his wickedness.\" She\nwas ordered to cure him, and set about collecting materials for the\npurpose, but meanwhile the pains left him.\n\nAnother man took a cock from an old Gond woman and was similarly\naffected. \"The old cock was actually heard crowing in his belly.\" In\nspite of all the usual remedies he died, and the cock never ceased\ncrowing at intervals till his death.\n\nHe tells of another witch who was known to be such by the juice of the\nsugar-cane she was eating turning into blood. A man saw her staring\nat him and left the district at once. \"It is well known that these\nspells and curses can only reach a distance of ten or twelve miles,\nand if you offend one of these witches, the sooner you put that\ndistance between you and them, the better.\"\n\nAnother witch was bargaining with a man for some sugar-cane. She seized\none end of the stalk and the purchaser the other. A scuffle ensued, and\na soldier came up and cut the cane in two with a sword. Immediately a\nquantity of blood flowed from the cane to the ground, which the witch\nhad been drawing through it from the man's body. So we read of the\ntwo witches in the Italian tale, who \"seeing that he would not go,\ncast him by their witchcraft into a deep sleep, and with a small\ntube sucked all his blood from his veins, and made it into a blood\npudding which they carried with them. And this gave them the power\nto be invisible till they should return.\" [731]\n\n\"It is the general belief that there is not a village or a single\nfamily without its witch in this part of the country. Indeed, no one\nwill give his daughter in marriage to a family without one, saying,\n'If my daughter has children, what will become of them without\na witch to protect them from witches of other families in the\nneighbourhood?'\" [732] Sir John Malcolm notices the same fact. \"In\nsome places men will not marry into a family where there is not a\nD\u00e2kin\u00ee or witch to save them from the malice of others; but this name,\nwhich is odious, is not given to those persons by their relations\nand friends. They are termed Rakhw\u00e2l\u00ee or guardians.\" [733]\n\n\n\nWitches and Cats.\n\nOne sign of the witch is that she is accompanied by her cat. This is\nan idea which prevails all over the world. Thus, in Ireland, cats are\nbelieved to be connected with demons. On entering a house the usual\nsalutation is, \"God save all here except the cat!\" Even the cake on the\ngriddle may be blessed, but no one says, \"God bless the cat!\" [734]\nThe negroes in Mussouri say \"some cats are real cats and some are\ndevils; you can never tell which is which, so for safety it is well\nto whip them all soundly.\" [735] One explanation of the connection\nof witches and cats is that \"when Galinthis was changed into a cat\nby the Fates, Hecate took pity on her and made her her priestess,\nin which office she continues to this day.\" [736] We have already\nseen that it is probably her stealthy ways and habit of going about\nat night which gave the cat her uncanny character.\n\nThe cat, say the jungle people, is aunt of the tiger, and taught\nhim everything but how to climb a tree. The Or\u00e2ons of Chota N\u00e2gpur\nsay that Chordeva, the birth fiend, comes in the form of a cat and\nworries the mother. [737] The Thags used to call the caterwauling\nof cats K\u00e2l\u00ee ki Mauj, or the roaring wave of K\u00e2l\u00ee, and it was of\nevil omen. The omen could be obviated only by gargling the mouth in\nthe morning with sour milk and spitting it out. We have already seen\nthe danger of killing a cat. Z\u00e2lim Sinh, the famous regent of Kota,\nthought that cats were associated with witches, and on one occasion\nwhen he believed himself exposed to enchantment, ordered that every\ncat should be expelled from his cantonment. [738]\n\n\n\nWitch Ordeals.\n\nAll the ordeals for witches turn on the efficacy of certain things\nto which reference has been already made as scarers of evil spirits.\n\nThus, the ordeal of walking over hot coals and on heated ploughshares\nwas a common method of testing a witch both in India and in\nEurope. [739] Z\u00e2lim Sinh, however, generally used the water ordeal,\na test which is known all over the world. [740] Even Pliny knew that\nIndian witches could not sink in water. [741] Manu prescribes water\nas a form of oath, and to this day it is a common form of oath ordeal\nfor a man to stand in water when he is challenged to swear. Z\u00e2lim Sinh\nused to say that handling balls of hot iron was too slight a punishment\nfor such sinners as witches, for it was well known that they possessed\nsubstances which enabled them to do this with impunity; so he used\nto throw them into a pool of water; if they sank, they were innocent;\nif they, unhappily, came to the surface, their league with the powers\nof darkness was apparent. A bag of cayenne pepper tied over the head,\nif it failed to suffocate, afforded another test.\n\n\"The most humane method employed was rubbing the eyes with a well-dried\ncapsicum; and certainly if they could furnish the demonstration of\ntheir innocence by withholding tears, they might justly be deemed\nwitches.\" [742] Akin to these tests is the folk-tale ordeal by\nwhich the calumniated heroine bathes in boiling oil to prove her\nchastity. [743]\n\n\n\nSant\u00e2l Witch Ordeals.\n\nForbes gives the tests in vogue in his day among the Sant\u00e2ls, whom\nhe calls Soontaar. Branches of the S\u00e2l tree (Shorea robusta) marked\nwith the names of all the females of the village, whether married or\nunmarried, who had attained the age of twelve years, were planted in\nthe morning in water for the space of four and a half hours; and the\nwithering of any of these branches was proof of witchcraft against the\nperson whose name was attached to it. Small portions of rice enveloped\nin pieces of cloth marked as before, were placed in a nest of white\nants; the consumption of the rice in any of the bags was proof of\nwitchcraft against the woman whose name it bore. Lamps were lighted\nat night; water was placed in cups made of leaves, and mustard oil\nwas poured drop by drop into the water, while the name of each woman\nin the village was pronounced. The appearance of the shadow of any\nwoman in the water during the ceremony proved her to be a witch. [744]\n\n\n\nWitch Tests, Bil\u00e2spur.\n\nOne of the most noted witch-finders in the Bil\u00e2spur District of the\nCentral Provinces had two most effectual means of checkmating the\nwitches. \"His first effort was to get the villagers to describe the\nmarked eccentricities of the old women of the community, and when these\nhad been detailed, his experience soon enabled him to seize on some\nugly or unlucky idiosyncrasy, which indicated in unmistakable clearness\nthe unhappy offender. If no conclusion could be arrived at in this way,\nhe lighted an ordinary earthen lamp, and repeating consecutively the\nname of each woman in the village, he fixed on the witch or witches\nby the flicker of the wick when the name or names were mentioned. The\ndiscovery of the witch soon led to her being grossly maltreated, and,\nunder the Native Government, almost invariably in her death. Since\nthe introduction of the British rule these cases are becoming year\nto year rarer; but the belief itself remains strong and universal,\nand the same class of superstitions pervades every-day life.\" [745]\n\n\n\nWitch Tests, Bastar.\n\nIn Bastar, \"a fisherman's net is wound round the head of the suspected\nwitch to prevent her escaping or bewitching her guards. Two leaves of\nthe P\u00eepal or sacred fig tree, one representing her and the other her\naccusers, are thrown upon her outstretched hands. If the leaf in her\nname fall uppermost, she is supposed to be a suspicious character;\nif the leaf fall with the lower part upwards, it is possible that\nshe may be innocent, and popular opinion is in her favour.\" The final\ntest is the usual water ordeal. [746]\n\n\n\nMiscellaneous Tests: Eggs.\n\nSeveral persons, natives of the Khasiya Hills, were convicted\nof beating to death a man whom they believed to be a wizard. They\nconfessed freely, saying that he destroyed their wives and daughters\nby witchcraft. One of the accused was the brother of the wife of the\ndeceased. It appears that they discovered he was a sorcerer by the\nappearance of an egg when broken. [747] A similar case is reported\namong the Banj\u00e2ras of Ber\u00e2r. [748] The use of eggs in this way opens\nup an interesting chapter in folk-lore. Thus, we have the famous\nlegend which tells how a golden egg was produced at the beginning\nof all things, and from it Prajapati Brahma, the great progenitor of\nthe universe, was produced. This piece of primitive folk-lore appears\nin the folk-tales in the numerous stories of children produced from\neggs. [749] In one of the Kashm\u00eer tales the egg of the wondrous bird\nhas the power of transmuting anything it touches into gold. [750]\nAgain, we have everywhere instances of the belief in the power of eggs\nas guardians against evil spirits. \"An egg laid on Ascension Day hung\nto the roof of the house preserveth the same from all hurts.\" [751]\nChildren in Northumberland, when first sent abroad in the arms of the\nnurse, are presented with an egg, salt, and fine bread. In India, we\nconstantly see the eggs of the ostrich hung up in mosques and tombs\nto repel evil influences. We have the same idea in the use of eggs\nat Easter in England. In the Konkan, Kunbis give a mixture of eggs\nand turmeric to a man who spits blood; and to remove the effects of\nthe Evil Eye, they wave bread and an egg round a sick person. The\nSult\u00e2nk\u00e2rs, when their wives are possessed with evil spirits, offer\nrice, a fowl, and an egg, and the spirit passes away. The Beni Israels,\nto avert evil, break a hen's egg under the forefoot of the bridegroom's\nhorse. [752]\n\nThere is another form of witch test in Chhat\u00eesgarh, where a pole\nof a particular wood is erected on the banks of a stream, and each\nsuspected person, after bathing, is required to touch the pole;\nit is supposed that if any witch does this her hand will swell.\n\n\n\nThe Rowan Tree.\n\nAccording to British folk-lore, one of the most potent antidotes\nfor witches is a twig of the rowan tree bound with scarlet thread,\nor a stalk of clover with four leaves laid in the byre, or a bough\nof the whitty, or \"wayfaring tree.\" [753] Many, in fact, are the\nherbs which are potent in this way, of which the chief is perhaps\nthat Moly, \"that Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.\" In India, the\nsubstitute for these magic trees is a branch of the tamarind, or a\nstalk of the castor-oil tree (Palma Christi). If, after receiving in\nsilence an ordinary scourging by the usual methods, the suspected\nperson cries out at a blow with the magic branch, he is certainly\nguilty. [754] These plants are everywhere supposed to exercise power\nover witches, and even in places like the North-Western Provinces,\nwhere witch-hunting is happily a thing of the past, a Cham\u00e2r or\ncurrier, a class which enjoy an uncanny reputation, is exceedingly\nafraid of even a slight blow with a castor-oil switch.\n\n\n\nWitch-finding among Kols.\n\nThe Kolarian witch-finder's test is to put a large wooden grain measure\nunder a flat stone as a pivot on which the latter can revolve. A\nboy is then seated on the stone supporting himself with his hands,\nand \"the names of all the people in the neighbourhood are slowly\npronounced. As each name is uttered a few grains of rice are thrown\nat the boy. When they come to the name of the witch or wizard, the\nstone turns and the boy rolls off.\" [755] This, no doubt, is the\neffect of the boy's falling into a state of coma, and losing the\npower of supporting himself with his hands.\n\n\n\nMarks of Witches.\n\nSome witches are believed to learn the secrets of their craft by\neating filth. We have already seen that this is also believed to\nbe the case with evil spirits. Such a woman, in popular belief, is\nalways very lovely and scrupulously neat in her personal appearance,\nand she always has a clear line of red lead applied to the parting\nof her hair. Witches have a special power of casting evil glances on\nchildren, and after a child is buried, they are believed to exhume the\ncorpse, anoint it with oil, and bring it to life to serve some occult\npurpose of their own. On the same principle the K\u00e2firs believe that\ndead bodies are restored to life, and made hobgoblins to aid their\nowners in mischief. [756] Indian witches, moreover, are supposed to\nkeep a light burning during the ceremony of child exhumation, and if\nthe father or the mother has the courage to run and snatch away the\nchild just as it is revived, and before the witch can blow out the\nlight, the child will be restored to them safe and sound. [757]\n\n\n\nCharms Recited Backward.\n\nOne well-known characteristic of witches is that she cannot die as\nlong as she is a witch, but must while alive pass on her craft to\nanother, is well recognized in India. Hence a witch is always on\nthe look-out for some one to whom she may delegate her functions,\nand many well-meaning people have been ruined in this way through\nmisplaced confidence in the benevolence of a witch. [758]\n\nIndian witches also resemble their European sisters in their habit\nof reciting their charms backward,--\n\n\n    He who'd read her aright must say her\n    Backwards like a witch's prayer.\n\n\nAnd in \"Much ado about Nothing,\" Hero says of Beatrice,--\n\n\n          \"I never yet saw man\n    How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured,\n    But she would spell him backward.\"\n\n\nThis backward recital of spells appears all through folk-lore. [759]\nIndian witches are supposed to repeat two letters and a half from\na verse in the Qur\u00e2n, known only to themselves, and to say them\nbackwards. We have the same belief in one of the tales of Somadeva,\nwhere Bh\u00eemabhatta prays in his extremity to Mother Ganges, and\nshe says, \"Now receive from me this charm called 'forwards and\nbackwards.' If a man repeats it forwards, he will become invisible to\nhis neighbour; but if he repeats it backwards, he will assume whatever\nshape he desires.\" [760] The use of this charm enables the witch to\ntake the liver out of a living child and eat it. But, in order to do\nthis effectively, she must first catch some particular kind of wild\nanimal not larger than a dog, feed it with cakes of sugar and butter,\nride on it, and repeat the charm one hundred times. When dying, the\nbreath will not leave the body of the witch until she has taught\nthe two and a half letters to another woman, or failing a woman,\nuntil she has repeated it to a tree. [761]\n\n\n\nWitchcraft by Means of Hair, Nail Parings, etc.\n\nThe idea is common in folk-lore that a witch can acquire power over\nher victim by getting possession of a lock of hair, the parings of\nhis nails, or some other part of his body. In the \"Comedy of Errors,\"\nDromio of Syracuse says,--\n\n\n    \"Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail,\n    A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin,\n            A nut, a cherry stone.\"\n\n\nIn Ireland, nail-parings are an ingredient in many charms, and\nhair-cuttings should not be placed where birds can find them, for they\ntake them to build their nests, and then you will have headaches all\nthe year after. [762] The same is the case with the leavings of food,\nwhich should be thrown to the crows lest some ill-disposed person get\npossession of them. On the same principle English mothers hide away the\nfirst tooth of a child. [763] There are numerous instances of these\nand similar beliefs all through the whole range of folk-lore. Hence\nnatives of India are very careful about the disposal of hair-cuttings\nand nail-parings; and it is only at shrines and sacred places of\npilgrimage where shaving is a religious duty that such things are\nleft lying about on the ground. In the Grihyas\u00fbtras it is provided\nthat the hair cut from a child's head at the end of the first, third,\nfifth, or seventh year shall be buried in the earth at a place covered\nwith grass or in the neighbourhood of water. The carelessness shown\nat places of pilgrimage in this respect rests on the belief that the\nsanctity of the place is in itself a protective against sorcery. But\nsome people do not depend on this, and fling the hair into running\nwater. At Hardw\u00e2r the barber at the sacred pool takes the hair which\nhe keeps collected in a bag and flings it into the air on the top of\nthe neighbouring hill, at least he assures his patrons that he does so.\n\n\n\nWitchcraft by Means of Images.\n\nAnother means which witches are supposed to adopt in order to\ninjure those whom they dislike, is to make an image of wax, flour,\nor similar substances, and torture it, with the idea that the pain\nwill be communicated to the person whom they desire to annoy.\n\nThus, among Muhammadans, when the death of an enemy is desired,\na doll is made of earth taken from a grave, or a place where bodies\nare cremated, and various sentences of the Qur\u00e2n are read backwards\nover twenty-one small wooden pegs. The officiant is to repeat the\nspell three times over each peg, and is then to strike them so as\nto pierce various parts of the body of the image. The image is then\nto be shrouded like a corpse, conveyed to a cemetery, and buried in\nthe name of the enemy whom it is intended to injure. He will, it is\nbelieved, certainly die after this rite is performed. The practice\nhas become a branch of the fine arts and numerous methods are detailed\nby Dr. Herklots. [764]\n\nIt is almost unnecessary to say that similar ideas prevail in\nEurope. The wounded Melun in \"King John\" says:--\n\n\n    \"Have I not hideous death within my view,\n    Retaining but a quantity of life,\n    Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax\n    Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire?\"\n\n\nAn old woman in Cornwall was advised \"to buy a bullock's heart, and get\na packet of pound pins. She was to stick the heart as full of pins as\nshe could, and the body that wished her ill felt every pin run into\nthe bullock's heart, same as if they had been run into her.\" [765]\nExamples of such images may be seen in the Pitt-Rivers collection at\nOxford. Sir W. Scott describes how, under the threshold of a house in\nDalkeith, was found the withered heart of some animal, full of many\nscores of pins; and Aubrey tells us of one Hammond, of Westminster,\nwho was hanged or tried for his life in 1641 for killing a person by\nmeans of an image of wax. This was one of the charges made against\nthe unfortunate Jane Shore. [766]\n\nIn Bengal, \"a person sometimes takes a bamboo which has been used\nto keep down a corpse during cremation, and making a bow and arrow\nwith it, repeats incantations over them. He then makes an image of\nhis enemy in clay, and lets fly an arrow into this image. The person\nwhose image is thus pierced is said to be immediately seized with a\npain in his breast.\" In the folk-tales restoration to life is usually\neffected by collecting the ashes or bones of the deceased and making\nan image of them, into which life is breathed. [767]\n\n\n\nWitchcraft through the Footsteps.\n\nIt was a precept of Pythagoras not to run a nail or a knife into\na man's foot. This, from the primitive point of view, was really\na moral, not merely a prudential precept. For it is a world-wide\nsuperstition that by injuring the footsteps you injure the foot that\nmade them. Thus, in Mecklenburgh it is thought that if you thrust\na nail into a man's footsteps the man will go lame. The Australian\nblacks held exactly the same view. \"Seeing that a Tutungolung was very\nlame,\" says Mr. Howitt, \"I asked him what was the matter. He said,\n'Some fellow has put bottle in my foot.' I asked him to let me see\nit. I found that he was probably suffering from acute rheumatism. He\nexplained that some enemy must have found his foot-track, and have\nburied in it a piece of broken bottle.\" [768] The same feeling\nwidely prevails in Northern India, and rustics are in the habit of\nattributing all sorts of pains and sores to the machinations of some\nwitch or sorcerer who has meddled with their footprints.\n\n\n\nPunishment of Witches.\n\nThe method by which witches are punished displays a diabolical\ningenuity. The Indian newspapers a short time ago recorded six out of\nnine murders in the Sambalpur District as due to \"the superstition,\nwhich is so general, that the spread of cholera is due to the sorcery\nof some individual, whose evil influence can be nullified if he be\nbeaten with rods of the castor-oil plant. The people who are thus\nsuspected are so cruelly beaten that in the majority of cases they\ndie under the infliction.\"\n\nA milder form of treatment is to make the witch drink the filthy water\nof a washerman's tank, which is believed to destroy her skill. [769]\nThe punishment in vogue in Central India was to make witches drink\nthe water used by curriers, leather being, as we have seen, a scarer\nof evil spirits, and drinking such water involves degradation from\ncaste. In more serious cases the witch's nose was cut off, or she\nwas put to death. [770]\n\nIn Bastar, if a man is adjudged guilty of witchcraft, he is beaten by\nthe crowd, his hair is shaved, the hair being supposed to constitute\nhis power of mischief, his front teeth are knocked out, in order,\nit is said, to prevent him from muttering incantations, or more\nprobably, as we have already seen, to prevent him from becoming a\nLoupgarou. All descriptions of filth are thrown at him; if he be of\ngood caste, hog's flesh is thrust into his mouth, and lastly he is\ndriven out of the country, followed by the abuse and execrations of\nhis enlightened fellow-men. Women suspected of sorcery have to undergo\nthe same ordeal; if found guilty, the same punishment is awarded,\nand after being shaved, their hair is attached to a tree in some\npublic place. In Chhatt\u00eesgarh, a witch has her hair shaved with a\nblunt knife, her two front teeth are knocked out, she is branded in\nthe hinder parts, has a ploughshare, which is a strong fetish, tied\nto her legs, and she is made to drink the water of a tannery. [771]\n\n\n\nWitchcraft Punishments among the Dr\u00e2vidians.\n\nIn former times among the Dr\u00e2vidian races persons denounced as\nwitches were put to death in the belief that witches breed witches and\nsorcerers. A terrible raid was made on these unfortunate people when\nBritish authority was relaxed during the Mutiny, and most atrocious\nmurders were committed. \"Accusations of witchcraft are still sometimes\nmade, and persons denounced are subjected to much ill-usage, if they\nescape with their lives.\" [772] Among the Bh\u00eels suspected persons used\nto be suspended from a tree head downwards, pounded chillies being\nfirst put into the witch's eyes to see if the smarting would bring\ntears from her. Sometimes after suspension she was swung violently from\nside to side. She was finally compelled to drink the blood of a goat,\nslaughtered for the purpose, which is regarded as a substitute for the\nsick man's life, and to satisfy the witch's craving for blood. She was\nthen brought to the patient's bedside, and required to make passes\nover his head with a N\u00eem branch; a lock of hair was also cut from\nthe head of the witch and buried in the ground, that the last link\nbetween her and her former powers of mischief might be broken. [773]\n\n\n\nOther Witchcraft Punishments.\n\nDr. Chevers has collected a number of instances in which the punishment\nof death or mutilation was inflicted on supposed witches. He quotes\na case in 1802, in which several of the witnesses declared that\nthey remembered numerous instances of persons being put to death for\nsorcery; one of them, in particular, proved that her mother had been\ntried and executed as a witch. In another case a Kol, thinking that\nsome old women had bewitched him, placed them in a line and cut off all\ntheir heads, except that of the last, who, objecting to this drastic\nform of ordeal, ran away and escaped. In another, the nose-ring of a\nsuspected witch was torn out with such violence as to cause extensive\nlaceration. There are recorded instances of even more brutal forms\nof mutilation. A case occurred at Dh\u00e2ka in which some people went to\nthe house of a supposed witch, intending, as they said, to make her\ndiscontinue her enchantments, and ill-treated her in such a shameful\nway as to leave her in a dying state. She appears to have been in the\nhabit of prescribing medicine for children, and this seems to have\nbeen the only basis for the reports that she practised magic. [774]\n\n\n\nDrawing Blood from a Witch.\n\nOne favourite way of counteracting the spells of a witch is to draw\nblood from her. Thus, Professor Rhys, writing of Manxland, says:\n\"There is a belief that if you can draw blood, however little, from a\nwitch or one who has the Evil Eye, he loses his power of harming you;\nand I have been told that formerly this belief was sometimes acted\non. Thus, on leaving church, for instance, the man who fancied himself\nin danger from another would go up to him, or walk by his side, and\ninflict on him a slight scratch or some other trivial wound, which\nelicited blood.\" [775] In the First Part of \"Henry VI.\" Talbot says\nto the Pucelle de Orleans,--\n\n\n    \"I'll have a bout with thee;\n    Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee;\n    Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch.\"\n\n\nAnd Hudibras says,--\n\n\n    \"Till drawing blood o' the Dames like witches,\n    They're forthwith cur'd of their capriches.\"\n\n\nSo at the present day in Mirzapur, when a woman is marked down\nas a witch, the Baiga or Ojha pricks her tongue with a needle,\nand the blood thus extracted is received on some rice, which she\nis compelled to eat. In another case she is pricked on the breast,\ntongue, and thighs, and given the blood to drink. The ceremony is\nmost efficacious if performed on the banks of a running stream. This\nis probably a survival of the actual blood sacrifice of a witch.\n\n\n\nWitch Haunts.\n\n\"In any country an isolated or outlying race, the lingering survivors\nof an older nationality, is liable to the imputation of sorcery.\" [776]\nThis is exactly true of Asia. Marco Polo makes the same assertion about\nPachai in Badakhsh\u00e2n. He says the people of Kashm\u00eer \"have extraordinary\nacquaintance with the devilries of enchantment, insomuch that they\ncan make their idols to speak. They can also by their sorceries\nbring on changes of weather, and produce darkness, and do a number\nof things so extraordinary, that without seeing them no one would\nbelieve them. Indeed this country is the very original source from\nwhich idolatry has spread abroad.\" In Tibet, he says, \"are the best\nenchanters and astrologers that exist in that part of the world;\nthey perform such extraordinary marvels and sorceries by diabolical\nart, that it astounds one to see or even hear of them.\" [777] So\nin European folk-lore the north was considered the home of witches,\nand in Shakespeare La Pucelle invokes the aid of the spirit under the\n\"lordly monarch of the north.\"\n\nIn India, the same is the case with the Konkan in Bombay. [778] The\nsemi-aboriginal Th\u00e2rus of the Him\u00e2layan Tar\u00e2\u00ee are supposed to possess\nspecial powers of this kind, and Th\u00e2ruhat, or \"the land of the Th\u00e2rus,\"\nis a common synonym for \"Witchland.\" At Bh\u00e2galpur, Dr. Buchanan was\ntold that twenty-five children died annually through the malevolence\nof witches. These reputed witches used to drive a roaring trade, as\nwomen would conceal their children on their approach and bribe them\nto go away. In Gorakhpur, he says, the Tonahis or witches were very\nnumerous, \"but some Judge sent an order that no one should presume to\ninjure another by enchantment. It is supposed that the order has been\nobeyed, and no one has since imagined himself injured, a sign of the\npeople being remarkably easy to govern,\" [779] and it may be added\nof the patriarchal style of government in those early days. Nowadays\nthe accusation of witchcraft is practically confined to the menial\ntribes. The wandering, half-gipsy Banj\u00e2ras, or grain-carriers, are\nnotoriously witch-ridden, and the same is the case with the Dom,\nS\u00e2nsiya, H\u00e2b\u00fbra, and other vagrants of their kin.\n\n\n\nNon\u00e2 Cham\u00e2rin, the Witch.\n\nAt the present day the half-deified witch most dreaded in the\nEastern Districts of the North-Western Provinces is Lon\u00e2, or Non\u00e2,\na Cham\u00e2rin, or woman of the currier caste. Her legend is in this\nwise. The great physician Dhanwantara, who corresponds to Luqm\u00e2n\nHak\u00eem of the Muhammadans, was once on his way to cure King Parikshit,\nand was deceived and bitten by the snake king Takshaka. He therefore\ndesired his son to roast him and eat his flesh, and thus succeed to his\nmagical powers. The snake king dissuaded them from eating the unholy\nmeal, and they let the cauldron containing it float down the Ganges. A\ncurrier woman, named Lon\u00e2, found it and ate the contents, and thus\nsucceeded to the mystic powers of Dhanwantara. She became skilful in\ncures, particularly of snake-bite. Finally she was discovered to be\na witch by the extraordinary rapidity with which she could plant out\nrice seedlings. One day the people watched her, and saw that when she\nbelieved herself unobserved, she stripped herself naked, and taking the\nbundle of the plants in her hands threw them into the air, reciting\ncertain spells. When the seedlings forthwith arranged themselves\nin their proper places, the spectators called out in astonishment,\nand finding herself discovered, Non\u00e2 rushed along over the country,\nand the channel which she made in her course is the Lon\u00ee river to\nthis day. So a saint in Broach formed a new course for a river by\ndragging his clothes behind him. In Non\u00e2's case we have the nudity\ncharm, of which instances have been already given.\n\n\n\nP\u00fbtan\u00e2, the Witch Fiend.\n\nAnother terrible witch, whose legend is told at Mathura, is P\u00fbtan\u00e2,\nthe daughter of Bali, king of the lower world. She found the infant\nKrishna asleep, and began to suckle him with her devil's milk. The\nfirst drop would have poisoned a mortal child, but Krishna drew her\nbreast with such strength that he drained her life-blood, and the\nfiend, terrifying the whole land of Braj with her cries of agony, fell\nlifeless on the ground. European witches suck the blood of children;\nhere the divine Krishna turns the tables on the witch. [780]\n\n\n\nThe Witch of the Palw\u00e2rs.\n\nThe Palw\u00e2r R\u00e2jputs of Oudh have a witch ancestress. Soon after the\nbirth of her son she was engaged in baking cakes. Her infant began to\ncry, and she was obliged to perform a double duty. At this juncture\nher husband arrived just in time to see his demon wife assume gigantic\nand supernatural proportions, so as to allow both the baking and\nnursing to go on at the same time. But finding her secret discovered,\nthe witch disappeared, leaving her son as a legacy to her astonished\nhusband. [781] Here, though the story is incomplete, we have almost\ncertainly, as in the case of Non\u00e2 Cham\u00e2rin, one of the Melusina type of\nlegend, where the supernatural wife leaves her husband and children,\nbecause he violated some taboo, by which he is forbidden to see her\nin a state of nudity, or the like. [782]\n\nThe history of witchcraft in India, as in Europe, is one of the saddest\npages in the annals of the people. Nowadays, the power of British law\nhas almost entirely suppressed the horrible outrages which, under the\nnative administration, were habitually practised. But particularly in\nthe more remote and uncivilized parts of the country, this superstition\nstill exists in the minds of the people, and occasional indications of\nit, which appear in our criminal records, are quite sufficient to show\nthat any relaxation of the activity of our magistrates and police would\nundoubtedly lead to its revival in some of its more shocking forms.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSOME RURAL FESTIVALS AND CEREMONIES.\n\n\n                    En d' etithei neion malak\u00ean pieiran arouran,\n                    Eureian, tripolon\u00b7 polloi d' apot\u00eares en aut\u00ea\n                    Zeugea dineuontes elastreon entha kai entha.\n\n                                                   Iliad, xviii. 541-43.\n\n\nThe subject of rural festivals is much too extensive for treatment in\na limited space. Here reference will be made only to a few of those\nceremonies which illustrate the principles recently elucidated from\nthe folk-lore of Europe by Messrs. Frazer, Gomme, and Mannhardt. [783]\n\n\n\nThe Akht\u00eej.\n\nThe respect paid to ploughing is illustrated by the early Vedic legend\nof S\u00eet\u00e2, who, like the Etruscan Tago, sprung from a furrow. [784]\nIt is only in a later development of the story that she becomes the\ndaughter of Janaka, and wife of R\u00e2ma Chandra.\n\nThe agricultural year in Northern India begins with the ceremony of\nthe Akht\u00eej, \"the undecaying third,\" which is celebrated on the third\nday of the light fortnight in the month of Bais\u00e2kh, or May. In the\nNorth-Western Provinces the cultivator first fees his Pandit to select\nan auspicious hour on that day for the commencement of ploughing. In\nmost places he does not begin till 3 p.m.; in Mirzapur the time fixed\nis usually during the night, as secrecy is in most of these rural\nceremonies an important part of the ritual.\n\nIn Rohilkhand the cultivator goes at daybreak to one of his fields,\nwhich must be of a square or oblong shape. He takes with him a brass\ndrinking vessel of water, a branch of the Mango tree, both of which\nare, as we have seen, efficacious in scaring spirits, and a spade. The\nobject of the rite is to propitiate Prithiv\u00ee, \"the broad world,\"\nas contrasted with Dhart\u00ee M\u00e2\u00ee, or \"Mother Earth,\" and Sesha N\u00e2ga,\nthe great snake which supports the world. Whenever Sesha yawns he\ncauses an earthquake.\n\nThe Pandit first makes certain observations by which he is able\nto determine in which direction the snake happens at the time to be\nlying, because, in order to ease himself of his burden, he moves about\nbeneath the world, and lies, sometimes north and south, north-west\nand south-east, and so on. This imaginary line having been marked\noff, the peasant digs up five clods of earth with his spade. This\nis a lucky number, as it is a quarter more than four. Hence Saw\u00e2i,\nor one and a quarter, has been taken as one of the titles of the\nMah\u00e2r\u00e2ja of Jaypur. He then sprinkles water five times into the trench\nwith the branch of the sacred mango. The object of this is by a form\nof sympathetic magic to ensure the productiveness of the crop, and\nscare the demons of evil which would injure it. In Bombay, at the\nbeginning of the sowing season, a cocoanut is broken and thrown at\neach side of the plough, so that the soil spirits may leave and make\nroom for Lakshm\u00ee, the goddess of prosperity, who is represented by\nthe plough. [785] During all these proceedings the peasant watches\nthe omens most carefully, and if anything inauspicious happens, the\nceremony must be discontinued and recommenced at a luckier hour later\non in the day. When he gets home, some woman of the family, who must\nnot be a widow, who is naturally considered unlucky, presents him\nwith curds and silver for good luck. He then stays all day in the\nhouse, rests, and does no work, and does not even go to sleep. He\navoids quarrels and disputes of all kinds, and on that day will give\nneither grain nor money, nor fire to any one. [786] Next day he eats\nsweet food and balls of wheaten flour, toasted with curds and sugar,\nbut carefully abstains from salt.\n\nThese usages have parallels in the customs of other lands. Thus,\nthe rule against giving fire on the sowing day prevailed in Rome,\nand is still observed in the rural parts of England. In Iceland and\nthe Isle of Man it is believed that fire and salt are the most sacred\nthings given to man, and if you give them away on May Day you give\naway your luck for the year; no one will give fire from a house while\nan unbaptized baby is in it. [787]\n\nIn R\u00e2jput\u00e2na the custom is less elaborate. The first day of ploughing\nafter the rains begin is known as the Halsotiya festival. Omens\nbeing favourable, the villagers proceed to the fields, each household\ncarrying a new earthen pot, coloured with turmeric, the virtues of\nwhich have been already explained, and full of B\u00e2jra millet. Looking\nto the north, the home of the gods, they make an obeisance to the\nearth, and then a selected man ploughs five furrows. The ploughman's\nhands and the bullock's hoofs are rubbed with henna, and the former\nreceives a dinner of delicacies. [788]\n\nIn Mirzapur, only the northern part of the field, that facing the\nHim\u00e2laya is dug up in five places with a piece of mango wood. The\npeasant, when he goes home, eats rich food, and abstains from quarrels.\n\nAll over the country the people seem to be becoming less careful\nabout these observances. Some, without consulting a Pandit at all,\ngo early to the field on the morning after the Hol\u00ee fire is lighted,\nscratch the ground with a ploughshare, and on their return eat cakes\nand sweetmeats. Others, on the first day after the Hol\u00ee, when they\nhear the voice of the Koil, or Indian cuckoo at twilight, go in\nsilence to the field and make a few scratches. [789]\n\nAmong the Dr\u00e2vidian Hill tribes of Mirzapur, the ceremony seems to be\nmerely a formal propitiation of the village godlings. Among the Korwas,\nbefore ploughing commences, the Baiga makes an offering of butter and\nmolasses in his own field. This he burns in the name of the village\ngodlings, and does a special sacrifice at their shrine. After this\nploughing commences. The Kharw\u00e2rs, before sowing, take five handfuls\nof grain from the sowing basket, and pray to Dhart\u00ee M\u00e2t\u00e2, the earth\ngoddess, to be propitious. They keep the grain, grind it, and offer it\nat her annual festival in the month of S\u00e2wan or August. The Pankas only\ndo a burnt offering through the Baiga, and offer up cakes and other\nfood, known as N\u00eauj. Before the spring sowing, a general offering of\nfive cocks is made to the village godlings by the Baiga, who consumes\nthe sacrifice himself. All these people do not commence agricultural\nwork till the Baiga starts work in his own field, and they prefer to\ndo this on Monday.\n\nIn Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d the ceremony is somewhat different. The ploughing is\nusually begun by the landlord, and all the cultivators collect and\nassist at the ceremony in his field before they go on to their own. \"It\nis the custom for him to take a rupee and fasten it up in the leaf of\nthe Pal\u00e2sa tree with a thorn. He also folds up several empty leaves\nin the same way and covers them all with a heap of leaves. When he has\ndone worship to the plough and bullocks, he yokes them and drives them\nthrough the heap, and all the cultivators then scramble for the leaf\nwhich contains the rupee. They then each plough their fields a little,\nand returning in a body, they are met by the daughter or sister of\nthe landlord, who comes out to meet them with a brass vessel full of\nwater, a light in one hand and the wheaten cakes in the other. The\nlandlord and each of the cultivators of his caste put a rupee into\nher water vessel and take a bit of the cake, which they put on their\nheads. On the same day an earthen jar full of water is taken by each\ncultivator to his threshing-floor, and placed to stand on four lumps\nof earth, each of which bears the name of one of the four months of\nthe rainy season. Next morning as many lumps as are wetted by the\nleaking of the water jar (which is very porous and always leaks),\nso many months of rain will there be, and the cultivator makes his\narrangements for the sowing accordingly.\" [790]\n\nIn the Him\u00e2laya, again, there is a different ritual: \"On the day fixed\nfor the commencement of ploughing the ceremony known as Kudkhyo and\nHalkhyo takes place. The Kudkhyo takes place in the morning or evening,\nand begins by lighting a lamp before the household deity and offering\nrice, flowers, and balls made of turmeric, borax, and lemon juice. The\nconch is then sounded, and the owner of the field or relative whose\nlucky day it is, takes three or four pounds of seed-grain from a basin\nand carries it to the edge of the field prepared for its reception. He\nthen scrapes a portion of the earth with a mattock, and sows a part\nof the seed. One to five lamps are placed on the ground, and the\nsurplus seed is given away. At the Halkhyo ceremony, the balls as\nabove described are placed on the ploughman, plough, and plough cattle;\nfour or five furrows are ploughed and sown, and the farm servants are\nfed.\" [791] This custom of giving away what remains of the seed-grain\nto labourers and beggars prevails generally throughout Northern India.\n\nA curious rite is performed in Kulu at the rice planting. \"Each family\nin turn keeps open house. The neighbours, men and women, collect at the\nrice-fields. As soon as a field is ready, the women enter it in line,\neach with a bundle of young rice in her hands, and advance dabbing the\nyoung plants into the slush as they go. The mistress of the house and\nher daughters, dressed in their gayest, take their stand in front of\nthe line, and supply more bundles of plants as they are wanted. The\nwomen sing in chorus as they work; impromptu verses are often put in,\nwhich occasion a great deal of laughter. Two or three musicians are\ngenerally entertained by the master of the house, who also supplies\nfood and drink of his best for the whole party. The day's work often\nends with a tremendous romp, in which every one throws mud at his\nneighbours, or tries to give him or her a roll in it. No such ceremony\nis observed in sowing other crops, rice having been formerly, in all\nprobability, the most important crop. It is also the custom to make\na rude image of a man in dough and to throw it away as a sacrifice to\nthe Ishta Deot\u00e2 or household deity.\" [792] This can hardly be anything\nbut a survival of an actual sacrifice to appease the field godlings\nat sowing time. The rude horseplay which goes on is like that at the\nSaturnalia and on the English Plough Monday.\n\nGoing on to the Dr\u00e2vidian races, the Mundas have a feast in May at\nthe time of sowing for the first rice crop. \"It is held in honour\nof the ancestral shades and other spirits, who, if unpropitiated,\nwould prevent the seed from germinating. A he-goat and a cock are\nsacrificed.\" Again in June they have a festival to propitiate the\nlocal gods, that they may bless the crops. \"In the Mund\u00e2ri villages\neveryone plants a branch of the Bel tree in his land, and contributes\nto the general offering, which is made by the priest in the sacred\ngrove, a fowl, a pitcher of beer, and a handful of rice.\" In July,\nagain, each cultivator sacrifices a fowl, and after some mysterious\nrites, a wing is stripped off and inserted in a cleft of a bamboo,\nand stuck up in the rice-field or dung-heap. If this is omitted,\nthe rice crop, it is supposed, will not come to maturity. It appears\nmore like a charm than a sacrifice. Among the Kols of Chota N\u00e2gpur,\nthere is a special dance, \"the women follow the men and change their\nattitudes and positions in obedience to signals from them.\" In one\nspecial figure \"the women all kneel and pat the ground with their\nhands, in tune of music, as if coaxing the earth to be fertile.\" [793]\n\n\n\nProhibition of Ploughing.\n\nA clergyman in Devonshire informed Brand that the old farmers in his\nparish called the three first days of March \"Blind Days,\" which were\nanciently considered unlucky, and on them no farmer would sow his\nseed. [794]\n\nIn Northern India there are certain days on which ploughing is\nforbidden, such as the N\u00e2gpancham\u00ee or snake feast held on the\nfifth of the light half of S\u00e2wan, and the fifteenth of the month\nK\u00e2rttik. Turning up the soil on such days disturbs Seshan\u00e2ga, the great\nworld serpent and Mother Earth. But Mother Earth is also supposed\nto sleep on six days in every month--the 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 21st,\nand 24th; or, as others say, the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 21st, and\n24th. On such days it is inadvisable to plough if it can be possibly\navoided. The fifteen days in the month of Ku\u00e2r which are devoted to\nthe worship of the Pitri or sainted dead, are also an inauspicious\ntime for agricultural work.\n\nAll these ceremonies at the commencement of the agricultural season\nremind us in many ways of the observance of the festivals of Plough\nMonday and similar customs in rural England. [795]\n\n\n\nThe Rakshabandhan and J\u00e2y\u00ee Festivals.\n\nWe have already noticed the use of the knotted cord or string as an\namulet. On the full moon of S\u00e2wan is held the Salono or Rakshabandhan\nfestival, when women tie these amulets round the wrists of their\nfriends. Connected with this is what is known as the barley feast,\nthe J\u00e2y\u00ee or Jaw\u00e2ra of Upper India, and the Bhujariya of the Central\nProvinces. It is supposed to be connected in some way with the famous\nstory of Alha and Udal, which forms the subject of a very popular\nlocal epic. They were R\u00e2jputs of the Ban\u00e2phar clan, and led the\nChandels in their famous campaign against the R\u00e2htaurs of Kanauj,\nwhich immediately preceded, and in fact led up to, the Muhammadan\nconquest of Northern India. [796]\n\nIn connection with this simple rural feast, a most elaborate ritual\nhas been prescribed under Br\u00e2hmanical influence, but all that is\nusually done is that on the seventh day of the light half of S\u00e2wan,\ngrains of barley are sown in a pot of manure, and spring up so\nrapidly that by the end of the month the vessel is full of long,\nyellowish-green stalks. On the first day of the next month, Bh\u00e2don,\nthe women and girls take these out, throw the earth and manure into\nwater, and distribute the plants to their male friends, who bind them\nin their turbans and about their dress. [797]\n\nWe have already come across an instance of a similar practice among\nthe Kharw\u00e2rs at the Karama festival, and numerous examples of the same\nhave been collected by Mr. Frazer. [798] Thus, \"in various parts of\nItaly and all over Sicily it is still customary to put plants in water\nor in earth on the Eve of St. John, and from the manner in which they\nare found to be blooming or faded on St. John's Day omens are drawn,\nespecially as to fortune in love. In Prussia two hundred years ago\nthe farmers used to send out their servants, especially their maids,\nto gather St. John's wort on Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Day. When they\nhad fetched it, the farmer took as many plants as there were persons\nand stuck them on the wall or between the beams; and it was thought\nthat the person whose plant did not bloom would soon fall sick or\ndie. The rest of the plants were tied in a bundle, fastened to the\nend of a pole, and set up at the gate or wherever the corn would\nbe brought in at the next harvest. This bundle was called Kupole,\nthe ceremony was known as Kupole's festival, and at it the farmer\nprayed for a good crop of hay, etc.\"\n\nWe have the same idea in the English rural custom of \"wearing the\nrose.\" There can be no reasonable doubt that all these rites were\nintended to propitiate the spirit of vegetation and promote the\ngermination and growth of the next crop. [799]\n\n\n\nThe Diw\u00e2l\u00ee, or Feast of Lamps.\n\nThe regular Diw\u00e2l\u00ee, or Feast of Lamps, which is performed on the last\nday of the dark fortnight in the month of K\u00e2rttik, is more of a city\nthan a rural festival. But even in the villages everyone burns a lamp\noutside the house on that night.\n\nThe feast has, of course, been provided with an appropriate\nlegend. Once upon a time an astrologer foretold to a R\u00e2ja that on the\nnew moon of K\u00e2rttik his K\u00e2l, or fate, would appear at midnight in\nthe form of a snake; that the way to avoid this was that he should\norder all his subjects on that night to keep their houses, streets,\nand lanes clean; that there should be a general illumination; that the\nking, too, should place a lamp at his door, and at the four corners\nof his couch, and sprinkle rice and sweetmeats everywhere.\n\nIf the door-lamp went out it was foretold that he would become\ninsensible, and that he was to tell his R\u00e2n\u00ee to sing the praises of\nthe snake when it arrived. These instructions were carefully carried\nout, and the snake was so pleased with his reception, that he told\nthe R\u00e2n\u00ee to ask any boon she pleased. She asked for long life for her\nhusband. The snake replied that it was out of his power to grant this,\nbut that he would make arrangements with Yamar\u00e2ja, the lord of the\ndead, for the escape of her husband, and that she was to continue to\nwatch his body.\n\nThen the snake carried off the spirit of the king to Yamar\u00e2ja. When\nthe papers of the king's life were produced before Yamar\u00e2ja his age\nwas denoted by a cipher, but the kindly snake put a seven before\nit, and thus raised his age to seventy years. Then Yamar\u00e2ja said:\n\"I find that this person has still seventy years to live. Take him\nback at once.\" So the snake brought back the soul of the king, and he\nrevived and lived for seventy years more, and established this feast\nin honour of the event. Much the same idea appears in one of Grimm's\nGerman tales. [800]\n\nThe original basis of the feast seems to have been the idea that on\nthis night the spirits of the dead revisit their homes, which are\ncleaned and lighted for their reception. Now it is chiefly observed\nin honour of Lakshm\u00ee, the goddess of wealth and good luck, who is\npropitiated by gambling. On this night the women make what is called\n\"the new moon lampblack\" (Am\u00e2was K\u00e2 K\u00e2jal), which is used throughout\nthe following year as a charm against the Evil Eye, and, as we have\nalready seen, the symbolical expulsion of poverty goes on.\n\nImmediately following this festival is the Bhaiyya D\u00fbj, or \"Brothers'\nsecond,\" when sisters make a mark on the foreheads of their brothers\nand cause them to eat five grains of gram. These must be swallowed\nwhole, not chewed, and bring length of days. The sister then makes\nher brother sit facing the east, and feeds him with sweetmeats,\nin return for which he gives her a present.\n\n\n\nThe Govardhan.\n\nFollowing the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee comes what is known as the Govardhan, or Godhan,\nwhich is a purely rural feast. In parts of the North-Western Provinces,\nthe women, on a platform outside the house, make a little hut of mud\nand images of Gaur\u00ee and Ganesa; there they place the parched grain\nwhich the girls offered on the night of the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee; near it they\nlay some thorny grass, wave a rice pounder round the hut, and invoke\nblessings on their relations and friends. This is also a cattle feast,\nand cowherds come round half drunk and collect presents from their\nemployers. They sing, \"May this house grow as the sugar-cane grows,\nas Ganga increases at the sacred confluence of Pray\u00e2g!\"\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b \"the women make a Govardhan of cowdung, which consists\nof Krishna lying on his back surrounded with little cottage loaves of\ndung to represent mountains, in which are stuck stems of grass with\ntufts of cotton or rag on the top for trees, and by little dung balls\nfor cattle, watched by dung men dressed in little bits of rag. Another\nopinion is that the cottage loaves are cattle, and the dung balls\ncalves. On this they put the churn-staff, five white sugar-canes, some\nparched rice, and a lamp in the middle. The cowherds are then called\nin, and they salute the whole, and are fed with rice and sweets. The\nBr\u00e2hman then takes the sugar-cane and eats a bit, and till then no one\nmust eat, cut, or press cane. Rice-milk is then given to the Br\u00e2hmans,\nand the bullocks have their horns dyed and are extra well fed.\" [801]\n\nThe Emperor Akbar, we are told, used to join in this festival. [802]\n\nThe custom in Cawnpur, known as the D\u00e2ng, or \"Club,\" Diw\u00e2l\u00ee is very\nsimilar. The cowherds worship Govardhan in the form of a little heap\nof cowdung decorated with cotton, and go round to the houses of the\npersons whose cattle they graze, dance to the music of two sticks\nbeaten together and a drum played by a Hindu weaver, and get presents\nof grain, cloth, or money. [803]\n\n\n\nCattle Festivals.\n\nThere are a number of similar usages in various parts of the country\nsolemnized with the object of protecting the herds. Thus in Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d\nthey have the rite of frightening the cattle. \"Everyone keeps awake\nall night, and the herdsmen go out begging in a body, singing,\nand keeping the cattle from sleeping. In the morning they are all\nstamped with the hand dipped in yellow paint for the white ones,\nand white paint for the red ones, and strings of cowries or peacocks'\nfeathers are tied to their horns. Then they are driven out with wild\nwhoops or yells, and the herdsman standing at the doorway smashes\nan earthen water jar on the last. The neck of this is placed on the\ngateway leading to the cattle sheds, and preserves them from the\nEvil Eye. In the afternoon the cattle are all collected together,\nand the Parih\u00e2r priest sprinkles them with water, after which they\nare secure from all possible evil.\" [804]\n\nThis reminds us of the custom of Manx cattle dealers, who drive\ntheir herd through fire on May Day, so as to singe them a little,\nand preserve them from harm. [805] The same was probably the origin\nof the bull-running in the town of Stamford of which Brand gives an\naccount. So the Chinese make an effigy of an ox in clay, which after\nbeing beaten by the governor, is stoned by the people till they break\nit in pieces, from which they expect an abundant year.\n\nWe have already met with instances where the scape animal merges in a\nsacrifice. In Garhw\u00e2l, at the sacrifice in honour of Dev\u00ee, the Br\u00e2hmans\nmake a circle of flour filled with various sorts of colours. Inside\nthis they sit and repeat sacred verses. Then a male buffalo is made\nto move round the circle seven times, and everyone throws some holy\nrice and oats over it. After this the headman of the village strikes\nit lightly on the back with a sword and makes it run, on which the\npeople follow and hack it to pieces with their swords. [806]\n\nSo in Bengal, on the last day of the month K\u00e2rttik (October-November)\na pig is turned loose among a herd of buffaloes, who are encouraged to\ngore it to death. The carcase is given to the Dus\u00e2dh village menials\nto eat. The Ah\u00eers, who practise this strange rite, aver that it has no\nreligious significance, and is merely a sort of popular amusement. They\ndo not themselves partake of any part of the pig. [807] It is plainly\na survival of a regular sacrifice, probably intended to promote the\nfertility of the herds and crops.\n\nSimilar customs for the protection of cattle prevail in other parts\nof the country. Thus, in Mirzapur, at the Diw\u00e2l\u00ee, a little earthen\nbell is procured from the village potter, and hung round the necks\nof the cattle as a protective.\n\nIn Ber\u00e2r, at the Pola festival, the bullocks of the whole village pass\nin procession under a sacred rope made of twisted grass and covered\nwith mango leaves. The sacred pole of the headman is then borne aloft\nto the front. He gives the order to advance, and all the bullocks, his\nown leading the way, file under the rope according to the respective\nrank of their owners. The villagers vie with each other in having\nthe best decorated and painted bullocks, and large sums are often\nexpended in this way. This rope is supposed to possess the magic\npower of protecting the cattle from disease and accident. [808]\n\nIn Northern India it is a common charm to drive the cattle under a\nrope fixed over the village cattle path, and among the Dr\u00e2vidians of\nMirzapur, two poles and a cross bar are fixed at the entrance of the\nvillage with the same object. The charm is rendered more powerful if\na plough beam is sunk in the ground close by.\n\nThe custom of the silent tending of cattle has been already\nmentioned. At the cattle festival in R\u00e2jput\u00e2na, in the evening the\ncow is worshipped, the herd having been previously tended. \"From\nthis ceremony no rank is excepted; on the preceding day, dedicated\nto Krishna, prince and peasant all become pastoral attendants of the\ncow in the form of Prithiv\u00ee or the Earth.\" [809] In some places the\nflowers and other ornaments of the cattle, which they lose in their\nwild flight, are eagerly picked up and treated as relics bringing good\nfortune. We have a similar idea in the blessing of cattle in Italy,\n[810] and this is probably the origin of the observance described by\nAubrey, when \"in Somersetshire, where the wassaile (which is, I think,\nTwelfe Eve), the ploughmen have their Twelfe cake, and they go into\nthe ox-house to the cattle, and drink to the ox with the crumpled\nhorn that treads out the corne.\" [811]\n\n\n\nThe Sleep of Vishnu.\n\nAccording to the rural belief, Vishnu sleeps for four months in the\nyear, from the eleventh of the bright half of the month As\u00e2rh, the\nDeosoni Ek\u00e2dash\u00ee, \"the reposing of the god,\" till the eleventh of the\nbright half of the month K\u00e2rttik, the Deoth\u00e2n, or \"god's awakening.\" So\nthe demon Kumbha Karana in the R\u00e2m\u00e2yana when he is gorged sleeps for\nsix months. According to Mr. Campbell, [812] during these four months\nwhile the god sleeps demons are abroad, and hence there are an unusual\nnumber of protective festivals in that period. On the day he retires\nto rest women mark the house with lines of cowdung as a safeguard,\nfast during the day, and eat sweetmeats at night. During the four\nmonths of the god's rest it is considered unlucky to marry, repair\nthe thatch of a hut, or make the house cots. His rising at the Deoth\u00e2n\nmarks the commencement of the sugar-cane harvest, when the cane mill\nis marked with red paint, and lamps are lighted upon it. The owner of\nthe crop then does worship in his field, and breaks off some stalks\nof sugar-cane, which he puts on the boundary. He distributes five\ncanes each to the village Br\u00e2hman, blacksmith, carpenter, washerman,\nand water carrier, and takes five home.\n\nThen on a wooden board about one and a half feet long two figures\nof Vishnu and his wife Lakshm\u00ee are drawn with lines of butter and\ncowdung. On the board are placed some cotton, lentils, water-nuts,\nand sweets; a fire sacrifice is offered, and the five canes are\nplaced near the board and tied together at the top. The S\u00e2lagr\u00e2ma,\nor stone emblematical of Vishnu, is lifted up, and all sing a rude\nmelody, calling on the god to wake and join the assembly. \"Then all\nmove reverently round the emblems, the tops of the cane are broken\noff and hung on the roof till the Hol\u00ee, when they are burnt. When\nthe worship has been duly performed, and the officiating Br\u00e2hman\nhas declared that the fortunate moment has arrived, the cutting may\ncommence. The whole village is a scene of festivity, and dancing and\nsinging go on frantically. Till this day no Hindu will eat or touch\nthe crop. They believe that even jackals will not eat the cane till\nthen. The real fact is that till then the juice has not properly come\nup, and the cane is not worth eating. On the first day the cane is\ncut the owner eats none of it, it would bring him bad luck.\" [813]\n\n\n\nCeremonies to Avert Blight, etc.\n\nThere are various ceremonies intended to save certain crops from the\nravages of blight and insects. Blight is very generally attributed to\nthe constant measurement of the soil which goes on during settlement\noperations, to the irreligious custom of eating beef, or to adultery,\nor to a demon of the east wind, who can be appeased with prayers and\nceremonies. [814] No pious Hindu, if the seed fails, will re-sow his\nwinter crop.\n\nWhen sugar-cane germinates, the owner of the crop does worship on the\nnext Saturday before noon. On one of the days of the Naur\u00e2tr\u00ee in the\nmonth of Ku\u00e2r the cultivator himself, or through his family priest,\nburns a fire sacrifice in the field and offers prayers. In the month\nof K\u00e2rttik he has a special ceremony to avert a particularly dangerous\ngrub, known as the S\u00fbndi. For this purpose he takes from his house\nbutter, cakes, sweets, and five or six lumps of dough pressed into\nthe shape of a pear, with some clean water. He goes to the field,\noffers a fire sacrifice, and presents some of the cakes to the field\nspirit. He then buries one of the lumps of dough at each corner of his\nfield, and, having eaten the rest of the cakes, goes home happy. [815]\n\nWhen field-mice do injury to the crop the owner goes to a Sy\u00e2na, or\ncunning man, who writes a charm, the letters of which he dissolves in\nwater and scatters it over the plants. The ancient Greek farmer was\nrecommended to proceed as follows: \"Take a sheet of paper and write on\nit these words, 'Ye mice here present, I adjure ye that ye injure me\nnot, neither suffer another mouse to injure me. I give you yonder field\n(specifying the field), but if ever I catch you here again, by the help\nof the Mother of the gods, I will rend you in seven pieces.' Write\nthis and stick the paper on an unhewn stone in the field where the\nmice are, taking care to keep the written side uppermost.\" [816]\n\nGeneral Sleeman gives a case of a cowherd who saw in a vision that\nthe water of the Biy\u00e2s river should be taken up in pitchers and\nconveyed to the fields attacked with blight, but that none of it\nshould be allowed to fall on the ground in the way. On reaching the\nfield a small hole should be made in the bottom of the pitcher so as\nto keep up a small but steady stream, as the bearer carried it round\nthe border of the field, so that the water might fall in a complete\nring except at a small opening which was to be kept dry, so that\nthe demon of the blight could make his escape through it. Crowds of\npeople came to fetch the water, which was not supposed to have any\nparticular virtue except that arising from this revelation. [817]\n\n\n\nScaring of Locusts.\n\nLocusts, one of the great pests of the Indian peasant's life, are\nscared by shouting, lighting of fires, beating of brass pots, and in\nparticular, by ringing the temple bell. In Sirsa, the Karwa, a flying\ninsect which injures the flower of the B\u00e2jra millet, is expelled by\na man taking his sister's son on his shoulder and feeding him with\nrice-milk while he repeats the following charm: \"The nephew has\nmounted his uncle's shoulder. Go, Karwa, to some other field!\" [818]\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b a popular legend thus explains the enmity between the\nstarling and the locust. Once upon a time the locusts used to come\nand destroy the crops as they were ripening. The people prayed to\nN\u00e2r\u00e2yana, and he imprisoned them in a deep valley in the Him\u00e2laya,\nputting the starlings to keep them in confinement. Now and again the\nlocusts try to escape and the starlings promptly put them to death. The\nlegend is probably based on the fact that both the starlings and the\nlocusts come from the Hills, and about the same time. [819]\n\nAnother device to scare them is based on the well-known principle\nof treating with high distinction one or two chosen individuals of\nthe obnoxious species, while the rest are pursued with relentless\nvigour. \"In the East Indian island of Bali, the mice which ravage\nthe rice-fields are caught in great numbers and burnt in the same\nway that corpses are burnt. But two of the captured mice are allowed\nto live and receive a little packet of white linen. Then the people\nbow down before them, as before gods, and let them go.\" [820] So\nin Mirzapur the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes, when a flight of locusts comes,\ncatch one, decorate its head with a spot of red lead, salaam to it,\nand let it go, when the whole flight immediately departs.\n\n\n\nBetel Planting.\n\nWhen cultivators in the North-Western Provinces sow betel, they cook\nrice-milk near the plants and offer it to the local godling. They\ndivide the offering, and a little coarse sugar is dedicated to\nMah\u00e2b\u00eer, the monkey god, which is taken home and distributed among\nthe children. This is known as Jeon\u00e2r P\u00fbj\u00e2 or \"the banquet rite.\" The\nBarais, who make a speciality of cultivating the plant, have two\ngodlings of their own, Sokha B\u00e2ba, the ghost of some famous magician,\nand N\u00e2gbeli, the \"creeper N\u00e2ga,\" or snake, who is connected with the\nsinuous growth of the tendrils.\n\nIn Bengal, the Baruis, a similar caste, worship their patron goddess\non the fourth day of the month Bais\u00e2kh with offerings of flowers,\nrice, sweetmeats, and sandal-wood paste. Some do the Navam\u00ee P\u00fbj\u00e2 in\nhonour of Ushas, or the Aurora, on the sixth day of the waning moon\nin Asin. Plantains, rice, sugar, and sweetmeats are placed in the\ncentre of the garden, from which the worshippers retire, but after a\nlittle time return, and carrying out the offerings, distribute them\namong the village children. In Bikrampur, Sunj\u00e2\u00ee, a form of Bh\u00e2gawat\u00ee,\nis worshipped.\n\nThey do not employ Br\u00e2hmans in the worship, because, they say, a\nBr\u00e2hman was the first cultivator of betel. Through his neglect the\nplant grew so high that he used his sacred thread to fasten up the\ntendrils, but as it still shot up faster than he could supply thread,\nits charge was given to a K\u00e2yasth or writer. Hence it is that a Br\u00e2hman\ncannot enter a betel garden without defilement. [821] In another form\nof the story, the thread of the Br\u00e2hman grew up to the sky and became\na betel tendril. So, in a Tartar story, the hop plant originates from\nthe bow-string of a man that had been turned into a bear. [822]\n\nAll over India, the betel plant, perhaps on account of the delicacy\nof its growth, is considered as being very susceptible to demoniacal\ninfluence, and a woman or a person in a state of ceremonial pollution\nis excluded from the nursery. We meet with an instance of the same\nidea among the Ainos. \"They prepare for the fishing by observing\nrules of ceremonial purity, and when they have gone out to fish the\nwomen at home must keep strict silence, or the fish would hear them\nand disappear. When the first fish is caught he is brought home\nand passed through a small opening at the end of the hut, but not\nthrough the door; for if he were passed through the door, the other\nfish would certainly see him and disappear.\" [823]\n\nAll these protective measures intended to guard the crop from\ndefilement and demoniacal influence are rather like the old English\nrule of the young men and girls walking round the corn to bless it\non Palm Sunday, an observance which Audley drily remarks in his time\n\"gave many a conception.\" [824]\n\n\n\nSugar-cane Sowing.\n\nWhen sugar-cane is being planted, the sower is decorated with\nsilver ornaments, a necklace, flowers, and a red mark is made on his\nforehead. It is considered a favourable omen if a man on horseback\ncome into the field while the sowing is going on. After the sowing\nis completed, all the men employed come home to the farmer's house\nand have a good dinner. [825] All surplus seed is carefully destroyed\nwith fire, as it is believed that the plants grown from it would be\nworthless and produce only flowers and seed.\n\nIn the Panj\u00e2b, on the first day of sowing, sweetened rice is brought\nto the field, the women smear the outside of the vessel with it, and\nit is then distributed to the workmen. Next morning a woman puts on a\nnecklace and walks round the field, winding thread on a spindle. This\nforms a sacred circle which repels evil influence from the crop. On\nthe night of the Deoth\u00e2n, when Vishnu wakes from his four months'\nsleep, lamps are lighted on the cane mill, and it is smeared with\ndaubs of red paint. [826]\n\n\n\nCotton Planting.\n\nWhen the cotton has sprung up, the owner of the field goes there on\nSunday forenoon with some butter, sweetmeats, and cakes. He burns a\nfire sacrifice, offers up some of the food, and eats the remainder in\nsilence. Here we have another instance of the taboo against speaking,\nwhich so commonly appears in these rural ceremonies. [827]\n\nWhen the cotton comes into flower, some parched rice is taken to the\nfield on a Wednesday or Friday; some is thrown broadcast over the\nplants, and the rest given to children, the object assigned being that\nthe bolls may swell, as the rice does when parched. Many instances of\nsymbolical or sympathetic magic of the same kind might be collected\nfrom the usages of other races. Thus, for instance, in Sumatra, the\nrice is sown by women, who, in sowing, let their hair hang loose down\ntheir back, in order that the rice may grow luxuriantly and have long\nstalks. [828]\n\nWhen the cotton is ripe and ready for picking, the women pickers\ngo to the north or east quarters of the field with parched rice and\nsweetmeats. These directions are, of course, selected with reference\nto the Him\u00e2laya, the home of the gods, and the rising sun. They pick\ntwo or three large pods, and then sit down and pull out the cotton\nin as long a string as possible without breaking it. They hang these\nthreads on the largest cotton plant they can find in the field, round\nwhich they sit, and fill their mouths as full as possible with the\nparched rice, which they blow out as far as they can in each direction;\nthe idea being, of course, the same as in the ceremony when the plant\nflowers. A fire offering is made and the picking commences. [829]\n\nThe custom in Karn\u00e2l is very similar. When the pods open and the\ncotton is ready for picking, the women go round the field eating\nrice-milk, the first mouthful of which they spit on the field towards\nthe west. The first cotton picked is exchanged for its weight in\nsalt, which is prayed over and kept in the house till the picking is\nover, when it is distributed among the members of the household and\nfriends. [830]\n\n\n\nThe Last Sheaf.\n\nIn Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d, when the reaping is nearly over, a small patch of\ncorn is left standing in the last field, and the reapers rest a\nlittle. Then they rush at this piece, tear it up, and cast it in\nthe air, shouting victory to their deities, Omk\u00e2r Mah\u00e2r\u00e2ja, Jhamaj\u00ee,\nR\u00e2mj\u00ee D\u00e2s, or other local godlings according to their persuasions. A\nsheaf is made of this corn, which is tied to a bamboo, stuck up on\nthe last harvest cart, carried home in triumph, and fastened up at\nthe threshing-floor or to a tree, or on the cattle shed, where its\nservices are essential in averting the Evil Eye. [831]\n\nThe same custom prevails in the eastern districts of the North-Western\nProvinces. Sometimes a little patch in the corner of the field is\nleft untilled as a refuge for the field spirit; sometimes it is sown\nand the corn reaped with a rush and shout and given to the Baiga as\nan offering to the local godlings, or distributed among beggars.\n\nThis is a most interesting analogue of a branch of European folk-lore\nwhich has been copiously illustrated by Mr. Frazer. [832] It is the\nDevon custom of \"Crying the Neck.\" The last sheaf is the impersonation\nof the Corn Mother, and is worshipped accordingly. We have met already\nwith the same idea in the reservation of small patches of the original\nforest for the accommodation of the spirits of the jungle.\n\n\n\nFirst-fruits.\n\nThere are many customs connected with the disposal of the first-fruits\nof the crop. The eating of the new grain is attended with various\nobservances, in which the feeding of Br\u00e2hmans and beggars takes a\nprominent place. In K\u00e2ngra, the first-fruits of corn, oil, and wine,\nand the first fleece of the sheep are not indeed actually given,\nbut a symbolical offering is made in their stead. These offerings\nare made to the J\u00e2k or field spirit to whom reference has already\nbeen made. The custom has now reached a later stage, for the local\nR\u00e2ja puts the right of receiving the offerings on behalf of the J\u00e2k\nto public auction. [833]\n\nIn the same way at Lad\u00e2kh, \"the main rafters of the houses are\nsupported by cylindrical or square pillars of wood, the top of which,\nunder the truss, is, in the houses of the peasantry, encircled\nby a band of straw and ears of wheat, forming a primitive sort of\ncapital. It is the custom, I was told, to consecrate the two or three\nfirst handsful of each year's crop to the spirit who presides over\nagriculture, and these bands are thus deposited. Sometimes rams'\nhorns are added to this decoration.\" [834]\n\nIn Northern India the first pressing of the sugar-cane is attended\nwith special observances. When the work of pressing commences, the\nfirst piece of sugar made is presented to friends or beggars, as is\nthe first bowl of the extracted juice, and in the western districts of\nthe North-Western Provinces some is offered in the name of the saint\nShaikh Far\u00eed, who from this probably gains his title of Shakkarganj,\nor \"Treasury of sugar.\"\n\nThe Sant\u00e2ls have a harvest-home feast in December, at which the Jag\nM\u00e2njhi, or headman of the village, entertains the people. The cattle\nare anointed with oil and daubed over with vermilion, and a share of\nrice-beer is given to each animal. [835]\n\nEverywhere in treading out the grain the rule that the cattle move\nround the stake in the course of the sun is rigidly observed.\n\n\n\nCeremonies at Winnowing.\n\nWinnowing is a very serious and solemn operation, not lightly to be\ncommenced without due consultation of the stars.\n\nIn Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d, when the village priest has fixed a favourable\ntime, the cultivator, his whole family, and his labourers go to the\nthreshing-floor, taking with them the prescribed articles of worship,\nsuch as milk, butter, turmeric, boiled wheat, and various kinds of\ngrain. The threshing-floor stake is washed in water, and these things\nare offered to it and to the pile of threshed grain. The boiled wheat\nis scattered about in the hope that the Bh\u00fbts or spirits may content\nthemselves with it and not take any of the harvested corn. Then the\nmaster stands on a three-legged stool, and taking five basketsful\nfrom the threshed heap, winnows them. After winnowing, the grain\nand chaff are collected again and measured; if the five baskets are\nturned out full, or anything remains over, it is a good omen. If\nthey cannot fill the baskets, the place where they began winnowing is\nconsidered unlucky and it is removed a few yards to another part of\nthe threshing-floor. The five basketsful are presented to a Br\u00e2hman,\nor distributed in the village, not mixed with the rest of the harvest.\n\nWinnowing can then go on as convenient, but one precaution must be\ntaken. As long as winnowing goes on the basket must never be set down\non its bottom, but always upside down. If this were not done, the\nspirits would use the basket to carry off the grain. The day's results\nare measured generally in the evening. This is done in perfect silence,\nthe measurer sitting with his back to the unlucky quarter of the sky,\nand tying knots to keep count of the number of the baskets. The spirits\nrob the grain until it is measured, but when once it has been measured\nthey are afraid of detection. [836]\n\nIn the Eastern Panj\u00e2b, the clean grain is collected into a\nheap. Preparatory to measuring, the greatest care has to be observed\nin the preparation of this heap, or evil spirits will diminish the\nyield. One man sits facing the north, and places two round balls of\ncowdung on the ground. Between them he sticks in a plough-coulter,\na symbol known as Sh\u00e2od M\u00e2t\u00e2 or \"the mother of fertility.\" A piece of\nthe \u00c2kh or swallow-wort and some D\u00fbb grass are added, and they salute\nit, saying: \"O Mother Sh\u00e2od! Give the increase! Make our bankers and\nrulers contented!\" The man then carefully hides the image of Sh\u00e2od\nfrom all observers while he covers it up with grain, which the others\nthrow over his head from behind. When it is well covered, they pile\nthe grain upon it, but three times during the process the ceremony of\nCh\u00e2ng is performed. The man stands to the south of the heap and goes\nround it towards the west the first and third time, and the reverse\nway the second time. As he goes round, he has the hand furthest from\nthe heap full of grain, and in the other a winnowing fan, with which\nhe taps the heap. When the heap is finished they sprinkle it with\nGanges water, and put a cloth over it till it is time to measure\nthe grain. A line is then drawn on the ground all round the heap,\ninside which none but the measurer must go. All these operations must\nbe performed in profound silence. [837]\n\nIn Bareilly, when the whole of the grain and chaff has been winnowed,\nall the dressed grain is collected into a heap. \"The winnower, with\nhis basket in his right hand, goes from the south towards the west,\nand then towards the north, till he reaches the pole to which the\ntreading-out cattle have been tethered. He then returns the same way,\ngoes to the east till he reaches the pole, and back again to the\nsouth; then he places the basket on the ground and utters some pious\nejaculation. Then an iron sickle, a stick of the sacred Kusa grass,\nand a bit of swallow-wort, with a cake of cowdung in a cleft stick,\nare placed on the heap, and four cakes of cowdung at the four corners;\nand a line is traced round it with cowdung. A fire offering is then\nmade, and some butter and coarse sugar are offered as sacrifice. Water\nis next thrown round the piled grain and the remainder of the sugar\ndistributed to those present.\" [838]\n\nIn the Etah District, the owner of the field places to the north of\nthe pile of grain a threshing-floor rake, a bullock's muzzle, and a\nrope at a distance of three spans from the piled grain; and between\nthese things and the pile he lays a little offering consisting of\na few ears of grain, some leaves of the swallow-wort, and a few\nflowers. These things are laid on a piece of cowdung. He then covers\nthe pile of grain with a cloth to protect it from thieving Bh\u00fbts,\nand puts in a basket three handfuls of grain as the perquisite of the\nvillage priest who lights the Hol\u00ee fire. Something is also laid by for\nthe village beggars. Then he sprinkles a little grain on the cloth,\nand fills a basket full of grain which he pours back on the pile as an\nemblem of increase. He then bows to the gods who live in the northern\nhills, and mutters a prayer; it is only at this time that he breaks\nthe silence with which the whole ceremony is performed. The cloth is\nthen removed, and the rite is considered complete.\n\n\n\nMeasurement of Grain.\n\nAll these precautions are based on principles which have been\nalready discussed, and we meet in them with the familiar fetishes and\ndemon-scarers, of which we have already quoted instances--the iron\nimplements, the sacred grasses and plants, water and milk, cowdung,\nthe winnowing fan, and so on.\n\nAll over Northern India a piece of cowdung, known as Barh\u00e2wan, \"that\nwhich gives the increase,\" is laid on the piled grain, and a sacred\ncircle is made with fire and water round it. Silence, as we have\nalready seen, is a special element in the worship. All this rests on\nthe idea that until the grain is measured, vagrant Bh\u00fbts will steal\nor destroy it. This is something like the principle of travellers,\nwho keep a cowry or two in their purses, so that thieves may not\nbe able to divine the contents. So, in a Talmudic legend we read,\n\"It is very difficult for devils to obtain money, because men are\ncareful to keep it locked or tied up; and we have no power to take\nanything that is measured or counted; we are permitted to take only\nwhat is free and common.\" [839]\n\nIn the Eastern Panj\u00e2b grain must not be measured on the day of\nthe new or full moon, and Saturday is a bad day for it. It must be\nbegun at dawn, or sunset, or midnight, when the Bh\u00fbts are otherwise\nengaged. Four men go inside the enclosure line with a wooden measuring\nvessel, and no one must come near them till they have finished. They\nsit facing the north and spread a cloth on the ground. One fills the\nmeasure from the heap with the winnowing fan, another empties it on the\ncloth, substituting an empty one for it. The man who has the measure\nputs down for every measure filled a small heap of grains of corn,\nby which the account is kept. Perfect silence must be observed till\nthe whole operation is finished, and especially all counting aloud\nof the number of measures must be avoided. But when once the grain\nis measured, it is safe from the Evil Eye; the people are at liberty\nto quarrel over the division of it. [840]\n\nThe same rule of silence often appears in the custom of Europe. Favete\nlinguis was the principle on such occasions in Rome. So in the\n\"Tempest\" Prospero says,--\n\n\n        \"Hush and be mute,\n    Or else our spell is marred.\"\n\n\nIn the Highlands, on New Year's Day, a discreet person is sent to draw\na pitcher of water from the ford, which is drunk next day as a charm\nagainst the spell of witchcraft, the malignity of Evil Eyes, and the\nactivity of all infernal agency. So the baker who makes the bannocks on\nShrove Tuesday must be mute as a stone; the cake on St. Mark's Eve must\nbe made in silence, and the same is the rule on St. Faith's Day. [841]\n\nThe same rule of secrecy and silence is observed in the worship of\nDulha Deo. Among the Gaiti Gonds, their great festival is held after\nthe ingathering of the rice harvest, when they proceed to a dense\npart of the jungle, which no woman is permitted to enter, and where,\nto represent the great god, a copper coin has been hung up, enclosed\nin a joint of bamboo. Arriving at the spot, they take down the copper\ngod in his case, and selecting a small area about a foot square, they\nlay on it the copper coin, before which they arrange as many small\nheaps of uncooked rice as there are deities worshipped by them. The\nchickens brought for sacrifice are loosed and permitted to feed on\nthe rice, after which they are killed and their blood sprinkled\nbetween the copper coin and the rice. Goats are also offered,\nand their blood presented in the same manner. Until prohibited by\nthe Hindus, sacrifices of cows were also common. On the blood some\ncountry spirits is poured as a libation to their deities. The copper\ncoin is now lifted, replaced in its bamboo case, which is shut up with\nleaves, wrapped up in grass, and returned to its place in the tree,\nto remain there till it is required on the following year. [842]\n\n\n\nThe Hol\u00ee: Its Origin.\n\nThe most famous and interesting of the village festivals is the Hol\u00ee,\nwhich is held in the early spring, at the full moon of Ph\u00e2lgun. One\naccount of its origin describes it as founded in honour of a female\ndemon or R\u00e2kshas\u00ee called Dundhas, \"she who would destroy many.\"\n\nAnother account connects the observance with the well-known legend of\nHiranya-kasipu, \"golden-dressed,\" and his son Prahl\u00e2da. Hiranya-kasipu\nwas, it is said, a Daitya, who obtained from Siva the sovereignty of\nthe three worlds for a million years, and persecuted his pious son\nPrahl\u00e2da because he was such a devoted worshipper of Vishnu. Finally\nthe angry god, in his Nara-sinha or man-lion incarnation, slew\nthe sinner.\n\nHarn\u00e2kas, as the father is called in the modern version of the story,\nwas an ascetic, who claimed that the devotion of the world was to\nbe paid to him alone. His son Prahl\u00e2da became a devotee of Vishnu,\nand performed various miracles, such as saving a cat and her kittens\nout of the blazing kiln of a potter. His father was enraged at what\nhe considered the apostasy of his son, and with the assistance of his\nsister Hol\u00ee or Holik\u00e2, commenced to torture Prahl\u00e2da. Many attempts on\nhis life failed, and finally Vishnu himself entered a pillar of heated\niron, which had been prepared for the destruction of Prahl\u00e2da, and\ntore Harn\u00e2kas to pieces. Then Hol\u00ee tried to burn herself and Prahl\u00e2da\ntogether, but the fire left him unscathed and she was consumed. The\nfire is now supposed to be burnt in commemoration of this tragedy.\n\nThis legend has been localized at a place called Deokali near Irichh\nin the Jh\u00e2nsi District, where Hiranya-kasipu is said to have had his\npalace. Just below it is a deep pool, into which Prahl\u00e2da was flung\nby the orders of his father, and the mark of the foot of the martyr\nis still shown on a neighbouring rock. [843]\n\nAnother legend identifies Hol\u00ee with the witch P\u00fbtan\u00e2, who attempted\nto destroy the infant Krishna by giving him her poisoned nipple to\nsuck. [844]\n\nLastly, a tale told at Hardw\u00e2r brings us probably nearer the real\norigin of the rite. Holik\u00e2 or Hol\u00ee was, they say, sister of Sambat or\nSanvat, the Hindu year. Once, at the beginning of all things, Sambat\ndied, and Hol\u00ee in her excessive love for her brother insisted on being\nburnt on his pyre, and by her devotion he was restored to life. The\nHol\u00ee fire is now burnt every year to commemorate this tragedy.\n\n\n\nPropitiation of Sunshine.\n\nThere seems to be little doubt that the custom of burning the Hol\u00ee\nfire rests on the same basis as that of similar observances in\nEurope. The whole subject has recently been copiously illustrated by\nMr. J. G. Frazer. [845] His conclusion is that \"they are sun charms\nor magical ceremonies intended to ensure a proper supply of sunshine\nfor men, animals, and plants. We have seen that savages resort to\ncharms for making sunshine, and we need not wonder that primitive\nman in Europe has done the same. Indeed, considering the cold and\ncloudy climate of Europe during a considerable portion of the year,\nit is natural that sun charms should have played a much more prominent\npart among the superstitious practices of European peoples than among\nthose of savages who live near the equator. This view of the festival\nin question is supported by various considerations drawn partly from\nthe rites themselves, partly from the influences they are believed\nto exert on the weather and on vegetation. For example, the custom of\nrolling a burning wheel down a hill-side, which is often observed on\nthese occasions, seems a very natural imitation of the sun's course\nin the sky, and the imitation is particularly appropriate on Midsummer\nDay, when the sun's annual declension begins. Not less graphic is the\nimitation of his apparent revolution by swinging a burning tar barrel\nround a pole. The custom of throwing blazing discs, shaped like suns,\ninto the air, is probably also a piece of imitative magic.\" [846]\nIn these, as in so many cases, the magic force is supposed to take\neffect through mimicry or sympathy.\n\nIt is true, of course, that the climatic conditions of Northern India\ndo not, as a rule, necessitate the use of incantations to produce\nsunshine. But it must be remembered that the native of the country does\nnot look on the fierceness of the summer sun with the same dread as is\nfelt by Europeans. To him it is about the most pleasant and healthy\nseason of the year, and people who are sometimes underfed and nearly\nalways insufficiently dressed have more reason to fear the chills\nof December and January than the warmth of May and June. It is also\nusually recognized in popular belief that seasonable and sufficient\nrainfall depends on the due supply of sunshine.\n\n\n\nThe Hol\u00ee Observances.\n\nThe Hol\u00ee, while generally observed in Northern India, is performed\nwith special care by the cowherd classes of the land of Braj, or the\nregion round the city of Mathura, where the myth of Krishna has been\nlocalized, and it is here that we meet with some curious incidents\nwhich are undoubtedly survivals of the most primitive usages.\n\nThe ceremonies in vogue at Mathura have been very carefully recorded\nby Mr. Growse. [847] He notes \"the cheeriness of the holiday-makers\nas they throng the narrow, winding streets on their way to and\nfrom the central square of the town of Bars\u00e2na, where they break\ninto groups of bright and ever varying combinations of colour, with\nthe buffooneries of the village clowns, and the grotesque dances of\nthe lusty swains, who, with castanets in hand, caricature in their\nmovements the conventional graces of the Indian ballet girl.\n\n\"Then follows a mock fight between the men of the adjoining village\nof Nandg\u00e2nw and the women of Bars\u00e2na. The women have their mantles\ndrawn down over their faces and are armed with long, heavy bamboos,\nwith which they deal their opponents many shrewd blows on the head and\nshoulders. The latter defend themselves as best they can with round\nleather shields and stag horns, as they dodge in and out among the\ncrowd, and now and again have their flight cut off, and are driven\nback upon the crowd of excited viragoes. Many laughable incidents\noccur. Not unfrequently blood is drawn; but an accident of this kind\nis regarded rather as an omen of good fortune, and has never been\nknown to give rise to any ill-feeling. Whenever the fury of their\nfemale assailants appears to be subsiding, it is again excited by\nthe men shouting at them snatches of ribald rhymes.\"\n\n\n\nThe Lighting of the Hol\u00ee Fire.\n\nNext day the Hol\u00ee fire is lit. By immemorial custom, the boys are\nallowed to appropriate fuel of any kind for the fire, the wood-work\nof deserted houses, fences, and the like, and the owner never dares\nto complain. We have the same custom in England. The chorus of the\nOxfordshire song sung at the feast of Gunpowder Plot runs,--\n\n\n        A stick and a stake\n    For King James's sake;\n    If you won't give me one,\n        I'll take two,\n    The better for me,\n    The worse for you.\n\n\nThis is chanted by the boys when collecting sticks for the bonfire,\nand it is considered quite lawful to appropriate any old wood they\ncan lay hands on after the recitation of these lines. [848]\n\nMr. Growse goes on to describe how a large bonfire had been stacked\nbetween the pond and the temple of Prahl\u00e2da (who, as we have already\nseen, is connected with the legend), inside which the local village\npriest, the Kherapat or Panda, who was to take the chief part in the\nperformance of the day, was sitting, telling his beads. At 6 p.m. the\npile was lit, and being composed of the most inflammable materials,\nat once burst into a tremendous blaze. The lads of the village\nkept running close round it, jumping and dancing and brandishing\ntheir bludgeons, while the Panda went round and dipped in the pond,\nand then with his dripping turban and loin-cloth ran back and made a\nfeint of passing through the fire. In reality he only jumped over the\noutermost verge of the smouldering ashes, and then dashed into his cell\nagain, much to the dissatisfaction of the spectators, who say that the\nformer incumbent used to do it much more thoroughly. If on the next\nrecurrence of the festival the Panda shows himself equally timid, the\nvillage proprietors threaten to eject him as an impostor from the land\nwhich he holds rent-free, simply on the score of his being fire-proof.\n\nIt is hardly necessary to say that this custom of jumping through the\nfire prevails in many other places. We have already had an instance\nof it in the case of the fire worship of R\u00e2hu. In Greece people jump\nthrough the bonfires lighted on St. John's Eve. The Irish make their\ncattle pass through the fire, and children are passed through it in\nthe arms of their fathers. The passing of victims through the fire\nin honour of Moloch is well known. [849]\n\n\n\nThe Throwing of the Powder.\n\nIn the Indian observance of the Hol\u00ee next followed a series of\nperformances characterized by rude horseplay and ribald singing. Next\nday came the throwing of the powder. \"Handfuls of red powder, mixed\nwith glistening talc, were thrown about. Up to the balconies, above\nand down on the heads of the people below; and seen through this\natmosphere of coloured cloud, the frantic gestures of the throng,\ntheir white clothes and faces all stained with red and yellow patches,\nand the great timbrels with branches of peacocks' feathers, artificial\nflowers and tinsel stars stuck in their rims, borne above the players'\nheads, and now and then tossed up in the air, combined to form a\ncurious and picturesque spectacle.\"\n\nThen followed another mock fight between men and women, conducted\nwith perfect good-humour on both sides, and when it was all over,\nmany of the spectators ran into the arena, and rolled over and over\nin the dust, or streaked themselves with it on the forehead, taking\nit as the dust hallowed by the feet of Krishna and the Gop\u00ees.\n\n\n\nThe Hol\u00ee in M\u00e2rw\u00e2r.\n\nColonel Tod gives an interesting account of the festival as performed\nat M\u00e2rw\u00e2r. He describes the people as lighting large fires into which\nvarious substances, as well as the common powder, were thrown; and\naround which groups of children danced and screamed in the streets,\n\"like so many infernals; until three hours after sunrise of the\nnew moon of the month of Chait, these orgies are continued with\nincreased vigour; when the natives bathe, change their garments,\nworship, and return to the ranks of sober citizens, and princes and\nchiefs receive gifts from their domestics.\" [850]\n\n\n\nThe Ashes of the Hol\u00ee Fire.\n\nThe belief in the efficacy of the Hol\u00ee fire in preventing the blight\nof crops, and in the ashes as a remedy for disease, has been already\nnoticed. So in England, the Yule log was put aside, and was supposed\nto guard the house from evil spirits. [851]\n\n\n\nThe Basis of the Hol\u00ee Rite.\n\nWe have seen that the primary basis of this and similar rites is\nprobably the propitiation of sunshine. But the present observances in\nIndia are probably a survival of a very much more primitive cultus. We\nhave already seen that in one form of the popular legend, Hol\u00ee is the\nsister of Sambat, the year, and revived him from death by burning\nherself with his corpse. We find the same idea in Nep\u00e2l, where a\nwooden post adorned with flags is erected in front of the palace,\nand this is burned at night, representing the burning of the body of\nthe old year, and its re-birth with each succeeding spring. [852]\n\nThe Dr\u00e2vidian Hill tribes of Mirzapur do not perform the Hol\u00ee ceremony\nlike their Hindu neighbours, but on the same date the Baiga burns a\nstake, a ceremony which is known as Sambat Jal\u00e2n\u00e2, or \"the burning\nof the old year.\"\n\nIn Kumaun each clan puts up the Ch\u00eer or rag-tree. A middle-sized tree\nor a large branch is cut down and stripped of its leaves. Young men\ngo round and beg scraps of cloth, which are tied to the tree, and it\nis then set up in the middle of the village. Near it the Hol\u00ee fire\nis burnt. On the last day the tree itself is burnt, and the people\njump over the ashes as a cure for itch and similar diseases. While\nthe tree is burning, men of other clans try to snatch away some of\nthe rags. It is regarded as being very propitious to be able to do\nthis, and the clan which loses is not allowed to set up the tree\nagain. Faction fighting in order to gain the right of setting up the\ntree has practically ceased under British law. [853]\n\nThe ceremony in another form appears at Gw\u00e2lior. There, instead of\na tree, they burn large heaps of cowdung fuel. The Marw\u00e2ris erect a\nnude figure known as Nathur\u00e2m, made of bricks, of a most disgusting\nshape. This, when the pile of cowdung cakes is consumed, is broken to\npieces with blows of shoes and bludgeons. Another beautifully carved\nimage of the same kind is paraded through the bazars and kept safely\nfrom year to year. This Nathur\u00e2m is said to have been a scamp from\nsome part of Northern India, who went to M\u00e2rw\u00e2r and seduced a number\nof women, until he was detected and put to death. He then became a\nmalignant ghost and began to torment women and children, and now his\nspirit can be appeased only by a series of indecent songs and gestures\nperformed by the women. No M\u00e2rw\u00e2ri household is without an image of\nNathur\u00e2m, and a representation of him is laid with the married pair\nafter the wedding, while barren women and those whose children die\npray to him for offspring. He is in short a phallic fetish.\n\nThe Hol\u00ee, then, in its most primitive form, is possibly an aboriginal\nusage which has been imported into Br\u00e2hmanism. This is specially\nshown by the functions of the Kherapat or village priest, who lights\nthe fire. He is sometimes a Br\u00e2hman, but often a man drawn from the\nlower races. As we have seen, his duties among the Dr\u00e2vidian races\nare performed by the Baiga, who is always drawn from the non-Aryan\nraces. It seems probable that the legends connecting the rite with\nPrahl\u00e2da and Krishna are a subsequent invention, and that the fire\nis really intended to represent the burning of the old year and\nthe re-birth of the new, which they pray may be more propitious to\nthe families, cattle, and crops of the worshippers. The observance\nseems also to include certain ceremonies intended to scare the evil\nspirits which bring disease and famine. The compulsory entry of the\nlocal priests into the fire can hardly be anything but a survival of\nhuman sacrifice, intended to secure the same results; and the dancing,\nsinging, waving of flags, screaming, the mock fight, and the throwing\nof red powder, a colour supposed, as we have seen, to be obnoxious\nto evil spirits, are probably based on the same train of ideas.\n\nFinally comes the indecency of word and gesture, which is a distinct\nelement in the rite. There seems reason to believe that in the worship\nof certain deities in spring, promiscuous intercourse was regarded\nas a necessary part of the ceremony. [854] This appears at what is\ncalled the K\u00e2hi ka Mela in Kulu, in which indecency is supposed to\nscare evil spirits. [855] We have already noticed the practice of\nindecency as a rain charm, and it seems at least a plausible hypothesis\nthat the unchecked profligacy which prevails among the Hindus at the\nspring feast and at the Kajal\u00ee in autumn may be intended to repel evil\nspirits which check the fecundity of men, animals, and crops. The same\nidea probably also underlies the licentious observance of the Karama\namong the Dr\u00e2vidian races. The same theory explains similar usages in\nEurope, such as the Lupercalia, Festum Stultorum, Matronalia Festa,\nLiberalia, and our own All Fools' Day, where the indecent part of the\nperformance has disappeared under the influence of a purer faith and\na higher morality, and a little kindly merriment is its only survival.\n\nOf the mock fight as a charm for rain we have spoken already, and at\nthe Hol\u00ee it may be merely a fertility charm. Of these mock fights\nwe have numerous instances in the customs of Northern India. Thus,\nin Kumaun, in former days at the Bagw\u00e2h festival the males of several\nvillages used to divide into two bodies and sling stones at each other\nacross a stream. The results were so serious that it was suppressed\nafter the British occupation of the country. [856] The people in some\nplaces attribute the increase of cholera and other plagues to its\ndiscontinuance. In the plains, the custom survives in what is known\nas the Barra, when the men of two villages have a sort of Tug of War\nwith a rope across the boundary of the village. Plenty is supposed\nto follow the side which is victorious.\n\nAnother of these spring rites is that known as the R\u00e2li ka Mela in\nK\u00e2ngra, the R\u00e2li being a sort of rude image of Siva or P\u00e2rvat\u00ee. The\ngirls of the village in March take baskets of D\u00fbb grass and flowers,\nof which they make a heap in a selected place. Round this they walk and\nsing for ten days, and then they erect two images of Siva and P\u00e2rvat\u00ee,\nwho are married according to the regular rites. At the conjunction or\nSankr\u00e2nt in the month of Bais\u00e2kh the images are flung into a pool and\nmock funeral obsequies are performed. The object of the ceremonial\nis said to be to secure a good husband. [857]\n\nIn Gorakhpur this spring rite takes the form of hunting and crucifying\na monkey on the village boundary. This is said to be intended to\nscare these animals, which injure the crops. But the rite seems to\nbe intended to secure fertility, and is possibly the survival of an\nactual sacrifice.\n\nOf the same class is what is known in the Hills as the Badw\u00e2r rite,\nwhere a Dom, one of the menial castes, is made to slide down a rope\nfrom a high precipice. The intention is to promote the fertility of\nthe crops and expel the demons of disease.\n\n\n\nMarriage of the Powers of Vegetation.\n\nMr. Frazer has collected instances of the marriage of the powers of\nvegetation, of which we have a survival in the English King and Queen\nof the May. This seems to be the explanation of the remarkable rite\namong the Kharw\u00e2rs, of which Mr. Forbes has given an account. [858]\n\n\"One of the most remarkable of the Kharw\u00e2r deities is called Durg\u00e2giya\nDeot\u00e2; this spirit rejoices in the name of M\u00fbchak R\u00e2n\u00ee. She is a\nCham\u00e2rin by caste, and her home is on a hill called Buhor\u00e2j; her\npriests are Baigas. All the Kharw\u00e2rs regard her with great veneration,\nand offer up pigs and fowls to her several times during the year. Once\na year, in the month of Aghan, what is called the K\u00e2ruj P\u00fbj\u00e2 takes\nplace in her honour.\n\n\"The ceremony is performed in the village threshing-floor, when a kind\nof bread and kids are offered up. Once in three years the ceremony of\nmarrying the R\u00e2n\u00ee is performed with great pomp. Early in the morning of\nthe bridal day both men and women assemble with drums and horns, form\nthemselves into procession and ascend the hill, singing a wild song in\nhonour of the bride and bridegroom. One of the party is constituted\nthe priest, who is to perform the wedding ceremony. This man ascends\nthe hill in front of the procession, shouting and dancing till he\nworks himself into a frenzy. The procession halts at the mouth of a\ncave, which does, or is supposed to, exist on the top of the hill. The\npriest then enters the cave and returns bearing with him the R\u00e2n\u00ee, who\nis represented as a small oblong-shaped and smooth stone, daubed over\nwith red lead. After going through certain antics, a piece of Tasar\nsilk cloth is placed on the R\u00e2n\u00ee's head, and a new sheet is placed\nbelow her, the four corners being tied up in such a manner as to\nallow the R\u00e2n\u00ee, who is now supposed to be seated in her bridal couch,\nto be slung on a bamboo, and carried like a dooly or palanquin.\n\n\"The procession then descends the hill and halts under a Banyan tree\ntill noon, when the marriage procession starts for the home of the\nbridegroom, who resides on the Kandi hill.\n\n\"On their arrival there, offerings, consisting of sweetened milk,\ntwo copper pice, and two bell-metal wristlets, are presented to\nthe bride, who is taken out of her dooly and put into the cave in\nwhich the bridegroom, who, by the way, is of the Agariya caste,\nresides. This cave is supposed to be of immense depth, for the stone\ngoes rolling down, striking the rocks as it falls, and the people\nall listen eagerly till the sound dies out, which they say it does\nnot do for nearly half an hour.\n\n\"When all is silent, the people return rejoicing down the hill,\nand finish off the evening with a dance. The strangest part of the\nstory is that the people believe that the caves on the two hills are\nconnected, and that every third year the R\u00e2n\u00ee returns to her father's\nhouse. They implicitly believe that the stone yearly produced is the\nsame. The village Baigas could probably explain the mystery.\n\n\"In former times the marriage used to take place every year, but\non one occasion, on the morning succeeding the marriage ceremony,\nthe R\u00e2n\u00ee made her appearance in the Baiga's house. The Baiga himself\nwas not present, but his wife, who was at home, was very indignant\nat this flightiness on the part of the R\u00e2n\u00ee, and the idea of her\ngoing about the country the morning after her marriage so shocked the\nBaig\u00e2in's sense of propriety, that she gave the R\u00e2n\u00ee a good setting\ndown, and called upon her to explain herself, and as she could give\nno satisfactory account of her conduct, she was punished by being\nmarried every three years, instead of yearly as before.\"\n\nThe mock marriage of Gh\u00e2zi Miy\u00e2n, to which some reference has been\nalready made, a very favourite rite among the Musalm\u00e2ns and low Hindu\ncastes of the North-Western Provinces, is very possibly the survival\nof some non-Aryan rite of this kind, performed to secure the annual\nrevival of the year and the powers of vegetation.\n\n\n\nThe Dr\u00e2vidian Saturnalia.\n\nSome of the Dr\u00e2vidian tribes enjoy the Saturnalia in other forms.\n\nThus, the Gond women have the curious festival known as Gurt\u00fbtn\u00e2 or\n\"breaking of the sugar.\" \"A stout pole about twelve or fifteen feet\nhigh is set up, and a lump of coarse sugar with a rupee in it placed\non the top; round it the Gond women take their stand, each with a\nlittle green tamarind rod in her hands. The men collect outside,\nand each has a kind of shield made of two parallel sticks joined\nwith a cross-piece held in the hand to protect themselves from the\nblows. They make a rush together, and one of them swarms up the pole,\nthe women all the time plying their rods vigorously; and it is no\nchild's play, as the men's backs attest next day. When the man gets\nto the top, he takes the piece of sugar, slips down, and gets off\nas rapidly as he can. This is done five or six times over with the\ngreatest good-humour, and generally ends with an attack of the women\nen masse upon the men. It is the regular Saturnalia for the women,\nwho lose all respect, even for a settlement officer; and on one\noccasion when he was looking on, he only escaped by the most abject\nsubmission and presentation of rupees.\" [859]\n\nThe Bh\u00eels of Gujar\u00e2t plant a small tree or branch firmly in the\nground. The women stand near it, and the men outside. One man rushing\nin tries to uproot the tree, and the men and women fall upon him\nand beat him so soundly that he has to retire. He is succeeded by\nanother, who is belaboured in the same way, and this goes on till\none man succeeds in bearing off the tree, but seldom without a load\nof blows which cripples him for days. [860]\n\nAll these mock combats have their parallels in English customs, such\nas the throwing of the hood at Haxey, the football match at Derby,\nthe fighting on Lammas Day at Lothian, and hunting of the ram at\nEton. [861]\n\n\n\nThe Desauli of the Hos.\n\nThe Hos of Chutia N\u00e2gpur have a similar festival, the Desauli held in\nJanuary, \"when the granaries are full of grain, and the people are,\nto use their own expression, 'full of devilry!' They have a strange\nnotion that at this period men and women are so overcharged with\nvicious propensities that it is absolutely necessary for the safety\nof the person to let off steam by allowing for the time full vent to\nthe passions. The festival, therefore, becomes a sort of Saturnalia,\nduring which servants forget their duty to their masters, children\ntheir reverence for their parents, men their respect for women,\nand women all notions of gentleness, modesty, and delicacy; they\nbecome raging Bacchantes. It opens with a sacrifice to Desauli of\nthree fowls, a cock and two hens, one of which must be black, and\noffered with some flowers of the Pal\u00e2sa tree (Butea frondosa), bread\nmade from rice flour and sesamum seeds. The sacrifice and offering\nare made by the village priest, if there be one, or if not by any\nelder of the village who possesses the necessary legendary lore;\nand he prays that during the year they are going to enter on they\nand their children may be preserved from all misfortune and sickness,\nand that they may have seasonable rain and good crops. Prayer is also\nmade in some places for the souls of the departed. At this period an\nevil spirit is supposed to infest the locality, and to get rid of it,\nmen, women, and children go in procession round and through every part\nof the village with sticks in their hands, as if beating for game,\nsinging a wild chant and vociferating loudly, till they feel assured\nthat the bad spirit must have fled, and they make noise enough to\nfrighten a legion. These religious ceremonies over, the people give\nthemselves up to feasting, drinking immoderately of rice-beer till\nthey are in a state of wild ebriety most suitable for the purpose of\nletting off steam.\" [862]\n\nWith these survivals of perhaps the most primitive observances of the\nraces of Northern India we may close this survey of their religion and\nfolk-lore. To use Dr. Tylor's words in speaking of savage religions\ngenerally, \"Far from its beliefs and practices being a rubbish heap\nof miscellaneous folly, they are consistent and logical in so high a\ndegree as to begin, as soon as even roughly classified, to display the\nprinciples of their formation and development; and these principles\nprove to be essentially rational, though working in a mental condition\nof intense and inveterate ignorance.\" [863]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY.\n\n\n\"Academy,\" the, London, v.d.\n\n\"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" translation by Professor Blochmann and Colonel Jarrett,\nCalcutta, v.d.\n\n\"Asiatic Quarterly Review,\" London, v.d.\n\n\"Asiatic Researches,\" Calcutta, v.d.\n\n\"Athen\u00e6um,\" London, v.d.\n\nAtkinson, E. T., \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" 3 vols., Allahabad, 1882-84.\n\nAubrey, J., \"Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme,\" edited by\nJ. 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C., \"Proper Names of Panj\u00e2bis,\" Bombay, 1883.\n\nTemple, R. C., \"Wideawake Stories,\" Bombay, 1884.\n\nTennent, Sir J. E., \"Ceylon,\" 2nd edition, 2 vols., 1859.\n\nThomas, E., \"Chronicles of the Path\u00e2n Kings of Delhi,\" London, 1871.\n\n\"Thugs, Illustrations of the History and Practices of the,\" London,\n1837.\n\nTod, J., \"Annals and Antiquities of R\u00e2jasth\u00e2n,\" 2 vols., Calcutta,\n1884.\n\nTrumbull, H. C., \"The Blood Covenant,\" London, 1887.\n\nTylor, E. B., \"Researches into the Early History of Mankind,\"\nLondon, 1865.\n\nTylor, E. B., \"Primitive Culture,\" 2 vols., London, 1873.\n\n\nWake, C. S., \"Serpent-worship,\" London, 1888.\n\nWard, W., \"View of the History, Literature, and Religion of the\nHindus,\" Madras, 1863.\n\nWestropp, H. M., \"Primitive Symbolism,\" London, 1885.\n\nWheeler, J. T., \"History of India,\" 3 vols., London, 1867-74.\n\nWhitney, W. D., \"Oriental and Linguistic Studies,\" New York, 1873.\n\nWilde, Lady, \"Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of\nIreland,\" London, 1888.\n\nWilliams, Sir Monier, \"Sanskrit-English Dictionary,\" Oxford, 1872.\n\nWilliams, Sir Monier, \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 4th edition,\nLondon, 1891.\n\nWilson, J., \"Indian Caste,\" 2 vols., Bombay, 1877.\n\nWilson, H. H., \"Works,\" 12 vols., London, 1862-71.\n\nWilson, H. H., \"Vishnu Pur\u00e2na,\" London, 1840.\n\nWilson, J., \"Karn\u00e2l Settlement Report,\" Lahore, 1886.\n\nWright, D., \"History of Nep\u00e2l,\" Cambridge, 1877.\n\nWright, F. N., \"Memorandum on the Agriculture of Cawnpur,\" Allahabad,\n1877.\n\n\nYule, H., \"The Book of Ser Marco Polo,\" 2 vols., London, 1871.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] For some of the literature of the Evil Eye see Tylor, \"Early\nHistory,\" 134; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 187\nsq.; Westropp, \"Primitive Symbolism,\" 58 sqq.; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of\nNorth-East Scotland,\" 8.\n\n[2] \"Natural History,\" vii. 2.\n\n[3] Ibbetson, \"Panj\u00e2b Ethnography,\" 117.\n\n[4] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 24.\n\n[5] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 207.\n\n[6] On this see valuable notes by W. Cockburn in \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and\nQueries,\" i. 14.\n\n[7] For many lists of such names see Temple, \"Proper Names of\nPanj\u00e2bis,\" 22 sqq.; \"Indian Antiquary,\" viii. 321 sq.; x. 321 sq.;\n\"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i.26, 51; iii. 9.\n\n[8] Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 35.\n\n[9] \"Folk-lore,\" iii. 85.\n\n[10] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 20.\n\n[11] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 273; Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 242;\nLubbock, \"Origin of Civilization,\" 243; Farrer, \"Primitive Manners,\"\n119 sq.\n\n[12] \"Notes,\" 400.\n\n[13] Cunningham, \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" vii. 6.\n\n[14] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 179.\n\n[15] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" v. 45 sq.\n\n[16] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 147.\n\n[17] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 42.\n\n[18] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 53.\n\n[19] Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 7.\n\n[20] Brand, \"Observations,\" 753.\n\n[21] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 184.\n\n[22] \"Notes,\" 34.\n\n[23] Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 5, 60, 62.\n\n[24] Reg. vs. Lalla, \"Niz\u00e2mat Ad\u00e2lat Reports,\" 22nd September, 1853.\n\n[25] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" ii. 281.\n\n[26] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 154.\n\n[27] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 386, 575; ii. 64.\n\n[28] Brand, \"Observations,\" 339.\n\n[29] \"Primitive Manners,\" 293.\n\n[30] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 181.\n\n[31] \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 264.\n\n[32] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" v. 123; and for another instance, see Jarrett,\n\"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" ii. 197.\n\n[33] L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\" 108 sqq.; Wilson, \"Indian Caste,\"\nii. 174.\n\n[34] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 69.\n\n[35] Brand, \"Observations,\" 344, 733.\n\n[36] v. 21.\n\n[37] For further examples see Campbell, \"Notes,\" 126 sqq.\n\n[38] Temple, \"Wideawake Stories,\" 83; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\"\ni.478.\n\n[39] Cunningham, \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" vii. 50.\n\n[40] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 119.\n\n[41] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 53.\n\n[42] Brand, \"Observations,\" 733.\n\n[43] \"Anatomy of Melancholy,\" 434.\n\n[44] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 146;\nLeland. \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 267.\n\n[45] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 213.\n\n[46] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 67.\n\n[47] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 49 sq.\n\n[48] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 115, 270, 272.\n\n[49] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i. 51.\n\n[50] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. 209.\n\n[51] Brand, \"Observations,\" 166.\n\n[52] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 260, 279; Hartland, \"Legend\nof Perseus,\" ii. 258 sqq.\n\n[53] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 358, 361.\n\n[54] Brand, loc. cit., 724.\n\n[55] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 131; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 439.\n\n[56] Brand, loc. cit., 668.\n\n[57] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 198.\n\n[58] Schrader, \"Prehistoric Antiquities,\" 163 sqq.\n\n[59] Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 45; Lady Wilde,\n\"Legends,\" 205.\n\n[60] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 292; Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 446, 553; Campbell,\n\"Popular Tales,\" Introduction, lxx.; ii. 98; Hartland, \"Legend of\nPerseus,\" i. 37.\n\n[61] Brand, \"Observations,\" 355.\n\n[62] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" i. 125.\n\n[63] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xii. 117.\n\n[64] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 95.\n\n[65] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 261, 321.\n\n[66] Brand, \"Observations,\" 58.\n\n[67] Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" ii. 289.\n\n[68] Dalton, loc. cit., 261.\n\n[69] \"Settlement Report,\" 274.\n\n[70] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 29.\n\n[71] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 92.\n\n[72] Growse, \"R\u00e2m\u00e2yana,\" 99.\n\n[73] Frazer, \"Totemism,\" 26 sq.\n\n[74] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 157, 161, 191, 219, 251.\n\n[75] Bholan\u00e2th Chandra, \"Travels of a Hindu,\" i. 326; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes\nand Queries,\" i. 27, 99; Farrer, \"Primitive Manners,\" 125.\n\n[76] Campbell, \"Notes,\" p. 134.\n\n[77] Yule, \"Marco Polo,\" ii. 69,99; Herodotus, v. 6; and for the\nDacians, Pliny, \"Natural History,\" vii. 10; xxii. 2.\n\n[78] Loc. cit., ii. 218.\n\n[79] Hislop, \"Papers,\" ii., note; Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 292.\n\n[80] Brand, \"Observations,\" 399. For the Indian versions of Cinderella\nand her shoe, see \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 102, 121.\n\n[81] \"Legend of Perseus,\" i. 171.\n\n[82] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 409.\n\n[83] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 105.\n\n[84] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 86.\n\n[85] Brand, \"Observations,\" 335.\n\n[86] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 91, quoting Chambers, \"Book of Days,\" 720.\n\n[87] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 93.\n\n[88] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iv. 132; Campbell, \"Notes,\" 284.\n\n[89] Brand, \"Observations,\" 121.\n\n[90] Brand, \"Observations,\" 598.\n\n[91] Rhys, \"Lectures.\" 348; Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\" 489; Grimm,\n\"Household Tales,\" ii. 429; Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" i. 12.\n\n[92] Knowles, \"Folk-lore of Kashm\u00eer,\" 333.\n\n[93] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 283.\n\n[94] Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 254, note, 301.\n\n[95] \"History of Indian Architecture,\" 57 sqq.; Cunningham,\n\"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" ii. 87; xvi. 8 sqq.\n\n[96] Monier-Williams, \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 203.\n\n[97] Aubrey, \"Remaines,\" 57.\n\n[98] \"Notes,\" 177.\n\n[99] Westropp, \"Primitive Symbolism,\" 58 sqq., 61 sqq.\n\n[100] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xviii. 473, 426.\n\n[101] \"Settlement Report,\" 59 sqq.\n\n[102] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 383, note, 411, note.\n\n[103] Campbell, \"Notes.\" 251.\n\n[104] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 44.\n\n[105] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 186.\n\n[106] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 75; Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 110; Brand,\n\"Observations,\" 754.\n\n[107] Lady Wilde, loc. cit., 79.\n\n[108] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 337; ii. 233, 358.\n\n[109] ii. 279.\n\n[110] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 61.\n\n[111] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 457; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 169.\n\n[112] Brand, \"Observations,\" 359.\n\n[113] Trumbull, \"Blood Covenant,\" 65; Lubbock, \"Origin\nof Civilization,\" 25; Tylor, \"Early History,\" 128 sq.; Jones,\n\"Finger-ring Lore,\" 91 sqq.\n\n[114] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 23.\n\n[115] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 61; ii. 80; Lane, \"Arabian\nNights,\" i. 9.\n\n[116] Miss Frere, \"Old Deccan Days,\" 230, 236.\n\n[117] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 467.\n\n[118] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. 49; Tawney, loc. cit., i. 300.\n\n[119] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of Northern Counties,\" 155; Gregor,\n\"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 145.\n\n[120] \"Notes and Queries,\" i. ser. iv. 500.\n\n[121] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 259.\n\n[122] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 195, 197, 199.\n\n[123] \"Settlement Report,\" 278, 286.\n\n[124] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 15.\n\n[125] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 415; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern\nCounties,\" 20.\n\n[126] Knowles, \"Folk-tales of Kashm\u00eer,\" 71; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit\nS\u00e2gara,\" i. 340.\n\n[127] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes.\" i. 173, 315.\n\n[128] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 168.\n\n[129] Risley, loc. cit., i. 425.\n\n[130] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 576, quoting Lenormant,\n\"Chaldean Magic and Sorcery,\" 141; Ralston, \"Songs of the Russian\nPeople,\" 288.\n\n[131] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 60.\n\n[132] Harland, \"Science of Fairy Tales,\" 79 sqq.\n\n[133] Growse, 146.\n\n[134] \"Primitive Culture,\" i. 120.\n\n[135] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 151.\n\n[136] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 48; Lady Wilde,\n\"Legends,\" 146 sqq.\n\n[137] L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Govinda S\u00e2manta,\" i. 12.\n\n[138] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 66. It has been suggested that\nthe idea arose from the Sanskrit word sasin, meaning \"hare-marked\"\nor \"the moon\"; but this seems rather putting the cart before\nthe horse. Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 125; Gubernatis, \"Zoological\nMythology,\" ii. 8; Aubrey, \"Remaines,\" 20, 109.\n\n[139] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" vi. 126; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East\nScotland,\" 128; Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 179.\n\n[140] Tod, \"Annals,\" ii. 577 sq.\n\n[141] Malcolm, \"Central India,\" i. 253, note.\n\n[142] Tawney, loc cit., ii. 128.\n\n[143] Blochmann, \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" i. 91.\n\n[144] \"Annals,\" i. 694.\n\n[145] Malcolm, \"Central India,\" i. 12, note.\n\n[146] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 137, 207; ii. 28; iii. 18;\n\"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i. 15, 87, 137.\n\n[147] Growse, \"Mathura,\" 128.\n\n[148] Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 200 sq.\n\n[149] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 15.\n\n[150] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 379; \"Contemporary Review,\"\nxlviii. 108; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 206.\n\n[151] Monier-Williams, \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 293.\n\n[152] Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 153.\n\n[153] Gregor, loc. cit., 206; Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 53; Farrer,\n\"Primitive Manners,\" 23.\n\n[154] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xii. 107; Campbell, \"Notes,\" 394.\n\n[155] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. 34.\n\n[156] Brand, \"Observations,\" 450.\n\n[157] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 219.\n\n[158] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 155.\n\n[159] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 401.\n\n[160] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 260.\n\n[161] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 10; iii. 90.\n\n[162] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 257.\n\n[163] \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 832; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\"\nii. 126; Wilson, \"Essays,\" ii. 292; Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\"\ni. 147.\n\n[164] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. 19.\n\n[165] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 83.\n\n[166] \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 49.\n\n[167] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" i. 154.\n\n[168] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" viii. 159.\n\n[169] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 83.\n\n[170] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 14, 271; Tawney,\n\"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 305, 546; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 194\nsq; \"Contemporary Review,\" xlviii. 113; Grierson, \"Beh\u00e2r Peasant Life,\"\n388; \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 26, 294.\n\n[171] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xii. 109; \"Illustrations of the History\nand Practices of the Thags,\" 9.\n\n[172] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. 75.\n\n[173] \"Notes,\" 214, 473.\n\n[174] \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 264.\n\n[175] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 202 sq.\n\n[176] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 360.\n\n[177] \"Settlement Report,\" 263 sq.\n\n[178] Hislop, \"Papers,\" 19.\n\n[179] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 274.\n\n[180] \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 161.\n\n[181] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 12; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\"\nii. 33 sq.\n\n[182] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 7; iii. 17; Campbell,\n\"Notes,\" 495.\n\n[183] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" i. 196.\n\n[184] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" iii. 220.\n\n[185] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 281.\n\n[186] \"Legend of Perseus,\" ii. 320.\n\n[187] Temple, \"Wide-awake Tales,\" 414; \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\ni. Introduction xix.; \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 236; Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\"\n504; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i. 341; Campbell, \"Sant\u00e2l Folk-tales,\"\n16; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 382.\n\n[188] Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 157, 206; Tylor,\n\"Primitive Culture,\" i. 482; Lubbock, \"Origin of Civilization,\" 37;\nFarrer, \"Primitive Manners,\" 21 sq.\n\n[189] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 49.\n\n[190] \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 205.\n\n[191] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 118, 140.\n\n[192] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xii. 118; \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 245.\n\n[193] \"Travels in the Him\u00e2laya,\" i. 342.\n\n[194] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 126, 174, 395; ii. 71; \"Bombay\nGazetteer,\" xiii. 187; Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 218.\n\n[195] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 82.\n\n[196] Brand, \"Observations,\" 519.\n\n[197] Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 152.\n\n[198] Risley, loc. cit., ii. 326.\n\n[199] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 204 sq.\n\n[200] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 57.\n\n[201] Ibid., 199.\n\n[202] Ibid., 398.\n\n[203] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 310.\n\n[204] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 345.\n\n[205] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 35.\n\n[206] \"Remaines,\" 95; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\"\n57.\n\n[207] Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 213.\n\n[208] Frazer, \"Contemporary Review,\" xlviii. 117; Spencer, \"Principles\nof Sociology,\" i. 195.\n\n[209] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 334.\n\n[210] Numbers xix. 15.\n\n[211] \"Annals,\" ii. 542.\n\n[212] Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 402; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\"\ni. 380.\n\n[213] Lane, \"Arabian Nights,\" i. 71; L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\"\n198, 274.\n\n[214] Brand, \"Observations,\" 435.\n\n[215] L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales of Bengal,\" 198, 206; \"Govinda\nS\u00e2manta,\" i. 135; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 199.\n\n[216] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 286.\n\n[217] \"Notes,\" 165.\n\n[218] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 25.\n\n[219] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 229; ii. 116; Tylor, \"Primitive\nCulture,\" i. 476; ii. 148, 215.\n\n[220] Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 338, 511.\n\n[221] \"Notes,\" 146 sq.\n\n[222] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 337, 204; ii. 427, 83.\n\n[223] Temple, \"Wide-awake Stories,\" 317; \"Indian Antiquary,\" xi. 260\nsq.; Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 163.\n\n[224] As if from Jaksh, \"to eat;\" a more probable derivation is Yaksh,\n\"to move,\" \"to worship.\"\n\n[225] Spencer Hardy, \"Manual of Buddhism,\" 269; Conway, \"Demonology,\"\ni. 151 sq.\n\n[226] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" v. 133, 236.\n\n[227] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 17.\n\n[228] \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" iii. 117.\n\n[229] Ibid., ii. 833; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 56.\n\n[230] Ganga Datt, \"Folk-lore,\" 71.\n\n[231] Aubrey, \"Remaines,\" 59; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern\nCounties,\" 263.\n\n[232] Ghoghar in Bombay takes the form of a native seaman or Lascar,\n\"Bombay Gazetteer,\" iv. 343.\n\n[233] Jacobs, \"English Fairy Tales.\"\n\n[234] \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 359.\n\n[235] \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 221, 89.\n\n[236] \"Golden Bough,\" i. 39.\n\n[237] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 56, 40, 43, 283; Hislop,\n\"Papers,\" 10.\n\n[238] \"Brihatsanhita,\" Rajendra L\u00e2la Mitra, \"Indo-Aryans,\" i. 245.\n\n[239] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 225.\n\n[240] Forlong, \"Rivers of Life;\" Westropp, \"Primitive Symbolism.\"\n\n[241] Groome, \"Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica,\" s.v. \"Gypsies.\"\n\n[242] \"Calcutta Review,\" xxvi. 512.\n\n[243] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 174; ii. 181, 592, 286.\n\n[244] Ibid., ii. 270.\n\n[245] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 123; Grimm, \"Household\nTales,\" ii. 429.\n\n[246] Ibid., ii. 142.\n\n[247] Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 596.\n\n[248] Temple, \"Wide-awake Stories,\" 413.\n\n[249] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 184; Grimm, loc. cit., ii. 428.\n\n[250] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 153; ii. 387, 460.\n\n[251] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 467.\n\n[252] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 304; \"North Indian Notes and\nQueries,\" i. 4, 37; \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" ii. 355.\n\n[253] \"Golden Bough,\" i. 61.\n\n[254] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 112.\n\n[255] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 129, 132, 141, 186, 188.\n\n[256] Hislop, \"Papers,\" 20.\n\n[257] \"Ber\u00e2r Gazetteer,\" 29, 31.\n\n[258] Growse, \"Mathura,\" 70, 76 sqq., 83, 420, 470, 458.\n\n[259] \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" iii. 47.\n\n[260] Moorcroft, \"Travels,\" i. 211.\n\n[261] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 16.\n\n[262] Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 315 sq.; Farrer, \"Primitive Manners,\"\n309; Sir W. Scott, \"Letters on Demonology,\" 79; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of\nNorth-East Scotland,\" 116, 179; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern\nCounties,\" 278.\n\n[263] \"Oudh Gazetteer,\" i. 566; F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\"\n304. See instances collected by Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\"\nii. 35 sqq.\n\n[264] Henderson, loc. cit., 273.\n\n[265] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 221 sq.\n\n[266] \"Calcutta Review,\" lxix. 364 sq.\n\n[267] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 237.\n\n[268] Haug, \"Aitareya Br\u00e2hmanam,\" ii. 486 sq.\n\n[269] Cunningham, \"Bhilsa Topes,\" 24; \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\"\ni. 5 sq.; Ferguson, \"Eastern Architecture,\" 69; F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental\nAntiquities,\" 127.\n\n[270] \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 783.\n\n[271] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 238.\n\n[272] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 611.\n\n[273] See instances collected by Wake, \"Serpent Worship,\" 18.\n\n[274] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 293.\n\n[275] Ibbetson, \"Panj\u00e2b Ethnography,\" 118; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\"\nii. 55; O'Brien, \"Mult\u00e2ni Glossary,\" 82.\n\n[276] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 74; Elliot, \"Supplementary\nGlossary,\" 26.\n\n[277] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 148, 281, 283; Rousselet,\n\"India and its Native Princes,\" 369 sq.\n\n[278] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 162.\n\n[279] Sleeman, \"Rambles and Recollections,\" ii. 18; Tylor, \"Primitive\nCulture,\" ii. 225.\n\n[280] \"Quarterly Review,\" cxiv. 226; \"Folk-lore,\" iii. 88.\n\n[281] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 420.\n\n[282] Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\" i. 473.\n\n[283] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 234.\n\n[284] Mullaly, \"Notes on Madras Criminal Tribes,\" 20.\n\n[285] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 38.\n\n[286] i. 287.\n\n[287] Ward, \"Hindus,\" ii. 13, quoted by Campbell, \"Notes,\" 229.\n\n[288] L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\" 280.\n\n[289] Campbell, loc. cit., 229.\n\n[290] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 207.\n\n[291] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 189.\n\n[292] \"Sirsa Settlement Report,\" 154.\n\n[293] Wilson, \"Works,\" iii. 68.\n\n[294] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 248.\n\n[295] Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 359.\n\n[296] Kelly, \"Curiosities,\" 159; Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 126;\nGubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 225; Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\"\n274; Brand, \"Observations,\" 616.\n\n[297] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 439.\n\n[298] Campbell, \"Sant\u00e2l Folk-tales,\" 54.\n\n[299] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 239.\n\n[300] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 109, 220, 234.\n\n[301] Campbell, loc. cit., 232.\n\n[302] Ibbetson, \"Panj\u00e2b Ethnography,\" 119.\n\n[303] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 42; \"North Indian Notes and\nQueries,\" ii. 27.\n\n[304] \"Eastern India,\" iii. 555.\n\n[305] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 151 sq.\n\n[306] \"Notes,\" 461.\n\n[307] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" vii. 61.\n\n[308] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. 201.\n\n[309] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 194.\n\n[310] Ibid., 319.\n\n[311] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 912.\n\n[312] Wright, \"History of Nep\u00e2l,\" 33.\n\n[313] \"Settlement Report,\" 38.\n\n[314] \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" x. 177.\n\n[315] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 15.\n\n[316] \"Settlement Report,\" 167.\n\n[317] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" iii. 221.\n\n[318] Oppert, \"Original Inhabitants,\" 73.\n\n[319] \"Totemism,\" 33 sqq.\n\n[320] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 250.\n\n[321] Manning, \"Ancient India,\" ii. 330 sq.; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit\nS\u00e2gara,\" i. 185.\n\n[322] \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 239.\n\n[323] Monier-Williams, \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 319 sqq.\n\n[324] Wheeler, \"History of India,\" i. 148; \"Gazetteer Central\nProvinces,\" lxiii.; lxxii.; Campbell, \"Notes,\" 269; Ferguson, \"Tree\nand Serpent Worship,\" Appendix D; Elliot, \"Supplementary Glossary,\"\ns.v. \"Gaur Taga\"; Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 38; Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan\nGazetteer,\" ii. 280 sqq., 297; Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\ni. 414 sq.\n\n[325] Bhekal N\u00e2g is perhaps the Sanskrit bheka, \"frog.\" It has been\nsuggested that the gypsy Beng or Devil is connected with Bheka, and\nthus allied to serpent-worship (Groome, \"Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica,\"\nArt. \"Gypsies\"). Sir G. Cox (\"Introduction,\" 87, note) makes out\nBheki, or \"the squatting frog,\" to be an old name for the sun. For\nthe Him\u00e2layan snake shrines see Atkinson, loc. cit., ii. 374 sq.\n\n[326] Oldham, \"Contemporary Review,\" April, 1885.\n\n[327] Oldfield, \"Sketches,\" ii. 204; Wright, \"History,\" 85.\n\n[328] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 173, 544.\n\n[329] \"Calcutta Review,\" li. 304 sq.; liv. 25 sq.; Ferguson, \"Eastern\nArchitecture,\" 289; \"Central Provinces Gazetteer,\" 86.\n\n[330] Tawney, loc. cit. i. 577.\n\n[331] Ibid., i. 312; ii. 225.\n\n[332] \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" vii. 4.\n\n[333] \"Settlement Report,\" 121.\n\n[334] Beal, \"Travels of Fah Hian,\" 67 sq.\n\n[335] \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" i. 274.\n\n[336] Wright, \"History of Nep\u00e2l,\" 85, 141.\n\n[337] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 289;\n\"Gloucestershire Folk-lore,\" 23.\n\n[338] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 144.\n\n[339] Beal, loc. cit., 90.\n\n[340] \"Eastern India,\" ii. 149.\n\n[341] Growse, \"Mathura,\" 55, 58.\n\n[342] Ibid., 71.\n\n[343] \"Reports,\" xxi. 2, \"Academy,\" 23rd April, 1887.\n\n[344] Sherring, \"Sacred City,\" 75, 87 sqq.; F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental\nAntiquities,\" 211. For weather snakes see Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\"\ni. 438.\n\n[345] \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 323.\n\n[346] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 32, 55, 538; ii. 568.\n\n[347] Gangadatta, \"Folk-lore of Kumaun,\" Introduction, vii.\n\n[348] Ibbetson, \"Panj\u00e2b Ethnography,\" 114; \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\ni. 426.\n\n[349] \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 345; Gubernatis, \"Zoological\nMythology,\" ii. 407 sq.; Wake, \"Serpent-worship,\" 105; Tylor,\n\"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 240.\n\n[350] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 132.\n\n[351] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i. 2.\n\n[352] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 777 sqq.\n\n[353] Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i. 127; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\"\nii. 405; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 454; Jacobs, \"English\nFairy Tales,\" 207, 251.\n\n[354] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" ii. 407; Clouston, loc. cit.,\ni. 126.\n\n[355] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 91.\n\n[356] Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 353 sq.\n\n[357] Miss Frere, \"Old Deccan Tales,\" 33; L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\"\n19.\n\n[358] \"Oriental Memoirs,\" ii. 19, 385.\n\n[359] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 492.\n\n[360] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 182.\n\n[361] Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 99; Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\ni. Introduction, xv.; \"Wideawake Stories,\" 193, 331.\n\n[362] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 851.\n\n[363] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 614; Wright, \"History,\" 37.\n\n[364] Rousselet, \"India and its Native Princes,\" 28.\n\n[365] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 75.\n\n[366] \"Eastern India,\" ii. 481.\n\n[367] Grierson, \"Bih\u00e2r Peasant Life,\" 405; \"Maithili Chrestomathy,\"\n23 sqq., where examples of the songs are given; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and\nQueries,\" iii. 38.\n\n[368] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 836.\n\n[369] \"Settlement Report,\" 120 sq.\n\n[370] \"Natural History,\" xxxvii. 10.\n\n[371] \"Gazetteer,\" xi. 36.\n\n[372] \"Popular Tales,\" ii. 385.\n\n[373] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 28.\n\n[374] Hardy, \"Manual of Buddhism,\" 146.\n\n[375] \"Oudh Gazetteer,\" i. 597.\n\n[376] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i. 15.\n\n[377] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 564; ii. 315.\n\n[378] Temple, \"Wideawake Stories,\" 304, 424; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and\nQueries,\" i. 15, 76.\n\n[379] Sleeman, \"Rambles,\" i. 42; Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 354.\n\n[380] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 92, 59.\n\n[381] \"Remaines,\" 39. He perhaps refers to Tavernier, \"Travels,\"\nBall's Edition), i. 42; ii. 249.\n\n[382] \"Custom and Myth,\" ii. 197.\n\n[383] Frazer, \"Totemism,\" 1; and his article on \"Totemism,\" in\n\"Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica,\" 9th Edition.\n\n[384] \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 367.\n\n[385] \"Origin of Civilization,\" 260, and Mr. Frazer's criticism,\nloc. cit.\n\n[386] \"Tribes and Castes,\" Introduction.\n\n[387] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" i. 13, note.\n\n[388] Robertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\" 17.\n\n[389] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 90.\n\n[390] Quoted by McLennan, \"Fortnightly Review,\" 1869, p. 419.\n\n[391] O'Brien, \"Mult\u00e2ni Glossary,\" 260 sq.\n\n[392] \"Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh,\"\ns.v.v.\n\n[393] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 254; Risley, \"Tribes and\nCastes,\" ii. 327.\n\n[394] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 91.\n\n[395] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 95.\n\n[396] \"Dissertation on the Proper Names of Panj\u00e2bis,\" 155 sq.\n\n[397] \"Totemism,\" 3 sqq.\n\n[398] Yule, \"Marco Polo,\" i. 52.\n\n[399] Hardy, \"Manual of Buddhism,\" 251.\n\n[400] Max M\u00fcller, \"Ancient Sanskrit Literature,\" 290.\n\n[401] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 10; ii. 215; iii. 144; Ball,\n\"Jungle Life,\" 455 sqq.\n\n[402] Dalton \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 126, 162, 165 sq., 179, 185,\n209, 231, 265.\n\n[403] \"Jungle Life,\" 600.\n\n[404] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 7.\n\n[405] \"R\u00e2jput\u00e2na Gazetteer,\" i. 223.\n\n[406] Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 508.\n\n[407] Dalton, loc. cit., 327.\n\n[408] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" Introduction, xlvii.\n\n[409] Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 27; \"Herodotus,\" ii. 73.\n\n[410] Dalton, loc. cit., 131, note; Ball, loc. cit., 89;\nRobertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\" 306 sq.\n\n[411] \"Ber\u00e2r Gazetteer,\" 187.\n\n[412] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 8 sqq.\n\n[413] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" ii. 68; and see Lang,\n\"Custom and Myth,\" 113.\n\n[414] Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 144.\n\n[415] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 599.\n\n[416] Gubernatis, loc. cit., ii. 13.\n\n[417] \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 26 sqq., 58.\n\n[418] \"Asiatic Studies,\" 264.\n\n[419] \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" vi. 137.\n\n[420] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 88.\n\n[421] \"Tribes and Castes,\" ii. Appendix; Dalton, loc. cit., 162,\nnote, 213, 254.\n\n[422] Lyall, \"Asiatic Studies,\" 9 sq.\n\n[423] Ferrier, \"Caravan Journey,\" 186.\n\n[424] Muir, \"Ancient Sanskrit Texts,\" v. 425 sq.; L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea,\n\"Folk-tales of Bengal,\" 193 sq., 277; Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\n48 sqq.; \"Wideawake Stories,\" 277 sqq.; Campbell, \"Popular Tales,\"\ni. 2; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 323; and for fidelity tests,\nGrimm, \"Household Tales,\" i. 453; Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 601; Clouston,\n\"Popular Romances,\" i. 43, 173.\n\n[425] Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" i. 352, note; \"Wideawake Stories,\"\n419 sqq.; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iv. 201; Knowles, \"Folk-tales of\nKashm\u00eer,\" 192; Tawney, loc. cit., i. 123; Grimm, loc. cit., ii. 400;\nHunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 178.\n\n[426] Also see Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 206; Lang, \"Custom and Myth,\" 52.\n\n[427] \"Notes,\" 163.\n\n[428] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 418.\n\n[429] \"Modern Egyptians,\" i. 325.\n\n[430] \"Popular Romances,\" 177.\n\n[431] \"Popular Romances,\" 412, 415.\n\n[432] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 173.\n\n[433] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xi. 56; xvii. 698.\n\n[434] Robertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\" 49; Lubbock, \"Origin of\nCivilization,\" 306; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 164; Conway,\n\"Demonology,\" ii. 284.\n\n[435] Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 268; Lang, \"Custom and\nMyth,\" i. 270.\n\n[436] \"Indo-Aryans,\" ii. 70 sqq.; \"Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,\"\n1876; Max M\u00fcller, \"Ancient Sanskrit Literature,\" 408 sq.; Muir,\n\"Ancient Sanskrit Texts,\" i., ii., passim; Wilson, \"Rig Veda,\"\ni. 59, 63; \"Essays,\" ii. 247 sqq.; Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\"\nii. 800, 867.\n\n[437] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 336; ii. 253, 338; Temple,\n\"Wideawake Stories,\" 147; L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\" 194; Miss Frere,\n\"Old Deccan Days,\" 6; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 111, 129;\niii. 105.\n\n[438] Burton, \"Arabian Nights,\" iv. 376.\n\n[439] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 212; ii. 616.\n\n[440] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 65.\n\n[441] Ibid., ii. 22.\n\n[442] \"Central India,\" ii. 210.\n\n[443] Campbell, \"Khondist\u00e2n,\" passim; Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" i. 384\nsqq.; \"R\u00e2jput\u00e2na Gazetteer,\" ii. 47; Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\"\n130, 147, 176, 285 sq., 281.\n\n[444] Chevers, \"Medical Jurisprudence,\" 406, 411.\n\n[445] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 339: Wilson, \"Indian Caste,\" ii. 22 sq.;\n\"Bombay Gazetteer,\" x. 114.\n\n[446] Wright, \"History,\" 11, note.\n\n[447] Ball, \"Jungle Life,\" 580.\n\n[448] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 112, 148. And for other\ninstances, see Balfour, \"Cyclop\u00e6dia,\" iii. 477 sqq.\n\n[449] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 75.\n\n[450] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 157, 214.\n\n[451] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 2.\n\n[452] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 294; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\"\ni. 396; Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" i. 98.\n\n[453] \"Report Inspector-General Police, N.-W.P., 1870,\" page 93;\n\"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 205; iii. 74, 162; Chevers, \"Medical\nJurisprudence,\" 842, 396; Campbell, \"Notes,\" 338.\n\n[454] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 148; iii. 71.\n\n[455] Robertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\" 48 sq.\n\n[456] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 456; Dalton, \"Descriptive\nEthnology,\" 220.\n\n[457] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 260.\n\n[458] \"North Indian Notes and Queries.\" iii. 40.\n\n[459] Ibid., 106.\n\n[460] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" ii. 349; xiv. 49.\n\n[461] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 194.\n\n[462] For similar instances see \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" v. 98;\n\"Bombay Gazetteer,\" xx. 144; \"Folk-lore Records,\" iii. Part II. 182;\n\"Oudh Gazetteer,\" iii. 253; \"Indian Antiquary,\" xi. 117; \"Calcutta\nReview,\" lxxvii. 106; L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\" 130; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes\nand Queries,\" iii. 110; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 27,\n63, 93; Campbell, \"Sant\u00e2l Folk-tales,\" 106.\n\n[463] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" iv. 276.\n\n[464] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 348.\n\n[465] \"Settlement Report,\" 126.\n\n[466] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 146, 281; Risley, \"Tribes and\nCastes,\" i. 115.\n\n[467] Wright, \"History,\" 35 sq., 156, note, 126, 205, 265.\n\n[468] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 594.\n\n[469] Ibid., i. 306.\n\n[470] Yule, \"Marco Polo,\" ii. 165.\n\n[471] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 54, 200 sqq.\n\n[472] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 190.\n\n[473] Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\" 485; Knowles, \"Kashm\u00eer Tales,\" 199;\nClouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i. 88; Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 241; Tawney,\n\"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 612.\n\n[474] \"Folk-lore Record,\" iii. Part II. 283. For the commonplace\nMomi\u00e2\u00ee which is used as an application by women before parturition,\nsee Watt's \"Dictionary of Economic Products,\" ii. 115.\n\n[475] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 284.\n\n[476] Buchanan, \"Eastern India,\" i. 526.\n\n[477] \"Oudh Gazetteer,\" i. 303; ii. 415.\n\n[478] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 311, note, 792 sq.\n\n[479] \"Oudh Gazetteer,\" i. 61.\n\n[480] \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 282.\n\n[481] Macaulay, \"Battle of Lake Regillus,\" Introduction.\n\n[482] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 220.\n\n[483] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 2.\n\n[484] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 30.\n\n[485] Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 193.\n\n[486] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 427.\n\n[487] Forbes, \"Wanderings of a Naturalist,\" 103.\n\n[488] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 165; Brand,\n\"Observations,\" 621.\n\n[489] \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 109 sq., 310; Tylor, \"Primitive\nCulture,\" i. 353.\n\n[490] \"Asiatic Studies,\" 16.\n\n[491] \"Illustrations of the History and Practice of the Thags.\" 46 sqq.\n\n[492] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 615; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 221.\n\n[493] Oldfield, \"Sketches,\" 344, 352.\n\n[494] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 54.\n\n[495] Wilson, \"Essays,\" ii. 188; Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 16,\n67, 93, 451.\n\n[496] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 9.\n\n[497] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 20 sq., 93.\n\n[498] Tod, \"Annals,\" ii. 320.\n\n[499] Habakkuk i. 16; Isaiah xxi. 5.\n\n[500] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 400; Brand, \"Observations,\" 209, 773;\nAubrey, \"Remaines,\" 25.\n\n[501] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 116.\n\n[502] Grimm, \"Teutonic Mythology,\" 934; Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\"\nii. 164.\n\n[503] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 187, note, 247.\n\n[504] \"Idylls,\" iii. 31.\n\n[505] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 52; Gregor,\n\"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 43, 92.\n\n[506] Dalton, loc. cit., 218.\n\n[507] \"Academy,\" 23rd July, 1887; \"Gentleman's Magazine,\" July, 1887;\nHenderson, loc. cit., 233; Brand, \"Observations,\" 233; Lady Wilde,\n\"Legends,\" 207.\n\n[508] Brand, \"Observations,\" 354.\n\n[509] \"Calcutta Review,\" xviii. 60.\n\n[510] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 157; ii. 293.\n\n[511] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 53.\n\n[512] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 202; Leland, \"Etruscan Roman\nRemains,\" 79.\n\n[513] \"Calcutta Review,\" xviii. 51.\n\n[514] Cox, \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\" ii. 119, note.\n\n[515] Chambers, \"Book of Days,\" i. 94 sq.\n\n[516] Dalton, loc. cit., 252, 258.\n\n[517] \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 277.\n\n[518] \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 158, 273.\n\n[519] \"Tribes and Castes of the N.-W. P. and Oudh,\" s. v. \"Agnihotri.\"\n\n[520] Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 547.\n\n[521] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 322.\n\n[522] Oldfield, \"Sketches,\" ii. 242; Wright, \"History,\" 35; and compare\nPrescott, \"Peru,\" i. chap. 3; Lubbock, \"Origin of Civilization,\" 312.\n\n[523] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 126.\n\n[524] Abul Fazl appears to have confused S\u00fbraj Sankr\u00e2nti or the\nentrance of the sun into a constellation with S\u00fbrya-K\u00e2nta or\n\"sun-beloved,\" the sun-crystal or lens, which gives out heat when\nexposed to the rays of the sun.\n\n[525] Blochmann, \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" i. 48.\n\n[526] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 103.\n\n[527] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 359.\n\n[528] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 92.\n\n[529] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 199.\n\n[530] Hugel, \"Travels,\" quoted by Jarrett, \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" ii. 314.\n\n[531] \"Settlement Report,\" 121.\n\n[532] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 117; Hunt, \"Popular\nRomances,\" 81; Campbell, \"Popular Tales,\" ii. 82.\n\n[533] Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 225.\n\n[534] Rajendra L\u00e2la Mitra, \"Indo-Aryans,\" i. 146.\n\n[535] Ferguson, \"Tree and Serpent Worship,\" 88; \"History of Indian\nArchitecture,\" 60; Cunningham, \"Bhilsa Topes,\" 9; Spencer, \"Principles\nof Sociology,\" i. 254 sq.\n\n[536] \"Central Provinces Gazetteer,\" 63; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\"\nii. 8; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 93.\n\n[537] iv. 82.\n\n[538] Monier-Williams, \"Hinduism and Br\u00e2hmanism,\" 309.\n\n[539] Tennent, \"Ceylon, ii. 132; Ferguson, \"Indian Architecture,\"\n184, with engraving; Tylor, \"Early History,\" 116.\n\n[540] \"Oudh Gazetteer,\" ii. 370.\n\n[541] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 342; ii. 135, 230, 302, 363;\n\"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 13; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\"\ni. 448.\n\n[542] L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, \"Folk-tales,\" 139.\n\n[543] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 499; ii. 276; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\"\nNo. 33; i. 357; Knowles, \"Folk-tales of Kashm\u00eer,\" 432; Campbell,\n\"Sant\u00e2l Folk-tales,\" 22; Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\" 496; Campbell,\n\"Popular Tales,\" i. 283.\n\n[544] Temple, \"Wideawake Stories,\" 74, 412; L\u00e2l Bih\u00e2ri D\u00ea, loc. cit.,\n40, 106, 134, 138, 155, 210, 223; \"Cinderella,\" 526; \"North Indian\nNotes and Queries,\" iii. 13; Clouston, loc. cit., i. 223.\n\n[545] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 259.\n\n[546] \"Rig Veda,\" iv. 33; Datt, \"History of Civilization,\" i. 72 sq.,\n79; Monier-Williams, \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 329.\n\n[547] Wright, \"History,\" 165; \"Iliad,\" v. 265 sqq.; Tawney, \"Katha\nSarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 593.\n\n[548] Tawney, ibid., i. 130, 574, quoting Grimm, \"Teutonic Mythology,\"\ni. 392.\n\n[549] Campbell, \"Popular Tales,\" Introduction, lxxviii.\n\n[550] Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\" 476; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i. 373.\n\n[551] Clouston, loc. cit., i. 417; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 479;\nTawney, loc. cit., ii. 261; Clouston, ibid., 110, 218; Tawney, ibid.,\ni. 13.\n\n[552] Rousselet, \"India and its Native Princes,\" 116.\n\n[553] \"Indian Antiquary,\" xi. 325 sq.; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\"\nii. 2.\n\n[554] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 392.\n\n[555] \"Germania,\" 10.\n\n[556] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 142.\n\n[557] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 332.\n\n[558] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i. 113.\n\n[559] \"Annals,\" ii. 319.\n\n[560] Lubbock, \"Origin of Civilization,\" 275.\n\n[561] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 292.\n\n[562] Hislop, \"Papers,\" Appendix, i. iii.\n\n[563] Burton, \"Arabian Nights,\" ii. 340.\n\n[564] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 90; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 168;\nClouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i. 97; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 419.\n\n[565] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 37, 78; ii. 28, 32; Grimm, loc. cit.,\nii. 404; Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 107.\n\n[566] Gubernatis, loc. cit., ii. 160.\n\n[567] Forsyth, \"Highlands of Central Indian,\" 278; Tod, \"Annals,\"\nii. 660; Rowney, \"Wild Tribes,\" 139; Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\"\n214; Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 110.\n\n[568] Trumbull, \"Blood Covenant,\" 312; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\"\ni. 309; Sleeman, \"Rambles,\" i. 153 sqq.\n\n[569] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 169; Lyall, \"Asiatic Studies,\" 13; Spencer,\n\"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 323; Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 313 sq.;\nScott, \"Letters on Demonology,\" 174.\n\n[570] \"Ber\u00e2r Gazetteer,\" 62; Wright, \"History of Nep\u00e2l,\" 38; Frazer,\n\"Golden Bough,\" ii. 101.\n\n[571] Dalton, loc. cit., 132, 133, 158, 214.\n\n[572] \"Ber\u00e2r Gazetteer,\" 191 sq.; \"Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d Settlement Report,\"\n255 sq.\n\n[573] See for example Knowles, \"Kashm\u00eer Folk-tales,\" 3, 45, 46.\n\n[574] Dalton, loc. cit., 33.\n\n[575] Knowles, loc. cit., 47; Campbell, \"Sant\u00e2l Tales,\" 18.\n\n[576] Wright, \"History,\" 169.\n\n[577] \"Annals,\" ii. 669.\n\n[578] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 280.\n\n[579] \"Rambles and Recollections,\" i. 154 sqq.\n\n[580] \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 160 sq.\n\n[581] Wright, \"History,\" 161; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 348 sq.\n\n[582] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 65.\n\n[583] Temple, \"Wideawake Stories,\" 116; Campbell, \"Sant\u00e2l Folk-tales,\"\n40; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i. 146.\n\n[584] Sherring, \"Sacred City,\" 63, 65.\n\n[585] \"Notes,\" 276.\n\n[586] Cox, \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\" ii. 336.\n\n[587] \"Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,\" lix. 212. The horror with\nwhich the Homeric Greeks regarded the eating of a corpse by dogs\ncomes out very strongly in the Iliad.\n\n[588] \"Indian Antiquary,\" v. 358 sq.\n\n[589] \"Original Inhabitants,\" 157 sq.\n\n[590] \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" xxiii. 26.\n\n[591] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 118.\n\n[592] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 276 sq.\n\n[593] Wright, \"History,\" 39 sq.\n\n[594] Hislop, \"Papers,\" 6.\n\n[595] \"Folk-lore,\" iii. 127; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 94,\n148; iv. 46, 150, 173; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 18, 67;\nKnowles, \"Folk-tales of Kashm\u00eer,\" 36, 429; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\"\nii. 166; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 90; \"Gesta Romanorum,\"\nIntrod. xlii.\n\n[596] Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 134; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East\nScotland,\" 126 sq.\n\n[597] \"Remaines,\" 53.\n\n[598] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 79 sq.\n\n[599] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" i. 88.\n\n[600] \"Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,\" 1847, p. 234.\n\n[601] \"Household Tales,\" ii. 444.\n\n[602] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 329.\n\n[603] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 351; \"Gesta Romanorum,\" 25.\n\n[604] Brand, \"Observations,\" 583.\n\n[605] Robertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\" 194.\n\n[606] \"Demonology,\" i. 122.\n\n[607] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 15.\n\n[608] Brand, \"Observations,\" 785.\n\n[609] \"Epigrams,\" i. 6.\n\n[610] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iv. 131; Moorcroft, \"Travels,\" i. 22;\n\"Journal Asiatic Society Bengal,\" 1840, p. 572; \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" i. 289.\n\n[611] Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\" 473.\n\n[612] Muir, \"Ancient Sanskrit Texts,\" i. 24 sq.; iii. 166, 310 sq.;\nMcLennan, \"Fortnightly Review,\" 1870, 198 sq.\n\n[613] Cox, \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\" i. 107, 437 sq.;\nii. 49 sq.\n\n[614] Romesh Chandra Datt, \"History of Indian Civilization,\" i. 253 sq.\n\n[615] B\u00fchler, \"Sacred Laws,\" Part i. 64, 119, note.\n\n[616] Rajendra L\u00e2la Mitra, \"Indo-Aryans,\" ii. 134; Muir, \"Ancient\nSanskrit Texts,\" i. 24 sqq.\n\n[617] Schliemann, \"Ilios,\" 112; Rawlinson, \"Herodotus,\" ii. 27 sq.,\n41; Ewald, \"History of Israel,\" ii. 4; Robertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\"\n196; Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 40.\n\n[618] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 285.\n\n[619] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 3 sqq.; Cox,\n\"Introduction,\" 151 sqq.; Kuenen, \"Religion of Israel,\" i. 236\nsq.; Goldziher, \"Mythology among the Hebrews,\" 226, 343; Wake,\n\"Serpent-worship,\" 35; Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 340;\nMcLennan, \"Fortnightly Review,\" 1870, p. 199.\n\n[620] \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 60.\n\n[621] Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" i. 158.\n\n[622] Sellon, \"Memoirs Anthropological Society of London,\" i. 328.\n\n[623] \"Institutes,\" xi. 60, 80.\n\n[624] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 227.\n\n[625] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 215.\n\n[626] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 914; \"R\u00e2jput\u00e2na Gazetteer,\"\nii. 67.\n\n[627] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 39.\n\n[628] Miss Gordon-Cumming, \"From the Hebrides to the Him\u00e2laya,\" i. 141.\n\n[629] Atkinson, loc. cit., ii. 771; Wright, \"History of Nep\u00e2l,\" 82.\n\n[630] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 109.\n\n[631] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 154.\n\n[632] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 18.\n\n[633] Yule, \"Marco Polo,\" ii. 341.\n\n[634] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 283.\n\n[635] \"Indian Antiquary,\" i. 348 sq.\n\n[636] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 913.\n\n[637] Jarrett, \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" ii. 348, quoting Erskine; \"Babar,\"\nIntroduction, 47.\n\n[638] \"Rambles,\" i. 199 sqq.\n\n[639] \"Central India,\" i. 329, note; ii. 164.\n\n[640] Balfour, \"Journal Asiatic Society Bengal,\" xiii. N.S.; Gunthorpe,\n\"Notes on Criminal Tribes of Ber\u00e2r,\" 36.\n\n[641] Ball, \"Jungle Life,\" 165; \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\"\ni. 60; \"Calcutta Review,\" lxxx. 53, 58.\n\n[642] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 75.\n\n[643] \"Notes,\" 287.\n\n[644] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 131.\n\n[645] \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 93.\n\n[646] Manu, \"Institutes,\" ii. 41.\n\n[647] Burton, \"Arabian Nights,\" ii. 508; Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\"\ni. 166; Clouston, \"Popular Tales,\" i.; \"Gesta Romanorum,\" Tale xviii.\n\n[648] Wright, \"History,\" 81.\n\n[649] Blochmann, \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" i. 121.\n\n[650] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 8, 73, 105, 188; Cunningham,\n\"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" i. 225.\n\n[651] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 73, 177, 328 sq.; ii. 102,\n215, 500, 540; Knowles, \"Kashm\u00eer Folk-tales,\" 17.\n\n[652] Black, \"Folk Medicine,\" 152.\n\n[653] F\u00fchrer, loc. cit., 161.\n\n[654] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 267.\n\n[655] Brand, \"Observations,\" 739.\n\n[656] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iv. 2.\n\n[657] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 377.\n\n[658] For the crow in English folk-lore, see Henderson, \"Folk-lore\nof the Northern Counties,\" 126; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of N.E. Scotland,\"\n135 sq.\n\n[659] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" ii. 253 sq.; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes\nand Queries,\" i. 27.\n\n[660] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 64, 73.\n\n[661] Balfour, \"Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal,\" N.S. xiii.\n\n[662] Monier-Williams, \"Br\u00e2hmanism and Hinduism,\" 301; Atkinson,\n\"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 329.\n\n[663] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 15.\n\n[664] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 81 sq., 172; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\"\niii. 24; Brand, \"Observations,\" 732; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the\nNorthern Counties,\" 239 sq.; Aubrey, \"Remaines,\" 197; \"North Indian\nNotes and Queries,\" ii. 215.\n\n[665] \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\" ii. 219 sq.\n\n[666] \"Notes,\" 264.\n\n[667] \"Folk-lore,\" iv. 350.\n\n[668] Grimm, \"Teutonic Mythology,\" iii. 977.\n\n[669] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 354.\n\n[670] Robertson-Smith, \"Kinship,\" 196 sq.\n\n[671] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 12, 42, 60; ii. 29;\niii. 161; Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" i. 367; ii. 428, 573.\n\n[672] McLennan, \"Fortnightly Review,\" vi. 582.\n\n[673] Knowles, \"Kashm\u00eer Folk-tales,\" 449.\n\n[674] Brand, \"Observations,\" 699.\n\n[675] Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 175.\n\n[676] Ferguson, \"History of Indian Architecture,\" 54; Tennent,\n\"Ceylon,\" i. 484.\n\n[677] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" ii. 307 sqq.\n\n[678] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 177.\n\n[679] Hislop, \"Papers,\" 6.\n\n[680] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 178.\n\n[681] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 105.\n\n[682] Brand, \"Observations,\" 701.\n\n[683] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 272.\n\n[684] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 81; \"North Indian Notes and\nQueries,\" iii. 162.\n\n[685] \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 375.\n\n[686] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 18.\n\n[687] Temple, \"Wideawake Stories,\" 139, 205, 255 sqq.\n\n[688] \"Folk-lore,\" iii. 342.\n\n[689] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 4, 38.\n\n[690] Rhys, \"Lectures,\" 553.\n\n[691] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 238 sq.\n\n[692] Rousselet, \"India and its Native Princes,\" 402; \"North Indian\nNotes and Queries,\" i. 76; ii. 57, 93; iii. 130.\n\n[693] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 380, 775.\n\n[694] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 24, 207; ii. 599.\n\n[695] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 27, 158.\n\n[696] Cox, \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\" i. 292, note; ii. 25 sq.\n\n[697] Hartland, \"Science of Fairy Tales,\" 65.\n\n[698] Buchanan, \"Eastern India,\" iii. 532.\n\n[699] Grimm, \"Household Tales,\" ii. 407.\n\n[700] Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 271.\n\n[701] \"Gloucestershire Folk-lore,\" 9.\n\n[702] Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 594; Grimm, loc. cit., i. 357.\n\n[703] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 130.\n\n[704] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 8.\n\n[705] Brand, \"Observations,\" 685.\n\n[706] \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 39.\n\n[707] Buchanan, \"Eastern India,\" ii. 157.\n\n[708] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 270.\n\n[709] For the European witch, consult among other authorities Scott,\n\"Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,\" passim; Chambers, \"Book of\nDays,\" i. 356 sq.; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 69 sq.;\nConway, \"Demonology,\" ii. 317, 327; Lubbock, \"Origin of Civilization,\"\n245 sq.\n\n[710] \"Asiatic Studies,\" 79 sqq., 89 sqq.\n\n[711] \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 155.\n\n[712] Chambers, \"Popular Rhymes of Scotland,\" 23.\n\n[713] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 14.\n\n[714] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" i. 289.\n\n[715] Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 176; Tawney, loc. cit., i. 375.\n\n[716] Temple, \"Wideawake Stories,\" 395; Tawney, loc. cit., i. 157,\n159, 289, 340; ii. 164, 240; Brand, \"Observations,\" 589; Rhys,\n\"Lectures,\" 199: Hunt. \"Popular Romances,\" 327.\n\n[717] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 150; Hunt, loc. cit., 328.\n\n[718] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 395; Tawney, loc. cit., i. 313.\n\n[719] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" iv. 27; Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\niii. 13.\n\n[720] Loc. cit., 3.\n\n[721] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 323.\n\n[722] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 203 sq.\n\n[723] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 78.\n\n[724] \"Lectures,\" 516 sq.\n\n[725] Malcolm, \"Central India,\" ii. 212.\n\n[726] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 290.\n\n[727] \"Notes,\" 257 sq.\n\n[728] Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" i. 312 sqq.; Henderson, \"Folk-lore\nof the Northern Counties,\" 201 sq.\n\n[729] Balfour, \"Cyclop\u00e6dia,\" i. 961; Lyall, \"Asiatic Studies,\" 85;\n\"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 7.\n\n[730] Tylor, \"Early History,\" 276.\n\n[731] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 218.\n\n[732] \"Rambles and Recollections,\" i. 84 sqq.\n\n[733] \"Central India,\" ii. 216.\n\n[734] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 151.\n\n[735] Leland, loc. cit., 221.\n\n[736] Brand, \"Observations,\" 609.\n\n[737] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 252.\n\n[738] Malcolm, \"Central India,\" ii. 214, note.\n\n[739] Leland, loc. cit., 57; Brand, loc. cit., 740; Clouston,\n\"Popular Tales,\" i. 177.\n\n[740] Tod, \"Annals,\" ii. 106.\n\n[741] \"Natural History,\" vii. 2.\n\n[742] Tod, \"Annals,\" ii. 638; Malcolm, loc. cit., ii. 212.\n\n[743] Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\" i. Introduction, xxi; \"Wideawake\nStories,\" 429.\n\n[744] \"Oriental Memoirs,\" ii. 374 sq.\n\n[745] \"Central Provinces Gazetteer,\" 110 sq.\n\n[746] Ibid., 39.\n\n[747] \"Reports Niz\u00e2mat Ad\u00e2lat,\" 14th December, 1854.\n\n[748] \"Ber\u00e2r Gazetteer,\" 197.\n\n[749] Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" i. 98.\n\n[750] Knowles, \"Folk-tales,\" 77.\n\n[751] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 164; Brand, \"Observations,\" 108, 341.\n\n[752] Campbell, Notes,\" 83.\n\n[753] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 290; Gregor, \"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\"\n188; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 201, 218 sq.,\n244; Aubrey, \"Remaines,\" 247; Farrer, \"Primitive Manners,\" 290 sq.\n\n[754] \"Central Provinces Gazetteer,\" 157.\n\n[755] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 199.\n\n[756] Spencer, \"Principles of Sociology,\" i. 240.\n\n[757] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" ii. 6.\n\n[758] See Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 199.\n\n[759] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 32; Gregor,\n\"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 183.\n\n[760] Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii. 221.\n\n[761] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 7.\n\n[762] Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 197, 206. See instances collected by\nHartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" ii. 64 sq.\n\n[763] Aubrey, \"Remaines,\" 11; and for examples of similar practices\nsee Sir W. Scott, \"Letters on Demonology,\" 273; Spencer, \"Principles\nof Sociology,\" i. 243; Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" i. 116; ii. 149;\nLubbock, \"Origin of Civilization,\" 241, 244; Henderson, loc. cit.,\n148; Farrer, \"Primitive Manners,\" 287; Oldenberg, \"Grihya S\u00fbtras,\"\ni. 57.; Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" ii. 70 sq.\n\n[764] \"Q\u00e2n\u00fbn-i-Isl\u00e2m,\" 222 sq.\n\n[765] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 320.\n\n[766] \"Letters on Demonology,\" 273; \"Remaines,\" 61, 228; \"Folk-lore,\"\niii. 385; iv. 256; Miss Cox, \"Cinderella,\" 491.\n\n[767] Ward, \"Hindus,\" i. 100; Temple, \"Legends of the Panj\u00e2b,\"\ni. Introduction, xvii; and compare Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e2gara,\" ii.\n\n[768] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 157; Hartland, \"Legend of Perseus,\" ii. 78.\n\n[769] \"Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d Settlement Report,\" 287.\n\n[770] Malcolm, \"Central India,\" ii. 212 sq.\n\n[771] \"Central Provinces Gazetteer,\" 39, 157.\n\n[772] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 199.\n\n[773] Chevers, \"Indian Medical Jurisprudence,\" 546 sq.\n\n[774] Ibid., 12, note, 14, note, 393, 488, 492, note, 493, 514; Ball,\n\"Jungle Life,\" 115 sq.; \"Calcutta Review,\" v. 52.\n\n[775] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 293; Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 315.\n\n[776] Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" i. 113.\n\n[777] Yule, \"Marco Polo,\" i. 172, 175, with note; ii. 41; Sir W. Scott,\n\"Letters on Demonology,\" 68 sq.\n\n[778] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 141.\n\n[779] \"Eastern India,\" ii. 108, 445.\n\n[780] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" ii. 202; Growse, \"Mathura,\"\n53.\n\n[781] \"Oudh Gazetteer,\" iii. 480.\n\n[782] Hartland, \"Science of Fairy Tales,\" 270 sqq.\n\n[783] Frazer, \"Golden Bough;\" Gomme, \"Ethnology in Folk-lore;\"\nMannhardt, \"Wald- und Feldkulte.\"\n\n[784] Leland, \"Etruscan Roman Remains,\" 96.\n\n[785] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 89.\n\n[786] On the rule against giving fire from his house, see Hartland,\n\"Legend of Perseus,\" ii. 94.\n\n[787] Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 74; \"Folk-lore,\"\niii. 12, 84, 90; Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 14; Lady Wilde, \"Legends,\"\n103, 106, 203.\n\n[788] \"Gazetteer,\" iii. 237.\n\n[789] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 95.\n\n[790] \"Settlement Report,\" 123 sq.\n\n[791] Atkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 856.\n\n[792] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 196.\n\n[793] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 198.\n\n[794] \"Observations,\" 316.\n\n[795] Chambers, \"Book of Days,\" i. 94 sqq.; Aubrey \"Remaines,\" 40 sq.\n\n[796] Cunningham, \"Arch\u00e6ological Reports,\" ii. 455.\n\n[797] Atkinson, loc. cit., ii. 886.\n\n[798] \"Golden Bough,\" i. 249.\n\n[799] \"Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d Settlement Report,\" 124; Atkinson, loc. cit.,\nii. 870; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iv. 197.\n\n[800] \"Household Tales,\" ii. 276.\n\n[801] Ibbetson, \"Panj\u00e2b Ethnography,\" 120.\n\n[802] Blochmann, \"A\u00een-i-Akbari,\" i. 217.\n\n[803] Wright, \"Cawnpur Memorandum,\" 105; Buchanan, \"Eastern India,\"\ni. 194.\n\n[804] \"Settlement Report,\" 17.\n\n[805] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 303; Brand, \"Observations,\" 7; Rhys,\n\"Lectures,\" 520.\n\n[806] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 92.\n\n[807] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 290.\n\n[808] \"Ber\u00e2r Gazetteer,\" 207.\n\n[809] Tod, \"Annals,\" i. 631.\n\n[810] Gubernatis, \"Zoological Mythology,\" i. 51.\n\n[811] \"Remaines,\" 40; Brand, \"Observations,\" 17.\n\n[812] Campbell, \"Notes,\" 376.\n\n[813] \"Bareilly Settlement Report,\" 93 sq.\n\n[814] Sleeman, \"Rambles and Recollections,\" i. 235, 240.\n\n[815] \"Bareilly Settlement Report,\" 93.\n\n[816] \"Folk-lore,\" i. 163.\n\n[817] \"Rambles and Recollections,\" i. 248.\n\n[818] \"Settlement Report,\" 256.\n\n[819] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" ii. 64.\n\n[820] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 131.\n\n[821] Risley, \"Tribes and Castes,\" i. 72.\n\n[822] \"Folk-lore,\" iii. 321.\n\n[823] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 122.\n\n[824] \"Remaines,\" 9; Brand, \"Observations,\" 118.\n\n[825] \"Bareilly Settlement Report,\" 93.\n\n[826] \"Karn\u00e2l Settlement Report,\" 151.\n\n[827] \"Bareilly Settlement Report,\" 93; \"North Indian Notes and\nQueries,\" iii. 94; and compare Tylor, \"Primitive Culture,\" ii. 40;\nLady Wilde, \"Legends,\" 199.\n\n[828] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" iii. 94.\n\n[829] \"Bareilly Settlement Report,\" 87 sq.\n\n[830] \"Karn\u00e2l Settlement Report,\" 183.\n\n[831] \"Settlement Report,\" 78.\n\n[832] \"Golden Bough,\" i. 333 sqq.; Brand, \"Observations,\" 311;\nHenderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 87; \"Folk-lore,\"\niv. 123; Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 385.\n\n[833] \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and Queries,\" iii. 56.\n\n[834] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" i. 57.\n\n[835] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 213.\n\n[836] \"Settlement Report,\" 78 sq.\n\n[837] \"Karn\u00e2l Settlement Report,\" 173.\n\n[838] \"Settlement Report,\" 78.\n\n[839] Conway, \"Demonology,\" ii. 117.\n\n[840] \"Karn\u00e2l Settlement Report,\" 174.\n\n[841] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 17, 90, 199, 384.\n\n[842] Hislop, \"Papers,\" 22.\n\n[843] F\u00fchrer, \"Monumental Antiquities,\" 118.\n\n[844] Buchanan, \"Eastern India,\" ii. 480; Wilson, \"Essays,\" ii 233;\nAtkinson, \"Him\u00e2layan Gazetteer,\" ii. 867 sq.; \"Panj\u00e2b Notes and\nQueries,\" iii. 127; Growse, \"Mathura,\" 56.\n\n[845] \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 246; and see Conway, \"Demonology,\" i. 65\nsqq.; Henderson, \"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,\" 72 sqq.; Gregor,\n\"Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,\" 167 sq.; Brand, \"Observations,\"\n165 sqq.\n\n[846] Frazer, \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 268.\n\n[847] \"Mathura,\" 84 sq.\n\n[848] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 414.\n\n[849] Hunt, \"Popular Romances,\" 208; \"Folk-lore,\" i. 520; ii. 128;\nDyer, loc. cit., 234.\n\n[850] \"Annals,\" i. 599 sq.\n\n[851] Dyer, loc. cit., 52.\n\n[852] Wright, \"History,\" 41.\n\n[853] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 92.\n\n[854] \"Folk-lore,\" ii. 178; \"Herodotus,\" ii. 58.\n\n[855] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 184.\n\n[856] Ibid., iii. 17, 99.\n\n[857] \"Indian Antiquary,\" xi. 297.\n\n[858] \"North Indian Notes and Queries,\" iii. 24.\n\n[859] \"Hoshang\u00e2b\u00e2d Settlement Report,\" 126 sq.\n\n[860] \"Bombay Gazetteer,\" vi. 29.\n\n[861] Dyer, \"Popular Customs,\" 32, 75, 85, 353 sq.\n\n[862] Dalton, \"Descriptive Ethnology,\" 196 sq.\n\n[863] \"Primitive Culture,\" i. 22 sq.","title":"The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":118250}