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LIBRARY
University of California.
Class
Bfci
FOLK-LORE OF NORTHERN INDIA
YAMA, GOD OF DEATH,
BORNE BY HIS MESSENGERS.
Frontispiece, Vol. II,
THE
POPULAR RELIGION
AND
FOLK-LORE
OF
NORTHERN INDIA
BY
W. CROOKE, B.A.
BKNGAL CIVIL SERVICE
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. 11.
A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED
WESTMINSTER
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO.
2, Whitehall Gardens, S.W.
1896
liL'j -^--^^
(11
, 1.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGB
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts . . . . i
CHAPTER II.
Tree and Serpent Worship 83
CHAPTER III.
Totemism and Fetishism 146
CHAPTER IV.
Animal- Worship 201
CHAPTER V.
The Black Art 259
CHAPTER VI.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies . .287
Bibliography 327
Index 333
165605
GENERAL
FOLK-LORE
OF
NORTHERN INDIA.
CHAPTER I.
THE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.
Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi foscinat a^os.
Virgil, Eclogues, iii. 103.
AsMA 'BINT 'Umais relates that she said, " O Prophet ! the
family of Ja' afiar are affected by the baneful influence of the
Evil Eye. May I use spells for them or not?" The
Prophet said, " Yes ; for if there were an3rthing in the world
which would overcome fate, it would be the Evil Eye." —
Miskdt, xxi.-i. Part II.
The belief in the baneful influence of the Evil Eye prevails
widely.* According to Pliny,* it was one of the special
superstitions of the people of India, and at the present day
it forms an important part of the popular belief. But the
investigation of its principles is far from easy. It is Very
closely connected with a number of kindred ideas on the
subject of diabolical influence, and few natives care to speak
about it except in a furtive way. In fact, it is far too serious
* For some of the literature of the Evil Eye see Tylor, " Early History,**
134 ; Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties/* 187 sq. ;
Westropp, " Primitive Symbolism,** 58 sqq. ; Gregor, ** Folk-lore of North-
East Scotland,** 8.
> " Natural History,** vii. 2.
VOL. II. B
2 Folk-lore of Northern India.
a matter to be discussed lightly. Walking about villages,
you will constantly see special marks on houses, and symbols
and devices of various kinds, which are certainly intended
to counteract it ; but hardly any one cares directly to
explain the real motive, and if you ask the meatiing of them,
you will almost invariably be told that they are purely
decorative, or that they have been made with some object
which obviously conceals the real basis of the practice.
One, and perhaps the most common theory of the Evil
Eye is that "when a child is born, an invisible spirit is
born with it ; and unless the mother keeps one breast tied
up for forty days, while she feeds the child with the other
(in which case the spirit dies of hunger), the child grows up
with the endowment of the Evil Eye, and whenever any
person so endowed looks at anything constantly, something
will happen to it." ^ So, in Ireland we are told that " the
gift comes by Nature and is born with one, though it may
not be called into exercise unless circumstances arise to
excite the power ; then it comes to act like a spirit of bitter
and malicious envy that radiates a poisonous atmosphere,
-which chills and blights ever5rthing within its reach." '
In Bombay the " blast of the Evil Eye is supposed to be
a form of spirit possession. In Western India all witches
and wizards are said to be, as a rule, evil-eyed. Of the rest,
those persons only who are born under certain circumstances
are believed to be evil-eyed. The circumstances are as
follows : — Among the Hindus it is believed that when a
woman is pregnant, she begins to conceive peculiar longings
from the day of conception, or from the fifth month. They
consist in eating various fruits and sweetmeats, in walking
under deep shades, or in gardens where brooks gurgle, or in
putting on rich clothes or ornaments, and in many other
like things. If in the case of any woman these desires are
not gratified, the child whom she gives birth to becomes
weak and voracious, and is said to have an Evil Eye. If
> Ibbetson, ** Panj^b Ethnography," 117.
» Lady Wilde, " Legends," 24.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 3
such a person sees a man or woman eat anything which he
feels a longing for, the eater either vomits what he or she
has eaten, or falls sick. By some it is believed that if a
person come from without at the time of dinner, and enters
the house without washing his feet, the man who is eating
becomes sick or vomits the food he has eaten, or does not
feel longing for food for some time, until the blast of the
Evil Eye is warded off." Mr. Campbell explains this on the
principle that '' as he comes from places where three or four
roads meet, and which are spirit haunts, an evil spirit
accompanies him without entering his body, from the place
of its residence by which he has passed. If he washes his
feet, the spirit goes back ; but if he enters the house with
spirit-laden feet, the spirit enters the house with him, and
^ects any one of the persons eating." *
The real fact seems to be that in most cases the Evil Eye
is the result of covetousness.* Thus, a man blind of an eye,
no matter how well-disposed he may be, is almost certain to
envy a person blessed with a peculiarly good pair of eyes.
But if the blind man's attention be distracted hy something
conspicuous in the appearance of the other, such as lamp-
black on his eyelids, a mole, or a scar, the feeling of dissatis-
faction, which is fatal to the complete effect of the envious
glance, is certain to arise. This theory that the glance may
be neutralized or avoided by some blot or imperfection is
the basis of many of the popular remedies or prophylactics
invented with the object of averting its influence.
Hence comes the device of making an intentional blot in
anything one values, so that the glance of the Evil Eye may
be deprived of its complete satisfaction. Thus, most people
put lampblack on the eyes of their children as a protection
against fascination, because black is a colour hateful to. evil
spirits ; it has the additional advantage of protecting the
eye from the fierce heat of the Indian summer. Women
when delivery approaches often mark themselves with black
1 Campbell, " Notes." 207.
* On this see valuable, notes by W. Cojckburn in " Panjab Notes and
Queries,'' i. 14.
B 2
4 Folk-lore of Northern India.
to avert the demon who causes protracted labour. It is
also believed that a person whose eyelids are encircled with
lampblack is incapable of casting the Evil Eye himself; and
it is considered nice in a woman to ornament herself in this
way, since because she herself, except at some crisis of her
life, such as marriage or parturition, is not liable to fascina-
tion, it shows her indisposition to covet the beauty of others,
with the inference that she has no cause to do so.
On the same principle, when a parent has lost a child by
any disease which, as is usually the case, can be attributed
to fascination or other demoniacal influence, it is a common
practice to call the next baby by some opprobrious name,
with the intention of so depreciating it that it may be
regarded as worthless, and so protected from the Evil Eye
of the envious. Thus a male child is called Kurisra or
** Dunghill ; " Kadheran or Ghasita, " He that has been
dragged along the ground ; *' Dukhi or Dukhita, " The
afflicted one ; " Phatingua, " Grasshopper ; " Jhingura,
" Cricket ; " Bhlkhra or Bhtkhu, " Beggar ; " Ghanb, " Poor,"
and so on. So, a girl is called Andhri, " Blind ; " Tinkauriyi
or Chhahkauriy4, " She that was sold for three or six cowry
shells;" Dhuriyd, "Dusty;" MachhiyA, "Fly," and so
on.*
All this is connected with what the Scotch call " fore-
speaking," when praise beyond measure, praise accompanied
with a sort of amazement or envy, is considered likely to be
followed by. disease or accident.^ Thus Professor Rhys
writes of the Isle of Man : * " You will never get a Manxman
to say that he is very well. He usually admits that he is
* middling ; ' and if by any chance he risks a stronger
adjective, he hastens to qualify it by saying * now ' or 'just
now,' with an emphasis indicative of his anxiety not to say
too much. His habits of speech point back to the time
* For many lists of such names see Temple, " Proper Names of
Panjibis,'* 22 sqq. ; "Indian Antiquary," viii. 321 sq. ; x. 321 sq.;
•* Panjib Notes and Queries," i. 26, 51 ; iii. 9.
* Grcgor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 35.
* "Folk-lore," iii. 85.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 5
ivhen the Manx mind was dominated by the fear of awaking
malignant influences in the spirit world around him." So>
in Ireland, to avoid being suspected of having the Evil Eye,
it is necessary when looking at a child to say, " God bless
it ! " and when passing a farmyard where the cows are
collected for milking to say, ** The blessing of God be on
jrou and all your labour ! " *
The same customs prevail in India. Thusj if a native
gentleman brings his child to visit a European, he dislikes
to hear it praised, unless the praise be accompanied with
some pious ejaculation. And it is safer to speak in a com-
plimentary way of some conspicuous ornament or piece of
dress, which is always put on as a protective.
In connection with the question of naming, a reference
may be made to some taboos which are probably based on
similar principles. A name is part of a person in the
belief of savages, and a man can be injured through his
name as well as through the parings of his nails or hair,
which are carefully looked after. Thus with all Hindus two
names are given to children, one secret and used only for
ceremonial purposes, and the other for ordinary use. The
witch if she learns the real name can work her evil charms
through it.' Hence arises the use of many contractions and
perversions of the real name and many of the nicknames
which are generally given to children, as well as the
ordinary terms of endearment which are constantly em-
ployed. We have this name taboo coming out in a cycle of
folk-tales, such as " Rumpelstilzchen," " Tom Titty Tot,"
and " Whuppity Stoorie." Here the imp or gnome has a
secret name of his own, which he thinks it impossible for
any one to find out, and he himself uses it only when he
thinks he is sure to be alone.
This seems to be the most rational explanation of the
curious taboo according to which a Hindu woman will not
» Lady Vl^ilde, « Legends," 20.
2 " Folk-lore," i. 273 ; Spencer, ** Principles of Sociology," i. 242 ;
Lubbock, "Origin of Civilization,'* 243; Farrer, "Primitive Manners,"
119 sq.
6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
name her husband, or if she wants to refer to him, does so
in some indirect way as the father of her child and so on.
To this, however, there is one notable exception. Thus,
writing of Bombay, Mr. Campbell says : * "At marriages,
coming of age, first pregnancy and festive days, such as the
N&gpanchamt and Mangal^ Gauri in August, it is usual for
the woman to recite some couplet or verse in which the
husband's name occurs. At marriages this naming is, in
practice, little more than a game. An old man or an old
lady gets close to the door and refuses to allow the young
women to go until they have told their husbands' name. At
the pregnancy ceremony the same custom is observed."
Mr. Campbell takes this to be ** part of a ceremony whose
object is to drive to a distance any spirits whose influence
might blight the tender life of the unborn child. This
seems natural when it is remembered that the names of
men are either the names of gods, of precious stones, or of
spices, all of which have a power to scare spirits ; and as
repeating the thousand names of Mahideva is a service in
which he greatly delights, apparently because it keeps spirits
at a distance, so this repeating of the husband's and wife's
name seems to have the same object." The name, in other
words, is kept secret on account of its sanctity, and the
custom would be based on the same rules of taboo which
have been designed among most savages for the protection
of kings and other persons of dignity from the influence of
evil spirits.
Another mode of protecting boys from demoniacal
influence is based on the same idea of the blot of imperfec-
tion. Boys of rich parents are often dressed in mean or
filthy clothes so that they may be considered unworthy of
the malicious glance of some envious neighbour or enemy.
Still another device, that of dressing up the boy during
infancy as a girl, in other words a pretended change of sex,
may perhaps lead us on the track of a possible explanation
of some very curious and obscure practices in Europe.
1 '* Notes," 400.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts, 7
We know that legends of actual change of sex are not
unknown in Indian folk-lore. Thus, we have the very
primitive legend of Id& or lU, who was the daughter of the
Manu Vaivaswata, who prayed to Mitra and Varuna for a
boy and was given a girl. But the prayers of her father to
the deities resulted in her being changed into a man»
Sudyumna, Siva changed him back again into a woman>
and she, as I1&, became the wife of Budha. In more modern
times we have the very similar story of the daughter of the
Bhadauri3ra R&ja. He had a daughter, who was seized by
force for the seraglio of the Emperor at Delhi, but she fled
to the temple of Devi at Batesar and by the aid of the god-
dess was changed into a boy. By another version of the
tale he arranged with another R&ja that their children
should be contracted, if one chanced to be a boy and the
other a girl. Both had daughters, but the Rdja concealed
the circumstance and allowed the marriage to go on as if
his child was a son. When the fraud was detected the girl
tried to commit suicide in the Jumnd, but came out a boy»
and everyone was satisfied.^
One explanation of the custom of pretended change of
sex as shown in the case of the Amazons, has been thus
explained by Mr. Abercromby:' "The great desire of
women, more especially during a period of warlike barbarism,
is to bear male children. Turning our attention to the
result of flattening a girl's breasts and letting her wear male
attire, it is obvious that a sex distinction has been obliterated,
and she has become externally assimilated to a male youth.
Moreover, the object has evidently been intentional. It
would be no outrage to the reasoning powers of the Sarma-
tians to suppose that they believed a woman's chances of
bearing male children were vastly enhanced by her wearing
a man's dress, and by being in some degree conformed to
the male type by forcible compression of the breasts during
maidenhood. They would argue thus : a woman wants to
^ Cunningham, " Archasological Reports/' vii. 6.
2 "Folk-lore/Mi. 179.
8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
bear male children, therefore she ought to be made as much
like a man as possible. A conviction of this kind is gained
by a process identical with the immature reasoning that
underlies what is called sympathetic magic."
This may possibly be one explanation of the practice
among Chamdrs and other low castes in Northern India,
when at marriages boys dress up as women and perform a
rude and occasionally obscene dance. Among the Modh
Brdhmans of Gujardt, at marriages, the bridegroom's
maternal uncle, whose special position is almost certainly a
survival from times when descent through the mother was
the only recognized form, dresses as a Jhanda or Pathdn
Faqlr, whose ghost is dangerous, in woman's clothes from
head to waist, and in men's clothes below, rubs his face with
oil, daubs it with red powder, goes with the bride and bride-
groom to a place where two roads meet (which, as we have
seen, is a haunt of spirits), and stays there till the pair offer
the goddess food.*
Now, there are numerous customs which have been
grouped in Europe under the name of the False Bride.
Thus, among the Esthonians the false bride is enacted by
the bride's brother dressed in woman's clothes ; in Polonia
by a bearded man called the Wilde Brant ; in Poland, by
an old woman veiled in white, and lame ; again, among the
Esthonians, by an old woman with a birch-bark crown ; in
Brittany, where the substitutes are first a little girl, then the
mistress of the house, and lastly, the grandmother.*
The supposition may then be hazarded, that in the light
of the Indian examples the object may be that some one
assumes the part of the bride in order to divert on himself
from her the envious glance of the Evil Eye. With the
same object it is very common in India to bore the noses of
little boys and thus to make them resemble girls. The
usual names of Nathu or Bul&qi, the former where the ring
was placed in the side of the nose and the latter in the
septum, are evidence of this.
^ " Bombay Gazetteer," v. 45 sq. ' " Folk-lore," iv. 147.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 9
The theory of the blot of imperfdction again appears in
the custom of not washing the foce of a little boy till he is
six years old.^ Similarlyi young men, if vigorous and 8tout»
consider themselves very liable to the fascination of lean
people, and tie a rag round the left arm, or a blue thread
round their necks, often tmsting the blue feathers of the
roller bird into the thread as an additional precaution* Nor
do they care to expose their bodies to the public gaze, but
wear a light shawl of a gaudy colour, even in the warmest
season of the year. Should such a youth, if sufficiently con-
ceited about his personal appearance, detect a suspicious
person looking at him, he will immediately pretend to limp,
or contort his face and spasmodically grasp his ankle or his
elbow as if he were in pain, to distract and divert the atten-
tion he fears.
So, all natives dread being stared at, particularly by r ^- <
Europeans ; and you will often see a witness cast his eyes
on the ground when the magistrate looks him full in the
face, sometimes because he knows he is lying and fears the
consequences, but it is often done through fear of fascina-
tion. A European, in fact, is to the rustic a strange in-
scrutable personage, gifted with many occult powers both
for good and evil, ' and there are numerous extraordinary
legends current about him. We shall return to this in deal-
ing with the wonderful Momi&t story. Here it may be
noted that he has control over the Jinn. There was a place
near Dera Ghizi Kh&n so possessed by them that passers-
by were attacked. A European officer poured a bottle of
brandy on the spot and no Jinn has been seen there ever
since. A very dangerous ghost which some time ago used
to infest a road in the R(irki Cantonment was routed in the
same way by an artilleryman, who spat on him when he
came across him one dark night. The nails of a European,
like those of the Rikshasa, distil a deadly poison, and hence
he is afraid to eat with his fingers, as all reasonable people
do, and prefers to use a knife and fork.
^ ** Panjib Notes and Queries,** ii. 42.
10 Folk-lore of Northern India,
A few other examples illustrating the same principle
may be given here. When a man is copying a manuscript,
he will sometimes make an intentional blot. A favourite
trick is to fold the paper back before the ink of the last line
has time to dry, so as to blot and at the same time make it
appear the result of chance. We have noticed the same
idea in the case of carpet patterns. A similar irregularity
is introduced in printing chintzes and like handicrafts, and
this goes a long way to explain the occasional and almost
unaccountable defects to be found in some native work.
The letter from a Rija is spotted with gold leaf, partly to
divert fascination and partly to act as a scarer of demons.
In fact the two conceptions meet and overlap all through
the theory of these protectives.
Another plan is to paint up some hideous figure on the
posts or arch of the door. The figure of a Churel or the
caricature of a European with his gun is often delineated in
this way. Others paint a figure of Yamaraja or some of the
gods or saints for the same purpose, and the regular guardian
deities, like HanumS.n, Bhairon, or Bhim Sen, often figure on
these protective frescoes. So in Italy Mania was a most
frightful spirit. " Her frightful image used to be hung over
the doors to frighten away evil. This is quite identical
with the old Assyrian observance recorded by Lenormant of
placing the images of evil or dreaded deities in places to
scare away the demons themselves." *
Confectioners, when one of their vessels of milk is exposed
to view, put a little charcoal in it, as careful Scotch mothers
do in the water in which they wash their babies.' The idea
is probably connected with the use of fire as a charm. In
Scotland it used to be the practice to throw a live coal into
the beer vat to avert the influence of the fairies, and a cow's
milk was secured against them by a burning coal being
passed across her back and under her belly immediately
after calving.' In India, if a cow gives a large quantity of
^ Leland, " Etrascan Roman Remains," 53.
* Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 7.
' Brand, " Observations," 753.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts, ix
milk, the owner tries to hide it, and if it chances to get sour,
he attributes the loss to foscination, or the machinations of
some enemy, witch, or demon* A mother while dressing
her baby makes a black mark on its cheek, and before a
man eats betel he pinches off the comer of the leaf as a safe*
guard. When food is taken to the labourer in the field, a
piece of charcoal or copper coin is placed in the basket as
a preservative ; and when horses while feeding throw a little
grain on the ground, it is not replaced, because the horse is
believed to do this to avoid fascination. Grooms, with the
same object, throw a dirty duster over the withers of a horse
while it is feeding, and they are the more particular to do
this when it is new moon or moonlight, when spirits are
abroad. In the same way, when a man purchases food in
the open market, he throws a little into the fire, and when a
man is having a specially good dinner, he should select an
auspicious moment and do the same. The same idea
accounts for various customs of grace-giving at meals.
Thus, when the Br&hmans at P(ina begin dinner they repeat
the name of Govinda; the Shenavis say, Har! ffarf
MaAddeva, and when half finished sing verses ; the Mh&rs
never eat without saying Krishnarpana ! or " It is dedicated
to Krishna " ; ^ the Muhammadan, when he begins to eat,
says, Bismillah ! — " In the name of God ! " and when he
finishes he says, Al-hamdulillah I — " Praise be to God ! "
Orthodox Hindus pretend that this offering of food at a
meal is a sacrifice to Annadeva, the god of food ; but here
many varied beliefs, such as fear of fascination, earth and
fire worship, appear to combine to establish these and
similar practices.
We now come to consider the various articles which are
believed to have the power of scaring spirits, and counteract-
ing demoniacal influence of various kinds.
First among these is iron. Why iron has been regarded
as a scarer of demons has been much debated. Natives of
India will tell you that it is the material out of which
1 Campbell, "Notes," 184.
22 Folk-lore of Northern India.
weapons are made, and that an armed man should fear
nothing. Others say that its virtues depend on its black
colour, whichi as we shall see, is obnoxious to evil spirits.
Mr. Campbell ^ thinks the explanation may be that in all
cases of swooning and seizures iron is of great value, either
applied in the form of the cautery or used as a lancet to let
blood. The real reason is probably a very interesting sur-
vival of folk-thought. We know that in many places the
stone axe and arrow head of the Age of Stone are invested
with magic qualities, and Mr. Macritchie has gone so far as
to assume that the various so-called fairy houses and fairy
hills which abound in Europe are really the abodes of a
primitive pigmy race, which survive to our days as the fairies.
The belief in the fairies would thus go back to a time
anterior to the use of metals, and these supernatural beings
would naturally feel an abhorrence for iron, a new discovery
and one of the greatest ever made by man. There is good
evidence in custom that the Age of Stone existed in many
places up to comparatively modern times. The Hebrews
used a stone knife for circumcision, their altars were for-
bidden to be hewn, and even Solomon ordered that neither )
hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron should be heard while /
his Temple was building. The same idea appears in many '
cases in India. The Magahiya Doms, who are certainly '
one of the most primitive races in] the country, place iron
under a stringent taboo, and any Magahiya who breaks into
a house with an iron implement is not only put out of caste,
but it is believed that some day or other he will lose his eye-
sight. The Agariyas, the primitive iron smelters of the
Central Indian Hills, have deified iron under the form of
Loh&sura, as the Kaseras or brass-founders worship brass as
Kans&sura.
This idea appears in many various forms. We have
already noticed the use of iron as a charm against hail. In
the same way a sword or knife is placed in the bed of the
young mother. She is, at this crisis of her life, particularly
» " Notes," 34.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts, 13
exposed to the influence of evil spirits, as the Scotch fiuries
are very fond of milk, and try to gratify their desires on
*' tinsained " or unchurched women.^ There is a case in the
Indian Law Reports, where the knife thus placed near the
woman was used to murder her.* Pliny advises that a piece
of iron should be placed in the nest of a sitting hen to save
her eggs from the influence of thunder. This is now done
in Sicily, with the object of absorbing every noise which
might be injurious to the chickens.' So, the Indians of
Canada put out swords in a storm to frighten off the demon
of thunder/ The common belief is that the evil spirit is
such a fool that he runs against the sharp edge of the
weapon and allows himself to be wounded.
The magic sword constantly appears in folk-lore. We
have Excalibur and Balmung ; in the tales of Somadeva it
confers the power of making the wearer fly through the air
and renders him invincible ; the snake demon obtains from
the wars of the Gods and the Asuras the magic sword
Vaiduryakanti. " Whatever man obtains that sword will
become a chief of the Siddhas and roam about xm-^
conquered ; and that sword can only be obtained by the aid
of heroes." *
While a house is being built, an iron pot, or a pot painted
black, which is good enough to scare the demon, is always
kept on the works, and when it is finished the young^
daughter of the owner ties to the lintel a charm, which is
also used on other occasions, the principal virtue of which
consists in a small iron ring. Here is combined the virtue
of the iron and the ring, which is a sacred circle. In India,
iron rings are constantly worn as an amulet against disease,
as in Ireland an iron ring on the fourth finger cures rheu-
matism. The mourner, during the period of ceremonial
impurity, carries a knife or a piece of iron to drive off the
^ Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," $, 60, 62.
' Reg. vs. Lalla, " Nizimat Adilat Reports," 22nd September, 1853.
* Gubematis, " Zoological Mythology," ii. 281.
* "Folk-lore," i. 154.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 386, 575 ; ii. 64.
14 Folk-lore of Northern India.
ghost of the dead man, and the bridegroom in the marriage
procession wears a sword as a protection ; if he cannot
procure a licence from a magistrate to carry a real sword,
he gets one made of lath, which is good enough to frighten
the evil spirit. In this case he fastens an iron spike to the
point. On the same principle the blacksmith's anvil is used
as a hail charm, and any one who dares to sit on it is likely
to be punished for the contempt by an attack of boils. The
Romans used to drive large nails into the side posts of the
door with the same object. We have already noticed the
value of iron nails for the purpose of laying the ghost of the
Churel, and such nails are in India very commonly driven
into the door-post or into the legs of the bed, with the object
of resisting evil spirits. The horse-shoe is one special form
of the charm. The wild Irish, we are told, used to hang
round the necks of children the beginning of St. John's
-Gospel, a crooked nail out of a horse-shoe, or a piece of
wolf-skin.* Why the horse-shoe should be used in this way
has been much debated. Mr. Farrer thinks it may be
connected with the respect paid to the horse in folk-lore.'
The Irish say that the reason is that the horse and ass were
in the stall when Christ was born, and hence are blessed
for evermore.' The idea that its shape connects it with
the Yoni and phallicism hardly deserves mention. One
thing is clear, that the element of luck largely enters into
the matter ; the shoe must have been found by chance on
the road. Mr. Leland says, "To find and pick up any-
thing, at once converts it into a fetish, or insures that all
will go well with it, if we say when taking it up, * I do not
pick it up,' — naming the object — * I pick up good luck,
which, may never abandon me ! ' * This, combined with the
general protective power of iron, is probably a sufficient
explanation of the practice. The custom is common in
India. The great gate of the mosque at Fatehpur Sikri is
•covered with them, and the practice is general at many
shrines.
^ Brand, " Observations," 339. *^ " Primitive Manners," 293.
5 Lady Wilde, " Legends," 181. * " Etruscan Roman Remains,** 264.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 15
There is also a cycle of legends which connect iron with
the philosopher's stone and transmutation into gold. The
great Chandra Varma, who was bom of the embraces of
Chandrama, the Moon god» possessed the power of con*
verting iron into gold. Laliya, a blaclcsmith of Ahmad&b&d,
made an axe for a Bhil, who returned and complained that
it would not cut. Laliya, on looking at it, found that the
blade had been turned into gold. On questioning the Bhtl,
he ascertained that he had tried to sharpen it on what
turned out to be the philosopher's stone. Laliya, by pos-
session of the stone, acquired great wealth, and was finally
attacked by the king's troops. At last he was obliged to
throw the stone into the Bhadar river, where it still lies,
but once some iron chains were let down into the water,
and when they touched it the links were converted into
gold.*
Gold and Silver Protectives.
Gold, and in a less degree silver, have a similar protective
influence. The idea is apparently based on their scarcity
and value, and on their colour — ^yellow and white being
obnoxious to evil spirits. Hence a little bit of gold is put
into the mouth of the dying Hindu, and both gold and silver,
combined with tigers' claws and similar protectives, are
largely used as amuletsi. These metals are particularly
effective in the form of ornaments, many of which are
images of the gods, or have some mystic significance, or are
made in imitation of some sacred leaf, flower, or animal.
This is one main cause of the recklessness with which rich
natives load their children with masses of costly jewellery,
though they are well aware that the practice often leads to
robbery and murder.
Copper and Brass Protectives.
Next come copper and brass. The use of copper in the
1 " Bombay Gazetteer," v. 123 ; and for another instance, see Jarrett,
" AJn-i-Akbari,*' ii. 197.
i6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
form of rings and amulet cases is very common. Many of
the vessels used in the daily service of the gods, such as the
Argha, with which the daily oblations are made, are made
of this metal. So with brass and various kinds of alloy
used for bells, drinking and cooking utensils.
The common brass Lota is always carried about by a man
during the period of mourning as a preservative against the
evil spirits which surround him until the ghost of the dead
man is finally laid. Copper rings are specially worn as an
antidote to pimples and boils, while those of iron are sup-
posed to weaken the influence of the planet Sani or Saturn,
which is proverbially unlucky and malignant. His Evil W
Eye, in particular, brings misfortune at intervals of twenty-
four years ; all offerings to him are black, and consequently
ill-omened, such as sesamum, charcoal, buffaloes, and black
salt ; and only the Dakaut, the lowest class of Brdhman
priest, will accept such offerings.*
Coral and Marine Products Protectives.
Next in value to these metals come coral and other
marine products, which in the case of the Hindus probably
derive their virtue from being strange to an inland-dwelling
people, and as connected with the great ocean, the final home
of the sainted dead. Coral is particularly valued in the form
of a necklace by those who cannot afford the costlier metals,
and its ashes are constantly used in various rustic remedies
and stimulants. In Gujarat a coral ring is used to keep ofiF
the evil influence of the sun,' and in Bengal mourners touch
it as a form of purification. According to the old belief in
England, coral guarded off lightning, whirlwind, tempests
and storms from ships and houses, and was hung round the
necks of children to assist teething and keep off the falling
sickness.* So with shells, particularly the Sankha or conch
shell, which is used for oblations and is regarded as sacred
to Vishnu. It is blown at his temples when the deity
» Lil Bihdri D6, " Folk-tales,*' io8 sqq. ; Wilson, " Indian Caste,*'
ii. 174.
» '' Campbell, " Notes," 69. » Brand, " Observations," 344, 733.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 17
receives his daily meal, in order to wake him and scare off
vagrant spirits, who would otherwise consume or defile the
offering. This shell, in popular belief, is the bone of the
demon Panchajana, who, according to the Vishnu Purina,*
"lived in the form of a conch shell under the ocean.
Krishna plunged into the water, killed him, took the shell,
which constituted his bones, and afterwards used it for a
horn. When sounded it fills the demon hosts with dismay,
animates the gods, and annihilates unrighteousness."
All these shells appear to derive part of their virtue from
the fact that they are perforated. The cowry shell, which
is worn round the neck by children as an antidote to the
Evil Eye and diabolical influence, is supposed to have such
sympathy with the wearer that it cracks when the evil glance
falls upon it, as in England coral was thought to change
colour and grow pale when its owner was sick. The cowry
shell is, with the same object, tied round the neck or pasterns
of a valued horse, or on a cow or buffalo. The shell armlet
worn by Bengal women has the same protective influence.*
Precious Stones Protectives.
Precious stones possess similar value. Sir Thomas Brown
would not deny that bezoar was antidotal, but he could not
bring himself to believe that " sapphire is preservative against
enchantments." In one special combination of nine varieties,
known as the Nauratana, they are specially efficacious — ^the
ruby sacred to the sun, the pearl- to the moon, coral to
Mars, emerald to Mercury, topaz . to Jupiter, diamond to
Venus, sapphire to Saturn, amethyst to R&hu, and the cat's-
eye to Ketu. In the mythology the gods interrupted PArvat!
when she was with Mah4deva, and nine jewels dropped from
her anklet. When he looked at them he saw his image
reflected in each of them, and they appeared in the form of
the nine Kany&s or heavenly maidens. The Naulakha or
nine Idkh necklace constantly appears in Indian folk-lore.
1 V. 21.
* For further examples see Campbell, " Notes," 126 sqq.
VOL. II. C
i8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
In the story of the Princess Aubergine we read that " inside
the fish there is a bumble-bee, inside the bee a tiny box, and
inside the box is the wonderful nine likh necklace. Put it
on and I shall die." And in one of Somadeva's stories, at
the marriage, Jaya gives the bride a necklace of such a kind
that, as long as it is upon a person's neck, hunger, thirsty
and death cannot harm him.* It is of jewels that the lamps
which light fairy-land are made.
Many of the precious stones have tales and qualities of
their own. Once upon a time a holy man came and settled
at Panna who had a diamond as large as a cart-wheeL
The Rija, hearing of this, tried to take it by force, but the
saint hid it in the ground out of his way. He told the Ralja
that the diamond wheel could not leave his dominions, and
that no one could ever find it. The Muhammadans say
that all the diamonds found since, in these famous mines,
were fragments of the wheel.' The wearing of a ring of
sapphire, sacred to Sani or Saturn, is supposed to turn out
lucky or unlucky, according to circumstances. For this
reason, the wearer tries it for three days, that is, he wears
it on Saturday, which is sacred to Saturn, and keeps it on
till Tuesday. During this time, if no mishap befalls him>
he continues to wear it during the period when the planet's
influence is unfavourable; but should any mishap befall
him during the three days, he gives the ring to a Brdhman.'
The amethyst obtains its name because any one who wears
it cannot be affected by wine. The turquoise or Ftroza is
a mystic stone in India. If you bathe wearing a turquoise,
the water touched by it protects the wearer from boils, and
snakes will not approach him.* Shylock got a turquoise
from Leah which he would not have given for a wilderness
of monkeys, because it changed colour with the health of
the owner, and the Turkeys, says an old writer, "doth
' Temple, "Wideawake Stories," 83 ; Tawney, '*^Katha Sarit Sigara,"
i. 478.
* Cunningham, " Archaeological Reports," vii. Sf^
> Campbell, "Notes," 119.
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 53,
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 19
move when there is any peril prepared to him that weareth
it."/ So the onyx, known as the Sulaim&ni, or stone of
Solomon, has mystic virtues, as, according to Burton,
carbuncles and coral, beryl, pearls and rubies were believed
to drive away devils, to overcome sorrow, and to stop
dreams.'
Beads Protectives.
With poorer people beads take the place of gems, and
in particular the curious enamelled bead, which probably
came from China and is still found in old deserted sites,
mostly of Buddhistic origin, enjoys special repute. We
have already met with the parturition bead, and in Kolhapur
there is a much-valued Arabic stone which, when any woman
is in labour, is washed and the water given to her to drink.
In Scotland the amber bead cures inflamed eyes and sprains^
as in Italy looking through amber beads strengthens the
sight.* Here the perforation confers a mystical quality.
As an antidote to the Evil Eye blue beads are specially
valued, and are hung round the necks and pasterns of
horses and other valuable animals. The belief in the
e£Kcacy of beads is at the basis of the use of rosaries, which^
as used in Europe, are almost certainly of Eastern origin,
imported in the Middle Ages in imitation of those worn by
Buddhistic or Hindu ascetics, who ascribe to them manifold
virtue. Such are those of the Tulasl or sacred basil, worn
by Vaishnavas, and those of the Rudriksha, worn by
Saivas.
Blood a Protective.
Blood is naturally closely connected with life. "The
flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall
ye not eat." Hence blood comes to be a scarer of demons.
In Scott's Lay the wizard's book would not open till he
smeared the cover with the Borderer's curdled gore. In
^ " Brand, " Observations," 733. * " Anatomy of Melancholy," 434.
• Henderson, ** Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 146; Lcland.
" Etruscan Roman Remains/' 267.
C 2
20 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Cornwall, the burning of blood from the body of a dead
animal is a very common method of appeasing the spirits
of disease/ and the blood sacrifices so prevalent all over the
worid are performed with the same object. A curious Evil
Eye charm is recorded from Allah4b4d. A woman of the
Chamir or carrier caste gave birth to a dead child. Think-
ing that this was due to fascination, she put a piece of the
cloth used at her confinement down a well, having previously
enclosed in it two leaves of betel, some cloves, and a piece
of the castor-oil plant.' Here we have, first, a case of well-
worship ; secondly, the use of betel, cloves, and the castor-
oil plant, all scarers of evil spirits ; and thirdly, an instance
of the use of blood for the same purpose. We have else-
where noticed the special character attached to menstrual
or parturition blood. But blood itself is most effectual
against demoniacal influence. There are many cases where
blood is rubbed on the body as an antidote to disease. In
Bombay some Marhitas give warmed goat's blood in cases
of piles, and in typhus, or red discoloration of the skin with
blotches, the patieiit is cured by killing a cock and rubbing
the sick man with the blood. Others use the blood of the
great lizard in cases of snake-bite.' A bath of the blood of
children was once ordered for the Emperor Constantine,
and because he, moved by the tears of the parents, refused
to take it, his extraordinary humanity was rewarded by a
miraculous cure.
Similarly, among the Drdvidians, the Kos drink the blood
of the sacrificial bull ; the Malers cure demoniacs by giving
the blood of a sacrificed buffalo ; the Pahariyas, in time of
epidemics, set up a pair of posts and a cross beam, and
hang on it a vessel of blood.* So, the Jews sprinkled the
door-posts and the horns of the altar with blood, and the
same customs prevail among many other peoples.
We shall meet with instances of the same rite when
1 Hunt, " Popular Romances," 213.
* " PanjAb Notes and Queries," iii. 67.
' Campbell, " Notes," 49 sq.
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 115, 270, 272.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 21
dealing with the blood covenant and human sacrifice. On
the same analogy many Indian tribes mark the forehead of
the bride with blood or vermilion, and red paint is smeared
on the image of the village godling in lieu of a regular
sacrifice.
Incense.
Similarly, incense is largely used in religious rites, partly
to please with the sweet savour the deity which is being
worshipped, and partly to drive away demons who would
steal or defile the offerings. Bad smells repel evil spirits,
and this is probably why assafoetida is given to a woman
after her delivery. In Ireland, if a child be sick, they take
a piece of the cloth worn by the person supposed to have
overlooked the infant and burn it near him. If he sneezes,
he expels the spirit and the spell is broken, or the doth is
burned to ashes and given to the patient, while his forehead
is rubbed with spittle. In Northern India, if a child be
sick, a little bran, pounded chillies, mustard, and sometimes
the eyelashes of the child are passed round its head and
burned. If the burning mixture does not smell very badly,
which it is needless to say is hardly ever the case, it is a
sign that the child is still under the evil influence ; if the
odour be abominable, that the attack has been obviated.^
Similarly, in Bengal, red mustard seeds and salt are mixed
together, waved round the head of the patient, and then
thrown into the fire.* This reminds us of the flight of the
Evil One into the remote parts of Egypt from the smell of
the fish liver burnt by Tobit, and an old writer says:
" Wyse clerkes knoweth well that dragons hate nothyng
more than the stenche of breenynge bones, and therefore
they gaderyd as many as they might fynde, and brent them 5
and so with the stenche thereof they drove away the
dragons, and so they were brought out of greete dysease." •
> '' Panj&b Notes and Queries," i. 51.
» Risley, " Tribes and Castes," ii. 209.
» Brand, *' Observations," i66.
22 Folk-lore of Northern India,
Spittle.
We have just met with an instance of the use of spittle for
the scaring of the disease demon or the Evil Eye. This is a
very common form of charm for this purpose. In one of the
Italian charms the performer is directed to spit behind
himself thrice and not to look back. In another, " if your
eyes pain you, you must take the saliva of a woman who
has given birth only to boys, not girls. And she must have
abstained from sexual union and stimulating food for three
days. Then, if her saliva be bright and clear, anoint your
eyes with it and they will be cured." * At Innisboffin, in
Ireland, when the old women meet a baby out with its nurse
they spit on the ground all round it to keep fairies from it.
In Wicklow they spit on a child for good luck the first day
it is brought out after birth.' In several of the European
folk-tales we find that spittle has the power of speech.
The habit of spitting on the handsell or first money taken
in the morning is common. It is done " either to render it
tenacious that it may remain with them and not vanish away
like a fairy gift, or else to render it propitious and lucky,
that it may draw more money to it." • Muhammad advised
that when the demon Khanzab interrupted any one at his
prayers, he was to spit over his left shoulder three times.
In India, spittle is regarded as impure. Hence a native
cleans his teeth daily with a fresh twig of the Ntm tree, and
regards the European's use of the same tooth-brush day after
day as one of the numerous extraordinary impurities which
we permit. Hence, too, the practice of spitting when any
one who is feared or detested passes by. When women see
a falling star they spit three times to scare the demon. In
Bombay, spittle, especially fasting spittle, is used to rub on
wounds as a remedy. It cures inflammation of the eyes,
an idea which was familiar to the Jews. It guards children
against the Evil Eye. In the Konkan, when a person is
affected by the Evil Eye, salt and mustard are waved round*
^ Leland, "Etruscan Roman Remains/' 260, 279 ; Hartland, " Legend
of Perseus," ii. 258 sqq.
« " Folk-lore/' iv. 358, 361. » Brand, loc. cit^ 724.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring op Ghosts. 23
his head, thrown into the fire, and he is told to spit. In
Gujardt, when an orthodox Shiah Musakn&n travels with a
Sunniy he spits, and among the Roman Catholics of Kanara^
at baptism the priest wets his thumb with spittle and with
it touches the child's ears and nostrils.*
Salt.
We have seen above that salt is also used in the same
ivay. Salt, apparently from its power of checking decay^ is
regarded as possessing mystical powers. All over Europe
the spilling of salt in the direction of a person was con-
sidered ominous. '' It was held to indicate that something
had already happened to one of the family, or was about to
befall the person spilling it, and also to denote the rupture
of friendship." * The custom of putting a plate of salt on a
corpse with the object of driving off evil spirits is common
in Great Britain. We have already seen that salt is given
to children after they have eaten sweets. Many classes of
Hindu ascetics bury their dead in salt. It is waved round
the head of the bride and bridegroom, and buried near the
house door as a charm. In classical antiquity it was mixed
with water and sprinkled on the worshippers.
Salutation.
Another way of dispelling evil spirits is by the various
forms of salutation, which generally consist in the invocation
of some deity. The Hindu says, '*Rdm! Rdm!" when he
meets a friend, ox Jay Gop&l! "Glory to Krishna!" or
whoever his personal god may be, and the same idea accounts
for many of the customs connected with the reception of
guests, who, coming from abroad, may bring evil spirits with
them.
The Separable Soul: Waving.
Another series of prophylactics depends on the idea of the
1 Campbell, " Notes," 131 ; Tylor, " Primitive Culture," ii. 439.
- Brand, loc. cit.^ 668.
24 Folk-lore of Northern India.
separable soul or that spirits are always fluttering in the air
round a person's head. Hence a long series of customs
known as Parachhan, performed at Hindu marriages in
Upper India, when lights, a brass tray, grain, and household
implements like the rice pounder or grindstone are waved
round the head of the married pair as a protective. In
Somadeva's tale of Bhunandana we find that he '^ performs
the ceremony of averting evil spirits from all quarters by
waving the hand over the head."* This is perhaps one
explanation of the use of flags at temples and village shrines,
though in some cases they appear to be used as a perch, on
which the deity sits when he makes his periodical visits.
Hence, too, feathers have a mystic significance, though in
some cases, as in those of the peacock and jay, the colour
is the important part. Hence the waving of the fan and
Chaurt over the head of the great man and the use of the
umbrella as a symbol of royalty. A woman carrying her
child on her return from a strange village, lest she should
bring the influence of some foreign evil spirit back with her,
will, before entering her own homestead, pass seven little
stones seven times round the head of the baby, and throw
them in difiierent directions, so as to pass away any evil that
may have been contracted. When a sorcerer is called in to
attend a case attributed to demoniacal possession, he whisks
the patient with a branch of the Nlm, Mad4r, or Camel
thorn, all of which are more or less sacred trees and have
acquired a reputation as preservatives. When this is com-
pleted, the aspersion of the afflicted one, be he man or
beast, with some water from the blacksmith's shop, in which
iron has been repeatedly plunged and has bestowed additional
efficacy upon it, usually follows.
Blacksmith, Respect for.
The respect paid to the trade of the blacksmith is a
curious survival firom the time of the early handicrafts and
the substitution of weapons of iron for those of stone.' In
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," ii. 198.
* Schrader, " Prehistoric Antiquities," 163 sqq.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 2$
Scotland the same belief in the virtues of the water of the
forge prevails, and in Ireland no one will take anything by
stealth from such a place.' In St. Patrick's Hsrmn we have
a prayer against '* the spells of women, of smiths, and of
druids." Culann, the mystic smith, appears in Celtic folk-
lore. In all the mythologies the idea is widespread that the
art of smithing was first discovered and practised by super-
n atural personages. We see this through the whole range of
folk-lore, from the Cyclopes to Wayland Smith, who finally
came to be connected with the Devil of Christianity.'
Water.
We have already referred to water as a protective against
the influence of evil spirits. We see this principle in the
rite of ceremonial bathing as a propitiation for sin. It
also appears in the use of water which has been blown
upon by a holy man as a remedy for spirit possession.
Among many menial tribes in the North- Western Provinces
with the same object the bride is washed in the water in
which the bridegroom has already taken his wedding bath.
Again, on a lucky day fixed by the Pandit the rite of
Nah&wan or ceremonial bathing is performed for the
protection of the young mother and her child two or
three days after her confinement. Both of them are bathed
in a decoction of the leaves of the Nim tree. Then a
handful of the seeds of mustard and dill are waved round
the mother's head and thrown into a vessel containing fire.
When the seeds are consumed the cup is upset, and the
mother breaks it with her own foot. Next she sits with
grain in her hand, while the household brass tray is beaten
to scare demons and the midwife throws the child into the
air. All this takes place in the open air in the courtyard of
the house. Here we have a series of antidotes to demoniacal
» Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 45 ; Lady MTilde,
" Legends,** 205.
« " Folk-lore," ii. 292 ; Rhys, " Lectures," 446, 553 ; Campbell, " Popular
Tales," Introduction, Ixx. ; ii. 98 ; Hartland, " Legend of Perseus," i. 37.
:26 Folk-lore of Northern India.
possession, the purport of which will be easily understood
on principles which have been already explained.
Grain.
With this use of grain we meet with another valuable
antidote. We have it in Great Britain in the rule that
" the English, when the bride comes from church, are wont
to cast wheat upon her head.'* * It survives in our custom
of throwing rice over the wedded pair when they start on
the honeymoon. On the analogy of other races one object
of the rite would seem to be to keep in the soul which is
likely to depart at such a crisis in life as marriage. Thus,
" in Celebes they think that a bridegroom's soul is apt to
fly away at marriage, so coloured rice is scattered over him
to induce it to stay. And, in general, at festivals in South
Celebes rice is strewed on the head of the person in whose
honour the festival is held, with the object of retaining his
soul, which at such times is in especial danger of being lured
away by envious demons." ^
This rite appears widely in Indian marriage customs.
Among the Mh^rs of Khindesh, on the bridegroom approach-
ing the bride's house, a piece of bread is waved round his
head and thrown away.' In a Kunbi's wedding a ball of
rice is waved round the boy's head and thrown away, and
at the lucky moment grains of rice are thrown over the
couple. Among the Telang Nhivis of Bijaypur the chief
marriage rite is that the priest throws rice over the boy and
girl. The grain acquires special efficacy if it be either
parched, and thus purified by fire, or if it be stained in some
lucky or demon-scaring colour.* Thus, in Upper India
grain parched with a special rite is thrown over the pair as
they revolve round the marriage shed, and this function is,
if possible, performed by the brother of the bride. Rice
stained yellow with turmeric is very often used for this
purpose. Another device is to make a pile of rice, with a
» Brand, " Observations," 355. * Frazer, " Golden Bough," L 125.
» "Bombay Gaietteer," xii. 117. * Campbell, " Notes,'* 95.
The Evil Eyb and the Scaring of Ghosts, vj
knot of turmeric and a copper coin concealed in it. This
at a particular stage of the service the bride knocks down
with her foot. The Lodhis of the Dakkhin» in the same
way, put a pile of rice at the door of the boy's house, which
he upsets with his foot. All through Northern India the
exerciser shakes grain in a fan, which is, as we shall see, a
potent fetish, and by the number of grains which remain in
the interstices calculates which particular ghost is worrying
the patient. On the same principle the Or&ons put rice in
the mouth of the corpse, and the Koiris, when they marry,
walk round a pile of water-pots and scatter rice on the
ground.^ The custom of sprinkling grain at marriage
appears in many of the folk-tales.
Urad.
We are familiar in Roman literature with the use of beans
at funerals, and at the Lemuria thrice every other night to
pacify the ghosts of the dead beans were flung on the fire of -^
the altar to drive the spirits out of the house. The same
idea appears in the Carlings or fried peas given away and
eaten on the Sunday before Palm Sunday.' No special
sanctity appears to apply to the pea or bean in India, but
they are replaced by the Urad pulse, which is much used in
rites of all kind, and especially in magic, when it is thrown
over the head of the person whom the magician wishes to
bring under his control."
Barley.
Barley, another sacred grain, is rubbed over the corpse of
a Hindu and sprinkled on the head before the cremation rite
is performed. So, the Or&ons throw rice on the urn as they
take it to the tomb, and sprinkle grain on the ground behind
the bones to keep the, spirit from coming back.*
1 Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 261, 321.
« Brand, " Observations,'' 58.
• Hartland, " Legend of Perseus," ii. 289.
^ Dalton, loc, cit.^ 261.
/
28 Folk-lore OF Northern India.
Sesamum.
Til or black sesamum, again, has certain qualities of the
same kind. Hence it is used in the funeral rites, and in
form of Tilanjall or a handful mixed with water is one of
the offerings to the sainted dead, and made up in the form
of a cow, called Tiladhenu, it is presented to Brdhmans.
Sheaves.
Most grains in the ear have also mystic uses. It is hung
up over the house door to repel evil spirits, and in Hos-
hang&bid they tie a sheaf of com on a pole and fasten it to
the cattle shed as a preservative.* The combination of
seven kinds of grain, known as Satnaja, is an ingredient in
numerous charms and is used in many forms of worship.
Milk.
So with the products of the sacred cow, which are, as
might have been expected, most valuable for this purpose.
Hence the use of Ghilor or clarified butter in the public and
domestic ritual. Milk for the same reason is used in offer-
ings and sprinkled on the ground as an oblation. Cow-
dung, in particular, is regarded as efficacious. After the
death or birth impurity the house is carefully plastered with
a mixture of cowdung and clay. No cooking place is pure
without it, and the corpse is cremated with cakes of cow-
dung fuel. Even the urine of the cow is valued as a
medicine and a purificant. The cow guards the house from
evil, and every rich man keeps a cow so that»his glance may
£all on her when he wakes from sleep, and he regards her as
the guardian of the household.
Colours.
Colours, again, are scarers of evil spirits. They particu-
larly dread yellow, black, red, and white. The belief in the
efficacy of yellow accounts for the use of turmeric in the
* " Settlement Report,'* 274.
The Evil Eye and the^Sqaring of Ghosts. 29
domestic ritual.^ A few days befcnre the marriage rites
commence the bride and bridegroom\are anointed with a
mixture of oil and turmeric known aft Abtan. The bride
assumes a robe dyed in turmeric, which she wears until the
wedding. The marriage letter of invitation is coloured
with turmeric, and splashes of it are nulde on the wall and
worshipped by the married pain In tKe old times the woman
who performed Satt, and nowadays married women who
die, are taken to the pyre wrapp^ in a shroud dyed wit$
turmeric. The corpse is very,>drten smeared with turmeric
before cremation, a custom/^hich is not peculiar to the so-
called Aryan Hindus, beause it prevails among the Th&rus,
one of the most primitive tribes of the sub-Himilayan
forests. The same principle probably explains the use of
yellow clothes by certain classes of ascetics, and of Chandan
or sandal-wood in making caste marks and for various cere-
monial purposes.
Yellow and red are the usual colours of marriage garments,
and the parting of the bride's hair is stained with vermilion,
though here the practice is probably based on the symbolical
belief in the Blood Covenant. The same idea is probably
the explanation of the flinging of red powder and water
coloured with turmeric at the Holt or spring festival
Black, again, is feared by evil spirits, and the husbandman
hangs a black pot in his field to scare spirits and evade the
Evil Eye, and young women and children have their eyelids
marked with lampblack. In the Mirzapur Baiga's sacrifice
the black fowl or the black goat is the favourite victim, and
charcoal is valued, some put into the milk as a preservative
and some buried under the threshold to guard the household
from harm.
Grasses.
For the same reason various kinds of grass are considered
sacred, such as the Kusa, the Ddrva, the Darbha. Among the
Prabhus of Bombay juice of the Ddrva grass is poured into
the left nostril of a woman when the pregnancy and coming
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 29.
30 Folk-lore of Northern India,
of age rites are performed, and the Kanaujiya Br&hman
husband drops some of the juice down her nose when she
reaches maturity,* The Sholapur Mings when they come
back from the grave strew some Hariyili grass and Ntm
leaves on the place where the deceased died. The Miinj
grass is also sacred, and a thread made of it is worn at one
stage of the Brahman's life. Some of these sacred grasses
form an important ingredient in the Srdddha offerings to
the sacred dead, some are used in the marriage and crema-
tion ritual, on some the dsring man is laid at the moment of
dissolution. They are potent to avert the Evil Eye, and
hence the mother of R&ma and Lakshmana, when she looks
at them, breaks a blade of grass.^
Tattooing.
Next come special marks made on the body. Such are
the marks branded on various parts of their bodies by many
classes of ascetics, and the caste marks made in clay or
ashes by most high-class Hindus. It has been suggested
that many of these marks are of totemistic origin. That
this is so among races beyond the Indian border is almost
certainly the case.' But though tattooing, a widespread
practice of the Indian people, very possibly originated in
totemism, still, as far as has hitherto been ascertained, no
distinct trace remains of a tribal tattoo, and it is safer at
present to class marks of this kind in the general category
of devices to repel evil spirits. Among purely sectarial
marks we have the forehead mark of the Saivas, composed
of three curved lines like a half-moon, to which is added a
round mark on the nose ; it is made with the clay of the
Ganges, or with sandal-wood, or the ashes of cowdung, the
ashes being supposed to represent the disintegrating force
of the deity. The mark of the Vaishnavas is in the form of
the foot of Vishnu, and consists of two lines rather oval
drawn the whole length of the nose and carried forward in
1 Campbell, " Notes," 92. - Growse, " RAmiyana," 99.
» Frazer, " Totemism,'' 26 sq.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 3x
straight lines across the forehead. It is generally mad&
with the clay of the Ganges, sometimes with the powder of
sandal-wood. The S&kta forehead mark is a small semi^
circular line between the eyebrows, with a dot in the middle.
The practice of tattooing is common both among the-
Aryan and Dr&vidian races, but is more general among the
lower than the higher castes. Thus, the Ju4ng women
tattoo themselves with three strokes on the forehead just
over the nose, and three on each of the temples. They^
attach no meaning to the marks, have no ceremony in
adopting them, and are ignorant of the origin of the practice.
The Khariya women make three parallel marks on the-
forehead, the outer lines terminating at the ends in a crooks
and two on each temple. The Ho women tattoo themselves
in the form of an arrow, which they regard as their national
emblem. The Birhor women tattoo their chests, arms, and
ankles, but not their faces. The Or4on women have three
marks on the brow and two on each temple. The young
men burn marks on their fore-arms as part of the ordeal
ceremony ; girls, when adult, or nearly so, have themselves
tattooed on the arms and back. The Kis&n women have^
no such marks ; if a female of the tribe indulges herself in.
the vanity of having herself tattooed, she is at once turned
adrift as having degraded herself. Here we may have some
faint indications of a tribal tattoo, but among most of the
tribes which practise the custom it has become purely
protective or ornamental.*
Among the Dr4vidian tribes of the North- Western Pro-
vinces tattooing generally prevails. The Korwas and many
other of these tribes get their women tattooed by a woman
of the Bidi sub-division of Nats. They are tattooed only
on the breast and arms, not on the thighs. There are no
ceremonies connected with it, nor any special pattern. Any
girl gets herself tattdoed in any figure she approves for a
small sum. Well-to-do women always get it done ; but if a
woman is not tatooed, it is not considered unlucky. The,
1 Oalton, "Descriptive Ethnology," 157, 161, 191, 219, 251.
32 Folk-lore of Northern India.
men of the tribe are not tattooed. The Ghasiya women
tattoo themselves on the breasts, arms, thighs, and feet.
They say that when a woman dies who is not tattooed, the
Great Lord Parameswar is displeased and turns her ouit of
heaven, or has her branded with the thorn of the acacia.
In the same way among the Cham^rs, when a woman who
has not been tattooed dies, Parameswar asks her where are
the marks and signs which she ought to possess to show
that she had lived in the world. If she cannot show them,
she will in her next birth be re-born as a Bhfitni, Pretni, or
Rdkshasi.
At present among low-caste women the process of tattoo-
ing is regarded as a species of initiation, and usually marks
the attainment of puberty. It thus corresponds with the rite
of ear-piercing among males. To the east of the North-
West Provinces a girl is not allowed to cook until she is
tattooed with a mark representing the Siti ki Rasoi or cook-
house of Sltd, and in Bengal high-caste people will not drink
from the hands of a girl who does not wear the Ullikhi or
star-shaped tattoo mark between her eyebrows. A Chamdr
woman who is not tattooed at marriage will not, it is
believed, see her father and mother in the next world. This
reminds us of the idea prevalent in Fiji, that women who
are not tattooed are liable to special punishment in the land
of the dead.^ In Bombay the custom has been provided
with a Brdhmanical legend. One day Lakshml, the wife
of Vishnu, told her husband that whenever he went out on
business or to visit his devotees she became frightened.
Hearing this, Vishnu took his weapons and stamped them
on her body, saying that the marks of his weapons would
save her from evil.
Hence women in Bombay tattoo themselves with the
figures of the lotus, conch shell, and discus, and from this
the present custom is said to have originated.^
In Upper India the forms of the tattoo marks fall into
1 Bholanith Chandra, ** Travels of a Hindu," i. 326 ; " Panjdb Notes
and Queries," i. 27, 99 ; Farrer, ** Primitive Manners," 125.
» Campbell, " Notes,'* p. 134.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 33
various classes. Some are rude or conventionalized represen-
tations of animals, plants, and flowers. The operators carry
round with them sketches of the different kinds of ornament,
and the girl selects these according to taste. The peacock,
the horse, the serpent, the scorpion, tortoise, centipede,
appear constantly in various forms. Others, again, are
representations of jewellery actually worn — necklaces,
bracelets, armlets, or rings. Others, again, are purely
religious, such as the trident or matted hair of Siva, the
weapons of Vishnu, and the cooking house of SIt4, the type
of wifely virtue. Some of these marks were probably of
totemistic origin, but they have now become merely oma-
mentative, as was the case in Central Asia in the time of
Marco Polo, where they were regarded only as " a piece of
elegance or a sign of gentility," and among the Thracians,
as described by Herodotus.' It may be noticed that in the
time of Marco Polo people used to go from Upper India to
Zayton in China to be tattooed." These animal forms of
tattooing are found also among the DrAvidian tribes of the
Central Provinces, where the forms used are a peacock, an
antelope, or a dagger, and the marks are made on the back
of the thighs and legs. In Bengal tattooing is used as a
cure for goitre.'
We may close this long catalogue of devices intended to
scare spirits, with a number of miscellaneous examples.
It seems to be a well-established principle that evil spirits
fear leather. On this is perhaps based the idea of the shoe
being a mode of repelling the Evil Eye and the influence of
demons. We find this constantly appearing in the folk-lore
of the West. Thus, the Highlanders paid particular attention
to the leaving of the bridegroom's left shoe without buckle
or latchet, to prevent the secret influences of witches on the
wedding night.* And Hudibras tells how —
» Yule, "Marco Polo," ii. 69, 99; Herodotus, v. 6 ; and for the Dacians,
Pliny, ** Natural History," vii. 10; xxii. 2.
» Loc, city ii. 218.
' Hislop, " Papers," ii., note ; Risley, " Tribes and Castes," i. 292.
* Brand, " Observations," 399. For the Indian versions of Cinderella
and her shoe, sec " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 102, 121.
VOL. II. D
34 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Augustus having by oversight
Put on his left shoe 'fore his right,
Had like to have been slain that day
By soldiers mutinying for pay."
Maidens in Europe ascertain whether they will be married
and who will be their future husbands by throwing the
slipper at the new year. The throwing of old shoes at an
English wedding seems on the same principle to be based
on the idea of scaring the demon of barrenness. According
to Mr. Hartland,* the gipsies of Transylvania throw old
shoes and boots on a newly married pair when they enter
their tent, expressly to enhance the fertility of the union.
In the same way in India, people who are too poor to
afford another protective place on the top of their houses a
shoe heel upwards. This seems to give some additional
efficacy to the charm, because we find the same rule in force
elsewhere. Thus, in Cornwall, a slipper with the point
turned up placed near the bed cures cramp.' In P(!lna, if a
man feels that he has been struck by an incantation, he at
once takes hold of an upturned shoe.'
The fear which spirits feel for leather is also illustrated
by the procedure of the Dr^vidian Baiga, who flagellates
people suffering from demoniacal possession with a tawse or
leathern strap. In the Dakkhin a person troubled with
nightmare sleeps with a shoe under his pillow, and an
exorcist frightens evil spirits by threatening to make them
drink water from a tanner's well. We shall see that this is
one way of punishing and repelling the power of witches.
The PClna Kunbis believe that a drink of water from a
tanner's hand destroys the power of a witch. In the Panjib,
if a man sits on a currier's stone, he gets boils.* The same
principle probably accounts for much of the fear or contempt
generally felt in India regarding shoe-beating as a form of
punishment. At the same time it is said in Persia and
Arabia that the dread of a flagellation with the slipper is
1 " Legend of Perseus/' i. 171.
^ Hunt, " Popular Romances," 409. ' Campbell, " Notes," 105.
-* " North Indian Notes and Queries,*' i. 86.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 35
based on the idea that while a flogging with the regular
scourge involves little discredit, a beating with an)rthing not
originally intended for the purpose, such as a shoe or
knotted cloth, is disgraceful.
The same feeling for the power of leather possibly explains
the use as a seat of various kinds of skins, such as those of
the tiger and antelope, by many kinds of ascetics, and in the
old ritual the wife with her husband sat on the hide of a
bull to promote the fertility of their union.
Garlic
Garlic, again, from its pungency, is valued in the same
way. Garlic was one of the substances used by Danish
mothers to keep evil from children.* The Swedish bride-
groom sews in his clothes garlic, cloves, and rosemary.
Garlic was an early English cure for a fiend-struck patient. '
Juvenal said that the Egyptians had gods growing in their
gardens, in allusion to their reverence for onions or garlic.
In Sanskrit garlic is called Mlechha-kanda, " the foreigner's
root," and its virtues for the removal of demons are so well
known that it will be oflen seen hung from the lintel of the
house door. The same idea may account for the very
common prejudice among some castes against eating
onions.
Glass.
Glass in the form of beads, which seem to derive some of
their efficacy from being perforated, is also very useful in
this way. Mirrors from time immemorial have been held to
possess the same quality. ** Fascinators, like basilisks, had
their own terrible glance turned against them if they saw
themselves reflected," " Si on luy presenie un miror^ par
endardement reciproque, ces rayons retournent sur r autheur
d' tceuxJ* Philostratus declares that if a mirror be held
before a sleeping man during a hail or thunder-storm, the
storm will cease.' Hence women in India wear mirrors in
^ Brand, "Observations," 335.
' Campbell, "Notes," 91, quoting Chambers, ** Book of Days,'* 720.
* Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 93.
D 2
36 Folk-lore of Northern India.
their thumb rings, and the jatni covers her sheet with little
pieces of shining glass.
Pieces of horn, especially that which is said to come from
the jackal, and that of the antelope, are also efficacious.
The bizir Banya treasures up the gaudy labels from his
cloth bales for the same purpose. Garlands of flowers
possess the same quality, and so do various fruits, such as
dates, cocoanuts, betel-nuts, and plantains, which are placed
in the lap of the bride or pregnant woman to scare the evil
spirits which cause barrenness, and sugar is distributed at
marriages. The bones of the camel are very useful for
driving off insects from a sugar-cane field, and buried under
the threshold keep ghosts out of the house. Pliny says that
a bracelet of camel's hair keeps off fever.*
Lastly, the demon may be trapped by physical means.
" To be delivered from witches they hang in their entries
whitethorn gathered on May Day."' So, many of the
menial castes in the North- West Provinces keep a net and
some thorns in the delivery room to scare evil spirits.
There are certain persons who are naturally protected
from the Evil Eye and demoniacal agency, or who have
control over evil spirits. Such is a man born by
the foot presentation, who can cure rheumatism and
various other diseases by merely rubbing the part
affected. Men with double thumbs are considered safe
against the Evil Eye, and so is a bald man, apparently
because no one thinks it worth his while to envy such
people. According to English belief, children born after
midnight have power all through their lives of seeing the
spirits of the departed. In India, people who are born
within the period of the Salono festival in August are not
only protected from, but possess the power of casting, the
Evil Eye. The same is the case of those who have acci-
dentally eaten ordure in childhood. We have already
noticed the mystic power of cowdung. Dung generally is
1 ** Pani&b Notes and Queries," iv. 132 ; Campbell, * Notes," 284.
» Brand, ** Observations," 121.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 37
offensive to spirits. It was believed in Europe that horse-
dung placed before the house or behind the door brought
good luck.^ Women who eat dung possess, as we shall see,
the power of witchcraft.
A man with only one eye is dreaded because he is
naturally envious of those with good sight, and he is prover-
bially a scoundrel. The giant with one eye is familiar in
folk-lore, and he is generally vicious and malignant. We
have the black man of Celtic folk-lore who has only one eye
and one leg.' In the Irish tales Crinnaur, like the Cyclopes,
has only one eye. Sindbad in his third voyage encounters
a monster of the same kind. Laplanders have a one-eyed
giant Stalo, and in one of the modern versions of the Perseus
myth there are two hags who have only a single eye
between them. The same idea appears in Indian folk-lore.
The planet Sukra is said to have only one eye. Such was
also the case with the monster Kabandha, who was killed >
by R&ma, and Ar4yi, the female fiend of the Veda. The
one-eyed devil appears in one of the Kashmir tales.'
GoNDs: Procedure in Cases of Fascination.
The Gonds have a special procedure in cases of deaths
which they believe to have occurred through fascination.
The burning of the body is postponed till it is made to point
out the delinquent. The relations solemnly call upon the
corpse to do this, and the theory is that if there has been
foul play of any kind, the body on being taken up, will force
the bearers to convey it to the house of the person by whom
the spell was cast. If this be three times repeated, the
owner of the house is condemned, his property is destroyed,
and he is expelled from the neighbourhood.*
Amulets.
In ordinary cases most people find it advisable to carry an
^ Brand, " Observations," 598.
' Rhys, " Lectures," 348 ; Miss Cox, " Cinderella,*' 489 ; Grimm,
" Household Tales," ii. 429 ; Hartland, " Legend of Perseus," i. 12.
» Knowles, " Folk-lore of Kashmir," 333.
* Dalton, *' Descriptive Ethnology,'* 283.
38 Folk-lore of Northern India.
amulet of some kind as a preservative. An amulet is pri-
marily a portion of a dead man or animal, by which hostile
spirits are coerced or their good offices secured.^ The
amulet, then, in its original sense, is supposed to concen-
trate in itself the virtues and powers of the man or animal of
which it formed a part. Hence the claws of the tiger, which
represent in themselves the innate strength and bravery of
the animal, are greatly esteemed for this purpose, and the
sportsman, when he shoots a tiger, has to count over the
claws carefully to the coolies in charge of the dead animal,
or they will certainly misappropriate them. In the same
way a portion of the umbilical cord is placed among the
clothes of the mother and infant to avert the Evil Eye and
scare the demons which are then particularly active.
Mr. Ferguson may be correct in his opinion that in India,
prior to the distribution of the remains of the Buddha at
Kusinagara, we have no historical record of the worship of
relics ; * still the idea must have prevailed widely among the
Hindu races, out of whom the votaries of the new faith were
recruited. With some of these relics of the Buddha, such
as his begging bowl, which was long kept in a Dagoba or
Vih^ra erected by King Kanishka, then removed for a time
to Benares, and finally to Kandahar, where it is now held in
the highest respect by Musalm^ns, and has accumulated
round it a cycle of legends like those connected with the
Sangrail, we reach the zone of pure fetishism.
Another form of amulet is a piece of metal, stone, bone,
or similar substance worn on the person, with an invocation
inscribed on it to some special god. These are very com-
monly used among Muhammadans. By Hindus the
" Yantras or mystic diagrams are thought to be quite as
effectiye in their operation as the Mantras or spells, and, of
course, a combination of the two is held to be absolutely
irresistible. An enemy may be killed or removed to some
other place, or a whole army destroyed, or salvation and
^ Spencer, ** Principles of Sociology " i. 254, note, 301.
'*' History of Indian Architecture," 57 sqq. ; Cunningham, "Archaeo-
logical Reports," ii. 87 ; xvi. 8 sqq.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 39
supreme felicity obtained by drawing a six-sided or eight-
sided diagram and writing a particular Mantra underneath.
If this be done with the blood of an animal killed sacrificially
in a SmasAna or place where corpses are burned, no power
in earth or heaven can resist the terrific potency of the
charm.'* * On the same principle Hindus head their letters
with the words Sri Rdmjtl " the great god, Rima," or the
figures 74, of which one not very probable explanation is
that they represent the weight in maunds of the gold orna-
ments taken from the R&jput dead at the famous siege of
Chithor,
The equilateral triangle is another favourite mystic sign.
According to the Christian ideas, the figure of three triangles
intersected and containing five lines, is called the pentangle
of Solomon, and when it is delineated on the body of a man,
it marks the five places in which our Saviour was wounded ;
it was, therefore, regarded as ^fuga demonum^ or a means of
frightening demons.' Similarly in Northern India, the
equilateral triangle is regarded as a mystic sign, and the
little broadcloth bags hung round the necks of children to
avert the Evil Eye are made in this shape. The diamond
shape is also approved because it contains two equilateral
triangles base to base.
Another form of mystic sign is the mark of the spread
hand with the fingers extended. This is made by the women
of the family on the outer wall and round the door-post, and
is considered to be particularly efficacious. Mr. Campbell
suggests that the custom is based on the belief in the hand
being a spirit entry.* Natives will tell you that it is because
the number five, that of the fingers, is lucky. However this
may be, the custom is very generally prevalent. The Bloody
Hand of Ulster, worn as a crest by the Baronets of one
creation, is well known.^ The Uchlas of Piina strew sand
on the spot where the dead man breathed his last. They
cover the spot with a basket, which they raise next morning
^ Monier- Williams, " Brahmanism and Hinduism/' 203.
» Aubrey, ** Remaines," 57. ' ** Notes," 177.
* Westropp, " Primitive Symbolism,*' 58 sqq., 61 sqq.
40 Folk-lore of Northern India.
in the hope of finding the mark of a palm, which shows that
the dead is pleased and brings vigour on the family ; and
the Thikurs on the fifth day after the birth of a child dip a
hand in red powder and water and make a mark on the wall
of the lying-in room, which they worship.' At the rock-cut
temple of Tilok Sendur in Hoshangdbdd, an annual festival
is held, and those who come to demand any special benefit,
such as health or children, mark their vow by staining their
hand dipped in red paint against the rock wall, fingers
upward. If the prayer be heard, they revisit the place and
make the same mark, this time with the fingers downward ;
but whether Mahideva is not gracious to his votaries, or
whether it is that the sense of favours to come is not keen
enough after the prayer of the moment has been granted,
the hand-stamps pointing downwards are not a tenth in
number of those pointing upwards.' The stamping of the
hand and five fingers immersed in a solution of sandal-wood
has always been regarded as a peculiarly solemn mode of
attesting an important document, and it is said that
Muhammad himself adopted this practice.'^
There are numerous varieties of these protective amulets.
One purpose which they serve is the procuring of offspring.
Children naturally require special protection. Thus, the
Mirzapur Korwas tie on the necks of their children roots of
various jungle plants, such as the Siy^r Singht, which owes
its name and repute to its resemblance to the so-called horn
of the jackal. In cases of disease the Kharwdrs wear leaves
of the Bel, a sacred tree, cloves and flowers selected by a
BrAhman. In the Konkan, in order that a child may not
suffer from the Evil Eye, a necklace of marking nuts is put
round its neck.'* The GAjars of Haz^ra hang the berries of
the Batkar tree [Celtis caucasid) round the necks of men and
animals to protect them from the Evil Eye.' The pious
Musalmdn inscribes on his amulet the five verses known as
* ** Bombay Gazetteer," xviii. 473, 426.
2 ** Settlement Report," 59 sqq.
' Tod, "Annals,** i. 383, note, 411, note.
< Campbell, "Notes/* 251.
' " Panjilb Notes and Queries,** ii. 44.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 41
Aydtu-l-Hife or " verses of protection," or he makes a magic
square with the letters making up the word H&fiz, *' the
protector." Many village Musalm&ns use little stone or
glass tablets for the same purpose. Some have a hocus-
pocus inscription purporting to be a verse of the Qurdn in
Arabic ; others have the name of Fitima coupled with that
of the famous martyrs Hasan and Husain. Another amulet
of a very elaborate character is described as containing a
piece of the umbilical cord encased in metal, a tiger's claw,
two claws of the large horned owl turned in opposite direc-
tions, aiid encased in metal, a stone known as the Athrihi k&
manki, because it has the property of turning eight colours
according to the light in which it is placed (probably a
tourmaline or quartzose pebble), and a special Evil Eye
destroyer in the shape of a jasper or marble bead. These
five articles are necessaries, but as an extra precaution the
amulet contained some crude gold, a whorled shell, an
ancient copper coin, some ashes from the fire of a Jogi
ascetic, and the five ingredients of the sacred incense. The
owner admitted that it would have been improved had it
also contained a magic square.^ This reminds us of the
necklace of amber beads hung round the neck of Scotch
children to keep off ill-luck, and the Irish scapular, a piece of
cloth on which the name of the Virgin Mary is written on
one side, and I.H.S. on the other, which are preservatives
against evil spirits. In old times in England such charms
were called Characts, and one found with a criminal
contained an invocation to the three holy kings, Caspar,
Melchior and Balthasar.'
One of the most valuable of these protectives is the magic
circle, which appears in various forms through the whole
range of folk-lore. The idea is that no evil spirit can cross
the sacred line. Thus, in Mirzapur they make a circle of
grain round the circular pile of com on the threshing-floor
to guard it from evil. Among some castes the circle round
^ " Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 186.
» " Folk-lore," ii. 75 ; Lady Wilde, ** Legends,'* no; Brand, " Obscrva-
tions," 754.
42 Folk-lore of Northern India.
which the bride and bridegroom revolve at marriage is
guarded by a circular line of string hung on the necks of a
number of water-pots surrounding it We have seen how
the Baiga perambulates his village and drops a line of spirits
round the boundary to repel foreign ghosts. This accounts
for the stone circles which are found both in Europe and in
India, and in Ireland are considered to be the resort of the
fairies.^
We have constant references to the same custom in the
folk-tales. Lakshmana, in the Rimayana, draws such a
circle round Sit4 when he is obliged to leave her alone.
We have many references to the circle within which the
ascetic or magician sits when he is performing his sorceries.
Thus, in the story of Nischayadatta, the ascetics " quickly
made a great circle with ashes, and entering into it, they
lighted a fire with fuel, and all remained there muttering a
charm to protect themselves." In the tales of the Vetila,
we find the mendicant under a banyan tree engaged in
making a circle, and Ksantisila makes a circle of the yellow
powder of bones, the ground within which was smeared
with blood, and which had pitchers of blood placed in the
direction of the cardinal points.^
The same idea appears in the magic circle used as an
ordeal, or to compel payment of a debt. Thus, we read in
Marco Polo : ' " If a debtor have been several times asked
by his creditor for payment and shall have put him off day
by day with promises, then if the creditor once meet the
debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round him, the latter
must not pass out of this circle until he shall have satisfied
the claim, or given security for its discharge. If he in any
other case presume to pass the circle, he is punished with
death, as a transgressor against right and justice." In
Northern India this circle is known as a Gururu or Gaurua,
and a person who takes an oath stands within it, or takes
from inside an article which he claims. In one form of this
ceremony the circle is made on the ground with calf's dung
1 Lady Wilde, loc, ciL^ 79.
3 Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sdgara," i. 337; ii. 233, 358. » ii. 279.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 43
by an unmarried girl, and in the centre is placed a vessel of
water. If money is in dispute, the amount claimed is placed
in the water vessel by the defendant. The narrator tells a
story to prove the efficacy of the rite : —
''My father owed a Kalw4r one rupee and the Kalwir
claimed five. The matter was brought before the tribal
council, and the Kalw&r swore to the five rupees upon the
Gaurua. Within an hour his boy, while playing behind the
house, was carried off by a wolf. He was rescued, but he
was under the curse of the Gaurua, and shortly after he put
his finger into a rat hole, was bitten by a snake, and died
within the hour." *
The Ring, Bracelet, and Knotted Cord.
From the same principle arises the belief in the magic
virtue of the ring, the bracelet, and the knotted cord.
To begin with rings — ^we have in Plato the story of Gyges,
who by means of the ring of invisibility introduced himself
to the wife of Candaules, King of Lycia, murdered the latter
and got possession of his kingdom. This is like the cloak
or cap which appears so constantly in folk-lore. In the
Indian tales invisibility is generally obtained by means of
a magic ointment, to which there are many parallels in
Western stories. We find also the magic ring, which, like
that of Ala-ud-din, when touched procures the presence and
aid of the demons. A woman's nose-ring in India has
special respect paid to it, and for a stranger even to mention
it is a breach of delicacy.^ It is the symbol of married
happiness, and is removed when the wearer becomes a
widow. Among Muhammadans, Shiah women remove
their nose-rings during the Muharram as a sign of mourn-
ing. There was an old habit in England of marrying by
the rush ring, "but it was chiefly practised by designing
men, for the purpose of debauching their mistresses, who
sometimes were so infatuated as to believe that this mock
^ ** North Indian Notes and Queries,*' i. 61.
^ Tod, "Annals/' i. 457; " North Indian Notes and Queries," i, 169.
44 Folk-lore of Northern India,
ceremony was a real marriage.^ In the same way in India
a ring of Kusa grass is put on the finger during the most
sacred rites and at marriage. The custom appears in the
folk-tales. The ring represents an imperishable bond
between the giver and the receiver, and is a symbol of the
original blood covenant, which is an important element in
the belief of all primitive people. '
The idea of the magic ring constantly appears in folk-
lore. Thus, we have the ring placed in a sacred square
and sprinkled with butter-milk, which immediately gives
whatever the owner demands. In one of the Kashmir
tales the merchant's son speaks to the magic ring, and
immediately a beautiful house and a lovely woman with
golden hair appeared.^ So, in the tales of Somadeva,
Sridatta places a ring on the finger of the unconscious
princess and she immediately revives ; the disloyal wife
here, as in the "Arabian Nights," takes a ring from each
of her lovers as a token.*
The same idea attaches to the bracelet, which is in close
connection with the soul of the wearer. Such is the Chan-
danhir or sandal-wood necklace of Chandan Raja, and
Sodewa Bit is born with a golden necklace round her neck,
concerning which her. parents consulted the astrologers.
They announced, " This is no common child ; the necklace
of gold about your daughter's neck contains your daughter's
soul. Let it, therefore, be guarded with the utmost care ;
for if it were taken off and worn by another person, she
would die." * The same idea appears in the Kashmir tales,
where Panj Ph6l refuses to give up her necklace, as "it
contains the secret of her life, and was a charm to her
against all dangers, sickness and trials ; deprived of it she
might become sick and miserable, or be taken away from
* Brand, " Observations," 359.
3 Trumbull, " Blood Covenant," 65 ; Lubbock, " Origin of Civilization,"
25; Tylor, "Early History," 128 sq.; Jones, "Finger-ring Lore,**
91 sqq.
» Knowles, " Folk-tales," 23.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 61 ; ii. 80; Lane, "Arabian
Nights," i.9.
* Miss Frere, " Old Deccan Days," 230, 236.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 45
them and die." ^ All this is based on the conception of the
external soul, to which reference has been already made.
The Mils of BirbhAm exchange necklaces at marriages,
and the Princess Kalingaseni wears a bracelet and necklace
of lotus fibre to secure relief from the pains of love.'
The same idea shows itself in the use of strings and knots.
In Northern India a piece of bat's bone is tied round the
ankle as a remedy for rheumatism, and answers to the eel-
skin, which is used for the same purpose in Europe.' In
the Shetland Islands, to cure a sprain, a thread of black
wool with nine knots is tied on the injured place with a
metrical spell.^ An Italian charm says : " Take from a live
hare the ankle bone, remove the hair from his belly, from
the hair make a thread, and with it tie the bone to the body
of the sufferer, and you will see a wonderful cure."* In
Ireland a strand of black wool is tied round the ankle, and
a charm is recited to cure a sprain; a red string is tied
round a child's neck in chincough and epilepsy.* In
Hoshangibid a thread is tied round the ankle as a remedy
in fever. If possible, a bit of Ashtara root should be fastened
in the knot, and before tying it an oblation of butter is burnt
before it.' Similarly, a peacock's feather tied on the ankle
cures a wound. In the Panjib, it is a charm against snake-
bite to smoke one of the tail feathers of the peacock in a
tobacco pipe.* The Rijput father binds round the arm of
his new-bom infant a root of that species of grass known
as the AmardAb or " imperishable " Diib, well known for
its nutritive qualities and luxuriant vegetation, in the same
way as Scotch women wear round their necks blue woollen
threads or small cords till they wean their children.' We
^ Knowles, " Folk-tales," 467.
' Risley, " Tribes and Castes,'* ii. 49 ; Tawney, ioc. ctf; i. 300.
' Henderson, ** Folk-lore of Northern Counties,'* 155 ; Gregor, " Folk-
lore of North-East Scotland," 145.
■• " Notes and Queries,'* i. scr. iv. 500.
^ Leland, '* Etruscan Roman Remains/' 259.
• Lady V^ilde, " Legends," 195. 197, 199.
7 •* Settlement Report," 278, 286.
• " North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 1 5.
• Tod, ** Annals," i. 415; Henderson, ** Folk-lore of the Northern
Counties," 20.
I
46 Folk-lore of Northern India,
have already noticed the efificacy of various grasses as spirit
scarers.
Lastly, the cord itself has powers in folk-lore, and we meet
with the magic cord, which, tied round the neck of the hero
by a witch, makes him turn into a ram or an ape.'
The belief in the efficacy of the magic circle accounts for
a variety of other customs. Thus, in a family sacrifice
among the Chakmas of Bengal, round the whole sacrificial
platform had been run, from the house mother's distaflf, a
long white thread which encircled the altar, and then carried
into the house, was held at the two ends by the good man's
wife. Among the Haris, at marriages, the right hand little
finger of the bridegroom's sister's husband is pierced, and a
few drops of blood allowed to fall on threads of jute, which
are rolled up in a tiny pellet. This the bridegroom holds in
his hand, while the bride attempts to snatch it from him.
Her success in the attempt is considered to be a good omen
of the happiness of the marriage.* Here we have a survival
of descent in the female line, the blood covenant, and the
magic influence of the cord all combined.
Connected with this is the belief in the forming a con-
nection by knotting the magic string. We have the Euro-
pean true love-knot, an emblem of fidelity between the pair
betrothed. So in Italy interlaced serpents and all kinds of
interweaving, braiding, and interlacing cords are valuable as
protectives because they attract the eyes of witches.* Thus,
among the Kirans of Bengal, the essential part of the
marriage ceremony is believed to be the laying of the bride's
right hand in that of the bridegroom, and binding their two
hands together with a piece of string spun in a special
way.* This belief in the mystjic power of knots is common ^
in all folk-lore** The clothes of the bride and bridegroom
^ Knowles, "Folk-tales of Kashmir," 71; Tawney, '* Katha Sarit
S&gara," i. 340.
3 Risley, "Tribes and Castes," i. 173, 315.
' Leland, "Etruscan Roman Remains," i68.
* Risley, /oc, cit., i. 425,.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sagara," i. 576, quoting Lenoimant, " Chal-
dean Magic and Sorcery/' 141 j Ralston, "Songs of the Russian
People," 288.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 47
in Upper India are knotted together as they revolve round
the sacred fire. A similar belief explains the wearing of the
Janeft or sacred thread by high-caste Hindus. The knots
on it, known as Brahma-granthi, or *'the knots of the
Creator," repel evil influences, and Muhammadans on their
birthdays tie knots in a cord, which is known as the S&lgi-
rah or " year knot."
Face-covering.
Another device to avoid fascination or other dangerous
influence is to cover the face so as to prevent the evil
glance reaching the victim for whom it is intended. Thus,
at widow marriages in Northern India, the bride and bride-
groom are covered with a sheet during the rite, probably in
order to avert the envious or malignant influence of the
spirit of the woman's first husband. It is in secret that the
bridegroom marks the parting of the bride's hair with
vermilion. So in Bombay,* the Chitp4wan bride in one part
of the wedding service has her head covered with a piece of
broadcloth. The Ramoshis tie the ends of the bride's and
bridegroom's robes to a cloth which four men of the family
hold over them. The Dhors of PAna put a face-cloth on
the dead, which is a general practice all over the world.
The same belief is almost certainly at the root of much of
the customs of Pardah and the seclusion of women. It is
as much through fear of fascination as modesty that women
draw their sheet across the face when they meet a stranger
in the streets. We come across the same feeling in the
rule by which all doors were closed when the princess in
the "Arabian Nights" went to the bath, and when not
long ago the Mikado of Japan and other Eastern potentates
took their walks abroad. We thus reach by another route
the cycle of Godiva legends.^
Omens.
Closely connected with the class of ideas which we have
» Campbell, " Notes," 60.
« Harland, " Science of Fairy Tales," 79 sqq.
48 Folk-lore of Northern India.
been discussing is the belief in omens. This constitutes a
very important branch of folk-lore both in the West and
in the East. The success of a journey or enterprise is
believed in a great measure to depend on the object which
was first seen in the morning, or observed on the road at an
early period of the march. Thus, according to Theophras-
tus, " The superstitious man, if a weasel run across his
path, will not pursue his walk until some one else has tra-
versed the road, or until he has thrown three stones across
it.*' And Sir Thomas Brown writes : " If an hare cross the
highway, there are few above threescore years that are not
perplexed thereat, which, notwithstanding, is but an augurial
terror according to that received expression, Inauspicatum
dat iter oblatus lepus. And the ground of the conceit was
probably no greater than this, that a fearful animal passing
by us portended unto us something to be feared ; as upon
the like consideration, the meeting of a fox presaged some
future imposture.'*
Tulasi D^s, in his Ramdyana, sums up the favourable
omens : —
" On the left-hand side a blue-necked jay was picking up
food, as if to announce the very highest good fortune ; on a
fair field on the right were a crow and a mungoose in the
sight of all ; a woman was seen with a pitcher and a child ;
a fox showed himself winding about ; and in front a cow
was suckling its calf; a herd of deer came out on the right ;
a Br^hmani kite promised all success ; also a Syima bird
perched on a tree to the left ; a man was met bearing
curds, and two learned Brahmans with books in their
hands.** »
The face of a Teli or oilman, perhaps from the dirt which
accompanies his business, is about the worst which can
be seen in the early morning ; but, with the curious incon-
sistency which crops up everywhere in phases of similar
belief, that of a sweeper is lucky. His face should be always
looked at first, but on meeting a Br&hman, the glance should
start from his feet.
* Growse, 146.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 49
The Thags, like all criminal tribes of the present day,
were great believers in what Dr. Tyler calls Angang or
meeting omens.' With them, if a wolf crossed the path from
right to left it was considered a bad omen ; if from right to
left the import was uncertain. The call of the wolf was
considered ominous ; if heard during the day, the gang had
immediately to leave the neighbourhood. The same idea
attached to a crow sitting silent on a tree, which is curiously
in contradistinction to the Roman belief — Saepe sinistra
cava praedixit ab ilice comix. It was also considered very
unlucky if a member of the gang had his turban knocked off
by accidentally touching a branch.
The jungle tribes have a strong belief in such omens.
The Korwas of Mirzapur abandon a journey if a jackal cross
the road from the left, or if a little bird, known as the Suiya
or small parrot, calls in the same direction. The Patdris and
Majhwdrs return if the Nilg&fi cross the road from the right.
All natives have more or less the same feeling, and
scientific treatises have been written on the subject. Men-
tioning a monkey in the morning brings starvation for the
rest of the day; though looking on its face is considered
lucky. Hence monkeys are commonly tied in stables to
protect horses, and an old adage says that "the evil of
the stable is on the monkey's head." So, in Morocco the
wealthy Moors keep a wild boar in their stables, in order
that the Jinn and evil spirits may be diverted from the
horses and enter into the boar.^ For the same reason an
English groom is fond of keeping a cat near his horses.
If a dog flaps its ears and shakes its head while any
business is going on, disaster is sure to follow, and people
careful in such matters will stop the work if they can. The
baying of a dog indicates death and misfortune, an idea
common in British folk-lore.'
The time when screech-owls cry and lean dogs howl,
And spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves.
1 "Primitive Culture," i. 120.
2 Frazer, ** Golden Bough," ii. 151.
» Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 48 ; Lady Wilde,
*' Legends," 146 sqq.
VOL. II. E
50 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Even the little house lizard is, like his kinsfolk, the " mur-
dering basilisks, their softest touch as smart as lizard's
stings," considered by the Beng&lis very unlucky, and when
they hear its twittering they postpone a journey.'
The hare is always a bad omen. He is a god among the
Kalmucs, who call him Sakya Muni, or the Buddha, and
say that on earth he allowed himself to be eaten by a starv-
ing man, for which gracious act he was raised to domineer
over the moon, where they profess to see him. There are
traces of the same idea in Upper India.' The sites of many
cities are said to have been founded where a hare crossed
the path of the first settler. The hare is detested by the
agricultural and fishing population of the Hebrides, and it
is one of the ordinary disguises of the witch in European
folk-lore.^
Black is, of course, unlucky, and if a man, when digging
the foundations of a new house, turns up a piece of charcoal,
it is advisable to change the site.
Owls are naturally of evil omen. Even the stout-hearted
Zklim Sinh, the famous regent of Kota, abandoned his house
because an owl hooted on the roof.^ The hooting of the
owl is a sign that the bird means to leave the place, and
wise people would do well to follow his example. One kind
of owl, the Raghui Chiraiya, learns people's names, and if
any one by chance answer his call he is sure to die.
To see a Dhobi, or washerman, who is associated with
foul raiment, is exceedingly dangerous. I once had a bearer
who was sadly afflicted because on tour he had to sleep in
the same tent with a Dhobi. The old man was constantly
bruising his shins over the ropes and pegs, because he was
in the habit of stumbling out before dawn with his hands
1 L41 Bihiri D6, " Govinda Simanta,** i. 12.
2 Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," ii. 66. It has been suggested that
the idea arose from the Sanskrit word sastn, meaning *' hare-marked " or
" the moon " ; but this seems rather putting the cart before the horse.
Conway, " Demonology,*' i. 125 ; Gubematis, "Zoological Mythology,**
ii. 8 ; Aubrey, " Remaines ," 20, 109.
» ** Bombay Gazetteer," vi. 126 ; Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East
Scotland,'' 128 ; Ladj^ Wilde, ** Legends," 179.
* Tod, "Annals,*' li. 577 sq.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 51
pressed over his eyes to protect himself from the sight of his
ill-omened companion.
A one-eyed man is, as we have already said, very unlucky.
When Jaswant R&o Holkar lost one of his eyes, he said, " I
was before bad enough ; but now I shall be the Guru, or
preceptor, of rogues." * I once had an office clerk afflicted in
this way, and his colleagues refused to sit in the same room
with him, because their accounts always went wrong when
he looked in their direction. When it was impossible to
provide any other accommodation for him, they insisted that
he should cover the obnoxious organ with a handkerchief
when he had to work in their neighbourhood.
One of the last of the Anglo-Indians, who had become
thoroughly orientalized, used to insist on his valet, when he
came to wake him, holding in his hand a tray containing
some milk and a gold coin, so that his first glance on waking
might fall on these lucky articles.
Numbers.
There are mystic qualities attached to numbers. Thus,
when Hindus have removed the ashes from a burning
ground they write the figures 49 on the spot where the corpse
was cremated. The Pandits explain this by saying that
when written in Hindi the figures resemble the conch-shell
and wheel of Vishnu, or that it is an invocation to the forty-
nine winds of heaven to come and purify the ground. It is
more probably based on the idea that the number seven, as
is the case all over the world, has some mystic application.
So in the folk-tales the number three has a special applica-
tion to the tests of the hero who endures the assaults of
demons or witches for three successive nights. The idea of
luck in odd numbers is universal, and the seventh son of a
seventh son is gifted with powers of healing.
Bodily Functions.
The functions of the body supply many omens. Thus, iia
^ Malcolm, " Central India," i. 253, note.
E 2
52 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Somadeva we read : " My right eye throbbed frequently, as
if with joy, and told me that it was none other than she." ^
" When our cheek burns, or ear tingles, we usually say
some one is talking of us," writes Sir Thomas Brown, " a
conceit of great antiquity, and ranked among superstitious
opinions by Pliny. He supposes it to have proceeded from
the notion of a signifying Genius, or Universal Mercury,
that conducted sounds to their distant subjects, and taught
to hear by touch." The number of beliefs of this class is
infinite and recorded in numerous popular handbooks.
Lucky and Unlucky Days.
So, there are days which are lucky and unlucky. A Persian
couplet lays down that one should not go east on Saturday
and Monday ; west on Friday and Sunday ; north on Tues-
day and Wednesday; south on Thursday. Even Lord
Burghley advised his son to be cautious as regards the first
Monday in April, when Cain was born and Abel slain ; the
second Monday in August, when Sodom and Gomorrah
^ere destroyed ; the last Monday in December, which was
the birthday of Judas. Akbar laid down that the clothes
which came into his wardrobe on the first day of the month
Farwardin were unlucky.^ The way some people get over
'omens of this kind is to send some article ahead of the
traveller on the unlucky day, which absorbs the ill omen,
which would otherwise have fallen upon him.
The catalogue of superstitions of this class might be
almost indefinitely extended. The principles on which
most of them depend are clear enough. They rest on a sort
of sympathetic magic. Things which are good-looking,
people who are healthy or prosperous, give favourable omens,
while those that are ugly, or of low caste, or associated with
menial or unpleasant duties, and so on, are ominous. Euro-
peans in India usually quite fail to realize the influence
which such ideas exercise over the minds of the people.
Most of us have been struck by the almost unaccountable
* Tawney, loc df., \\ 128. ' Blochmann, " Afni Akbari," i. 91.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 53
failure of natives to attend a summons from the Courts^ to
keep an appointment to meet a European officer for the
inspection of a school or market. If inquiries are made it
will often be found that some idea of this kind explains the
matter.
ThuSy Colonel Tod describes how he had a visit from
Minik Chand. ** He looked very disconsolate and explained
that he had seven times left his tent and as often turned
back, the bird of omen having each time passed him on the
adverse side ; but that at length he had determined to dis-
regard it, as having forfeited confidence he was indifferent to
the future." *
The same idea of good or evil omen attaches to many places
and persons. " Nolai was built by R4ja Nol. Its modern
appellation of Barnagar has its origin in a strange, vulgar
superstition of names of ill omen, which must not be pro-
nounced before the morning meal. The city is called either
Nolai or Barnagar, according to the hour at which the
mention becomes necessary." * So with the town of Jammu
in Kashmir, which is unlucky froni its association with
Yama, the god of death ; with Talw4ra in the Hoshy&rpur
District, which is connected with the sword {talwdr) ; with
Rohtak, which should be called Rustajgarh, and with
numerous other places in Northern India. Thus, if people
want to speak of Bulandshahr in the morning they call it by
the old Hindi name of Unchg4nw ; Bhonginw in Mainpuri
they call Pachkosa; N&nauta in Sah&ranpur, Pht!ltashahr ;
Mandwa in Fatehpur, Rotiw^a, and so on."
So, there is hardly a village in which it is not considered
ominous to name before breakfast some one who, from his
misery, rascality, or some other reason, is considered un-
lucky. In Mathura there is a tank built by Rdja Patni
Mall.
" Should a stranger visit it in the morning and inquire of
any Hindu by whom it was constructed, he will have con-
^ "Annals," i. 694. ' Malcolm, •* Central India,'* i. 12, note.
' " North Indian Notes and Queries,'* i. 137, 207 ; ii. 28 ; iii. 18 ;
" Panjib Notes and Queries," i. 15, 87, 137.
54 Folk-lore of Northern India.
siderable difficulty in eliciting a straightforward answer. The
R4ja, it is said, was of such a delicate constitution that he
eould never at any time take more than a few morsels of
the simplest food ; hence arises the belief that any one who
mentions him the first thing in the morning will, like him,
Save to pass the day fasting." * When we wonder at people
suffering bondage of this kind, we must not forget that
similar beliefs prevail in our own country. " In Buckie
there are certain family names which no fisherman will
pronounce. The ban lies particularly heavy on Ross.
CouU also bears it, but not to such a degree. The folks of
that village talk of spitting out the bad name." ^
A similar euphemistic form of expression is often used in
regard to animals. If you are civil and do not abuse the
house rats, they will not damage your goods. ^
The Mirzapur Patiris when they have to mention a
monkey in the morning, call him HanumS.n, and the bear
Jatari, or "he with the long hair," or Dimkhauiya, "he
that eats white ants." The Pankas call the camel Lamb-
ghtncha or " long-necked." " I asked the Rdja," says
Gen. Sleeman, "whether we were likely to fall in with any
hares, making use of the term Khargosh, or ' ass-eared.' "
•* Certainly not," said the Rija, " if you begin by abusing
them by such a name. Call them Lambkanna or * long-eared,*
and you will get plenty."
It is, of course, easy to avoid the effect of evil omens by
the use of a little tact and wit, as was the case with William
the Conqueror, and there are many natives who are noted
for their cleverness in this way. Of an Eastern Sultan it is
told that, leaving his palace on a warlike expedition, his
standard touched a cluster of lamps, called Surayya, because
they resembled the Pleiades. He would have turned back,
but one of his officers said, " My Lord ! our standard has
reached the Pleiades ;" so he was relieved, advanced, and
was victorious.
1 Growse, " Mathura," 128.
2 Gregor, *•' Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 200 sq.
^ " North Indian Note and Queries,'* i. 1 5.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 55
Facilitating Departure of and Barring the Ghost.
We now come to consider the various means adopted to
facilitate the journey of the departing soul, and to prevent
it from returning as a malignant ghost to bring trouble,
disease, or death on the survivors.
First comes the custom of placing the dying man on the
ground at the moment of dissolution. This is done partly,
as we have seen, through some feeling of the sanctity of
Mother earth and that anyone resting on her bosom is safe
from demoniacal agency, and partly that the spirit may
meet with no obstruction in its passage through the air.
This last idea prevails very generally. Thus, in Great
Britain, death is believed to be retarded and the dying
person kept in a state of suffering by having any lock closed
or any bolt shut in the dwelling.*
The tortures which the soul undergoes in its journey to
the land of the dead are vividly pictured in some of the
sacred writings.* He is scorched by heat and pierced by
wind and cold, attacked by beasts of prey, stumbling through
thorns and filth, until he at last reaches the dread river
Vaitarani, which rolls its flood of abominations between
him and the other shore. So, when a Hindu dies, a lamp
made of flour is placed in his hands to light his ghost to the
realm of Yama. Devout people believe that the spirit takes
X three hundred and sixty days to accomplish the journey, so
an offering of that number of lamps is made. In order, also,
to help him on his way, they feed a Br&hman every day for
a year ; if the deceased was a woman, a Br&hmani is fed.
The lamps are lighted facing the south, and this is the only
occasion on which this is done, because the south is the
realm of death, and no one will sleep or have their house
door opening towards that ill-omened quarter of the sky.
With the same intention of aiding the spirit on his way,
the relations howl during the funeral rites, like the keeners
' Hunt, " Popular Romances," 379 ; " Contemporary Review," xlviii.
108 ; Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 206.
^ Monier- Williams, " Brihmanism and Hinduism," 293.
56 Folk-lore of Northern India.
at ah Irish wake, in order to scare the evil spirits who would
obstruct the passage of the soul to its final rest.*
Another plan is to carry out the corpse by a special wsty,
which is then barred up, so that it may not be able to find
its way back. The same end is attained by carrying out
the corpse feet foremost. Thus Wtarco Polo writes : " Some-
times their sorcerers shall tell them that it is not good luck
to carry the corpse out by the door, so they have to break a
hole in the wall, and to draw it out that way when it is taken
to the burning." It is needless to say that the same custom
prevails in Great Britain.' The Banj&ras of Khindesh
reverse the process. They move their huts after a death, and
mate a special entrance instead of the ordinary door, which
is supposed to be polluted by the passage of the spirit of the
dead.' A somewhat similar custom prevails among the
Maghs of Bengal. When the friends return from the crema-
tion ground, if it is the master of the house who has died,
the ladder leading up to the house is thrown down, and
they must effect an entrance by cutting a hole in the back
wall and so creeping up.^ The theory appears to be that
the evil spirits who were on the watch for the ghost may be
lurking near the route by which the corpse was removed.
We have the same idea in the European custom of saluting
a corpse which is being carried past. Grose distinctly states
that the homage was really offered to the attendant evil
spirits.' So, the Birhors of Bengal, on the sixth day after
birth, take the child out of the house by an opening made
in the wall, so as to evade the evil spirit on the watch at
the door.*
The most elaborate precautions are, however, devoted to
barring out the ghost and preventing its return to its former
home. The first of these consist of rules to prevent the
* Spencer, "Principles of Sociology,'* i. 153.
2 Gregor, loc, cit, 206 ; Conway, ** Demonology," i. 53 ; Farrer,
" Primitive Manners," 23.
" •* Bombay Gazetteer," xii. 107 ; Campbell, " Notes," 394.
^ Risley, " Tribes and Castes," ii. 34.
' Brand, " Observations," 450.
• Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology," 219.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 57
breach of the curiosity taboo. All through folk-lore we
have instances of the danger of looking back, as in the case
of Lot's wife. One of the maxims of Pythagoras was : " On
setting out on a journey, do not return back ; for if you do
the fairies will catch you." * In ,one of the Kashmir tales
the youth is warned not to look back, otherwise he would
be changed into a pillar of stone.' In one of the Italian
spells the oflBciant is told : " Spit behind you thrice and
look not behind you.*" In* an Indian tale the god promises
to help the Br&hman and to follow him. The Br&hman
looks back and the deity becomes a stone.^ The danger of
looking back is that the person's soul may be detained
among the ghosts of the dead. This is the reason why
Hindu mourners do not look back when they are return-
ing from the cremation ground, and so we find that in
Naxos it is a rule that none of the women who follow the
bier must look back, for if she do she will die on the spot,
or else one of her relations will die.'
Another means is to bar the return of the ghost in a
physical way. Thus, when the Aheriyas of the North-
western Provinces burn the corpse, they fling pebbles in
the direction of the pyre to prevent the spirit accompanying
them. In the Himalayas, when a man has attended the
funeral ceremonies of a relative, he takes a piece of the
shroud worn by the deceased and hangs it on some tree in
the cremation ground, as an offering to the spirits which
frequent such places. On his return, he places a thorny
bush on the road wherever it is crossed by another path, /
and the nearest male relative of the deceased, on seeing this,
puts a stone on it, and pressing it down with his feet, prays
the spirit of the dead man not to trouble him.* Among the
Bengal Limbus, the Phedangma attends the funeral, and
delivers a brief address to the departed spirit on the general
» •" Folk-lore," i. 155. « Knowles, " Folk-tales," 401.
' Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 260.
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 10 ; iii. 90.
* « Folk-lore," iv. 257.
* " Himilayan Gazetteer," ii. 832 ; Tylor, ** Primitive Culture," ii. 126 ;
Wilson, " Essays," ii. 292 ; Spencer, " Principles of Sociology," i. 147.
58 Folk-lore of Northern India.
doom of mankind and the succession of life and death,
concluding with the command to go where his fathers have
gone, and not to come back to trouble the living with
dreams/
Practically the same custom still prevails in Ireland.
When a corpse is carried to the grave, it is the rule for the
bearers to stop half-way while the nearest relatives build
up a small monument of loose stones, and no hand would
dare to disturb this monument while the world lasts.*
In the case of the Dhdngars and Basors, both menial
tribes in the North- Western Provinces, we come across an
usage which appears to be of a very primitive type and to
be intended to secure the same object of barring the return
of the ghost. After they have buried the corpse they return
to the house of the dead man, kill a hog, and after separating
the limbs, which are cooked for the funeral feast, they bury
the trunk in the courtyard of the house, making an invoca-
tion to it as the representative of the dead man, and ordering
him to rest there in peace and not worry his descendants.
In the grave in which they bury this they pile stones and
thorns to keep the ghost down.
Many other mourning customs appear to be based on the
same principle. Thus, the old ritual directs that all who
return from a funeral must touch the Lingam, fire, cow-
dung, a grain of barley, a grain of sesame and water — " all,"
as Professor De Gubernatis says, " symbols of that fecundity
which the contact with a corpse might have destroyed." '
The real motive is doubtless to get rid of the ghost, which
may have accompanied the mourners from the cremation
ground. In Borneo rice is sprinkled over them with the
same object, and the Basutos who have carried a corpse to
the grave have their hands scratched with a knife and
magic stuff is rubbed into the wound to remove the ghost
which may be adhering to them.^
^ Risley, " Tribes and Castes," ii. 19.
2 Lady Wilde, " Legends,'* 83.
^ " Zoological Mythology," i. 49.
* Frazer, " Golden Bough," i. 154.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 59
In Upper India, among the lower Hindu castes, when
the mourners^ return after the ceremony, they bathe, water
being a scarer of ghosts, and at the house door they touch a
stone, cowdung, iron, fire, and water, which have been
placed outside the house in readiness when the corpse was
removed. They then touch each their left ears with the
little finger of the left hand, chew leaves of the bitter Nim
tree as a sign of mourning, and, after sitting some time in
silence, disperse. Others, as the Ghasiyas, pass their feet
through the smoke of burning oil, and others merely rub
their feet with oil to drive away the ghost. The same idea
of barring the return of the ghost by means of fire is found
among the Nats of KAthidwdr, who burn hay on the face of
the corpse before cremating it, and among the Thoris, who
brand the great toe of the right foot of the deceased.*
This sitting in silence after the funeral is commonly ex-
plained merely as a mark of sympathy for the bereaved
relatives, but an analogous custom in Ireland leads to the
inference that the real reason may be to give the ghost time
to depart, and not to interrupt in any way its progress to
the spirit land. On the west coast of Ireland, after the
death no wail is allowed to be raised until three hours have
elapsed, because the sound of the crying would hinder the
soul from speaking to God when it stands before Him, and
would waken up the great dogs that are watching for the
souls of the dead to devour them.*
We have in these rites and in the ordinary ritual some
fiirther illustrations of the protective influence of various
articles which scare evil spirits. Thus, after the cremation
the officiating Brdhman touches fire and bathes in order to
purify himself and bar the return of the ghost ; and the
relative who lights the funeral pyre keeps a piece of iron
with him, and goes about with a brass drinking vessel in his
hand as a preservative against evil spirits while the period of
mourning lasts. The system of protection is exactly the
same as in the case of the young mother and her child
* " Bombay Gazetteer," viii. 159.
2 Lady Wilde, " Legends," 83.
1
6o Folk-lore of Northern India.
during the period of impurity consequent on parturition. As
the Hedley Kow, the North British goblin, is peculiariy
obnoxious at childbirth, so the Rikshasi of Indian folk-lore
carries off the baby if the suitable precautions to repel her
are neglected.*
Another method of barring the ghost is to bury the dead
face downwards. This is common among sweepers of
Upper India, whose ghosts, as seen in the probable connec-
tion of the Chiihra and the Churel, are always malignant.
The same custom prevails among the Chslran Banjdras of
Kh&ndesh. With this may be contrasted the Irish custom
of loosening the nails of the coffin before interment, in order
to facilitate the passage of the soul to heaven.^
A more elaborate ritual is that performed by the Mangars
of Bengal. " One of the maternal relatives of the deceased,
usually the maternal uncle, is chosen to act as priest for the
occasion, and to conduct the ritual for the propitiation of
the dead. First of all he puts in the mouth of the corpse
some silver coins and some coral, which is much prized by
the Himalayan races. Then he lights a wick soaked in
clarified butter, touches the lips with fire, scatters some
parched rice about the mouth, and, lastly, covers the face
with a cloth. Two bits of wood about three feet long are
set up on either side of the grave. In the one are cut nine
steps or notches, forming a ladder for the spirit of the dead
to ascend to heaven ; on the other every one present at the
funeral cuts a notch to show that he has been there. As
the maternal uncle steps out of the grave, he bids a solemn
farewell to the dead and calls upon him to ascend to heaven
by the ladder prepared for him. When the earth has been
filled in, the stick notched by the funeral party is taken
away to a distance and broken in two pieces, lest by its
means the dead man should do the survivors a mischief.
1 Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 14, 271 ; Tawney^
" Katha Sarit Sigara,** i. 305, 546 ; Tylor, " Primitive Culture," ii. 194
sq. ; ** Contemporary Review," xlviii. 113; Grierson, **Behir Peasant
Life,'' 388 ; " Folk-lore," ii. 26, 294.
^ ** Bombay Gazetteer," xii. 109 ; ** Illustrations of the History ard
Practices of the Thags," 9.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 6i
The pole used to carry the corpse is also broken up, and the
spades and ropes are left in the grave." '
Among other devices to bar the return of the spirit may
be noted the custom after a death in the family of preparing
a resting-place for the ghost, until on the completion of the
prescribed funeral rites it is admitted to the company of the
sainted dead. Thus, among high-caste Hindus a jar of
water is hung on a Pipal tree for the refreshment of the spirit.
The lower castes practise a more elaborate ritual. When
the obsequies are completed they plant by the bank of a
tank a bunch of grass, which the chief mourners daily water
until the funeral rites are over. In Bombay Mr. Campbell
writes : * " With a few exceptions generally among almost
all classes of Hindus, when the dead is carried to the
burning ground, on nearing the cemetery, a small stone is
picked up and applied to the eyes, chest, and feet of the
deceased. This stone is called Jivkh&da or the spirit
stone, is considered as the representative or type of the
deceased, and offerings of milk and water are given to it for
ten days." Further he says: "On nearing the burning
ground a small stone is picked up, and with it the feet, nose,
and chest of the deceased are touched thrice. This stone is
called Ashma, and is considered as a type of the deceased,
and to it funeral oblations are offered for ten days. The
bier is then put down, and a ceremony called Visrinti
SrAddha is performed by the chief mourner, who comes
forward and offers two balls of rice, called Bhtit or ' spirit,'
and Khechar, or * roamer in the sky,' to the deceased. A
hole is dug and the balls are buried there, and the litter is
raised again on shoulders by four persons and carried to the
cemetery."
The same idea of barring the return of the ghost accounts
for the tombstone and cairn. British evil spirits have been
secured in this way. Mr. Henderson tells of a vicious spirit
which was entombed under a large stone for the space of
ninety years and a day. Should any luckless person sit on
1 Risley, " Tribes and Castes," ii. 75. ^ " Notes,'' 214, 473.
62 Folk-lore of Northern India.
that stone, he would be unable to leave it for ever.* In
India, when a Ho or Munda dies, a very substantial coffin
is constructed and placed on faggots of brushwood. The
body, carefully washed and anointed with oil, is reverently
laid in this coffin, and all the clothes, ornaments, and agri-
cultural implements that the deceased was in the habit of
using are placed with it, and also any money that he had
with him when he died. Then the lid of the coffin is put
on and the whole is burned. The bones are collected, taken
in procession to the houses of friends, and every place where
the deceased was in the habit of visiting. They are finally
buried under a large slab, and a megalithic monument is
erected to the memory of the dead. A quantity of rice is
thrown into the grave with other food.'
This custom of parading the corpse also prevails in
Ireland.
" I believe it is the custom in most, if not all, small
towns in the south for a body to be carried, on its way to
the graveyard, round the town by the longest way to bid its
last farewell to the place. If the body be that of a murdered
man, it is, if possible, carried past the house of the murderer.
In county Wicklow, if an old church lies on the way to the
grave, the body is borne round it three times." '
The Korkus of Hoshangdbid have a remarkable method
of laying the ghost. " Each clan has a place in which the
funeral rite of every member of that clan must be performed ;
and however far the Korku may have wandered from the
original centre of his tribe, he must return there to set his
father's spirit to rest, and enable it to join its own family
and ancestral ghosts. In this spot a separate stake {munda)
is set up for every one whose rites are separately performed,
and if a poor Korku performs them for several ancestors at
. once, he still puts up only one stake. It stands two or two
and a half feet above the ground, planed smooth and
squared at the top ; on one side is carved at the top the
1 "Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,'* 264.
^ Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 202 sq.
» " Folk-lore," iv. 360.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 63
likeness of the sun and moon, a spider, and a wheat ear, and
below it a figure representing the principal person in whose
honour it is put up, on horseback, with weapons in his
hands. If more than one person's death is being celebrated,
the rest are carved below as subordinate figures. I could
not learn that the spirits are supposed to specially haunt
this grove of stakes, or that Korkus have any dread of going
near it at night ; but they are far bolder than Hindus in this
respect. When the fimeral rite is to be performed, the first
thing is to cut a bamboo and take out the pith, which is to
represent the bones of the deceased, unless he has been
burnt, in which case the bones themselves will have been
preserved. A chicken is then sacrificed at the grave, and
all that night the mourners watch and dance, and sing and
make merry.
" Next day they go out very early, and cut down some
perfectly unblemished tree, either teak or Salii, not hollow
or decayed or marked with an axe, which they cut to make
the Munda stake. It is brought home at once and fashioned
by a skilful man. In the afternoon it is carried to the place
where cattle rest outside the village at noontide, and is
washed and covered with turmeric like a bridegroom,
and five chickens are sacrificed to it. It is then brought
home again, and the pith representing the bones is taken
outside the village and hung to some tree for safety during
the night." (The idea, as we have elsewhere seen, is more
probably to allow the ghost an opportunity of revisiting them.)
" AU the friends and relations have by this time assembled,
and tliis evening the chief funeral dinner is given. Next
day, the whole party set out for the place where the stakes
of their clan are set up, and after digging a hole and putting
two copper coins in it, and the bones of the deceased or the
pith which represents them, they put the stake in and fix
it upright. Then they offer a goat or chickens to it, which
are presently eaten close by, and in the evening the whole
party returns home." ^
All this ritual, carried out by one of the most primitive
* « Settlement Report," 263 sq.
64 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Indian tribes, admirably illustrates the principles which we
have been discussing. The obvious intention of the custom
is to provide a resting-place for the spirit of the dead man,
so that it may no longer be a source of danger to the
survivors.
Similar customs prevail among other aboriginal races of
the Central Provinces. In some places they burn their
dead and then erect platforms, at the corners of which they
place tall, red stones. In other places a sort of low square
mound is raised over the remains of the deceased, at the
corners of which are erected wooden posts, round which
thread is wound to complete the sacred circle, and a stone
is set up in the centre. Here offerings are presented, as in
the jungle worship of their deities, of rice and other grains,
fowls or sheep. On one occasion after the establishment of
the Bhonsla or Marhata Government in GondwAna a cow
was offered to the manes of a Gond ; but this having come
to the notice of the authorities, the relations were publicly
whipped, and all were interdicted from doing such an act
again.
To persons of more than usual reputation for sanctity
offerings continue to be presented for many years after their
decease. In the District of BhandAra rude collections of
coarse earthenware in the form of horses may be seen, which
have accumulated from year to year on the tombs of such
men.^ The Pauariyas of Chota NAgpur bury their dead,
except the bodies of their priests, which are carried on a cot
into the forests covered with leaves and branches and kept
there, the reason assigned being that if laid in the village
cemetery their ghosts become very troublesome. The
bodies of people who die of contagious disease are similarly
disposed of, the fact of death in this way being supposed to
be the direct act of one of the deities who govern plagues.'
In a country where immediate burial or cremation is
necessary and habitual, we need not expect to meet many
examples of the customs, of which Mr. H. Spencer gives
* Hislop, ** Papers," 19.
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 274.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 65
examples,^ of placing the body on a platform or the like in
order to secure its personal comfort and conciliate the spirit.
With the object of keeping a place ready for the spirit, some
tribes are careful to preserve the body. The Singpoo of the
north-eastern frontier keep the bodies of their dead chiefs
for several years, and the K(ikis dry the dead at a slow fire,'
practices which among more civilized races rise to embalm-
ing, as among the Chinese and Eg5rptians. The Thirus of
the sub-Him41ayan TarAl have a custom of placing the
corpse on the village fetish mound during the night after
death, and then the mourning goes on. The practice is
perhaps intended as much to prevent, by the sanctity of the
spot on which it is placed, the spirit from harming the
survivors, as from any special desire to conciliate it. Among
all Hindus, of course, as far as exigencies of the rapid
disposal of the remains allow, it is habitual to treat the
dead with respect ; corpses are carefully covered with red
cloth, and removed reverently for burial or cremation.
There is also among some tribes the custom of disinterring
corpses after temporary burial. Thus, the Bhotiyas of the
Himalayas burn their dead only in the month of KArttik ;
those who die in the meantime are temporarily buried and
disinterred when the season for cremation arrives. The
Kathkiris, a jungle tribe in Bombay, dig up the corpse some
time after burial and hold a wake over the ghastly relics.
They appear to do this only in the case of persons dying of
cholera or small- pox, with some idea of appeasing the deity
of disease. In parts of Oudh the custom is said still to
prevail among the lower castes during epidemics, and it has
recently attracted the attention of the sanitary officers.'
The Funeral Feast.
The funeral feast is evidently a survival of the feast when
the dead kinsman was consumed by his relatives, who
1 ** Principles of Sociology," i. 161.
^Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology," 12; Tylor, " Primitive Culture,"
ii. 33 sq.
' " North Indian Notes and Queries," 11. 7 ; iii. 17 ; Campbell, " Notes,**
495.
VOL. II. F
/
66 Folk-lore of Northern India.
wished thus to partake of the properties of the dead. By
another theory the feasting of the mourners is intended to
resist the attempt of the ghost of the dead man to enter
their bodies, food being offensive to spirits.
Mutilation a Sign of Mourning.
Perhaps the only distinct survival of the ceremonial
mutilation so common among savages as a sign of mourning,
is the shaving which is compulsory on all the clansmen who
shared in the death pollution. In the Odyssey, at the death
of Antilochus, Peisistratus says, " This is now the only due
we pay to miserable men, to cut the hair and let the tear
fall from the cheek,*' and at the burial rites of Patroklus
" they heaped all the corpse with their hair which they cut
off and threw thereon." The cutting of the hair is always a
serious matter. "Amongst the Maoris many spells were
uttered at hair-cutting; one, for example, was spoken to
consecrate the obsidian knife with which the hair was cut ;
another was pronounced to avert the thunder and lightning
which hair-cutting was believed to cause." ^ This ceremonial
shaving is also perhaps the only survival in Northern India
of puberty initiation ceremonies. In some cases the hair cut
appears to be regarded as a sacrifice. Thus between the
ages of two and five the Bhils shave the heads of their
children. The child's aunt takes the hair in her lap, and
wrapping it in her clothes, receives a cow, buffalo, or other
resent from the child's parent.^
Respect Paid to Hair.
All over the world the hair is invested with particular
sanctity as embodying the strength of the owner, as in the
Samson-Delilah story. Vishnu, according to the old story,
took two hairs, a white and a black one, and these became
BalarS.ma and Krishna. Many charms are worked through
hair, and if a witch gets possession of it she can work evil
to the owner. An Italian charm directs, " When you enter
1 Frazer, " Golden Bough,'* i. 196. ' " Bombay Gazetteer," iii. 220.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring op Ghosts. 67
any city, collect before the gate as many hairs as you will -^
which may lie on the road, sa}dng to yourself that you do
this to remove your headache, and bind one of the hairs to
your head." * The strength of Nisus lay in his golden hair,
and when it was pulled out he was killed by Minos. It is
this power of hair which possibly accounts for its preserva-
tion as a relic of the dead in lockets and bracelets, or, as
Mr. Hartland shows, the idea at the root of these practices
is that of sacramental communion with the dead.'
We have already come across instances of growing hair as
a curse. Mr. Frazer gives numerous examples of this
custom among savage races, and in the Teutonic m3^hology
the avenger of Baldur will not cut his hair until he has
killed his enemy.
In the folk-tales hair is a powerful deus ex machind^ human
hair for choice, but any kind will answer the purpose. It
is one of the most common incidents that the hero recognizes
the heroine by a lock of her hair which floats down the
stream.*
A curious instance of mutilation regarded as a charm may
be quoted from Bengal. Should a woman give birth to
several stillborn children, in succession, the popular belief
is that the same child reappears on each occasion. So, to
frustrate the designs of the evil spirit that has taken posses-
sion of the child, the nose or a portion of the ear is cut off
and the body is cast on a dunghill.
Food for the Dead.
Another means for conciliating the spirit of the dead man
is to lay up food for its use.* This is intended partly as
provision for the ghost in its journey to the other world.
1 Leland, ** Etruscan Roman Remains," 281.
2 " Legend of Perseus," ii. 320.
'Temple, "Wide-awake Tales," 414 ; "Legends of the Panjib," i.
Introduction xix. ; " Folk-lore," ii. 236 ; Miss Cox, " Cinderella," 504 ;
Clouston, " Popular Tales," i. 341 ; Campbell, " Santil Folk-tales,*' 16 ;
Grimm, " Household Tales,'' ii. 382.
* Spencer, "Principles of Sociology," i. 157, 206; Tylor, " Primitive
Culture," i. 482 ; Lubbock, " Origin of Civilization," 37 ; Farrer, " Primi-
tive Manners," 21 sq.
F 2
68 Folk-lore of Northern India.
But in some cases it would seem that there is a different
basis for the custom. As we have seen, it is dangerous to
eat the food of fairy-land, and unless food is supplied to the
wandering ghost, it may be obliged to eat the food of the
lower world and hence be unable to return to the world of
men. According to the ancient Indian ritual it was recom-
mended to put into the hands of the dead man the reins of
the animal killed in the funeral sacrifice, or in default of an
animal victim at least two cakes of rice or flour, so that he
may throw them to the dogs of Yama, which would other-
wise bar his passage,* and the same idea constantly appears
in the folk-tales where the hero takes some food with him
which he flings to the fierce beasts which prevent him from
gaining the water of life or whatever may have been the
test imposed upon him. The use of pulse in the funeral
rites depends upon the same principle, and in the Greek
belief the dead carried vegetables with them to hell, either
to win the right of passage or as provisions for the road.
Articles left with the Corpse.
Hence too comes the practice of burning with the corpse
the articles which the dead man was in the habit of using.
They rise with the fumes of the pyre and solace him in the
world of spirits. The Kos told Colonel Dalton that the
reason of this was that they were unwilling to derive any
immediate benefit by the death of a member of the family.
Hence they burn his wearing apparel and personal effects,
but they do not destroy clothes and other things which have
not been worn. For this reason, old men of the tribe, in a
spirit of careful economy, avoid wearing new clothes, so that
they may not be wasted at the funeral.'
The custom of laying out food for the ghost still prevails
in Ireland, where it is a very prevalent practice during some
nights after death to leave food outside the house, a griddle
cake or a dish of potatoes. If it is gone in the morning, the
^ Gubernatis, "Zoological Mjrthology,'* i. 49.
» "Descriptive Ethnology/' 205.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts, 6g
spirits must have taken it, for no human being would touch
the food left for the dead, as it might compel him to
join their company. On November Eve food is laid out in
the same way.^
There are numerous examples of similar practices in India.
The Mh&rs of Khindesh, when they remove a corpse, put in
its mouth a P4n leaf with a gold bead from his wife's neck-
lace. At the grave the brother or son of the dead man
wets the end of his turban and drops a little water on the
lips of the corpse.* So the Greeks used to put a coin in
the dead man's mouth to enable him to pay his fare to
Charon. In the Panjd.b it is a common practice to put in
the mouth of the corpse the Pancharatana or five kinds of
jewels, gold, silver, copper, coral, and pewter. The leaves
of the Tulasi or sweet basil and Ganges water are put into
the mouth of a dying man, and the former into the ears
and nostrils also. They are said to be offerings to Yama,
the god of death, who on receiving them shows mercy to
the soul of the deceased. The same customs generally
prevail among the Hindus of Northern India.
Among the Buddhists of the Himalaya, Moorcroft was
present at the consecration of the food of the dead.* The
L&ma consecrated barley and water and poured them from
a silver saucer into a brass vessel, occasionally striking two
brass cymbals together, reciting or chanting prayers, to
which from time to time an inferior Lima uttered responses
aloud, accompanied by the rest in an undertone. This
was intended for the use of the souls in hell, who would
starve were it not provided. The music and singing, if we
may apply the analogy of Indian practices, are intended to
scare the vagrant ghosts, who would otherwise consume or
defile the food.
The same is the case among the Drividian races. Thus,
the Bhuiy&rs of Mirzapur after the funeral feast throw a
cupful of oil and some food into the water hole in which the
» Lady Wilde, "Ugends," ii8, 140.
« *• Bombay Gazetteer,*' xii. 118 ; •* Folk-lore," iv. 245.
» " Travels in the Himalaya," i. 342.
70 Folk-lore of Northern India.
ashes of the dead man are deposited. They say that he will
never be hungry or want oil to anoint himself after bathing.
The Korwas, when burning a corpse, place with it the orna-
ments and clothes of the deceased, and an axe, which they
do not break, as is the habit of many other savages. They
say that the spirit of the dead man will want it to hack his
way through the jungles of the lower world. When the
BhuiyArs cremate a corpse they throw near the spot an axe,
if the deceased was a man, and a Khurpi or weeding spud,
if a woman. No one would dare to appropriate such things,
as he would be forced to join the ghastly company of their
owners. Where the corpse is burned they leave a platter
made of leaves containing a little boiled rice, and they
sprinkle on the ground all the ordinary kinds of grain and
some turmeric and salt as food for the dead in the next
world.
All these tribes and many low-caste Hindus in Northern
India lay out platters of food under the eaves of the house
during the period of mourning, and they ascertain by peculiar
marks which they examine next day whether the spirit has
partaken of the food or not. Among the jungle tribes there
is a rule that the food for the dead is prepared, not by the
house-mother, but by the senior daughter-in-law, and even
if incapacitated by illness from performing this duty, she is
bound at least to commence the work by cooking one or two
cakes, the rest being prepared by one of the junior women of
the family.
Among the more Hinduized Majhw4rs and Patdris we
reach the stage where the clothes, implements of the deceased,
and some food are given to the Pat4ri priest, who, by
vicariously consuming them, lays up a store for the use of
the dead man in the other world. This is the principle on
which food and other articles are given to the Mah&brihman
or ordinary Hindu funeral priest at the close of the period of
mourning.
Among the Bengal tribes, the M41 Pahariyas pour the
blood of goats and fowls on their ancestral memorial pillars
that the souls may not hunger in the world of the dead.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 71
Among the BhOmij, at the funeral ceremony^ an outsider,
who is often a Laiya or priest, comes forward to personate
the deceased, by whose name he is addressed, and asked
what he wants to eat. Acting thus as the dead man's proxy,
he mentions various articles of food, which are placed before
him. After making a regular meal, he goes away, and the
spirit of the deceased is believed to go with him. So among
the Kolis of the Konkan, the dead man's soul is brought
back into one of the mourners. Among the V&rlis of Th&na,
on the twelfth day after death, a dinner is given to the
nearest relations, and during the night the spirit of the dead
enters into one of the relations, who entertains the rest with
the story of some event in the dead man's life. Among the
Sant&ls, one of the mourners drums by the ashes of the dead,
and the spirit enters the body, when the mourner shaves,
bathes, eats a cock, and drinks some liquor.^
Among the Bengal Chakmas, a bamboo post or other
portion of a dead man's house is burned with him, probably
in order to provide him with shelter in the next world.
Among the KAmis, before they can partake of the funeral
feast, a small portion of every dish must be placed in a leaf
plate and taken out into the jungle for the spirit of the dead
man, and carefully watched until a fly or other insect settles
upon it. The watcher then covers up the plate with a slab
of stone, eats his own food, and returns to tell the relatives
that the spirit has received the offering prepared for him.
The Fly as a Life Index.
The fly here represents the spirit, an idea very common
in folk-lore, where an insect often appears as the Life Index.
An English lady has been known in India to stop playing
lawn-tennis because a butterfly settled in the court. In
Cornwall wandering spirits take the form of moths, ants,
and weasels.* We have the same idea in Titus Andronicus,
1 Risley, '* Tribes and Castes," i. 126, 174, 395; ii- 7i ; "Bombay
Gazetteer,'' xiii. 187 ; Daltoa, <' Descriptive Ethnology,*' 218.
3 Hunt, ^ Popular Romanges/' 82.
72 Folk-lore of Northern India.
when Marcus, having been rebuked for killing a fly, gives as
his reason, —
" It was a black, ill-favoured fly,
Like to the empress Moor ; therefore I kiiUd him/'
A fly is the guardian spirit of St. Michael's well in Banff.^
Recalling the Ghost.
But while it is expedient by some or other of these devices
to bar or lay the ghost, or prevent its return by providing
for its journey to, and accommodation in the next world,
some tribes have a custom of making arrangements to bring
back the soul of the deceased to the family abode, where he
is worshipped as a household spirit. Some of the Central
Indian tribes catch the spirit re-embodied in a fowl or fish,
some bring it home in a pot of water or flour.' Among the
Tipperas of Bengal, when a man dies in a strange village
separated from his home by the river, they stretch a white
string from bank to bank along which the spirit is believed
to return.' This illustrates an idea common to all folk-lore
that the ghost cannot cross running water without material
assistance. Among the Hos on the evening of the cremation
day certain preparations are made in anticipation of a visit
from the ghost. Some boiled rice is laid apart for it, and
ashes are sprinkled on the floor, in order that, should it
come, its footsteps may be detected. On returning they
carefully scrutinize the ashes and the rice, and if there is
the faintest indication of these having been disturbed, it is
attributed to the action of the spirit, and they sit down
shivering with horror and crying bitterly, as if they were
by no means pleased with the visit, though it be made at
their earnest solicitation.*
Ashes.
This use of ashes as a means of identifying the ghost,
constitutes in itself quite an important chapter in folk-lore.
' Brand, " Observations," 519. • Tyler, '* Primitive Culture," ii. 152.
' Risley, loc, cit^ ii. 326. * Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology, 204 sq.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 73
It reminds us of the Apocryphal legend of Bel and the
Dragon. The idea probably originally arose from the
respect paid to the ashes of the house fire by primitive races,
among whom the hearth and the kitchen are the home of
the household godlings.
There are numerous instances of this practice from
Europe. In the Western Islands of Scotland on Candle-
mas Day the mistress takes a sheaf of oats, dresses it in
woman's apparel, and after putting it in a large basket
beside which a wooden club is placed, cries three times,
** Briid is come ! Briid is welcome ! " Next morning they
look for the impression of Briid's club in the ashes, which
is an omen of a good harvest.^ Ash-riddlin is a custom in
the northern counties. The ashes being riddled or sifted on
the hearth, if any one of the family be to die within the
year, the mark of a shoe will be impressed upon the ashes.'
In Wales they make a bonfire, and when it is extin-
guished each one throws a white stone into the ashes. In
the morning they search out the stones, and if any one is
found wanting, he that threw it will die within the year.'
In Manxland the ashes are carefully swept to the open
hearth and nicely flattened down by the women before they
go to bed. In the morning they look for footmarks on the
hearth, and if they find such footmarks directed to the
door, it means in the course of the year a death in the
family, and if the reverse, they expect an addition to it by
marriage.* According to one of the Italian charms, ** And
they were accustomed to divine sometimes with the ashes
from the sacrifices. And to this day there is a trace of it,
when that which is to be divined is written on the ashes
with the finger or with the stick. Then the ashes are
stirred by the fresh breeze, and one looks for the letters
which they form by being moved." '
Amongst some Hindus, on the tenth night after the death
of a person, he who fired the funeral pyre is required to sift
* Dyer, "Popular Customs," 57. • Ibid., 199.
* Ibid., 398. * "Folk-lore,'* ii. 310.
* Leland, ^' Etruscan Roman Remains," 345.
74 Folk-lore of Northern India.
some ashes, near which a lamp is placed, and the whole
covered with a basket. Next morning the ashes are ex-
amined, and the ghost is supposed to have migrated into
the animal whose mark appears on the ashes.^ So, at the
annual feast of the dead, the jungle tribes of Mirzapur spread
ashes on the floor, and a mark generally like that of a
chicken's foot shows that the family ghosts have visited the
house. ** On New Year's Eve," says Aubrey, " sift or
smooth the ashes and leave it so when you go to bed;
next morning look, and if you find there the likeness of a
cofl&n, one will die ; if a ring, one will be married." * In
North Scotland, on the night after the funeral, bread and
water are placed in the apartment where the body lay. The
dead man was believed to return that night and partake of
the food ; unless this were done the spirits could not rest
in the unseen world. This probably accounts for the so-
called " food vases " and " drinking cups " found in the long
barrows.' All Hindus believe that the ghosts of the dead
return on the night of the DiwAll or feast of lamps.
Replacing Household Vessels.
After a death all the household earthen pots are broken
and replaced. It has been suggested that this is due either
to the belief that the ghost of the dead man is in some of
them, or that the custom may have some connection with
the idea of providing the ghost with utensils in the next
world.* In popular belief, however, the custom is explained
by the death pollution attaching to all the family cooking
vessels, which, if of metal, are purified with fire. The
vessel is the home of the spirit : " At most Hindu funerals
a water jar is carried round the p}rre, and then dashed to
the ground, apparently to show that the spirit has left its
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 35 .
' " Remaines," 95 ; Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,**^
57.
» Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,** 213.
* Frazer, *' Contemporary Review,*' xlviii. 117; Spencer, "Principles,
of Sociology," i. 195.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 75
earthly home. So, the Surat Chondras set up as spirit
homes large whitewashed earthen jars laid on their sides.
Soy to please any spirit likely to injure a crop, an earthen
jar is set on a pole as the ^rit*s house, and so at a wedding
or other ceremonies, jars, sometimes empty, sometimes
filled with water, are piled as homes for planets and other
marriage gods and goddesses, that they may feel pleased and
their influence be fiiendly." *
We have already met with the Kalasa or sacred jar. The
same idea of the pollution of earthen vessels prevailed
among the Hebrews, when an earthen vessel remaining in
a tent in which a person died was considered impure for
seven days.'
Funeral Rites in Effigy.
When a person dies at a distance from home, and it is
impossible to perform the funeral rites over the body, it is
cremated in effigy. The special term for this is Kusa-putra,
or " son of the Kusa grass." Colonel Tod gives a case of
this when Rija Ummeda of BClndi abdicated : '' An image
of the prince was made, and a pyre was erected on which
it was consumed. The hair and whiskers of Ajit, his suc-
cessor, were taken off and offered to the Manes ; lamenta-
tions and wailing were heard in the Queen's apartments,
and the twelve days of mourning were held as if Ummeda
had really deceased ; on the expiration of which the installa-
tion of his successor took place." '
Ghosts Lengthening Themselves.
Ghosts, as we have already seen in the case of the
Naugaza, have the power of changing their length. In the
well-known tale in the Arabian Nights the demon is shut
up in a jar under the seal of the Lord Solomon, as in one
of the German tales the Devil is shut up in a crevice in a
* Campbell, "Notes," 334. • Numbers xix. 15.
■ " Annals," iL 542.
76 Folk-lore of Northern India.
pine tree, and the ghost of Major Weir of Edinburgh resided
in his walking-stick/ Some of the Indian ghosts, like the
Ifrtt of the Arabian Nights, can grow to the length of ten
yojanas or eighty miles. In one of the Bengal tales a ghost
is identified because she can stretch out her hands several
yards for a vessel.^ Some ghosts possess the very dangerous
power of entering human corpses, like the VetAla, and
swelling to an enormous size. The Kharwirs of Mirzapur
have a wild legend, which tells how long ago an unmarried
girl of the tribe died, and was being cremated. While the
relations were collecting wood for the pyre, a ghost entered
the corpse, but the friends managed to expel him. Since
then great care is taken not to leave the bodies of women
unwatched. So, in the Panj4b, when a great person is
cremated the bones and ashes are carefully watched till
the fourth day, to prevent a magician interfering with them.
If he has a chance, he can restore the deceased to life, and
ever after retain him uiider his influence. This is the origin
of the custom in Great Britain of waking the dead, a practice
which " most probably originated from a silly superstition
as to the danger of a corpse being carried off by some of
the agents of the invisible world, or exposed to the ominous
liberties of brute animals." * But in India it is considered
the best course, if the corpse cannot be immediately dis-
posed of, to measure it carefully, and then no malignant
Bhiit can occupy it. We have already met with instances
of a similar idea of the mystic effect supposed to follow on
measuring or weighing grain.
Kindly Ghosts.
Most of the ghosts whom we have been as yet considering
are malignant. There are, however, others which are
friendly. Such are the German Elves, the Robin Good-
1 Grimm, " Household Tales," ii. 402; Clouston, "Popular Tales/*!.
380.
« Lane, "Arabian Nights," i. 71; Lil Bihiri D^, " Folk-talcs," 198,
274.
» Brand, " Observations,** 435.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 77
fellow, Puck, Brownie and the Cauld Lad of Hilton of
England, the Glashan of the Isle of Man, the Phouka or
Leprehaun of Ireland. Such, in one of his many forms, is
the Brahmadaitya, or ghost of a Br&hman who has died
unmarried. In Bengal he is believed to be more neat and
less mischievous than other ghosts ; the Bhiits carry him in
a palanquin, he wears wooden sandals, lives in a Banyan or
Bel tree, and SankhachClrni is his mistress. He appears to
be about the only respectable bachelor ghost. In one of the
folk-tales a ghostly reaper of this class assists his human
friend, and can cut as much of the crop in a minute as an
ordinary person can in a day. ^ So, the Manx Brownie is
called the Fenodyree, and he is described as a hairy, clumsy
fellow who would thresh a whole bamfiil of com in a single
night for the people to whom he felt well disposed.* This
Brahmadaitya is the leader of the other ghosts in virtue of
his respectable origin ; he lives in a tree, and, unlike other
varieties of BhAts, does not eat all kinds of food, but only
such as are considered ceremonially pure. He never, like
common Bhdts, frightens men, but is harmless and quiet,
never plaguing benighted travellers, nor entering into the
bodies of living men or women, but if his dignity be in-
sulted, or any one trespass on his domains, he wrings their
necks.
Tree Ghosts.
Hence in regard to trees great caution is required. A
Hindu will never climb one of the varieties of fig, the Ficus
Cordifolia, except through dire necessity, and if a Brdhman
is forced to ascend the Bel tree or Aegle Marmelos for the
purpose of obtaining the sacred trefoil so largely used in
Saiva worship, he only does so after offering prayers to the
gods in general, and to the Brah madaitya in particular who
may have taken up his abode in this special tree.
These tree ghosts are, it is needless to say, very numerous.
1 Lil BiMri Da, " Folk-tales of Bengal," 198,206; " Govinda Simanta,"
i. 135 ; " North Indian Notes and Queries ," iii. 199.
« " Folk-lore/' ii. 286.
78 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Hence most local shrines are constructed under trees, and
in one particular tree, the Bira, the jungle tribes of Mirza-
pur locate Bdgheswar, the tiger godling, one of their most
dreaded deities. In the Konkan, according to Mr. Camp-
bell,* the medium or Bhagat who becomes possessed is called
Jhdd, or "tree," apparently because he is a favourite
dwelling-place for spirits. In the Dakkhin it is believed
that the spirit of the pregnant woman or Churel lives in a
tree, and the Abors and Padams of East Bengal believe that
spirits in trees kidnap children.' Many of these tree spirits
appear in the folk-tales. Thus, Devadatta worships a tree
which one day suddenly clave in two and a nymph appeared
who introduced him inside the tree, where was a heavenly
palace of jewels, in which, reclining on a couch, appeared
Vidyatprabhd, the maiden daughter of the king of the
Yakshas; in another story the mendicant hears inside a
tree the Yaksha joking with his wife." So Daphne is turned
into a tree to avoid the pursuit of her lover.
The Brahmaparusha.
But there is another variety of Br4hman ghost who is
jmuch dreaded. This is the Brahmaparusha or Brahma
Rdkshasa. In one of the folk-tales he appears black as
soot, with hair yellow as the lightning, looking like a
thunder-cloud. He had made himself a wreath of entrails ;
he wore a sacrificial cord of hair ; he was gnawing the flesh
of a man's head and drinking blood out of a skull. In
another story these Brahma Rikshasas have formidable
tusks, flaming hair, and insatiable hunger. They wander
about the forests catching animals and eating them.* Mr.
Campbell tells a Marha.ta legend of a master who became a
Brahmaparusha in order to teach grammar to a pupil. He
haunted a house at Benares, and the pupil went to take
lessons from him. He promised to teach him the whole
1 " Notes," 165. » Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology/' 25.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 229; ii. 116; Tylor, "Primitive
Culture," i. 476; ii. 148, 215.
* Tawney, loc, city ii. 338, 511.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 79
science in a year on condition that he never left the house.
One day the boy went out and learned that the house was
haunted, and that he was being taught by a ghost. The
boy returned and was ordered by the preceptor to take his
bones to Gaya, and perform the necessary ceremonies for
the emancipation of his soul. This he did, and the uneasy
spirit of the learned man was laid.* We have already en-
countered similar angry Br&hman ghosts, such as Harshu
P4nr6 and Mahent.
The Jak and JiKNi.
The really friendly agricultural sprites are the pair known
in some places as the ]kk and J^kni, and in others as
Chordeva and Chordevt, the " thief godlings." With the
Jik we come on another of these curious survivals from the
early mythology in a sadly degraded form. As Varuna, the
god of the firmament, has been reduced in these later
days to Barun, a petty weather godling, so the J4k is the
modern representative of the Yaksha, who in better times
was the attendant of Kuvera, the god of wealth, in which
duty he was assisted by the Guhyaka. The character of
the Yaksha is not very certain. He was called Punya-janas,
" the good people," but he sometimes appears as an imp of
evil. In the folk-tales, it must be admitted, the Yakshas
have an equivocal reputation. In one story the female, or
Yakshint, bewilders travellers at night, makes horns grow
on their foreheads, and finally devours them; in another
the Yakshas have, like the Churel, feet turned the wrong
way and squinting eyes ; in a third they separate the hero
firom the heroine because he failed to make due offerings to
them on his wedding day. On the other hand, in a fourth
tale the Yakshini is described as possessed of heavenly
beauty ; she appears again when a sacrifice is made in a
cemetery to get her into the hero's power, as a heavenly
maiden beautifully adorned, seated in a chariot of gold sur-
rounded by lovely girls ; and lastly, a Brahman meets some
1 "Notes," 146 sq.
8o Folk-lore of Northern India.
Buddhist ascetics, performs the Uposhana vow, and would
have become a god, had it not been that a wicked man
compelled him by force to take food in the evening, and so
he was re-bom as a Guhyaka.^
In the modern folk-lore of Kashmir, the Yaksha has turned
into the Yech or Yach, a humorous, though powerful, sprite
in the shape of a civet cat of a dark colour, with a white
cap on his head. This small high cap is one of the marks
of the Irish fairies, and the Incubones of Italy wear caps,
" the symbols of their hidden, secret natures." The feet of
the Yech are so small as to be almost invisible, and it
squeaks in a feline way. It can assume any shape, and if
its white cap can be secured, it becomes the servant of the
possessor, and the white cap makes him invisible.'
In the Vishnu Purdna we read that Vishnu created the
Yakshas as beings emaciate with hunger, of hideous aspect,
and with big beards, and that from their habit of crying for
food they were so named.' By the Buddhists they were
regarded as benignant spirits. One of them acts as sort of
chorus in the Meghadfita or " Cloud Messenger " of Kili-
ddsa. Yet we read of the Yaka Alawaka, who, according to
the Buddhist legend, used to live in a Banyan tree, and
slay any one who approached it ; while in Ceylon they are
represented as demons whom Buddha destroyed.* In later
Hinduism they are generally of fair repute, and one of them
was appointed by Indra to be the attendant of the Jaina
Saint Mahdvlra. It is curious that in Gujardt the term
Yaksha is applied to Musalmdns, and in Cutch to a much
older race of northern conquerors.'
At any rate the modern ]&k and ]&kni, Chordeva and
Chordevt, are eminently respectable and kindly sprites.
They are, in fact, an obvious survival of the pair of corn
1 Tawney, loc. city i. 337, 204 ; ii. 427, 83.
' Temple, "Wide-awake Stories," 317 ; "Indian Antiquary," xi. 260
sq. ; Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remams," 163.
• As liixovcijakshy "to eat ;" a more probable derivation is Yaksh, "to
move," " to worship."
* Spencer Hardy, " Manual of Buddhism," 269 ; Conway, " Demono-
logy,"i. 151 sq.
» " Bombay Gazetteer," v, 133, 236.
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts. 8i
spirits which inhabit the standing crop.* The J&k is com-
pelled to live apart from the J4kni in neighbouring viUages,
but he is an uxorious husband, and robs his own village to
supply the wants of his consort. So, if you see a com-
paratively barren village, which is next to one more pro-
ductive, you may be sure that the Jik lives in the former
and the Jdkni in the latter. The same is the character of
the Chor or Chordeva and the Chomt or Chordevi of the
jungle tribes of Mirzapur
Ghosts which Protect Cattle.
In the Hills there are various benevolent ghosts or god-
lings who protect cattle. Sdin, the spirit of an old ascetic,
helps the Bhotiyas to recover lost cattle, and Siddhua and
Buddhua, the ghosts of two harmless goatherds, are invoked
when a goat falls ill.' In the same class is Nagardeo of
Garhwdl, who is represented in nearly every village by a
three-pronged pike or Trisdla on a platform. When cows
and buffaloes are first milked, the milk is offered to him.
It is perhaps possible that from some blameless godling
of the cow-pen, such as Nagardeo, the cult us of Pasupa-
tinHtha, " the lord of animals," an epithet of Siva or Rudra,
who has a stately shrine at Hardwdr, where his lingam is
wreathed with cobras, was derived. Another Hill godling
of the same class is Chaumu or Baudh&n, who has a shrine
in every village, which the people at the risk of offending him
are supposed to keep clean and holy. Lamps are lighted,
sweetmeats and the fruits of the earth are offered to him.
When a calf dies the milk of the mother is considered
unholy till the twelfth day, when some is offered to the
deity. He also recovers lost animals, if duly propitiated,
but if neglected, he brings disease on the herd.'
Another cattle godling in the Hills is Kaluva or Kalbisht,
who lived on earth some two hundred years ago. His
enemies persuaded his brother-in-law to kill him. After his
1 Frazer, '* Golden Bough," ii. 17. * "Himilayan Gazetteer," iii. 117.
* Ibid, ii. 833 ; " North Indian Notes and Queries,*' i. 56.
VOL. II. G
82 Folk-lore of Northern India.
death he became a benevolent spirit, and the only people he
injured were the enemies who compassed his death. His
name is now a charm against wild beasts, and people who
are oppressed resort to his shrine for justice. Except in
name he seems to have nothing to say to Kalu Kahdr, who
was born of a Kahir girl, who by magical charms compelled
King Solomon to marry her. His fetish is a stick covered
with peacock's feathers to which offerings of food are made.
He has more than a quarter of a million worshippers,
according to the last census, in the Meerut Division.
Bugaboos.
We close this long list of ghostly personages with those
who are merely bugaboos to frighten children. Such are
Hawwa, probably a corruption through the Prdkrit of the
Sanskrit Bh6ta, and Humma or Humu, who is said to be
the ghost of the Emperor Humayiin, who died by an
untimely death. Akin perhaps to him are the Humanas of
Kumaun, who take the form of men, but cannot act as
ordinary persons.^
These sprites are to the Bengali matron what Old Scratch
and Red Nose and Bloody Bones are to English mothers,'
and when a Bengali baby is particularly naughty its mother
threatens to send for Warren Hastings. Akin to these is
Ghoghar, who represents Ghuggu or the hooting of the owl.'
Nekt Bibt, " the good lady ;" Mano or the cat ; Bhakur ;
Bhokaswa ; and Dokarkaswa, " the old man with the bag,"
who carries off naughty children, who is the Mr. Miacca of
the English nursery.*
1 Ganga Datt, " Folk-lore,' 71.
' Aubrey, " Remaines," 59 ; Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern
Counties,'* 263.
' Ghoghar in Bombay takes the form of a native seaman or Lascar
" Bombay Gazetteer," iv. 343.
* Jacobs, "English Fairy Tales.''
X
Q
<
H
O
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CHAPTER 11.
TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
Sylvarum numina, Fauni
Et satyri fratres.
Ovidy Metamorp. iii. 163.
Avrhp iv avr^
Kvaycof AcXixro bpaKmv, KC^aXal dc 01 ffcav
Tptls dfjL<f)L(rrp€^t£, Ms av;^evor €K7r€<f>vviai,
Jliad, xi. 38-40.
The worship of trees and serpents may be conveniently
considered together; not that there is much connection
between these two classes of belief, but because this course
has been followed in Mr. Ferguson's elaborate monograph
on the subject.
The worship of trees appears to be based on many con-
verging lines of thought, which it is not easy to disentangle,
Mr. H. Spencer ^ classes it as an aberrant species of ancestor
worship : " A species somewhat more disguised externally,
but having the same internal nature; and though it de-
velops in three different directions, still these have all one
common origin. First, the toxic excitements produced by
certain plants are attributed to the agency of spirits or
demons ; secondly, tribes that have come out of places
characterized by particular trees or plants, unawares change
the legend of emergence from them into the legend of descent
from them ; thirdly, the naming of individuals after plants
becomes a source of confusion."
According to Dr. Tylor,* again, the worship depends upon
man's animistic theory of nature : " Whether such a tree
^ " Principles of Sociology/' i. 359.
» "Primitive Culture/' ii. 221, 89.
G 2
84 Folk-lore of Northern India.
is looked on as inhabited by its own proper life and soul,
or as possessed like a fetish by some other spirit which
has entered it or used it for a body, is often hard to deter-
mine. The tree may be the spirits' perch or shelter (as we
have seen in the case of the Churel or Rikshasa), or the
sacred grove is assumed to be the spirits* resort."
Mr. Frazer has given a very careful analysis of this branch
of popular religion/ He shows that to the savage in general
the world is animate and trees are no exception to the rule ;
he thinks they have souls like his own and treats them
accordingly; they are supposed to feel injuries done to
them ; the souls of the dead sometimes animate them ; the
tree is regarded sometimes as the body, sometimes as the
home of the tree spirit ; trees and tree spirits give rain and
sunshine; they cause the crops to grow; the tree spirit
makes the herds to multiply and blesses women with
offspring ; the tree spirit is often conceived and represented
as detached from the tree and even as embodied in living
men and women.
The basis of the cultus may then perhaps be stated as
follows : There is first the tree which is regarded as embody-
ing or representing the spirit which influences the fertility
of crops and human beings. Hence the respect paid to
memorial trees, where the people assemble, as at the village
Pipal, which is valued for its shade and beauty and its long
connection with the social life of the community. This
would naturally be regarded as the abode of some god and
forms the village shrine, a convenient centre for the religious
worship of the local deities, where they reside and accept
the worship and offerings of their votaries.
It may, again, be the last survival of the primitive forest,
where the dispossessed spirits of the jungle find their final
and only resting-place. Such secluded groves form the only
and perhaps the earliest shrine of many primitive races.
Again, an allegorical meaning would naturally be attached
to various trees. It is invested with a mystic power owing
to the mysterious waving of its leaves and branches, the
* " Golden Bough," i. 39.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 85
result of supernatural agency; and this would account for
the weird sounds of the forest at night.
Many trees are evergreen, and thus enjoy eternal life.
Every tree is a sort of emblem of life, reproducing itself in
some uncanny fashion with each recurring spring.
It has some mystic connection with the three worlds —
Quantum vertice ad auras
Aetherias tantum radice in Tartara tendii.
Like Yggdrassil, it connects the world of man with the
world of gods, and men may, like Jack of the Beanstalk,
climb by its aid to heaven. In this connection it may be
noted that many Indian tribes bury their dead in trees.
The Khasiyas of East Bengal lay the body in the hollow
trunk of a tree. The N^gas dispose of their dead in the
same way, or hang them in cofi&ns to the branches. The
Mariya Gonds tie the corpse to a tree and burn it. The
Malers lay the corpse of a priest, whose ghost often gives
trouble, under a tree and cover it with leaves.^ Similar
customs prevail among primitive races in many parts of the
world.
The tree embodies in itself many utilities necessary to
human life, and many qualities which menace its existence.
Its wood is the source of fire, itself a fetish. Its fruits,
juices, flowers or bark are sources of food or possess in-
toxicating or poisonous attributes, which are naturally con-
nected ■ witji demoniacal influences. Trees often develop
into curious or uncanny forms, which compel fear or adora-
tion. Thus according to the old ritual* trees which have
been struck by lightning, or knocked down by inundation,
or which have fallen in the direction of the south, or which
grew on a burning ground or consecrated site, or at the
confluence of large rivers, or by the roadside ; those which
have withered tops, or an entanglement of heavy creepers
1 Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology," 56, 40, 43, 283; Hislop, ** Papers,"
10.
3 '* Brihatsanhita," Rajendra L^a Mitra, '^ Indo-Aryans," i. 245.
86 Folk-lore of Northern India.
upon them, or are the receptacles of many honey-combs or
birds' nests, are reckoned unfit for the fabrication of bed-
steads, as they are inauspicious and sure to bring disease
and death. The step from such beliefs to the worship of
any curious and remarkable tree is easy.
Hence the belief that the planting of a grove is a work of
religious merit, which is so strongly felt by Hindus, and the
idea that the grove has special religious associations, shown
by the marriage of its trees to the well, and other rites of
the same kind. In the Konkan it is very generally believed
that barrenness is caused by uneasy spirits which wander
about, and that if a home be made for the spirit by planting
trees, it will go and reside there and the curse of barren-
ness will be removed.^
Though this branch of the subject has been pushed to
quite an unreasonable length in some recent books,* there
may be some association of tree worship with the phallic
cultus, such as is found in the Asherah or " groves " of the
Hebrews, the European Maypole, and so on. This has been
suggested as an explanation of the honour paid by the
Gypsy race in Germany to the fir tree, the birch and the
hawthorn, and of the veneration of the Welsh Gypsies to
the fasciated vegetable growth known to them as the Broado
Koro.* In the same way an attempt has been made to
connect the Bel tree with the Saiva worship of the Lingam
and the lotus with the Yoni. But this part of the subject
has been involved in so much crude speculation that any
analogies of this kind, however tempting, must be accepted
with the utmost caution.
Further than this, it may be reasonably suspected that
this cultus rests to some extent on a basis of totemism.
Some of the evidence in support of this view will be discussed
elsewhere, but it is, on the analogy of the various modes in
which the Brdhmanical pantheon has been recruited, not
improbable that trees and plants, like the Tulasi and the
1 Campbell, "Notes/* 225.
* Forlong, " Rivers of Life ;" Westropp, " Primitive Symbolism."
' Groome, "Encyclopaedia Britannica," s.v. "Gypsies."
Tree and Serpent Worship. 87
Pipal, may have been originally tribal totems imported into
Brihmanism from some aboriginal or other foreign source.
On the whole it is tolerably certain that there is more
in tree worship than can be accounted for either by Mr.
Ferguson's theory that the worship sprang from a perception
of the utility or beauty of trees, or by Mr. Spencer's theory
of nicknames. It is sufficient to say that both fail to account
for the worship of insignificant and comparatively useless
shrubs, weeds, or grasses.
Tree worship holds an important part in the popular
ritual and folk-lore. This is shown by the prejudice against
cutting trees. The jungle tribes are very averse to cutting
certain trees, particularly those which are regarded as
sacred. If a Kharwdr, except at the time of the annual
feast, cuts his tribal tree, the Karama, he loses wealth and
life, and none of these tribes will cut the large Sal trees
which are fixed by the Baiga as the abode of the forest
godling. This feeling prevails very strongly among the
Maghs of Bengal. Nothing but positive orders and the
presence of Europeans would induce them to trespass on
many hill-tops, which they regarded as occupied by the
tree demons. With the Europeans, however, they would
advance fearlessly, and did not hesitate to fell trees, the
blame of such sacrilege being always laid on the strangers.
On felling any large tree, one of the party was always pre-
pared with a green sprig, which he ran and placed in the
centre of the stump when the tree fell, as a propitiation to
the spirit which had been displaced so roughly, pleading at
the same time the orders of the strangers for the work. In
clearing one spot an orderly had to take the d&h or cleaver
and fell the first tree himself before a Magh would make
a stroke, and was considered to bear all the odium of
the work with the disturbed spirits till the arrival of the
Europeans relieved him of the burden.'
In folk-lore we have many magic trees. We have the
Kalpataru or Kalpadruma, also known as Kalpavriksha, or
Manoratha dayaka, the tree which grows in Swarga or the
^ "Calcutta Review," xxvi. 512.
88 Folk-lore of Northern India.
paradise of Indra and grants all desires. There is, again,
the P4rij4ta, which was produced at the churning of the
ocean, and appropriated by Indra, from whom it was re-
covered by Krishna. The tree in the Meghaddta bears
clothes, trinkets, and wine, which is like the Juniper tree of
the German tale, which grants a woman a son. Many such
trees appear in the Indian folk-tales. The King Jimutaketu
had a tree in his house which came down from his an-
cestors, and was known as " the giver of desires " ; the
generous Induprabha craved a boon from Indra, and became
a wishing tree in his own city ; and the faithful minister of
Yasaketu sees a wave rise out of the sea and then a wishing
tree appears, " adorned with boughs glittering with gold,
embellished with sprays of coral, bearing lovely fruits and
flowers of jewels. And he beheld on its trunk a maiden,
alluring on account of her wonderful beauty, reclining on a
gem-bestudded couch." ' So, in the story of Devadatta, the
tree is cloven and a heavenly nymph appears. We have
trees which, like those in the Odyssey, bear fruit and flowers
at the same time, and in the garden of the Asura maiden
" the trees were ever producing flowers and fruits, for all
seasons were present there at the same time." ^
We have many trees, again, which are produced in mi-
raculous ways. In one of the modern tales the tiger collects
the bones of his friend, the cow, and from her ashes spring
two bamboos, which when cut give blood, and are found to
be two boys of exquisite grace and beauty.* So in Grimm's
tale of" One Eye, Two Eyes, and Three Eyes," the tree
grows from the buried entrails of the goat. In another of
Somadeva's stories the heroine drops a tear on the Jambu
flower and a fruit grew, within which a maiden was pro-
duced/ The incident of the tree which grows on the
mother's grave and protects her helpless children is the
common property of folk-lore. Again, we have the heavenly
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit SAgara,'* i. 174 ; ii. 181, 592, 286.
* Ibid., ii. 270.
* ** North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 123 ; Grimm, " Household
Tales," ii. 429. ^
* Ibid., ii. 142.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 89
fruit which was given by the grateful monkey, and freed
him who ate it from old age and disease, like the tree in
Aelian which makes an old man become younger and
younger until he reaches the antenatal stage of non-
existence.'
We have many instances of trees which talk. The
mango tree shows the hero how the magic bird is to be cut
out of it ; the heroine is blessed and aided by the plantain
tree, cotton tree, and sweet basil; she is rewarded by a
plum and fig tree for services rendered to them.* In one of
the Kashmir tales the tree informs the hero of the safety of
his wife. So, in Grimm's tale of the " Lucky Spinner," the
tree speaks when the man is about to cut it down.*
In one of the stories, as a link between tree and serpent
worship, the great palace of the snake king is situated
under a solitary Asoka tree in the Vindhyan forest. In the
same collection we meet continually instances of tree
worship. The BrAhman Somadatta worships a great
Asvattha, or fig tree, by walking round it so as to keep it on
his right, bowing and making an oblation ; Mrigankadatta
takes refuge in a tree sacred to Ganesa ; and Naravihana-
datta comes to a sandal tree surrounded with a platform
made of precious jewels, up which he climbs by means of
ladders and adores it.*
We have a long series of legends by which certain famous
trees are supposed to have been produced from the tooth -
twig of some saint. The famous hawthorn of Glastonbury
was supposed to be sprung from the staff of Joseph of
Arimathea, who having fixed it in the ground on Christmas
Day, it took root immediately, put forth leaves, and the
next day was covered with milk-white blossoms.' Tra-
ditions of the DantadhAvana or tooth-brush tree of Buddha
still exist at Gonda ; another at Ludhidna is attributed to
Abdul Qadir Jilani ; there is a Buddha tree at Saketa, and
^ Grimm, " Household Tales," ii. 596.
' Temple, " Wide-awake Stories,'* 413.
• • Knowles, "Folk-tales," 184; Grimm, /oc, cit, ii. 428.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sagara," i. 153 ; ii. 387, 460.
* Dyer, " Popular Customs," 467.
go Folk-lore of Northern India.
the great Banyan tree at Broach was similarly produced
by Kabir. So, the Santdls believe that good men turn into
fruit-trees.^
Next come the numerous sacred groves scattered all over
the country. These, as we have seen, are very often re-
garded as a survival from the primeval jungle, where the
forest spirits have taken refuge. The idea is common both
to the Aryan as well as to the DrAvidian races, from the
latter of whom it was possibly derived.
Thus, among the jungle races we find that there are many
groves, known as Sarna, in which the Cheros and Kharwars
offer triennial sacrifices of a buffalo or other animal. The
Kisdns have sacred groves, called Sd. The Mundiri Kols
keep " a fragment of the original forest, the trees in which
have been for ages carefully protected, left when the
clearance was first made, lest the sylvan gods ot the place,
disgusted at the wholesale felling of the trees which pro-
tected them, should abandon the locality. Even now if a
tree is destroyed in the sacred grove, the gods evince their
displeasure by withholding seasonable rain." This idea of
the influence of cutting trees on weather has been illus-
trated by Mr. Frazer from the usages of other races.' So,
among the Khdndhs, " that timber may never be wanting,
in case of accidents from fire or from enemies, a con-
siderable grove, generally of Sal, is uniformly dedicated by
every village to the forest god, whose favour is ever and
anon sought by the sacrifice of birds, hogs, and sheep, with
the usual accompaniments of rice and an addled egg. The
consecrated grove is religiously preserved, the trees being
occasionally pruned, but not a twig cut for use without the
formal consent of the village and the formal propitiation of
the god." ' Among the Kols, in these groves the tutelary
deities of the village are supposed to sojourn when attending
to the wants of their votaries.* In the Central Provinces
* Fiihrer, " Monumental Antiquities," 304 ; ** North Indian Notes and
Queries,*' i. 4, 37 ; " Bombay Gazetteer," ii. 355.
2 « Golden Bough," i. 61.
' ** North Indian Notes and Queries,*' ii. 112.
* Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology," 129, 132, 141, 186, 188.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 91
the Badiyas worship the manes of their ancestors in a grove
of Saj trees/ In BerAr the wood of the Pathrot forests is
believed to be dedicated to a neighbouring temple, and no
one will cut or buy it ; and in other places in the same
province the sacred groves are so carefully preserved, that
during the annual festivals held in them it is the custom
to coUect and burn solemnly all dead and fallen branches
and trees.'
Among the higher races the same feelings attach to the
holy groves of Mathura, each of which has appropriated
one of the legends of the Krishna myth. Thus, there is a
particularly sacred grove at BhadanwAra, and it is believed
that any one violating the sanctity of the place by telling a
lie within its precincts will be stricken with leprosy. In
another at Hasanpur Bara the trees are under the pro-
tection of the curse of a Faqir, and in many places people
object to having toddy collected from the palm trees, be-
cause it necessitates cutting their necks.' In the Northern
Hills the S41 and bamboos at Barmdeo are never cut, as
they are sacred to the local Devi.* In Kulu, "near the
village were a number of cypresses, much decayed, and
many quite dead. Some of my people had begun to strip
off their dry branches for fuel, when one of the conductors
of our caravan came to me in great agitation, and implored
me to command them to desist. The trees, he said, were
sacred to the deities of the elements, who would be sure to
revenge any injury done to them by visiting the neighbour-
hood with heavy and untimely snow." *
In a village in Lucknow, noticeable among the trees is a
" single mango tree, of fine growth and comely shape. It
is the survivor of some old grove, which the owner, through
straitened circumstances, has reluctantly cut down. He
called it Jdk, or Sakhiya, the witness of the place where
the old grove stood."* ]&k is, as we have seen, the Corn
1 Hislop, •' Papers," 20. » " Berir Gazetteer," 29, 31.
* Growse, ** Mathura,'' 70, 76 sqq., 83, 420, 470, 458.
* " Him&layan Gazetteer," Hi. 47. • Moorcroft, " Travels,** i. 21 r.
* ** North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. i6»
92 Folk-lore of Northern India.
spirit. The preservation of these little patches of the
primeval jungle, with a view to conciliate the sylvan spirits
of the place, is exactly analogous to what is known in
Scotland as the " Gudeman's Croft," " Cloutie's Croft," or
" Gudeman's Field." Often in Northern India little patches
are left uncultivated in the corners of fields as a refuge for
the spirits, as in North Scotland many farmers leave a
corner of the field untilled, and say it is for the " Aul Man,"
or the Devil.*
Some trees are, again, considered to be mystically con-
nected with the fortunes of people and places. Thus, the
Chilbil tree at Gonda, which, like others which have already
been mentioned, sprouted from the tooth-twig of a saint,
was supposed to be mysteriously connected with the fate
of the last of the Gonda R&jas. His kingdom was to last
until the day a monkey sat on the tree, and this, it is said,
happened on the morning when the Mutiny broke out which
ended in the ruin of the dynasty.' In the same way the
moving wood of Dunsinane was fateful to the fortunes of
Macbeth.
We have already referred to some of the regular tree
sprites, like the Churel, R4kshasa, and Bansapti Mi. They
are, like Kliddo, the North British sprite, small and delicate
at first, but rapidly shooting into the clouds, while everything
it overshadows is thrown into confusion.'
How sprites come to inhabit trees is well shown in an
instance given from Bombay by Mr. Campbell. " In the
Dakkhin, when a man is worried by a spirit, he gives it a
tree to live in. The patient, or one of his relations, goes to
a seer and brings the seer to his house, frankincense is
burnt, and the sick man's spirit comes into the seer's body.
The people ask the spirit in the seer why the man is sick.
^ Conway, " Demon ology," i. 315 sq. ; Farrer, " Primitive Manners,"
309 ; Sir W. Scott, " Letters on Demonology," 79 ; Gregor, " Folk-lore
of North-East Scotland," n6, 179; Henderson, "Folk- lore of the
Northern Counties,'^ 278.
' "Oudh Gazetteer," i. 566 ;*Fuhrer, " Monumental Antiquities," 304.
See instances collected by Hartland, ** Legend of Perseus," ii. 35 sqq.
• Henderson, loc, at,, 273.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 93
He says, ' The ghost of the man you killed has come back,
and is troubling you.' Then they say, *What is to be
done ? ' The spirit says, * Put him in a place in his or in
your land.' The people say, ' How can we put him ? '
The spirit says, * Take a cock, five cocoanuts, rice, and red
lead, and fill a bamboo basket with them next Sunday
evening, and by waving the basket round the head of the
patient, take the ghost out of the patient.' When Sunday
afternoon comes they call the exorcist. If the ghost has
not haunted the sick man for a week, it is held that the
man was worried by that ghost, who is now content with
the proposed arrangement. If the patient is still sick, it is
held that it cannot be that ghost, but it must be another
ghost, perhaps a god who troubles him.
" The seer is again called, and his familiar spirit comes
into him. They set the sick man opposite him, and the
seer throws rice on the sick man, and the ghost comes into
the patient's body and begins to speak. The seer asks
him, * Are you going or not ? ' The ghost replies, ' I will
go if you give me a cock, a fowl, a cocoanut, red lead, and
rice.' They then bring the articles and show them to the
spirit. The spirit sees the articles, and says, ' Where is the
cocoanut ? ' or, * Where is the rice ? ' They add what he
says, and ask, ' Is it right ? ' * Yes, it is right,' replies the
spirit. ' If we drive you out of Bdpu, will you come out ? '
ask the people. * I will come out,' replies the ghost. The
people then say, ' Will you never come back ? ' 'I will
never return,' replies the ghost. * If you ever return,' says
the seer's spirit, ' I will put you in a tanner's well, sink you,
and ruin you.' * I will,' says the spirit, ' never come back,
if you take these things to the Pipal tree in my field. You
must never hurt the PJpal. If you hurt the Pipal, I will
come and worry you.'
" Then the friends of the patient make the cooked rice in
a ball, and work a little hollow in the top of the ball. They
sprinkle the ball with red powder, and in the hollow put a
piece of a plantain leaf, and on the leaf put oil, and a wick,
which they light. Then the Gidi, or flesh-eating priest,
94 Folk-lore of Northern India.
brings the goat in front of the sick man, sprinkles the goat s
head with red powder and flowers, and says to the spirit,
'This is for you; take it.' He then passes three fowls
three times from the head to the foot of the sick man, and
then from the head lowers all the other articles. The G4di,
or Mh4r, and some friends of the patient start for the place
named by the spirit. When the party leave, the sick man
is taken into the house and set close to the threshold.
They put water on his eyes, and filling a pot with water,
throw it outside where the articles were, and inside and
outside scatter cowdung ashes, saying, * If you come in you
will have the curse of Rdma and Lakshmana.' When the
Gddi and the party reach their destination, the G4di tells
the party to bring a stone the size of a cocoanut. When
the stone is brought, the Gidi washes it and puts it to the
root of the tree and sets about it small stones. On the tree
and on the middle stone he puts red lead, red powder, and
frankincense. The people then tell the spirit to stay there,
and promise to give him a cocoanut every year if he does
them no harm. They then kill the goat and the fowls,
and, letting the blood fall in front of the stone, offer the
heart and liver to the spirit, and then return home." *
From ceremonies like these, in which a malignant spirit
is entombed in a tree and its surrounding stones, the
transition to the general belief in tree sprites is easy. The
use of the various articles to scare spirits will be understood
from what has been already said on that subject.
The Karam Tree.
Passing on to trees which are considered specially sacred,
we find a good example in the Karam (Neuclea parvifolia)^
which is revered by the Kharwdrs, Minjhis, and some of
the other allied DrAvidian races of the Vindhyan and
KaimOr ranges.
In Shdhabdd, their great festival is the worship of the
sacred tree. ** Commenced early in the bright portion of
* Campbell, " Notes," 221 sq.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 95
the month Bh&don (August — September), it continues for
fifteen days. It marks the gladness with which people
wind up their agricultural operations all over the world.
The festivities begin with a fast during the day. In the
evening the young men of the village only proceed in a gay
circle to the forest. A leafy branch of the Karam is
selected, cut, and daubed with red lead and butter. Brought
in due state, it is planted in the yard in front of the house,
and is decorated with wreaths of wild flowers, such as
autumn yields to the Hill men with a bountiful hand. The
homely ritual of the Kharwdr then follows, and is finished
with the offering of corn and molasses. The worship over,
the head of the village community serves the men with a
suitable feast. But the great rejoicing of the season is
reserved for a later hour. After dinner the men and women
appear in their gala dress, and range themselves in two
opposite rows. The MAndar, or national drum of the
aborigines, is then struck, and the dance commences with
a movement forward, until the men and women draw close.
Once face to face, a gradual movement towards the right
is commenced, and the men and women advance in a
slow but merry circle, which takes about an hour to
describe.
" Under the influence of the example of the Hindus, the
practice of a national dance in which women take a promi-
nent part is already on the decline. When indulged in, it
is done with an amount of privacy, closed to the public,
but open to the members of the race only. It is difiicult,
however, to explain why the Karam tree should be so greatly
adored by the Kharwdrs. It is an insignificant tree, with
small leaves, which hardly affords shelter or shade, and
possesses no title to be considered superior to others in its
native forest. Nor in the religious belief of the Kharwars
have we been able to trace any classic tale connected with
the growth of the Karam grove, similar to that of the
peacefiil olive of old, or aromatic laurel. One im-
portant, though the last incident of the Karam worship
is the appearance of the demon to the Kharwdr village men.
96 Folk-lore of Northern India.
GeneraUy at the conclusion of the dance the demon takes
possession of a Kharwdr, who commences to talk, tremble,
and jump, and ultimately climbs up the branch of the
Karam and begins to eat the leaves. Consultation about
the fortunes of the year then takes place, and when the
demon has foretold them the festivities are concluded." *
This account omits two important points which enable us
to explain the meaning of the rite. The first is that when
the festivities are over the branch of the Karam tree is taken
and thrown into a stream or tank. This can hardly, on the
analogy of similar practices to which reference has been
already made, be an)rthing but a charm to produce season-
able rain. Another is that sprigs of barley grown in a special
way, as at the Upper India festival of the Jayi, which will be
discussed later on, are offered to the tree. This must be an
invocation to the deity of the tree to prosper the growth of
the autumn rice, which is just at this time being planted
out.
I have seen the Karama danced by the Mfi.njhis, a DrAvi-
dian tribe in Mirzapur, closely allied to the Kharwars. The
people there seem to affect no secrecy about it, and are quite
ready to come and dance before Europeans for a small
gratuity. The men expect to receive a little native liquor
between the acts, but the ladies of the ballet will accept only
a light supper of coarse sugar. The troupe consists of about
a dozen men and the same number of women. The sexes
stand in rows opposite to each other, the women clinging
together, each with her arms clasped round her neighbour's
waist. One man carrying the sacred Mdndar drum, beats it
and leads the ballet, hopping about in a curious way on one
leg alternately. The two lines advance and retreat, the
women bowing low all the time, with their heads bending
towards the ground, and joining occasionally in the refrain.
Most of the songs are apparently modern, bearing on the
adventures of R4ma, Lakshmana, and Sttk ; some are love
songs, many of which are, as might have been expected,
rude and indecent. The whole scene is a curious picture of
» " Calcutta Review," Ixix. 364 sq.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 97
genuine aboriginal life. At the regular autumn festival the
ceremony degenerates into regular saturnalia, and is, if
common rumour be trusted, accompanied by an absolute
abandonment of decency and self-respect which culminates
in the most unrestrained debauchery.
The modern explanation of the dance is embodied in a
folk-tale which turns on the verbal confusion between Karam,
the name of the tree, and the Sanskrit Karma, meaning
" good works." It is, of course, comparatively modern, and
quite useless as a means for ascertaining the real basis of the
custom, which is probably a means of propitiating the tree
god to grant favourable weather.
The Fig Tree.
Among the sacred trees the various varieties of the fig
hold a conspicuous place. Many ideas have probably united
in securing reverence for them. Thus the Banyan with its
numerous stems may fitly be regarded as the home of gods
or spirits. Others are valued as a source of food, or
because they possess juices valued as drink or medicine.
Such is the Umbar, the Udambara of the Sanskrit writers,
which is known as Kshlra Vriksha or " milk tree," and
Hemadugha or " golden juiced," the Ficus glomerata of
botanists, from the succulent roots of which water can be
found in times of drought. The juice has, in popular belief,
many valuable properties. A decoction of it is useful for
bile, melancholy, and fainting ; it prevents abortion and
increases the mother's milk.* According to the old ritual,
of its wood is made the seat of the father god Vivasvat,
which is specially worshipped at the close of the Soma
sacrifice ; the throne on which Soma is placed is made of it,
and so is the staff given by the Adhvaryu to the sacrificer
at the initiation rite, and the staff of the Vaisya student.
So with the Pipal ( Ficus religiosa), which is connected with
old temples, as it forces its roots into the crumbling masonry,
grows to a great age, and, like the poplar, moves its leaves at
1 Campbell, " Notes," 237.
VOL. II. H
98 Folk-lore of Northern India.
the slightest breath of wind. The English tradition about
the aspen is that since its wood was used to make the Cross
it ever trembles with shame. The Pippala or Asvattha is
said by some to be the abode of Brahma, and is sometimes
invested with the sacred thread by the regular Upaniyana
rite. Others say that in it abide Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,
but specially Vishnu in his incarnation as Krishna. Others,
again, connect it with Basdeo or Vasudeva, the father of
Krishna.
The Vata or Nyagrodha {Ficus Indica) was, according to
the ancient ritual, possessed of many virtues, and the
king was directed to drink its juice instead of that of the
Soma.^ The famous AUahibid fig tree is mentioned in the
Rdmiyana and in the Uttara Rdma Charitra. Rfi.ma, Sita
and Lakshmana are said to have rested beneath its branches.
Another legend tells how the Rishi Mdrkandeya had the
presumption to ask NdrSyana to show him a specimen of his
delusive power. The god in answer to his prayer drowned
the whole world in a sudden flood, and only the Akshaya
Vata or imperishable Banyan tree raised its h^ad above the
waters, with a little child seated on its topmost bough, that
put out its head and saved the terrified saint just as he was
on the point of drowning. The Buddhist pilgrim, Hwen
Thsang, says that in his time before the principal room of
the temple there was a tree with wide-spreading branches,
which was said to be the dwelling of a man-eating demon.
The tree was surrounded with human bones, the remains of
pilgrims who had offered themselves at the temple, a custom
which had been observed from time immemorial. General
Cunningham identifies this tree with the Akshaya Vata,
which is still an object of worship. The well-known
Banyan tree of Ceylon is said to be descended from it.'
It was under the Bodhi tree at Gaya that the Buddha
obtained enlightenment. The great sacred Banyan tree of
the Him^aya is said to have reached from Badarinalth to
^ Haug, " Aitareya Brahmanam," ii. 486 sq.
* Cunningham, " Bhilsa Topes," 24 ; " Archaeological Reports," i. 5 sq. ;
Ferguson, " Eastern Architecture," 69 ; Fiihrer, " Monumental Anti-
quities,'* 127.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 99
Nand Praydg, a distance of eighty miles.* In Bombay
women worship the Banyan tree on the fifteenth of the
month of Jeth in honour of Savitri, the pious wife of Satya-
van, who when her husband was cutting a Banyan tree was
struck by the axe and killed. Yama appeared and claimed
her husband, but at last he was overcome by the devotion of
Savitri and restored her husband to her.*
Of the G61ar (Ficus glomeratd) it is believed that on the
night of the Div41t the gods assemble to pluck its flowers ;
hence no one has ever seen the tree in blossom. It is
unlucky to grow a Giilar tree near the house, as it causes
the death of sons in the family.
High-caste Hindu women worship the Pipal tree in the
form of Vasudeva on the Amdvasya or fifteenth day of the
month, when it falls on Monday. They pour water at its
roots, smear the trunk with red lead and ground sandal-
wood, and walk round it one hundred and eight times in the
course of the sun, putting at each circuit a copper coin, a
sweetmeat, or a Brdhmanical cord at the root, all of which
are the perquisite of beggars. An old woman then recites
the tale of the R4ja Nikimjali and his queen Satyavrati, who
won her husband by her devotion to the sacred tree.
Hence devotion to it is supposed to promote wedded happi-
ness.
In Rijputana the Pipal and Banyan are worshipped by
women on the 29th day of Baisikh (April — May) to preserve
them from widowhood.' The Pipal is invoked at the rite of
investiture with the sacred thread at marriages and at the
foundation-laying of houses. Vows are made under its
shade for the boon of male offspring, and pious women veil
their faces when they pass it. Many, as they revolve
round it, twist a string of soft cotton round the trunk. The
vessel of water for the comfort of the departing soul on its
way to the land of the dead is hung from its branches, and
beneath it are placed the rough stones which form the
shrine of the village godling. Its wood is used in parts of
> "Himilayan Gazetteer,*' ii. 783. ^ Campbell, " Notes," 238.
» Tod, ** Annals,'' i. 611.
H 2
100 Folk-lore of Northern India.
the Arani, or sacred fire-drill, and for the spoons with which
butter is poured on the holy fire. When its branches are
attacked by the lac insect, a branch on which they have
settled is taken to the Ganges at Allahabad and consigned
to the Ganges. This, it is believed, saves the tree firom
further injury.
The tree should be touched only on Sunday, when
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, abides in it ; on every other
day of the week, poverty and misfortune take up their
quarters in it. The son of a deceased parent should pour
three hundred and sixty brass vessels of water round its
root to ensure the repose of the dead man. Hindus on
Sunday after bathing pour a vessel of water at its root and
walk round it four times. Milk and sugar are sometimes
mixed with the water to intensify the charm. When the
new moon falls on Monday, pious Hindus walk one hundred
and eight times round it and wind cotton threads about the
trunk. In rich Hindu families small silver models of the
tree answer the same purpose. When a statement is made
on oath, the witness takes one of the leaves in his hand and
invokes the gods above him to crush him, as he crushes the
leaf, if he is guilty of falsehood.
Though Sir Monier- Williams gives currency to it, it may
be suspected that the story of the Banyas who objected to
Ptpal trees being planted in their bizar, as they could not
carry on their roguery under the shade of the holy tree, has
been invented for the delectation of the confiding European
tourist. As a matter of fact you will often see merchants
plant the tree in the immediate neighbourhood of their shops.
It is needless to say that this regard for the Pipal extends
through Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Sumatra, and Java.*
The SlL.
The S61 or Sdkhu is also a holy tree. It is held in much
respect by the jungle races, who consider it the abode of
spirits and erect their shrines under its shade. The Bigdis
^ See instances collected by Wake, "Serpent Worship,'' i8.
Tree and Serpent Worship. ioi
and Bauris of Bengal are married in an arbour made of the
branches of the SAl {Shorea robusta) after they have been first
married to a Mahua tree (Bassia latifolid). Patches of this
tree are often reserved as fragments of the primitive
jungle, of which it must have constituted an important
part.
The ShIsham.
The Shisham or Sison, the Sinsapa of the Sanskrit
writers, is in the tales of Somadeva the haunt of the VetAla.*
The Jand.
In the Panjdb the Jand tree {Prosopis spicigerd) is very
generally reverenced, more especially in those parts where it
forms a chief feature in the larger flora of the great arid
grazing tracts. It is commonly selected to mark the abode
or shelter the shrine of some deity. It is to it that, as a
rule, rags are dedicated as offerings, and it is employed in
the marriage ceremonies of many tribes. Most Khatris and
Brdhmans perform rites to it, especially at festivals con-
nected with domestic occurrences. A custom prevails in
some families of never putting home-made clothes upon the
children, but of begging them from friends. This is, as we
have already seen, done with the view of avoiding the Evil
Eye. The ceremony of putting on these clothes is usually
performed when the child is three years of age. It is taken
to the Jand tree, from which a bough is cut with a sickle
and planted at the root of the tree as a propitiation of the
indwelling spirit. The Sw&stika symbol is made before it
with the rice, flour, and sugar brought as an offering to the
tree. Nine threads from the Mauli, or string used by women
to tie up their back hair, are then taken out and cut into
lengths, one of which is tied round the tree with the knot
characteristic of Siva or Krishna, and another fbund a piece
of dried molasses, which is placed on the Swastika. Man-
tras or spells are repeated and the sugar and rice are distri-
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sfi-gara," ii. 293.
I02 Folk-lore of Northern India.
buted among the women and children ; for no male adult,
except the officiating Brdhman, attends the ceremony. The
Brahman then dresses the child in the new clothes, on which
he impresses the mark of his hand in saffron, and girds the
child's loins with a hair string, on which is tied the bag or
purse containing the Br&hman's fee. The hair string has in
front a triangular piece of red silk, which, as we have
already noticed, is one of the most familiar forms of amulet
intended to repel the influence of evil spirits. Similarly at
marriages, they perform the ceremony of cutting off and
burning a small branch of the tree, and offerings are made
to it by the relations of persons suffering from small-pox.*
The Aonla.
The Aonla [Emblica officinalis) is another sacred tree. It
is considered propitious and chaste, and is worshipped in the
month of Kdrttik (December) by Br&hmans being fed under
it, hair strings {mauli) being tied round it, and seven
circumambulations made in the course of the sun. The
eleventh of the month Phdlgun (February) is sacred to it,
and on this occasion libations are poured at the foot of the
tree, a string of red or yellow colour is bound round the
trunk, prayers are offered to it for the fruitfulness of
women, animals, and crops, and the ceremony concludes
with a reverential inclination to the sacred tree.^
The Mahua.
The Mahua {Bassia latifolia), which so admirably combines
beauty with utility, and is one of the main sources whence
the jungle tribes derive their food and intoxicants, is held in
the highest respect by the people of the Central Indian
Highlands. It is the marriage tree of the Kurmis, Lohdrs,
Mahilis, Mundas, and Santdls of Bengal. Many of the
* Ibbetson, *< Panj&b Ethnography," i iS ; " Panj&b Notes and Queries,"
ii. 55 ; O'Brien, " Mult^ni Glossary," 82.
^ **Panjdb Notes and Queries," ii. 74; Elliot, "Supplementary
Glossary," 26.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 103
Dr& vidian races, such as the Bhuiyas, adore it, and a branch
is placed in the hands of the bride and bridegroom during
the marriage ceremony. They also revolve round a bough
of the tree planted in the ground by the Baiga or aboriginal
priest. Some of the semi-Hinduized Bengal Gonds have
the remarkable custom of tying the corpses of adult males
by a cord to the Mahua tree, in an upright position, previous
to burial. It is also the rule with them that all adult males
go to the forest and clear a space round an Asan tree
{Terminalia alata tonneniosa)^ where they make an altar and
present offerings to the tribal godling, Bara Deo, after which
they have a general picnic.^
The Cotton Tree.
The Salmali or Semal (Bombax heptaphyllum) is likewise
sacred, an idea perhaps derived from its weird appearance
and the value of its fibre, which was largely used by the
primitive races of the jungle. It gave its name to one of
the seven Dvipas or great divisions of the known continent,
and to a special hell, in which the wicked are tortured with
the K<ita Salmali, or thorny rod of this tree. In the folk-
tales a hollow cotton tree is the refuge of the heroine.'
The posts of the marriage pavilion and stake round which
the bride and bridegroom revolve are very commonly made
of its wood among the Kols and allied Drdvidian tribes, as
are also the parrot totem emblems used at marriages by the
Kharwars and many menial castes. The Ba.nsphors, a
branch of the great Dom race in the North-Western Pro-
vinces, fix up a branch of the Gtjlar and Semal in the
marriage shed. " Among the wild tribes it is considered
the favourite seat of gods still more terrible than those of
the Pipal, because their superintendence is confined to the
neighbourhood, and having their attention less occupied,
they can venture to make a more minute scrutiny into the
^ Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 148, 281, 283 ; Roussclet, " India
and its Native Princes,'* 369 sq.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 162.
104 Folk-lore of Northern India.
conduct of the people immediately around them. The Pipal
is occupied by one or two of the Hindus triad, the gods of
creation, preservation, and destruction, who have the afifairs
of the universe to look after, but the cotton and other trees
are occupied by some minor deities, who are vested with a
local superintendence over the afifairs of a district, or perhaps
of a single village." *
The NlM.
The Nimba or Nim {Azidirachta Indicd) is sacred in con-
nection with the worship of the godlings of disease, who are
supposed to reside in it. In particular it is occupied by
SitalA and her six sisters. Hence during the season when
epidemics prevail, from the seventh day of the waning moon
of Chait to the same date in Assirh, that is during the hot
weather, women bathe, dress themselves in fresh clothes,
and ofifer rice, sandal-wood, flowers, and sometimes a burnt
ofifering with incense at the root of the tree.
The Ntm tree is also connected with snake worship, as its
leaves repel snakes. In this it resembles the Yggdrassil of
Europe, the roots of which were half destroyed by the
serpents which nestled among them. The leaves and wood
of the ash tree, the modern successor of the mystic tree of
Teutonic mythology, are still regarded throughout all
Northern Europe as a powerful protective from all manner
of snakes and evil worms.* In Cornwall no kind of snake is
ever found near the ashen tree, and a branch of it will
prevent a snake from coming near a person.' Nim leaves
are, it may be noted, useless as a snake scarer unless they
are fresh.*
The leaves are also used throughout Northern India as a
means of avoiding the death pollution, or rather as a mode
of driving ofif the spirit which accompanies the mourners
^ Sleeman, " Rambles and Recollections," ii. i8 ; Tylor, " Primitive
Culture," ii. 225.
2 " Quarterly Review,'' cxiv. 226; ** Folk-lore,'' iii. 88.
' Hunt, " Popular Romances/' 420.
* Temple, '* Legends of the Panjib," i. 473.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 105
from the cremation ground. Hence after the funeral they
chew the leaves and some water is sprinkled over them with
a branch of the tree. " So great is the power of the Nim
over spirits and spirit disease, that in Bombay, when a
woman is delivered of a child, Nlm leaves and cow's urine
are, as a rule, kept at the entrance of the lying-in room, in
order that the child and its mother may not be affected by
an evil spirit, and on their New Year's Day it is considered
essential for every Hindu to worship the Nim tree and to
eat its leaves mixed with pepper and sugar, that he may not
suffer from any sickness or disease during the year. In
practice very few worship the tree, but its leaves are
generally eaten by most of them. Among the Chitpdwan
Brihmans, a pot filled with cow's urine is set at the door of
the lying-in room with a Nim branch in it, and anyone
coming in must dip the branch in the urine and with it
sprinkle his feet. Among Govardhan Br&hmans of P6na,
when a child is born, Nim leaves are hung at the front and
back doors of the house. In Ahmadnagar, when a person /
is bitten by a snake, he is taken to Bhairoba's temple, [
crushed Nim leaves mixed with chillies are given him to eat,
and Nim leaves waved round his head. Among the Namdeo
Shimpis of Ahmadnagar each of the mourners carries from
the pyre a twig of the Nim tree, and the Kanphatas of Cutch
get the cartilage of their ears slit, and in the slit a Nim J
stick is stuck, the wound being cured by a dressing of Nlm
oil." '
We have already found this tree connected with Sun
worship, as in the case of the NimbArak Vaishnavas, as
well as with that of Sital4, the goddess of small-pox.
Among the wilder tribes it is also revered. The Jogis, a
criminal tribe in Madras, reverence it and brand their dogs
with a representation of the tree.' The BanjAras, or wan-
dering carriers, use a branch of the tree as a test of con-
tinence. The jealous husband throws it on the ground and
says, " If thou be a true woman, lift that Nim branch."
* Campbell, ** Notes," 234.
^ MuUaly, ** Notes on Madras Criminal Tribes,'^ 20.
io6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
The Doms, or vagrant sweepers of the Eastern District of
the North- Western Provinces, hold the Nlm tree sacred to
K411 or Sitaia, and the Kurmis dedicate it to K< BhavAni,
and worship this tree and the Pipal under which the image
of Devi is placed.^
The Cocoanut.
The cocoanut is considered one of the most sacred fruits,
and is called Sriphala, or the fruit of Sri, the goddess of
prosperity. It is the symbol of fertility, and all through
Upper India is kept on shrines and presented by the priests
to women who desire children. One of the main causes of
the respect paid to it seems to be its resemblance to a
human head, and hence it is often used as a type of an
actual human sacrifice. It is also revered for its uses as
food and a source of intoxicating liquor. But it is not a
native of Northern India, and is naturally more revered in
its home along the western coast. In Gujarat and Kanara
it represents the house spirit, and is worshipped as a family
god. The Konkan Kunbis put up and worship a cocoanut
for each of their relations who dies, and before beginning
to cut the rice, break a cocoanut and distribute it among
the reapers. The Prabhus, at every place where three roads
meet, wave a cocoanut round the face of the bridegroom,
and break it into pieces to repel evil influences. The
Musalm&ns of the Dakkhin cut a cocoanut and lime into
pieces and throw them over the head of the bridegroom to
scare evil spirits. Among some classes of ascetics the skull
is broken at the time of cremation with a cocoanut in order
to allow the ghost to escape. In Western India, at the
close of the rains, cocoanuts are thrown in to pacify the
sea. Its place as a substitute for a human sacrifice in
Northern India seems to have been taken by the pumpkin,
which is used in much the same way.
The Mimosa.
The Khair, or Mimosa {Acacia catechu) seems to owe most
* " Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 38.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 107
of the estimation in which it is held to its use in producing
the sacred fire. It forms, on account of its hardness, the
base of the Arani or sacred fire-drill, and in it the wedge of
the softer Pipal wood works and fire is produced by friction.
The Yiipa or sacrificial post to which the victim was
tied for the sacrifice was often made of this wood. In the
great horse sacrifice of the R4m4yana, twenty-one of these
posts were erected, six made of Vilva {A£-/e marme/os), six
of Khadira or Acacia, six of Paldsa {Butea froncbsa\ one of
Udumbara {Ficus gloineratd)^ Sleshmataka {Cordia myxa)y
and one of Devadru, the Deoddr pine tree.
Of the Khair tree Bishop Heber thus writes in his
Journal : * "As I returned home I passed a fine tree of the
Mimosa, with leaves at a little distance so much resembling
those of the mountain ash, that I was for a moment de-
ceived, and asked if it did not bear fruit. He answered,
' No ; but it was a very noble tree, being called the " Im-
perial tree," for its excellent qualities. That it slept all
night, and was alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if any one
attempted to touch them. Above all, however, it was useful
as a preservative against magic ; a sprig worn in the turban,
or suspended over the bed, was a perfect security against all
spells, Evil Eye, etc., insomuch that the most formidable
wizard would not, if he could help it, approach its shade.
One indeed, they said, who was very renowned for his
power (like Lorrinite of Kehama) . of killing plants and dry-
ing up their sap with a look, had come to this very tree and
gazed upon it intently ; * but,' said the old man, who told me
this with ah air of triumph, * look as he might, he could do
the tree no harm,' a fact of which I made no question. I
was amused and surprised to find the superstition, which in
England and Scotland attaches to the rowan tree, here
applied to a tree of nearly similar form."
This superstition regarding the rowan tree and the
elder is familiar in European folk-lore. In Ireland the
roots of the elder and those of an apple tree which bears
red apples, boiled together and drunk fasting, expel evil
» i. 287.
io8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
spirits. In connection with this idea that the mimosa
sleeps at night, pious Hindus prefer not to eat betel leaves
after sunset, as catechu forms part of the ingredients with
which they are prepared.
The Plantain.
The plantain is also sacred, probably on account of the
value of its fruit. The leaves are hung on the marriage
booth, and a branch is placed near the pole or sacred fire
round which the bride and bridegroom revolve. In Madras,
when premature delivery takes place, the child is laid on a
plantain leaf smeared with oil, the leaf is changed daily,
and the baby is thus treated for the period which is less
than the normal time of delivery. In Bengal, in conse-
crating an image of Durga, a plantain tree is brought in
and bathed. It is clothed as a woman with Bel apples
representing the breasts ; nine sorts of leaves smeared with
red paint are hung round the breast and it is worshipped.*
The leaves are also used as a remedy for wounds and ulcers,
a practice which prevailed in the time of Shakespeare. In
" Romeo and Juliet " Benvolio says : —
" Take thou some new infection to thine eye,
And the rank poison of the old will die."
To which Romeo answers : —
" Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.'*
" For what, I pray thee ? "
" For your broken skin."
In the folk- tales the deserted wife sweeps the ground
round a plantain tree and it gives her a blessing.'
The Pomegranate.
So with the pomegranate, which among the Pdrsis of
Bombay is held in high respect. Its twigs were used to
make the sacred broom, its seeds, in order to scare evil
* Ward, ** Hindus,** ii. 13, quoted by Campbell, ** Notes," 229.
* Lil Bihiri D^, " Folk-tales," 280.
Tree and Serpent Worship. log
spirits, were thrown over the child when it was girt with
the sacred thread, and its juice was squeezed into the mouth
of the dying.* In its fruit Andr Shihzddt, the Princess
Pomegranate, commonly lies hidden. But it is in Upper
India considered unlucky to have such a tree in the house,
as it is envious and cannot bear that any one should be
lovelier than itself.'
The Tamarind.
The Ordons of Bengal revere the tamarind and bury their
dead under its shade.' One special rite among the DrA vi-
dian races is the Iml! ghontni or " the grinding of the
tamarind,** when the mother of the bridegroom grinds on the
family curry stone some pods of the tamarind. The tree
was a special favourite with the early Musalmdn conquerors,
and the finest specimens of it will be found in their ceme-
teries and near their original settlements.
The Siras.
In the Panjab the leaves of the Siras {Acacia sirisa) are a
powerful charm. In many villages in Upper India they will
be seen hung up on the rope crossing the village cattle path,
when epidemics prevail among men or animals.* In this
case the effect of the charm is enhanced by adding to them
a tile covered with some hocus-pocus formula, written by a
Faqir, and rude models of a pair of wooden sandals, a mud
rake, a plough-share and other agricultural implements
which are considered effectual to scare the demon which
brings the plague.
The Mango.
The Mango is used in much the same way. It is, as we
shall see, used in making the aspersion at rural ceremonies.
^ Campbell, loc. cit^ 229.
' " North Indian Notes and Queries,'* i. 207.
• Dalr.on, "Descriptive Ethnology,'* 189.
* " Sirsa Settlement Report," 154.
no Folk-lore of Northern India.
The leaves are hung up at marriages in garlands on the
house door, and on the shed in which the rite is performed,
and after the wedding is over these are carefully consigned
to running water by the bride and bridegroom. It is also
used as a charm. Before you see a flower on a mango tree
shut your eyes and make some one lead you to a tree in
flower. Rub the flowers into your hands, and you thus
acquire the power of curing scorpion stings by moving your
hand over the place. But this power lasts only for one year,
and must.be renewed when the season of flowers again
returns.
The TuLAst.
The Tulasi or holy basil {Ocymunt sanctum) is closely
connected with the worship of Vishnu. At the last census
over eleven hundred persons in the North-Western Pro-
vinces recorded themselves as worshippers of the plant. It
is known in Sanskrit as Haripriya, or " the beloved of
Vishnu,'* and Bhtitaghni, or " destroyer of demons." It
seems to owe the favour with which it is regarded to its
aromatic and healing properties. Vishnu, so runs the
legend, was fascinated with the beauty of Vrindd, the wife
of Jilandhara, to redeem him from whose enthralment, the
gods applied to Lakshmi, Gauri, and Swadhd. Each gave
them seed to sow where Vishnu was enchanted. The seeds
given by the deities sprang up as the Dhdtri or Emblica
Myrobalan, the Malati or jasmine, and the Tulasi, or
basil, and appearing in female form they attracted the
admiration of the deity and saved him from the wiles of
Vrinda.*
Another legend comes from Bombay.' Tulasi was
daughter of the Raja Dharmadhwaja, and by her devotions
gained the favour of Vishnu, but she married the demon
Sankhachtida, who by the virtue of his wife overcame the
gods. They appealed to Vishnu, but he could not help
them, as the demon was his votary. At last it was resolved
that he should personate her husband and gain her love.
' Wilson, ** Works,'' iii. 68. * Campbell, " Notes," 248.
Tree and Serpent Worship. hi
When Tulasl was aware of the deception she was about to
curse him, but he pacified her by promising to marry her
and make her name immortal. He added that those women
who married an image of him to the Tulasl on the eleventh
day of the month Kirttik would prosper.
The Tulasi is also connected with Sita and Rukmini, and
the prayer to her is : "I adore that Tulasi, in whose roots
are all the places of pilgrimage, in whose centre are all the
deities, and in whose upper branches a,re all the Vedas."
The plant is specially worshipped by women after bathing,
and more particularly at the full moon of KArttik, if the
bathing be in the Ganges. The chief ceremony is, however,
the marriage of the infant Krishna to the plant, which is
carried out by pious people, often at a considerable cost, in
accordance with the standard ritual.
The Palasa.
The Paldsa or Dhik is sacred, partly on account of its
use in producing the sacred fire, and partly because its
orange blossoms are used to dye the coloured dust and water
thrown about at the Holi festival. It is supposed to be in
some way connected with the Soma, and by one account
was produced from the feather of the falcon imbued with
the Soma. Its trifoliate leaves represent the trident, or
the three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or birth,
life, and death. The leaves are used to form the platters
employed at various feasts and religious rites; the wood
in the Y{ipa, or sacrificial pole, and in the funeral pyre.
In one respect it resembles the rowan, which is also a
sacred tree, but why this is so has been much debated.
" Possibly the inaccessible rocks on which the tree is not
unfrequently found to grow and the conspicuous colour of
its berries may have counted for something, but this falls de-
cidedly short of a solution of the question. One kind of answer
that would meet the case, provided it be countenanced by
facts, may be briefly indicated, namely, that the berries of
the rowan were used in some early period in the brew-
112 Folk-lore of Northern India.
ing of an intoxicating drink, or better still, of the first
intoxicating drink known to the Teuto-Aryan Celts." * The
connection between the Palasa and the Soma perhaps indi-
cates that this may have been the case. It was again a
Vedic custom to drive the cows from their calves by striking
them with a rod of a Palasa tree. In Yorkshire it used to
be the custom for *' farmers to have whip-stocks of rowan tree
wood, and it was held that thus supplied, they were safe
against having their draught fixed, or their horses made
restive by a witch. If ever a draught came to a standstill,
then the nearest witchwood tree was resorted to, and a
stick cut to flog the horses on with, to the discomfiture of
the malevolent witch who had caused the stoppage." In
some parts of Scotland the milkmaid carries a switch of the
magical rowan to expel the demon which sometimes enters
the cow ; and in Germany, striking the cow with this magical
wand is believed to render her fertile.'
The Bel.
The Bel {Aegle mannelos) is specially dedicated to Siva,
because it has three leaflets in the leaf, and because of its
medicinal value. Siva is called Bilvadanda, "he with a
staff" of the Bel wood," and its leaves are used in his service.
Its leaves laid on the Lingam cool and refresh the heated
deity. The wood is one of those used for the sacrificial
post. Its fruit is called Srlphala, because it is supposed to
have been produced from the milk of the goddess Sri.
The Bamboo.
The bamboo is sacred on account of its manifold uses and
because among the jungle races fire is produced by the
friction of two strips of bamboo. Besides this it contains a
sort of manna, known as Binslochan or Tabashir, which is
* Rhys, ** Lectures/' 359.
* Kelly, " Curiosities,' 159; Conway, " Demonology," i. 126; Guber-
natis, "Zoological Mythology,'* i. 225 ; Dyer, "Popular Customs," 274 ;
Brand, ** Observations," 616.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 113
in high repute as a medicine. The flowering of the bamboo
is generally regarded as a sure sign of famine. The bamboo
often appears in the folk-tales. Thus in one of the tales of
Somadeva/ "they asked Sumeru about the origin of the bow,
and he said : ' Here is a great and glorious wood of bamboo
canes ; whatever bamboos are cut from it and thrown into
this lake, become great and wonderful bows ; and those
bows have been acquired by several of the gods, and by
Asuras and Gandharvas and distinguished Vidyadhdras.' "
In one of the Santdl tales," the bamboo grows from the
grave of the murdered girl, and remonstrates when the Jogi
goes to cut it, but out of a piece he finally makes a flute of
wondrous sweetness. Among the jungle races the bamboo
often is used to make the poles of the marriage shed, while
the central post is made of the wood of the holy Siddh tree,
the Hardwickia binata.
In Gujarit,' the Turis, to keep off evil spirits, lay two
slips of bamboo in the lying-in room. The Prabhus of Pdna
at their marriages put bamboo baskets on the heads of the
bride, bridegroom, and guests. The Mhirs and MAngs make
the married pair stand in bamboo baskets. The Mudsis of
Bengal make the wedded pair revolve round a bamboo post.
The Birhors worship Darha in the form of a split bamboo ;
the Kachdris and Gdros worship a bamboo planted in the
ground ; the Rajmahdl hill-man worships three bamboos
with streamers, as Chaunda GuslLtn/ The use of the
bamboo decorated with a streamer as a perch for the deity is
common at all low-caste shrines in Northern India.
The Sandal.
The Sandal, again, in the form of powder or paste is very
largely used in all Hindu rites, and in making the marks
characteristic of sect or caste. " In Bombay, every evening,
the P&rsis burn sandal chips in their houses, as the smell of
1 Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 439-
2 Campbell, "Santil Folk-tales," 54. ^ Campbell, " Notes," 239.
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 109, 220, 234.
VOL II. I
114 Folk-lore of Northern India.
sandal is supposed to drive away evil spirits, and the Pftna
Ghadsis or musicians say that they are sprung from
sandal wood, because it is one of their tribal guardians/ "
The Birch.
The Bhftrja, a species of birch, is also sacred. It, too, is
supposed to drive away evil spirits. Its bark, now called
Bhojpatra, is used for writing charms, and for other mystic
purposes. When a corpse is burnt by low-caste people,
when a person dies at the hands of an executioner, when he
dies on a bed, or when he is drowned and his body cannot
be found, a rite known as Pal4svidhi is performed. An
effigy of the deceased is made, in which twigs of the PalAsa
tree represent the bones, a cocoanut or Bel fruit the head,
pearls or cowry shells the eyes, and a piece of birch bark or
the skin of a deer the cuticle. It is then filled up with
Urad pulse instead of flesh and blood, and a presiding priest
recites a spell to bring life into the image, which is symbol-
ized by putting a lighted lamp close to the head. When
the light goes out, life is believed to be extinct and the
funeral rites are performed in the regular way, the only
exception being that the period of impurity lasts for three,
instead of ten days.
Other Sacred Trees.
The number of these trees and plants which scare evil
spirits or are invested with other mystic qualities is infinite.
We may close the catalogue with the Babtil or Kikar [Acacia
Arabica)^ which when cut pours out a reddish juice. One of
these trees, when the Musalmdns tried to cut it near a shrine
at Lahore, is said to have poured out drops of blood as a
warning. But on the whole it is an unlucky tree, and the
resort of evil spirits. If you throw water for thirteen days
successively on a Babtil tree, you will get the evil spirits
which inhabit it into your power. They tell of a man who
^ Campbell, ioc, cit^ 232,
Tree and Serpent Worship, 115
did this near Sah&ranpur, who when taken to his cremation,
no sooner was the light set to his pyre than he got up and
walked home, and is alive to this day. His neighbours
naturally look on his proceedings with a certain degree of
suspicion. The ghost of a man burnt with this wood will
not rest quietly, and any one who rests on a bed made of it
is afiSicted with evil dreams. An old servant of mine once
solemnly remonstrated against the use of such a bed by his
master. Such a bed, he remarked, should be only used for
a clergyman guest, who by virtue of his profession is
naturally protected against such uncanny visitations.
Tree Marriages.
We now come to discuss the curious custom of marriages
to trees. This prevails widely throughout Northern India.
Thus, in some parts of K4ngra, if a betrothed but as yet
unmarried girl can succeed in performing the marriage
ceremony with the object of her choice round a fire made
in the jungle with certain wild plants, her betrothal is
annulled, and this informal marriage is recognized.* In
the Panjdb a Hindu cannot be legally married a third time.
So, if he wishes to take a third wife, he is married to a
Babfll tree {Acacia Arabica), or to the Akh plant {AscUpia
giganiea)^ first, so that the wife he subsequently marries is
counted as his fourth, and the evil consequences of marry-
ing a third time are thus avoided.' In Bengal, writes Dr.
Buchanan,' " Premature marriage is considered so necessary
to Hindu ideas of prosperity, that even the unfortunate
children who are brought up for prostitution are married
with all due ceremony to a plantain tree, before the age
when they would be defiled by remaining single." In the
North- Western Provinces, among some of the higher classes
of Brahmans, if a man happens to lose one or two wives
and is anxious to marry a third, the ceremony of his third
» Ibbetson/'Panjib Ethnography," 119.
3 " Panj^b Notes and Queries," ii. 42 ; " North Indian Notes and
Queries," ii. 27.
* "Eastern India," iii. 555.
I 2
ii6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
marriage is first gone through with an Akh plant. The
family priest takes the intending bridegroom to the fields
where there are Akh plants and repeats the marriage
formula. This is known as Arka Viv&h, or Akh marriage,
and it is believed that the plant itself dies soon after being
married. In Oudh, it is very unlucky to marry a couple if
the ruling stars of the youth form a more powerful com-
bination than those of the female. The way to get out of
the difficulty is to marry the girl first to a Pipal tree. In
the Panjdb, rich people who have no children marry a
Brdhman to a Tulasl plant. The pseudo-father of the bride
treats the BrAhman ever afterwards as his son-in-law,
which, it is needless to say, is a very good thing for the
Brahman.^ If the birth of a child does not follow this
ceremony, they have good reason for apprehending that a
messenger from Yama, the god of death, will harass them
on their way to the spirit world.
In Bombay, among the Kudva Kunbis of Gujarit, when
there are certain difficulties in the marriage of a girl, she is
married to a mango or some other fruit tree. Mr. Camp-
bell ^ accounts for this on the principle that a spirit fears
trees, especially fruit trees. Among another branch of the
same tribe, when a girl is marriageable and a bridegroom
cannot be found, the practice is to substitute a bunch of
flowers, and the marriage ceremony proceeds. Next day,
by which time the flowers have begun to fade, they are
thrown into a well, and the bride of yesterday is considered
a widow. As a widow can marry at any time without
social discredit, the parents find a husband for her at their
leisure.*
So in Bengal, the Rautiyas before the wedding go through
the form of marriage to a mango tree.* Among the Mun-
diri Kols, "the bride and bridegroom are well anointed
with turmeric, and wedded, not to each other, but the bride
to a Mahua tree, and the groom to a mango, or both to
^ " North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 151 sq. '^ " Notes," 461.
» "Bombay Gazetteer," vii. 61.
* Risley, "Tribes and Castes," ii. 201.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 117
mango trees. They are made to touch the tree with red
lead, and then to clasp it, and they are tied to it." * Among
the Kurmts, the bridegroom on the wedding morning is first
married to a mango tree. He embraces the tree, is for a
time tied to it in a peculiar manner with a thread, and he
daubs it with red lead. Then the thread is removed from
the tree, and is used to attach some of the leaves to the
bridegroom's wrist. The bride is similarly wedded to a
Mahua tree.'
Similarly in the Himalayas, if anyone desires to marry a
third timef, whether his other wives are alive or not, he is
married to the Akh plant. He builds an altar near the
plant, or brings a branch home and plants it near the altar.
The regular marriage ceremony is then performed, and a
thread is wound ten times round the plant with the recita-
tion of appropriate verses. Four days the plant remains
where it was fixed, and on the fifth day the celebrant is
entitled to commence the marriage ceremony with his third
wife. Similarly, a person is married to an earthen jar,
when from some conjunction of the planets the omens are
unfavourable, or when, from some bodily or mental defect,
no one will marry the boy or girl. The usual ceremonies
are gone through, and the neck of the boy or girl is
connected by a string with the neck of the vessel, and
water is sprinkled over them with a brush made of five
leaves.'
In Nepal every Newdr girl is, while a child, married to a
Bel fruit, which, after the ceremony, is thrown into some
sacred river. When she arrives at puberty a husband is
selected for her, but should the marriage prove unpleasant,
she can divorce herself by the simple process of placing a
betel-nut under her husband's pillow, and walking off.
Widows are allowed to re-marry ; in fact, a Newdr woman
is never a widow, as the Bel fruit to which she first married
is supposed to be always in existence.*
^ Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 194. ^ ibid., 319.
• Atkinson, ** Himalayan Gazetteer," ii. 912.
* Wright, " History of Nepal,'' 33.
ii8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Before considering a possible explanation of this group of
customs, we may note other instances of pseudo-marriages.
We have, in the first place, instances of the marriage of
girls to a god. " In the GurgAon District, in the RewUri
Tahsll, at the village of B4s Doda, a fair is held on the
26th of Chait and the two following days. I was told that
formerly girls of the Dhtnwar class used to be married to
the god at these festivals, and that they always died soon
afterwards, but that of late years the practice has been
discontinued." *
Again, we have some traces of the allied custom of com-
pulsory religious prostitution. It is said that Santal girls
are required to submit to compulsory prostitution once in
their lives at TelkApi GhlLt. " It is said that the custom
originally arose from the killing of a girl by her parents for
incontinence ; since when, girls have been permitted to do
as they please, and what was once permissive has become
compulsory."^ There is no reference to this in Colonel
Dalton's account of the Santdls, and Mr. Beglar's authority
is not quite satisfactory. But on the analogy of similar
rites in Babylon, as described by Herodotus, it is very
likely that such a custom once prevailed. There is some
evidence that similar customs once prevailed at the temple
of JaggannAth and other Indian shrines.
We have, again, folk-tale references to the same custom
in a tradition of the Vallabhacharya sect of the daughter of
a banker, who, by her devotion to him, won the love of the
god Krishna in the form of an image. Finally the deity-
revealed himself, and she went with him to Brindaban and
remained with her divine husband till he carried her off to
the heaven of Vishnu. This, however, is hardly perhaps
more than an example of the mystic union of the god with
his worshippers, which forms such a large part of the
Vaishnava hagiology, and is familiar in the tales of Krishna
and the Gopis.
There is, again, among children in the neighbourhood of
Sahdranpur, a game which may be a survival of some more
^ " Settlement Report," 38. » " Archaeological Reports," x. 177.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 119
primitive rite. At the Hj festival, which occurs in the
rainy season, giris dressed in their best go to a tank near
the city. After dropping offerings into the water in honour
of Khwdja Khi^r, they divide into two parties, each of which
selects a leader, one of whom is known as the bride and the
other a bridegroom. The latter is decorated with a paper
crown decked with tinsel. The clothes of the pair are
knotted together, and they are made to walk round a Tulasl
plant or a Pipal tree on the banks of the tank, in a mock
form of the marriage ritual. Meanwhile each party chaffs
the other, saying, " Your bride (or bridegroom) is one-eyed."
They return home with merriment of this kind, and when
they come to the house the knot tied in the garments of the
pair is unloosed.
We have, again, instances of the marriages of, or to
animals. In parts of the Panj&b, if a man have lost two
or three wives in succession, he gets a woman to catch a
bird and adopt it as her daughter. He then marries the
bird, and immediately pays over the bride-gift to the woman
that adopted his bird-bride, which he divorces. After this
he can get himself married to another woman, and she will
probably live.*
So, there have been many instances of Rdjas marrying
animals with the customary rites. Some years ago, one of
the GS.ekwlLrs of Baroda spent a large sum in marrying some
favourite pigeons, and a RAja of Nadiya spent a l&kh of
rupees in marrying two monkeys.
Lastly, there are numerous survivals of what can hardly
be anything else but tree marriage. Among the BAwariyas,
a vagrant tribe in Sirsa, the bride and bridegroom go
outside the village to a Jand tree, which, as we have seen
already, is regarded as sacred, move round it seven times,
and then cut off a branch with an axe.* In a Bhtl marriage,
the pair walk round the Salydra tree, which is placed in the
marriage booth, twelve times.^ We have a similar custom
among most of the menial tribes. The Kols make the
* " North Indian Notes and Queries/' i. 15.
' " Settlement Report," 167. ^ *' Bombay Gazetteer," iii. 221.
120 Folk-lore of Northern India.
marriage booth of nine bamboo poles, with a bamboo or a
branch of the Siddh tree as the central post. As the bride-
groom smears the parting of the bride's hair with red lead,
he makes a daub of the same substance on the tree. Much
the same custom prevails among all the inferior castes.
The worship of trees at marriage prevails in Madras, where
some Rdjas worship at their marriages the fire and the
Vahni tree, a twig of which is used as an arrow at the
hunting feast at the Navaratri or Dasahra.^
On the whole, it seems probable that this custom of
pseudo-marriages may be based on various principles. The
popular explanation of the custom is, as we have seen, that
it is intended to avoid the curse of widowhood, the tree-
husband being always alive; the woman, even if her
husband die, can never be a widow, nor can the parents be
liable to the contempt which, according to popular Hindu
belief, awaits those who keep a girl who has reached
maturity unmarried. But when we find the same custom
prevailing among races who habitually permit pre-nuptial
infidelity, and among whom every marriageable widow is
either subjected to the levirate or made over to a stranger,
it seems obvious that this cannot be the original explanation
of the practice.
Again, according to Mr. Frazer, who has collected
numerous examples of the custom, " it is difficult to separate
from totemism the custom observed by totem clans in
Bengal of marrying the bride and bridegroom to trees before
they are married to each other." *
But the idea that, as we have seen in one of the cases of
tree marriages, the tree itself is supposed to die soon after
the ceremony, seems to point to the fact that the marriage
may be intended to divert to the tree some evil influence,
which would otherwise attach to the wedded pair. We
have an instance of a somewhat analogous practice from
Bombay. " Among the Konkan Kunbis, when a woman is
in labour and cannot get a speedy delivery, some gold orna-
ment from her hair is taken to a R<ii plant (the Dhdk —
^ Oppert, " Original Inhabitants," 73. ^ " Totemism," 33 sqq.
DEVI AND THE COBRA.
Treje and Serpent Worship. 121
Callotrepis gigantea of Northern India), and after digging at
its roots, one of the roots is taken out, and the ornament is
buried in its stead. The root is then brought home and put
in the hair of the woman in labour. It is supposed that by
this means the woman gets speedy delivery. As soon as she
is delivered of a child, the root is taken from her hair and
brought back to the R6t plant, and after digging at its root
the ornament is taken out and the root placed in its former
place." ^ The idea seems to be that the evil influence
hindering parturition is thus transferred to the plant. And
this may be one explanation of the practice where, as we
have seen, a man is married to a bird, or so on, when his
former wives have died. The bird acts as the scape-animal,
and carries the disease spirit away with it.
Lastly, we have seen instances in which the wedded pair
are made to clasp the tree or are tied to it in some special
way. There are numerous cases in which women, in order
to procure offspring, clasp an idol, Uke that of Hanuman
and one of the other guardian deities. The clasping of the
tree at marriage may possibly be a sort of sympathetic
magic to bring on the pair the fertility and power of repro-
duction, of which vegetable life is the well-known symbol.
We have the same principle of the wedding of the grove to
its well, and every Hindu who goes to the expense of making
a tank, does not drink of its waters until he has married
the tank to a plantain or some other tree growing on its
banks.
Tree and Serpent Worship.
In the story of the king and his son, told in the Baital
Pachisi, the king supplicates the sacred tree to give him a
son. The request is granted, and the king then implores
the tree to make his people happy ; the result was that poor
wretches, hitherto living in the woods, came forth and con-
certed measures to seize his kingdom. Rather than shed
blood, the old king, his queen, and his son retired to a lofty
* Campbell, " Notes," 250.
1Z2 Folk-lore of Northern India.
mountain. There the son finds something white lying
under a mimosa tree. On inquiry he learnt that it is a
heap of serpents' bones left there by Garuda, who comes
daily to feed on serpents. On hearing this, the king goes
towards a temple, but is arrested by the cry of a woman,
who says : " My son to-day will be eaten by Garuda." She
and her people were, in fact, serpents in human shape.
The king was moved to pity, and as in the famous legend
of Buddha and the tigress, he offered to expose himself to
Garuda in the room of her son. This is discovered;
Garuda releases the king, and at his request re-animates the
serpents to whom the bones belong.^
Here we have an example of the combination of tree and
serpent worship, and it would be easy to adduce more in-
stances, as has been done by Mr. Ferguson and other
writers of his school. But in dealing with this phase of
belief much caution is required. As Dr. Tylor observes t
"Serpent-worship unfortunately fell years ago into the
hands of speculative writers, who mixed it up with occult
philosophies, Druidical mysteries, and that portentous
nonsense called the Arkite symbolism, till now sober
students hear the very name of ophiolatry with a shiver." ^
It is almost needless to say that snake- worship prevails
largely in Northern India. The last census showed in the
North- Western Provinces over twenty-five thousand NS.ga
worshippers ; one hundred and twenty-three persons re-
corded themselves as votaries of Gtlga, the snake god.
There are also a certain number who worship SS.np Deotd,
or the snake godling, and Ahlran, another deity of the same
class, who is worshipped in Sultdnpur by daily offerings of
red lead, water, and rice. Sokha, said to be the ghost of a
Brihman killed by a snake, has nearly fourteen thousand
worshippers. In the Panjab, again, there are over thirty-
five thousand special votaries of the snake godlings, of
which the great majority worship Gtlga.
^ Mannings, " Ancient India," ii. 330 sq. ; Tawney, " Katha Sarit
Sigara," i. 185.
' " Primitive Culture," ii. 239.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 123
That the cultus of the snake has been derived from
aboriginal beliefs appears tolerably certain. The Hindus of
Vedic times looked on the serpent with fear and dislike.
It was impersonated as Ahi or Vritra, the snake demon
which brings darkness and drives away the kindly rain.
The regular snake-worship, as we now find it, was obviously
of a later date.
It does not appear difficult to disentangle the ideas on
which snake-worship is based. To begin with, the snake
is dreaded and revered on account of the mysterious fear
which is associated with it, its stealthy habits, its sinuous
motion, the cold fixity of its gaze, the protrusion of its
forked tongue, the suddenness and deadliness of its attacks.
It would be particularly dreaded by women, whose habits
of walking barefoot in fields in the early dawn, and groping
in dark comers of their huts, render them specially exposed
to its malice. The chief basis of the cultus would then be
fear, as in the case of the tiger and other beasts of prey.
It would soon be discovered that there were various
harmless snakes which would, as house-hunters, come to be
identified with the ancestral ghosts as the protectors of
houses and goods. The power of controlling and taming
the more venomous snakes would then be discovered, and
the snake-charmer would come to be regarded as the wisest
of mankind, as a wizard, and finally as a priest. We have
thus three aspects under which the snake is worshipped by
many savage races — as a dreaded enemy, as the protector
of home and treasure, as the accompaniment and attribute
of wisdom. The village temple would be often in early
times a storehouse of treasure, and the snake, respected as
its guardian, would finally, as in Kashmir, be installed there
as a god.
Next, we have the early connection between the serpent
and the powers of nature, the cloud and the rain, as appears
in the familiar Vedic legend of Indra and the Dragon Ahi,
and Seshaniga, the great world serpent, which appears
in so many of the primitive mythologies.
The serpent would again receive respect as the emb lem
tarn
124 Folk-lore of Northern India.
of life; his shape would, as in many forms of primitive
ornament, be associated with the ring, as a symbol of
eternity ; he is excessively long-lived, and periodically
renews his life.
He has, further, as in the Saiva cultus, become associated
with phallicism, and with'the sexual powers, as in the Adam
legend. " The serpent round the neck of Siva denotes the
endless cycle of recurring years, and a^ second necklace of
skulls about his person, with numerous other serpents,
symbolizes the eternal revolution of ages and the successive
dissolution and regeneration of the races of mankind." ^
Lastly, the cultus may have a totemistic basis. As Strabo
describes the Ophiogeneis or serpent races of Phrygia
actually retaining physical affinity with the snakes to whom
they were to be believed to be allied, the Cheros of the
eastern districts of the North- Western Provinces and the
Bais Rdjputs of Oudh profess to be descended from the
Great Serpent. Gautama Buddha himself is said to have
been of serpent lineage.
But the great serpent race was that of the NAgas, to
whom much ill-considered argument and crude speculation
have been devdted. According to one theory they were
Skythic emigrants from Central Asia, but whether antece-
dent or subsequent to the so-called Aryan inroad is disputed.
They seem to have been accustomed to use the serpent as a
national symbol, and hence became identified with the snake.
Some of the myths seem to imply that they suffered perse-
cution at the hands of the Brdhmans, such as the tale of
the burning of the Khindava forest, the opening scenes of
the Mahibhirata, and the exploits of the youthful Krishna.
They are, again, associated with Buddhism on monuments
like those of Ajanta, and another theory would make them
out to be the Dasyus, or aboriginal races of Upper India,
who were the first to adopt Buddhism and were extermi-
nated in the Brahmanical revival. Little, in fact, is known
of them, save that they may have been early worshippers
^ Monier- Williams, ** Brfi,hmanism and Hinduism," 319 sqq.
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Tree and Serpent Worship. 125
of the snake, may have embraced Buddhism, and may have
introduced the worship into India from some northern
home.^ But Mr. Ferguson's theory that snake-worship was
of purely Turanian origin is, to say the least, very doubtful,
and his belief that Saivism is antagonistic to snake-worship,
and that Vaishnavism, which he regards as a modification
of Buddhism, encourages it, is opposed by the numerous
examples of the connection of the serpent with the Lingam.
SeshanAga.
Below the seven P4t41as, according to the Vishnu Purina,
is Vishnu incarnated as Seshaniga, and known by the name
Ananta, or '' Endless." He has a thousand heads adorned
with the m3rstical Swastika, and in each head a jewel to give
light. He is accompanied by Varuni, the goddess of wine
(who has nowadays been replaced by Madain, who is
venerated by Chamdrs in Oudh), supports the world on his
head, holds in one hand a pestle and in the other a plough,
which, as we shall see later on, connects him with agri-
culture.
Snake Shrines,
In various places snakes are provided with special shrines.
Thus, in Garhwal, Seshan&ga is honoured at Pandukeswar ;
Bhekal N&g at Ratgdon ; Sangal Ndg at Talor ; Binpa Ndg
at Margion, and many others of the same kind.* In fact,
all along the Him&laya the worship extensively prevails.
Kailang Nig is the chief Himalayan godling, and as the
1 Wheeler, " History of India," i. 148 ; " Gazetteer Central Provinces,"
Ixiii. ; Ixxii. ; Campbell, ** Notes," 269 ; Ferguson, " Tree and Serpent
Worship," Appendix D; Elliot, "Supplementary Glossary,*' s.v. "Gaur
Taga " ; Tod, ** Annals," i. 38 ; Atkinson, *< Himilayan Gazetteer,"
ii. 280 sqq., 297 ; Temple, " Legends of the Panjib," i. 414 sq.
^ Bhekal NS,g is perhaps the Sanskrit bheka, "frog." It has been
suggested that the gypsy Beng or Devil is connected with Bheka, and
thus allied to serpent-worship (Groome, " Encyclopaedia Britannica," Art.
"Gypsies"). Sir G. Cox (" Introduction," 87, note) makes out Bheki, or
" the squatting frog," to be an old name for the sun. For the Himi-
layan snake shrines see Atkinson, loc at,, ii. 374 sq.
126 Folk-lore of Northern India,
Vedic Ahi controls the clouds, so he gives fine weather. A
victim is killed, and one of his disciples, after drinking the
blood, gets into a state of afflatus. Finally, he gasps out
that the sacrifice is accepted, and falls down in a state of
exhaustion. The old shrine to the serpent deity at Kdngra,
known as Baghsu Ndg, has been converted into a Saiva
temple under the name of BaghsunS.tha, another instance
of the adoption of strange deities into orthodox Hinduism.
** The Nig is specially the guardian of cattle and water-
springs. According to the legend, the valleys of Kashmir
and Nep&l were in some remote period the abode of NAgas.
The milk of a cow is usually presented to a N4g, and goats
and sheep are usually sacrificed to him, as to other godlings.
So far as I am aware, the only place in the Himalaya where
the living snake is worshipped is at the foot of the Rotung
pass." ^ The NepAl serpent king is Karkotaka, who dwelt
in the lake Nigavdsa, and Siva in the form of Karkotaka
Ndga has a temple at Barha Kotra in the B4nda District.
In one of the Nep41 temples is a representation of a N4g
KanyS, a serpent maiden or mermaid, sitting on a tortoise.'
This serpent maiden constantly appears in Indian folk-lore.
Such is VijayAvatf, daughter of Gandam&lin, one of the
snake kings, who is of surpassing loveliness, rescues and
marries the hero. She is represented by the Melusina of
European folk-lore, and one of her kindred survived to our
own day, to appear as Elsie Venner in one of the finest
novels of this generation.*
Curious as it may appear, all the Kashmir temples were
originally surrounded by artificial tanks, constructed in
order to propitiate the Ndgas. Ancient stones covered
with figures of snakes are occasionally to be seen worked up
into the walls of modern buildings. Abul Fazl says that in
his time there were nearly seven hundred figures of snake
gods existing in Kashmir. The snake, it is needless to say,
is a common emblem in temples all over the country. An
* Oldham, " Contemporary Review," April, 1885.
2 ** Oldfield, •* Sketches,'' ii. 204 ; Wright, " History,'' 85.
5 Tawney, ** Katha Sarit SAgara," ii. 173, 544.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 127
ancient temple at BilAspur in the Central Provinces has, as
its only image, that of the cobra.*
Snake-worship appears constantly in history and legend«
There is a passage in Plutarch from which it appears to
have been the custom to sacrifice an old woman (previously
condemned to death for some crime) to the serpent gods by
burying her alive on the banks of the Indus. Ktesias also
mentions the worship of snakes, and in the Buddhist legends
snakes are often referred to as the guardian deities of towns.'
In the folk-tales, Narav&hanadatta worships snakes in a
grove sacred to them, and Bhlmabhatta goes to the temple
of the chief of the snakes, which he finds full of long wreaths
of flowers in form like serpents, and a great lake sacred to
Visuki, studded with red lotuses, which seemed like clouds
of smoke from the fume of snake poison.*
A curious legend tells how KadrA and Vinati were the
two wives of the patriarch Kasyapa, the former being the
mother of the serpent race, and the other of the birds. A
discussion arose between them regarding the colour of the
tails of the horses of the sun, Vinati insisting that they were
white and Kadrii that they were black. It was agreed that
whichever of the two was proved to be wrong should serve
the other. So KadrA contrived to fasten one of her black
snakes on to the back of one of the horses, and Vinati,
thinking this was the real tail, accepted defeat; so the
snakes rule the birds for ever.
Nahusha, according to one version of his legend, aspired
to the love of the queen of India when her husband con-
cealed himself because he had killed a Brahman. A
thousand Rishis bore the litter of the presumptuous sinner
through the air, and when in his pride he touched Agastya
Muni with his foot, the offended sage cursed him, and he
became a serpent. Finally he was pardoned by the inter-
cession of Yudhishthira, threw off his serpent form, and
was raised to the heaven of the gods.
1 ** Calcutta Review," li. 304 sg. ; liv. 25 sq. ; Ferguson, " Eastern
Architecture/' 289 ; " Central Provinces Gazetteer," 86.
2 Tawney, loc, at i. 577. * Ibid., i. 312; ii. 225.
128 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Near Jait, in the Mathura District, is a tank with the
broken statue of a hooded serpent in it. Once upon a time
a R&ja married a princess from a distant land, and wished
to bring her home with hiip. She refused to come until he
announced his lineage. Her husband told her that she
would regret her curiosity, but she persisted. At last he
took her to the river and warned her again, but in vain.
Then he told her not to be alarmed at anything she saw,
adding that if she did so, she would lose him. Saying this,
he began to descend slowly into the water, all the time
trying to dissuade her, till the water rose to his neck. Then,
after a last attempt to induce her to abandon her curiosity,
he dived and reappeared in the form of a Ndga, and raising
his head over the water, he said, " This is my lineage. I
am a Nigavansi." His wife could not suppress an exclama-
tion of grief, on which the Niga was turned into stone,
where he lies to this day. Here we have another instance
of the consequences of the violation of the curiosity taboo.^
The town of Nigohan in the Lucknow District is said to
have been founded by Raja N&huk of the Chandravansi line
of kings. Near it is a large tank, in which the legend says
that the R&ja, transformed into a snake for the sin of killing
a Brihman, was compelled to live. Here at length the
Pindava brothers, in their wanderings after their battle with
the Kauravas, came, and as they went to draw water, the
serpent put to each of them five questions touching the
vanity of human wishes and the advantages of absorption
from the world. Four out of the five brethren failed to answer
and were dragged under the water, but the riddle was solved
by the fifth. The spell was thus loosed, and the Rdja's
deliverer had come. The P&ndu put his ring round the
body of the serpent, and he was restored to human form.
In his gratitude he performed a great sacrifice, and to this
day the cultivators digging small wells in the centre of the
tank in the dry season, come across the burnt barley, rice,
and betel-nuts used in the sacrifices.^
^ "Archaeological Reports/' vii. 4. 2 « Settlement Report," 121.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 129
The old Buddhist traveller thus describes the serpent
deity in the temple at Sankisa in the FamikhAbid District —
" A white-eared dragon is the patron of this body of the
priests. It is he who causes fertilizing and seasonable
showers of rain to fall within their country, and preserves it
from plagues and calamity, and so causes the priesthood to
dwell in security. The priests, in gratitude for these favours,
have erected a dragon chapel, and within it placed a seat for
his accommodation ; and, moreover, they make special con-
tributions in the shape of religious ofiFerings to provide the
dragon with food. Towards the end of each season of rest,
the dragon incontinently assumes the form of a little serpent,
both of whose ears are white. The body of priests, recog-
nizing him, place in the midst for his use a copper vessel full
of cream. The serpent then proceeds to come down from
the highest part of the alcove, all the while moving, as
though he would pay his respects to all those around him.
He then suddenly disappears. He makes his appearance
once every year." ^
According to Gen. Cunningham, the only spot which can
be identified with any certainty at Sankisa is the tank of the
N4ga, which still exists to the south-east of the ruins. The
name of the Ndga is Kirewar, which appears to mean " the
black one," and that of the tank Kandaiya T41. Milk is still
offered to him on every day of May, the Nigpanchami
festival in August, and at any other time when rain is
wanted.^
There are many instances of this control of the N4ga over
the weather. Thus, in Nepil, when Rija Gunkamdeva
committed incest, the gods in their wrath withheld the rain.
Finally the R&ja managed to catch the great N4ga Karkotaka,
and the other N4gas came and worshipped him and gave
him each a likeness of himself drawn with his own blood, and
declared that whenever there was a drought hereafter, plen-
tiful rain would fall as soon as these pictures were worshipped.
So, Gorakhnitha confined the nine Nigas, and there was
1 Beal, " Travels of Fah Hian,*' 67 sq.
2 ** Archaeological Reports," i. 274.
VOL. II. K
130 Folk-lore of Northern India.
a drought until Matsyendran&tha appeared and released
them, on which the clouds gave rain.^
The plan of propitiating the N4ga with an offering of milk is
found also in the case of the Durham legend of the Lambton
worm and the dragon of Deerhurst in Gloucestershire.^
The sacred dragons of this kind are innumerable. The
Buddhist cave at Pabhosa in the AUah&bid District was the
home of a monster of this class, who was subdued by
Buddha.'' That in the dragon tank at R&magrima used to
assume the form of a Br&hman.* Dr. Buchanan tells of
another at Bhdgalpur. " They showed me a hole in a rock
opening into a hollow space close by the path leading up to
their village. They said that this hole was the abode of a
very large serpent, which they considered a kind of god. In
cold weather they never saw it, but in the hot season it was
constantly observed lying in the hollow before its den. The
people pass by it without apprehension, thinking it under-
stands their language, and would on no account injure one
of them, should even a child or a drunken person fall
on it." '
But all such snakes are not friendly. In the Hitopadesa,
the faithful mungoose takes the place in the legend of Beth-
gelert of the hound and kills the deadly snake. Some
reference to this famous folk-tale will be made in another
connection. AghS.sura, " the evil demon," the king of the
serpents, tried to devour the divine infant Krishna. When
he and his foster-father Nanda were asleep together, a huge
boa-constrictor laid hold of Nanda by the toe, and would
speedily have devoured him, but Krishna, hearing his cries,
ran to his side and lightly set his foot on the monster's head.
At the very touch the serpent was transformed, and assumed
the figure of a lovely youth ; " for years ago a Ganymede of
Heaven's Court, by name Sudarsana, in pride of beauty and
exalted birth, had vexed the holy sage Angiras when in deep
» Wright, " History of Nepil," 85, 141.
2 Henderson, ** Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 289 ; " Gloucester-
shire Folk-lore," 23.
' Fiihrer, *' Monumental Antiquities," 144. * Beal, loc. city 90.
» " Eastern India," ii. 149.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 131
contemplation, by dancing backwards and forwards before
him, and by his curses had been metamorphosed into a snake,
in that vile shape to expiate his offence, until the advent of
Krishna."^ We have already spoken of another famous
Mathura snake, the Niga of Jait, whose tail is supposed to
reach underground to Brindaban, seven miles away.' The
curious dragon cave at Kausambhi at Allah4b4d was one
of the last notable discoveries of the Archaeological Survey.'
The Snake Gods.
Besides the sacred N&gas there are the regular snake gods.
The serpent deity of Benares is Ndgiswar, who is repre-
sented by a serpent twining round the chief idol, and like his
kindred rules the weather. The N4g Ku4n, or dragon well,
is one of the oldest shrines in the city.* T4ra is the snake
goddess of the Kols, and the Khdndhs call her T4rd Penu,
the heavenly " star snake." V4suki, the " abider," now
known as Bisuk N&g, has many shrines, and in all of them,
as at Ddraganj, near AUahdbid, described by Sir Monier-
Williams,* the priest in charge is always a man of low caste,
a fact pointing to the non-Aryan character of the worship.
He forms one of the triad of the snake gods which rule the
snakes of earth and hell, his fellows being Sesha and
Takshaka, " he who cuts off." Vdsuki often appears in the
folk-tales. We find him resisting Garuda, the destroyer of
his subjects. His brother's son Kirtisena is, according to
one legend, a Br&hman, and weds a mortal maiden by the
Gandharva form; hig eldest brother Vasunemi presents a
benevolent Savara with a magic lute; V&suki himself
marries the princess YasodharA, and their son is Priyadar-
sana. Visuki has a thousand ears. Once he served the
gods by becoming the rope which the mount Mandara was
1 Growse, " Mathura," 55, 58. 2 i^i^^ 71,
' "Reports" xxi. 2, "Academy," 23rd April, 1887.
^ Sherring, " Sacred City,*' 75, 87 sqq. ; Fiihrer, " Monumental Anti-
quities,*' 211. For weather snakes see Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i.
438-
° " BrMimanism and Hinduism," 323.
K 2
B9BB
132 Folk-lore of Northern India.
whirled round, and the sea was churned and produced Srt or
Lakshml, goddess of wealth.^ The foot of the celebrated
iron pillar at Delhi was driven so deep in order that it might
rest on the head of V&suki. A Brihman told the king that
this would secure the stability of his kingdom. The R4ja
doubted this, and had the pillar dug up, when its base was
found wet with the blood of the serpent king. Owing to the
incredulity of the R4ja it could never again be firmly fixed,
and his want of faith led to the ultimate downfall of his
dynasty. The same tale has reached the Himalaya, and is
told of the foundation of Almora."
The Sinhas.
Next come the Sinhas, or snake godlings of the Panjdb
and the western parts of the North- Western Provinces.
" They are males, and though they cause fever they are not
very malevolent, often taking away pain. They have got
great power over milch cattle, and the milk of the eleventh
day after calving is sacred to them, and libations of milk
(as in the case of the Sankisa dragon) are always acceptable.
They are generally distinguished by some colour, the most
commonly worshipped being K41i, 'the black one,' Hari,
* green,' Bh6ra, *grey,' Sinh. But the diviner will often
declare a fever to be caused by some Sinh no one has ever
heard of before, but to whom a shrine must be built. And
so they multiply in a most perplexing manner. Dead men
also have a way of becoming snakes — a fact which is re-
vealed in a dream, when again a shrine must be built. If a
peasant sees a snake he will salute it, and if it bite him, he
or his heirs, as the case may be, will build a shrine on the
spot to prevent the recurrence of such an occurrence. They
are the servants of Visuki Niga, King of P&t41a, or Tar-
tarus, and their worship is certainly connected with that of
the Pitris or ancestors, though it is difficult to see exactly in
what the connection lies." '
1 Tawney, loc, city i. 32, 55, 538 : ii. 568.
2 Gangadatta, " Folk-lore of Kumaun," Introduction, vii.
» Ibbetson, "Panjib Ethnography," 114; "Legends of the Panjib,"
i. 426.
Tree and Serpent Worship, 133
Connection of Snakes with Ancestor-worship.
The connection is thus explained by Mr. Spencer : " The
other self of the dead relative is supposed to come back
occasionally to the old house ; how else is it possible of the
survivors sleeping there to see him in their dreams ? Here
are creatures which commonly, unlike wild animals, come
into houses; come in, too, secretly at night. The impli-
cation is clear. That snakes which specially do this are
the returned dead, is inferred by people in Asia, Africa, and
America ; the haunting of houses being the common trait
of the kind of snakes reverenced and worshipped." ^ The
benevolent household snake, which in the folk-tales assists
the hero and protects the family of which he is the guardian,
thus represents the soul of some deceased ancestor which
has taken up its residence there. That the dead do appear
as snakes is familiar in European folk-lore. Thus, for
instance, the pious iEneas saw his father Anchises in the
snake which crept from his tomb. We have already come
across the same idea in the case of the Sati. It was an old
European idea that this household snake, if not conciliated,
and when dead buried under the threshold, a sacred place,
prevented conception.'
Deified Snake Heroes.
We have already mentioned the regular snake godling
Gfiga. With him are often worshipped his father Jaur or
Jewar Sinh, and Arjan and Sarjan, his twin half-brothers.'
Pipa, the Brdhman, is another deity of the same class in
R^jputdna. He was in the habit of giving milk to a serpent
whose retreat was on the banks of the Sampu, or Snake
Lake. The serpent used in return to present him daily
with two pieces of gold. Being obliged to go away on
business, he gave instructions to his son to continue the
* " Principles of Sociology," i. 345 ; Gubernatis, " Zoological My-
thology," ii. 407 sq. ; Wake, ** Serpent-worship," 105 ; Tylor, ** Primitive
Culture," ii. 240.
- Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 132.
* " Panjib Notes and Queries," i. 2.
SB
134 Folk-lore of Northern India.
offering ; but the youth, deeming it a good opportunity of
becoming master of the treasure, took a stick with him, and
when the serpent came forth for his expected food, he
struck him violently. But the snake managed to retreat
into his hole. On his return, the young Brahman related
his adventures to his mother. She was horrified at the
account, and forthwith made arrangements for sending her
son away out of danger. But in the morning when she
went to call him she found to her horror that her son was
dead, and a huge snake lay coiled up beside his body. Pipa
on his return was inconsolable, but, stifling his thoughts of
revenge, he propitiated the monster with copious libations
of milk. The serpent was appeased, and revealed to Pipa
the treasures which he guarded, commanding him to erect
a monument which should transmit the knowledge of the
event to future ages. Hence Pipa has become a sort of
snake godling, and the town of Pipar and the Sampu Lake
still by their names commemorate the legend.^
This famous tale, which was originally founded on a story
in the Panchatantra, has come into European folk-lore
through the Gesta Romanorum, and forms an excellent
example of a genuine Indian folk-tale which has been
naturalized in Western lands.' The incident of the animals
which produce gold is common both in European and
Indian folk-lore. Even Marabhuti in the tale of Somadeva
is able to spit gold, and every one knows Grimm's pretty
tale of the " Three little men in the wood," in which a piece
of gold drops from the mouth of the good girl every time
she speaks.
Snake Treasure Guardians.
Snakes throughout folk-lore are the guardians of treasure.^
The griffins of Scythia guarded the treasures coveted by the
1 Tod, " Annals," i. ^^^ sqq.
2 Clouston, "Popular Tales," i. 127; Grimm, '* Household Tales," ii.
405 ; Tawney, *' Katha Sarit Sigara," ii. 454 ; Jacobs, ** English Fairy
Tales/' 207, 251.
* Gubernatis, ** Zoological Mythology," ii. 407; Clouston, loc. cit, i.
126.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 135
Arimaspians ; the dragon watched the golden apples of the
Hesperides ; in the Nibelungenlied the dragon Fafnir keeps
guard over a vast treasure of gold, which Sigurd seizes after
he has killed the monster. It is a common Indian belief that
when a very rich man dies without an heir, he cannot take
away his thoughts from his treasure, and returns to guard it
in the form of a monstrous serpent. But after a time he
becomes tired of this serpent life, and either in a dream, or
assuming the human voice, he asks the persons living near
the treasure to take it and ofifer him one of their dearest
relatives in return. When some avaricious person complies
with the serpent's wishes, he gets possession of the wealth,
and the serpent then enters into some other state of exist-
ence. Instances of treasure speaking are not uncommon.
Some time ago two old ladies, whose houses were divided
by a wall, formally applied to me to have the wall excavated
in the presence of respectable witnesses, because a treasure-
guarding snake was often heard speaking from inside the
wall, and begging some one to take over the wealth which
was in his charge.
Snake charmers are supposed to have the power of
recognizing these serpent treasure guardians, follow them
stealthily to their holes, and ask them to point out the
deposit. This they will do in consideration of the offering
of a drop of blood from the little finger of a first-born son,^
an obvious survival of human sacrifice, which is constantly
found connected with the serpent cultus.
Various suggestions have been made to account for the
idea of snakes guarding treasure. By one theory there is
some connection between the snake and primitive metal-
lurgy ; by another, that the snake may have been the totem
of the early jewellers ; by a third, that the jewelled head of
the snake is at the bottom of the matter.' But it seems
more probable that the idea is based on the conception of
the snake as a haunter of houses and temples, and the diving
protector of the inmates and their wealth.
* " Panjib Notes and Queries," ii. 91.
^ Conway, ** Demonology,*' i. 3J3 s<^.
^BOsammBmKmmmaBmmmmmmmm
136 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Indian folk-lore is full of such stories. In the Dakkhin
tale, Seventee Bi! gets possession of the enormous diamond
which the cobra used to take about in his mouth ; and in
the Bengal story Faqir Chand obtains the serpent's crest-
jewel.* The same idea appears in the Arabian Nights.
Mr. Forbes tells rather a ghastly tale on this subject. He
personally investigated a mysterious chamber supposed to
contain treasure. Viewed from above it was a gloomy
dungeon of great depth. He desired his men to enter it,
but they positively refused, alleging that " wherever money
was concealed, there existed one of the Genii in the mortal
form of a snake to guard it." He at last prevailed on them
to descend by means of ropes. They had not been at the
bottom many seconds, when they called out vehemently that
they were encircled by a large snake. Finally he observed
something like billets of wood, or rather more resembling
a ship's cable coiled up in a dark hole. Then he saw the
monster raise his head over an immense length of body,
coiled in volumes on the ground. A large snake was subse-
quently destroyed by fire, but no treasure was found, " the
owner having doubtless already removed it." ^
Powers of Snakes in Folk-lore.
Manifold are the powers of snakes in folk-lore. He can
strike people dead with his look from a distance, like the
" death-darting eye of cockatrice " in " Romeo and Juliet."
He has the power of spitting fire from his mouth, which
destroys his enemies and consumes forests. His saliva is
venomous, and there are many stories of snakes spitting
venom into food. In one of the versions of Bethgelert, the
prince, but for his guardian bird, would have drunk as water
the venom of the black snakes which drips from a tree. In
the legends of Rdja Rasdlu, GAga, and Newal D4i, the
snake has power to kill and restore to Hfe ; it has the faculty of
1 Miss Frere, "Old Deccan Tales," 33; L^l Bihiri Dd, ** Folk-tales "
2 "Oriental Memoirs," ii. 19, 385.
mseam
Tree and Serpent Worship. 137
metamorphosis and flying through the air. In one of the
Kashmtr tales, the Br&hman, wishing to get rid of his wife,
gives her a snake in a bag ; but when she opens it, it turns
into a beautiful little boy.^ We have, again, the world-wide
story of the snake rescued by the traveller, which rewards
the service rendered to him by biting his benefactor. When
Indra carried off the nectar, the snakes licked the bed of
Kusa grass on which the vessel lay. The sharp edges of the
grass cut them as they licked, so they have had double
tongues ever since.' Every Indian rustic believes in the
Domunha or snake with a mouth at both ends, which is, as
might have been expected, most virulent. There are snake
women, like Lamia or Vasudeva, the mystic serpent, who
go about at night, and by day resume their hateful form.
The humanity of the serpent race comes out clearly in the
legend of Saf idon, which attributes the leprosy still found in
the Panjdb to the sacrilegious acts of Visuki, the king of
the serpents.'
Modern Snake-worship.
Some instances may be given of the form assumed by the
worship of the snake in modern times.
The great snake festival is the N4gpanchami, or " Dragon's
fifth," held on the fifth day of the month of Bhidon. In the
Hills it is called the Rikht or Biruri Panchami. Rikheswara
has now become a title of Siva as lord of the Nigas, a form in
which he is represented as surrounded by serpents and crowned
with the chaplet of hooded snakes. On the day of the feast
the people paint figures of serpents and birds on the walls of
their houses, and seven days before the festival they steep a
mixture of wheat, gram, and pulse in water. On the morn-
ing of the feast they take a wisp of grass, tie it up in the
form of a snake, dip it in the water in which the gram has
^ Knowles, " Folk-tales/' 492.
5 Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 182.
' Tawney, ioc. «/., ii. 99 ; Temple, ** Legends of the Panjib/' i. Intro-
duction, XV.; "Wideawake Stories," 193, 331.
138 Folk-lore of Northern India.
been steeped, and offer it with money and sweetmeats to the
serpents.*
In Udaypur on this day they strew particular plants about
the thresholds of houses to prevent the entrance of venomous
reptiles, and in Nepil the day is observed as the anniversary
of a great struggle between a famous Ndga and Garuda, the
foe of the serpent race.^ In the eastern districts of the
North- West Provinces on this day milk and dried rice are
poured into a snake's hole ; while doing this they call out
" Snake ! snake ! " The feeding of snakes on this holiday is
done in much the same way in Bombay.' After the DiwAll
in Kdngra, a festival is held to bid good-bye to the snakes,
at which an image of the N4ga made of cowdung is wor-
shipped. If a snake be seen after this it is called '* ungrate-
ful,'* and immediately killed.*
In the North- Western Provinces the usual custom is for
the head of the family to bathe on the morning of the feast,
to paint on the wall of his sleeping-room two rude repre-
sentations of serpents, and to make offerings to Brahmans.
On this day people pray to what Dr. Buchanan calls " the
chief eight dragons of the pit," * girls throw some playthings
into the water, and labourers take a holiday and worship
the tools of their craft.
In Behdr during the month of S4wan (August) crowds of
women calling themselves N4gin, or " wives of the snake,"
go about begging for two and a half days, during which
period they neither sleep under a roof nor eat salt. Half
the proceeds of the begging are given to BrAhmans, and the
other half invested in salt and sweetmeats, which are eaten
by all the people of the village.^
In Garhwdl, the ground is freely smeared with cowdung
and mud, and figures of five, seven, or nine serpents are
1 Atkinson, " Him^ayan Gazetteer," ii. 851.
2 Tod, " Annals," i. 614 ; Wright, " History," 37.
* Rousselet, '* India and its Native Princes," 28.
* ** Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 75.
* ** Eastern India," ii. 481.
. 8 Grierson, " Bihir Peasant Life,** 405 ; " Maithili Chrestomathy," 23
sqq., where examples of the songs are given ; " Panjib Notes and
Queries,'* iii. 38.
■prTaF!«^?i
Tree and Serpent Worship, 139
rudely drawn with sandal-wood powder or tumeric; rice,
beans, or peas are parched ; lamps are lighted and waved
before them ; incense is burnt and food and fruit offered.
These [observances take place both morning and evening,
and the night is spent in listening to stories in praises of the
N&ga.^
In parts of the North-Western Provinces, with the usual
NAgpanchamf, is performed what is known as the Gurul
festival. On that day offerings are made by women to the
Dragon godling N4g Deot4. Girls let dolls float in the
water of some convenient river or tank, and the village lads
beat the dolls with long switches specially cut for the pur-
pose. The legend of this rite is thus told. When R4ja
Janamejdya held the Sarpa Sattra or snake rite in order to
destroy Takshaka, the king of the serpents, all the snakes
were captured by spells and killed. But Takshaka escaped
and was found to have taken refuge with Indra, on whose
throne he seated himself in the shape of a mosquito. Indra
was ordered to produce the fugitive, and begged the life of
Takshaka, which was granted on condition that he was
banished from the land. So the snake king took the shape
of a BrAhman lad and retired to the Caucasus. There he
settled and married, but he foolishly told the story to his
wife, and she being unable to keep the secret, it finally
reached the ears of Janamejaya, who sentenced him to
death. Takshaka then retorted by ordering JanamejAya to
cause everyone in his dominions to kill his wife as a revenge
for his own wife's treachery. Janamej&ya was unwilling to
issue such a cruel order, so he consulted the Brahmans.
Finally, it was proclaimed that on the Ndgpanchami, every
woman, to prove her devotion to her husband, should make
a doll and offer it up as a vicarious sacrifice for herself. It
would seem that the rite is the survival of some rite of
human sacrifice in connection with snake-worship.
The Agarwdla Banyas, who say that they are descended
from Rija Visuki, have a special rite in honour of Astika
Muni, who is said to have been the instructor of Visuki.
^ Atkinson, " Him^yan Gazetteer,'* ii. 836.
140 Folk-lore of Northern India.
They bathe and make marks representing the snake on the
walls of the house, which they worship, feed Brdhmans, and
do the Artt or lamp rite. Each woman takes home with
her some of the sesamum offered to the snake, which they
sprinkle with the recitation of a spell in their houses as a
means of driving away venomous snakes.
Cure of Snake-bite.
In HoshangibAd there were once two brothers, R&jawa
and Soral ; the ghost of the former cures snake-bite, and that
of the latter cattle murrain. The moment a man is bitten,
he must tie a string or a strip of his dress and fasten it
round his neck, crying, " Mercy ! O God RAjawa ! " To
caU on Ghori B4dsh4h, the Delhi Emperor, who conquered
the country, or R&mji Dis B4ba will do as well. At the
same time he makes a vow to give so much to the god if he
recovers. When he gets home they use various tests to
ascertain if the poison is in him still. They take him in and
out over the threshold, and light a lamp before him, acts
which are supposed to have the effect of developing latent
poison. They then give him salt and leaves of the bitter
Nim tree. If he can take them he is safe. These are all,
as we have already seen, scarers of evil spirits, in this case
the snake demon. If he cannot take them, the whole village
goes out and cries to RAjawa Deo until he recovers. No
one (Sir C. A. Elliott's informant told him) had been ever
known to die of a snake-bite after this treatment. But the
god has no power over the dreaded Biscobra, which takes
its name from the Hindi Bishkh&pra, Sanskrit Vishakhar-
para, or " poison-headed," which is said to be so deadly that
its very breath is venomous, one of the numerous popular
delusions out of which it is hopeless to argue the rustic.
The bitten man must not untie the string round his neck
till the day when he goes to offer what he vows, which
should be, at latest, on the next Dasahra ; but if he attempts
to cheat the god by offering ever so little less than he pro-
mised, he will die on the spot in agonies.^
1 " Settlement Report," 120 sq.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 141
All through Upper India the stock remedy for snake-bite
is the exorcism of the Ojha or sorcerer, a performance known
as Jh4r Ph6nk, consisting of a series of passes, massage,
and incantations, which are supposed to disperse the venom.
Many, too, have faith in the so-called " Snake stone," which
seems to be usually a piece of bone soaked in blood and
repeatedly baked. This is supposed to have absorbent
properties and to draw the venom out of the wound. It
probably works by faith, and is as effective as the Achates
or Agate of which Pliny writes : " People are persuaded
that it availeth much against the venomous spiders and
scorpions, which property I could very well believe to be in
the Sicilian Agate, for that so soon as serpents come within
the air and breath of the said province of Sicily, as venomous
as they be otherwise, they die thereupon." *
The Snake in Folk-lore.
The -references to the snake in folk-lore and popular
belief are so numerous that only a few examples can be
given. The Dhdman {Ptyas mucosus\ a quite harmless
snake, is said in Bombay to give a fatal bite on Sundays,
and to kill cattle by crawling under them, or putting its tail
up their nostrils. Its shadow is also considered malignant.
It is believed to suck the milk of cattle, and that if a buffalo
is looked on by it, it immediately dies. Of the Ghonas
snake it is believed that it bites only at night, and at what-
ever hour of the night the victim is bitten, he dies just
before daybreak.'
About these snake stones some curious tales are told. By
one account, when a goat kills a snake, it eats it and then
ruminates, after which it spits out a bead, which, when
applied to a snake-bite, absorbs the poison and swells. If it
be put into milk, and squeezed, the poison drips out of it
like blood, and the bitten person is cured If it be not put
in milk it will burst in pieces. By another account, in the
pouch-like appendages of the older Adjutant birds {Leptoptilos
1 " Natural History," xxxvii. 10. ^ »< Gazetteer," xi. 36.
142 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Argala) the fang of a snake is sometimes found. This, if
rubbed over the place where a poisonous snake has bitten a
man, is supposed to prevent the venom spreading to the
vital parts of the body. Others say that it is found within
the head of the Adjutant, and that it is only necessary to
rub it to the bitten place and put it into milk, when it
becomes black through the venom. What was known as
the Ovum Anguinum of the Britons is said to have been a
bead which assists children to cut their teeth and cures the
chincough and the ague. Mr. CampbelP says he once
possessed one of these " snake's eggs," which was a blue
and white glass bead and supposed to be a charm used by
the women of the prehistoric races.
A very common incident in the folk-tales is that the
heroine is beset by snakes which come out of her nose or
mouth at night and kill her newly-wedded husband, as the
evil spirit kills the husband of Sara in the marriage chamber,
until the hero lies awake and succeeds in destroying them.
Another power snakes possess is that of identifying the
rightful heirs of kingdoms, and, as in the case of Drona, who
found the Ahir Adirdja sleeping in the shade of the hood of
a cobra, announce that he is born to rule.^ So in the
mythology the Niga king Machalinda spreads his hood over
the Buddha to protect him from the rain and flies.' Many
of these NAgas indeed are friendly, as in the case of the
Banjdra, who, in order to avoid octroi duty, declared his
valuable goods to be Glauber salts, and Glauber salts they
became until they were restored to their original condition
by the intercession of the kindly Ndga of the Gundwa tank.*
In one of Somadeva's tales the friendly snake clings round
the R4ja till he promises to release the Bodhisattwa out of
prison.
Snakes and Euphemism.
Snakes should, of course, be addressed euphemistically as
" Maternal uncle," or " Rope," and if a snake bites you, you
'^ *' Popular Tales," ii. 385. ' Fuhrer, " Monumental Antiquities," 28.
» Hardy, " Manual of Buddhism," 146. * ** Oudh Gazetteer," i. 597.
Tree and Serpent Worship. 143
should never mention its name, but say, " A rope has touched
me." The Mirzapur Kharwdrs tell of a man who once came
on a Nigin laying her eggs. When she saw him she fell at
his feet and asked him to throw the eggs in a water-hole.
So he took up the eggs on a bamboo sieve and went with
her to the brink. The NAgin plunged in and said, " Do not
be afraid ! Come on ! " He followed her, the waters dried
up, and he came to the palace of the Ndg, who entertained
him royally, and offered to give him anything he wished.
The boor asked only for a pan, pot, and spoon, which the
Ndga gave him, and he came home to find his relations
doing the death ceremonies in his honour, believing he had
been carried off by a tiger. He said nothing of his adven-
tures till the day of his death, when he told the story. So
the N4ga in other tales of the same class blesses and rewards
the lucky man who has delivered the young snake from his
persecutors who caught him while in the upper air. So
in the Arabian Nights, the relations of JuUanar of the sea
show their gratitude to the king who is kind to her on
earth.
On the basis of the same idea which has been already
referred to in the case of the Churel, it is believed that if the
shadow of a pregnant woman fall on a snake it becomes
blind.^
The Snake Jewel.
The SQ^ke, like the **toad ugly and venomous," wears on
his head the Mani or precious jewel, which is a stock sub-
ject in Indian folk-tales. Thus, in one of Somadeva's
stories, "when Nala heard this, he looked round, and
beheld a snake coiled up near the fire, having his head
encircled with the rays of the jewels of his crest." * It is
sometimes metamorphosed into a beautiful youth ; it equals
the treasure of seven kings ; it can be hidden or secured
only by cowdung or horsedung being thrown over it ; and
if it is acquired the serpent dies. It lights the hero on his
' *' Panjib Notes and Queries," i. 15,
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 564 ; ii. 315.
144 Folk-lore of Northern India.
way to the palace under the sea where is the silver jewelled
tree ; or it is possessed by the sleeping beauty, who cannot
return to her home beneath the waters, and loses the hero
until it is recovered. Its presence acts as an amulet against
evil, and secures the attainment of every wish. It protects
the owner from drowning, the waters parting on each side
of him, and allowing him to pass over rivers dry-shod.*
The Rainbow and the Snake.
So the rainbow is connected with the snake, being the
fume of a gigantic serpent blown up from underground. In
Persia it was called the "celestial serpent." We have
already seen that the Milky Way is regarded as the path of
the Ndgas in the sky. It is possibly under the influence of
the association of the snake, a treasure guardian, that the
English children run to find where the rainbow meets the
earth, and expect to find a crock of gold buried at its base.*
The Household Snake.
The belief in the influence of the guardian domestic or
national snake is universal. When the Persians invaded
Athens the people would not leave the city till they learned
that the guardian snake had refused its food and abandoned
the citadel. A snake at Lanuvium and at Epirus resided in
a grove and was waited on by a virgin priestess, who entered
naked and fed it once a year, when by its acceptance or
reftisal of the offiering, the prospects of the harvest were
ascertained. The Teutons and Celts had also their sacred
guardian snake.
In the Panjib Hills, every householder keeps an image of
the N4ga or harmless snake, as contrasted with the Sdnp,
which is venomous. This snake is put iij charge of the
householder's homestead, and is held responsible that no
cobra or dangerous serpent enters it. It is supposed to have
1 Temple, "Wideawake Stories," 304, 424; "Panjib Notes and
Queries,'* i. 15, 76.
2 Sleeman, " Rambles," i. 42 ; Conway, " Demonology," i. 354.
IMAGE Of THE HOUSEHOLD SNAKE.
//. 144-
Tree and Serpent Worship. 145
the power of driving all cobras out of the place. Should
rain drive the house snake out of his hole, he is worshipped.
No image of a cobra or other venomous snake is ever made
for purposes of worship. Ant-hills are believed to be the
homes of snakes, and there the people ofifer sugar, rice, and
millet for forty days.* These correspond to the benevolent
domestic snakes, of whom Aubrey says that '' the Bramens
have them in great veneration ; they keep their corne. I
think it is Tavemier mentions it." '
They are, in fact, as we have already seen, the representa-
tives of the benevolent ancestral ghosts. Hence the deep-
rooted prejudice against killing the snake, which is both
guardian and god. " If," says Mr. Lang,' " the serpent were
the deity of an earlier race, we could understand the pre-
judice against killing it, as shown in the Apollo legend."
The evidence accumulated in this chapter will perhaps go
some way to settle this question, as far as India is con-
cerned.
* " Panj^b Notes and Queries/' iii. 92, 59.
' ** Remaines," 39. He perhaps refers to Tavemier, " Travels * Ball's
Edition), i. 42 ; ii. 249.
» •* Custom and Myth," ii. 197.
VOL. II.
CHAPTER III.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM.
Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum.
Cum faber Incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,
Maluit esse deum.
Horace f Sat. I. viii. 1-3.
" A TOTEM is a class of material objects, which a savage
regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists
between them and every member of the class an intimate
and altogether special relation." * As distinguished from a
fetish, a totem is never an isolated individual, but always a
class of objects, generally a class of animals or plants, rarely
class of inanimate objects, very rarely a class of artificial
objects.
Origin of Totemism.
As regards the origin of totemism great diversity of opinion
wxists. Mr. Herbert Spencer considers that " it arose from
a misinterpretation of nicknames ; savages first took their
names from natural objects, and then confusing these objects
with their ancestors of the same name, paid the same
respect to the material totem as they were in the habit of
doing to their own ancestors." * The objection to this is,
as Mr. Frazer shows, that it attributes to verbal misunder-
standings far more influence than, in spite of the comparative
m5rthologists, they ever seem to have exercised.
Sir J. Lubbock derives the idea from the practice of
naming persons and families after animals, but " in dropping
1 Frazer, " Totemism," i ; and his article on " Totemism," in " Ency-
clopaedia Britannica," ^th Edition
' " Principles of Sociology," i. 367.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. I47
the intermediate links of ancestor-worship and verbal mis-
understanding, he has stripped the theory of all that lent it
even an air of plausibility." *
Recent inquiries in the course of the Ethnographical
Survey of Bengal and the North- Western Provinces enable
us perhaps to approach to a solution of the problem.
To begin with, at a certain stage of culture the idea of the
connection between men and animals is exceedingly vivid,
and reacts powerfully on current beliefs. The animal or
plant is supposed to have a soul or spirit, like that of a
human being, and this soul or spirit is capable of transfer to
the man or animal and vice versd. This feeling comes out
strongly in popular folk-lore, much of which is made up of
instances of metamorphosis such as these. The witch or
sorcerer is always changing into a tiger, a monkey, or a fish ;
the princess is always appearing out of the aubergine or
pomegranate.
We have, again, the familiar theory to which reference
has already been made, that the demon or magician has an
external soul, which he keeps occasionally in the Life Index,
which is often a bird, a tree, and an animal. If this life
index can be seized and destroyed, the life of the monster is
lost with it.
These principles, which are thoroughly congenial to the
beliefs of all primitive races, naturally suggest a much closer
union between man and other forms of animal or vegetable
life than people of a higher stage of development either
accept or admit. With people, then, at this stage of culture,
the theory that the ancestor of the clan may have been a
bear or a tortoise would present no features of impro-
bability.
This theory accounts, as Mr. Frazer shows, for many of
the obscure rites of initiation which prevail among most
savage tribes and in a modified form among the Brihman-
ized Hindus. The basis of such rites is probably to extract
the soul of the youth and temporarily transfer it to the
totem, from which in turn fresh life is infused into him.
* " Origin of Civilization," 260, and Mr. Frazer's criticism, loc. cit.
L 2
148 Folk-lore of Northern India.
- Lastly, the result of the Indian evidence is that it is only
in connection with the rules of exogamy that totemism at
the present day displays any considerable degree of vitality.
The real basis of exogamy in Northern India seems to be
the totem sept, which, however, flourishes at the present
day only among the Drividian tribes and those allied to
them. But it would, it is almost certain, be incorrect to
say that while totemism is at present most active among the
Drdvidians, in connection with marriage, it was peculiar to
them. It is more reasonable to infer that it continues to
flourish among these races, because of their isolation from
Brahmanical influence. As among the inferior races of the
Gangetic valley, the primitive family customs connected
with marriage, birth, and death have undergone a process of
denudation from their connection with the more advanced
Hindu races which surround them, so to a large degree in
Northern India, the totemistic sept names have been
gradually shed off, and replaced by an eponymous, local, or
territorial nomenclature. In short, under the pressure of
higher culture, the kindred of the swan, turtle, or parrot
have preferred to call themselves Kanaujiya or " men of
Kanauj," Sarwariya or " residents of the land beyond the
Sarju river," and Raghuvansa or Bhriguvansa, " descendants
of the sages Raghu or Bhrigu.'^
We find, then, among such races, as might have been
expected, that at the present day the totemistic sept system
exists only in obscure and not easily recognizable forms.
Folk etymology has also exercised considerable influence,
and a sept ashamed of its totemistic title readily adopts
some title of the eponymous type, or a local cognomen
sounding something like the name of the primitive totem*
It is perhaps too much to expect that a careful exploration
of the sept titles or tribal customs of Northern India will
lead to extensive discoveries of the primitive totemistic
organization. The process of trituration which has affected
the caste nomenclature for such a lengthened period, and
the obscuration of primitive belief by association with more
cultured tribes, have been so continuous as to leave only a
■■■1^
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. I49
few fragments and isolated survivals ; but it is by a course
of such inquiry that the totemistic basis of the existing
caste system can alone be reached.
I have considered this question in the light of the most
recent evidence in another place/ and it is needless to repeat
the results which were there arrived at.
For the purpose of such an investigation it is convenient
to have some sort of working classification of the tests of,
and the forms in which, totemism usually appears. These
have been laid down by the late Professor Robertson-Smith
as follows : —
{a) The existence of stocks named after plants, animals,
or similar totems.
[b) The prevalence of a conception that the members of
the stock are of the blood of the eponym, or are sprung from
a plant, etc., of the species chosen as the totem.
{c) The ascription of a sacred character to the totem.
Stocks Named from Animals, Plants, etc.
First as to the stocks named from animals, plants, etc.
There are two divisions of the Pdra Brihmans of the
Dakkhin, known as Bakriydr and Chheriydr, founded on
the names of the male and female goat. In Upper India,
the Kdchhis or market gardeners, and the Kachhwdha sept
of RS.jputs allege that they take their names from the
Kachchhapa or tortoise, as the Kurmis refer their name to
the KOrma or turtle. The Ahban Rdjputs and the Ahiwisis
of Mathura connect their names with Ahi, the dragon.
The Kalhans Rdjputs derive their name from the Kilahans
or black goose. Among Brihmans and other high castes>
Bhiradvaja, " the lark, the bringer of food," has given its
name to many sections. Mr. Risley thinks that the fact of
there being a Kasyapa division of Kumhdrs or potters, who
venerate the tortoise, points to the name being a corruption
of Kachchhapa, the tortoise, in which case their name would
have the same origin as that of the Kdchhis already
mentioned.
* " Tribes and Castes," Introduction.
150 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Many people, again, claim kindred with the sun and
moon. Such are the Natchez of North America and the
Incas of Peru.* There are many children of the sun and
moon in Arabia,' and g3rpsies of the east of Europe have a
legend that they are descended from the sun and moon ;
the sun having debauched his moon sister, was condemned
to wander for ever, in consequence of which their de-
scendants can never rest.' So in India, the SArajbansi and
Chandrabansi Rijputs are said to take their names from
Si^raj, the sun, and Chandra, the moon, respectively.
According to Captain J. Montgomerie,* round Kashmir,
and among the aboriginal tribes of the Him&la3^n slopes,
men are usually named after animals, as the Bakhtiy&ris,
one of the nomad tribes of Persia, name their children
usually not after the Prophet, but after wild animals, such
as the wolf, tiger, and the like, adding some descriptive
epithet. In the same way a tribe of Lodi Pathdns in the
Panj&b are known as Nihar or " wolf." This is said to be
due to their rapacity, and may be as likely a nickname as a
survival of totemism.'
Totem Names among the Dravidians.
The evidence of this point is, as has been already said,
much more distinct among the Dravidians than among the
more Hinduized races. Details of such names among the
Agariyas, Nats, Baiswars, and Ghasiyas have been given in
detail elsewhere.* Thus, to take the Dhdngars, a caste in
Mirzapur, allied to the Ordons of Bengal, we find that they
have eight exogamous septs, all or most of which are of
totemistic origin. Thus, Ilha is said to mean a kind of fish,
which members of this sept do not eat ; Kujur is a kind of
jungle herb which this sept does not use ; Tirik is probably
> Frazcr, *' Golden Bough," i. 13, note.
- Robertson-Smith, " Kinship,*' 17.
» Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 90.
• Quoted by McLennan, *^ Fortnightly Review,'' 1869, p. 419.
• O'Brien, " Mult^ni Glossary," 260 so.
• " Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh,"
S.V.V.
TOTBMISM AND FETISHISM. I5I
the Tirki or bull sept of the OrAons. In Chota N&gpur,
members of this sept do not touch any cattle after their
eyes are open. It illustrates the uncertainty of these usaf;es
that in other places they say that the word Tirki means
^^ young mice/' which they are prohibited from using.^
Again, the Mirzapur sept of the Dhdngars, known as Lakara,
is apparently identical with that called Lakrar among the
Bengal Ordons, who must not eat tiger's flesh as they are
named after the tiger ; in Mirzapur they derive their name
from the Lakar Bagha, or hyaena, which they will not hunt
or kill. The Bara sept is apparently the same as the Barar
of the Orions, who wiU not eat the leaves of the Bar tree
or Ficus Indica. In Mirzapur they will not cut this tree.
The Ekka sept in Mirzapur say that this name means
*' leopard/' an animal which they will not kill, but in Chota
NAgpur the same word is said to mean " tortoise " and to be
a totemistic sept of the Ordons. So, the Mirzapur Dh&ngars
have a Tiga sept, which they say takes its name from a
jungle root which is prohibited to them ; but the Or&ons of
Bhigalpur have a Tig sept, which, according to them»
means '^ monkey." The last of the Mirzapur septs is the
Kh&ha, which, like the Khakkar sept of the Orions, means
" crow," and neither will eat the bird. Similar instances
might be almost indefinitely repeated from usages of the
allied tribes in Mirzapur and the adjoining Bengal Districts.
The Panjab Snake Tribe.
In the PanjAb there is a special snake tribe. They
observe every Monday and Thursday in the snake's honour,
cooking rice and milk, setting a portion aside for the snake,
and never eating or making butter on those days. If they
find a dead snake, they put clothes upon it, and give it a
regular funeral. They will not kill a snake, and say that its
bite is harmless to them. The snake, they say, changes its
form every hundred years, and then becomes a man or a
1 Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 254 ; Risley, " Tribes and Castes,'*
ii. 327-
152 Folk-lore of Northern India.
bull.' SO| in Senegambia, " a p}^hon is expected to visit
every child of the Python clan within eight da)^ after birth ;
and the Psylli, a snake clan of ancient Africa, used to
expose their infants to snakes in the belief that the snakes
would not harm true-born children of the clan."' So, in
Northern India the Bais RSjputs are children of the snake,
and supposed to be safe from its bite, and N&ga Rija is
the tribal godling of the B&jgis. There is a well-known
legend of a queen of India, who is said to have sent to
Alexander, among other costly presents, a girl, who, having
been fed with serpents from her infancy, partook of their
venomous nature. The well-known tale of Elsie Venner
has been already referred to in the same connection.
ToTEMisM IN Proper Names.
The subject of Indian proper names has not yet received
the attention it deserves. The only attempt to investigate
the subject, so far, is that of Major Temple.* In his copious
lists there is ample evidence that names are freely adopted
from those of animals, plants, etc. Thus we have Bagha,
" Tiger " ; Bheriya, " Wolf " ; BiUa, " Cat '' ; Ch6ha, " Rat,"
and so on from animals ; Bagla, " Heron " ; Tota, " Parrot,"
and so on from birds ; Ajgar, " Python " ; Mendak, " Frog " ;
Kachhua, " Tortoise ; " ; Bhaunra, " Bumble Bee " ; Ghun,
" Weevil " ; Dimak. " White Ant," etc. From plants come
B6ta, "Tree"; Harabansa, "Green Bamboo" (or more
probably Hari-vansa, " the genealogy of Hari " or Vishnu) ;
N!ma,"Nimtree''; Pipal, " Pipal tree ". ; Guliba, " Rose *' ;
Imliya, " Tamarind " ; Sewa, " Apple " ; Ilicha, " Carda-
mum " ; Mirchi, " Pepper " ; Bhutta, " Maize."
The evidence of nomenclature must, of course, be received
with caution. The essence of totemism is a confessed belief
in animal descent, a name declaring that descent and some
sacredness attached to the animal or other fancied ancestor.
Many of these names may be nicknames, or titles of oppro-
^ " Panjib Notes and Queries," ii. 91.
' Frazer, " Golden Bough," ii. 95.
' " Dissertation on the Proper Names of Panjibis," 155 sq.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 153
brium selected^ as we have already shown, to bafiSe the
Evil Eye or the influence of demons. Besides, as has been
pointed out, it does not necessarily follow because an English-
man lives in " Acacia Villa " or " Laburnum Cottage," and
calls his daughter " Rose " or " Violet," that he is in the
totemistic stage. At the same time, it is quite possible that
further inquiry will discover undoubted instances of totemism
in the nomenclature of Northern India, as is the case with
other races in a similar stage of culture.
Descent from the Totem.
We next come to Professor Robertson-Smith's second
test, the belief in descent from the totem. This branch of
the subject has been very faUy illustrated by Mr. Frazer.*
As in old times in Georgiana, according to Marco Polo, all
the king's sons were born with an eagle on the right shoulder
marking their royal origin,' so Chandragupta, king of
Ujjain, was the son of a scorpion. " His mother accident-
ally imbibed the scorpion's emission, by means of which she
conceived." ' The Jaitwas of Rdjput&na trace their descent
from the monkey god Hanumdn, and confirm it by alleging
that the spine of their princes is elongated like a tail. In
the RAmdyana, one of the wives of King Sdgara gives birth
to a son who continues the race ; the other wife produces an
Ikshviku, a gourd or cane containing sixty thousand sons.
The famous Chandragupta was miraculously preserved by
the founder of his race, the bull Chando.* The wolf is in
the same way traditionally connected with the settlement of
the Janwdr Rdjputs in Oudh, and they believe that the
animal never preys on their children. Every native believes
that children are reared in the dens of wolves, and there is a
certain amount of respectable evidence in support of the
belief.*
» ** Totemism," 3 sqq. « Yule, " Marco Polo,'' i. 52.
3 Hardy, ** Manual of Buddhism^*' 251.
* Max Miiller, "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," 290.
* "North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 10; ii. 215 ; iii. 144; Ball,
** Jungle Life," 455 sqq.
154 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Similar examples are numerous among the Dr&vidian
tribes. The Cheros of the Vindhyan plateau claim descent
from the N4ga or dragon. The R4ja and chief members of
the Chota Ndgpur family wear turbans so arranged as to
make the head-dress resemble a serpent coiled round the
skull, with its head projecting over the wearer's brow. The
seal of the Mahirdja and the arms of his family show as a
crest a cobra with a human face under its expanded hood,
surrounded with all the insignia of royalty. The Sant&l
legend ascribes the origin of the tribe to the wild goose, and
similar stories are told by the family of the RSja of Sinh-
bhdm, the Hos, the Malers, and the Kiirs.*
Special Respect Paid to the Totem.
Next come instances of special respect paid to the totem.
Some idea of the kind may be partly the origin of the
worship of the cow and the serpent. Dr. Ball describes how
some Kh&ndhs refused to carry the skin of a leopard because
it was their totem.^ The Kadanballis of Kanara will not
eat the S&mbhar stag, the Bargaballis the Barga deer, and
the Kuntiballis the woodcock. The Vaydas of Cutch
worship the monkey god whom they consider to be their
ancestor, and to please him in their marriage ceremony, the
bridegroom goes to the bride's house dressed up as a monkey
and there leaps about in monkey fashion.* It is possibly
from regard to the totem that the Parih&r Rijputs of
RSjputina will not eat the wild boar, but they have now
invented a legend that one of their princes went into a river
while pursuing a boar and was cured of a loathsome disease.^
There is a Celtic legend in which a child is turned into a
pig, and Gessa is laid on Diarmid not to kill a pig, as it has
the same span of life as himself.*^
The Bengal Biwariyas take the heron as their emblem,
and must not eat it.* The Orissa KumhArs abstain from
* Dalton "Descriptive Ethnology," 126, 162, 165 sq., 179 185, 209,
231, 265.
* "Jungle Life," 600. » Campbell. " Notes," 7.
* " RAjput&na Gazetteer," i. 223. * Rhys, " Lectures," 508.
* Dalton, loc, cit,y 327.
TOTBMISM AND FETISHISM. I55
eating, and even worship the S&l fish, because the rings on
its scales resemble the wheel which is the symbol of their
craft/ The peacock is a totem of the J4ts and of the
Khindhsy as the Yizidis worship the T&ous, a half mythical
peacock, which has been connected with the Phcenix which
Herodotus saw in Egypt.' The Parhaiyas have a tradition
that their tribe used to hold sheep and deer sacred, and used
the dung of these animals instead of cowdung to plaster
their floors. So the Kariyas do not eat the flesh of sheep,
and may not even use a woollen rug. The same prohibition
of meats appears to be a survival of totemism in Arabia.*
The Devak.
One of the best illustrations of this form of totemism is
that of the Devak or family guardian gods of Berdr and
Bombay. Before concluding an alliance, the Kunbi and
other Berar tribes look to the Devak, which literally means
the deity worshipped at marriage ceremonies; the fact being
that certain families hold in honour particular trees and
plants, and at the marriage ceremony branches of these
trees are set up in the house. It is said that a betrothal, in
every other respect irreproachable, will be broken off if the
two houses are discovered to pay honour to the same tree,
in other words if they worship the same family totem and
hence must belong to one and the same endogamous group.*
The same custom prevails in Bombay. "The usual
Devaks are some animals, like the elephant, stag, deer, or
cock, or some tree, as the Jambul, Ber, Mango, or Banyan.
The Devak is the ancestor or the head of the house, and so
families which have the same guardian do not intermarry.
If the Devak be an animal, its flesh is not eaten ; but if it
be a fruit tree, the use of the fruit generally is not forbidden,
though some families abstain from eating the fruit of the
tree which forms their Devak or badge."' Mr. Campbell
^ Risley, " Tribes and Castes," Introduction, xlvii.
2 Conway, " Demonology," i. 27 ; ** Herodotus,'* ii. 73.
« Dalton, loc, cit,y 131, note ; Ball, loc. cit.^ 89 ; Robertson-Smith,
•* Kinship," 306 sq.
* " Berdr Gazetteer," 187. » Campbell, "Notes," 8 sqq.
156 Folk-lore of Northern India.
gives numerous examples of these femily totems, such as
wheat bread, a shell, an earthen pot, an axe, a Banyan tree,
an elephant. Oil-makers have as their totem an iron bar,
or an oil-mill; scent-makers use five piles, each of five
earthen pots, with a lighted lamp in the middle. The
Bangars' Devak is a conch-shell, that of the Pardesi
R&jputs an earthen pot filled with wheat, and so on. Many
of these are probably tribal or occupational fetishes, of which
instances will be given in another place.
The Vahanas and AvatIras.
Some have professed to find indications of totemism
in the V4hanas and Avat&ras, the " Vehicles " and the
*' Incarnations " of the m5rthology ; but this is far from
certain. It has been suggested that these may represent
tribal deities imported into Hinduism. Brahma rides on the
Hansa or goose ; Vishnu on Garuda, half eagle and half
man, which is the crest of the Chandravansi Rdjputs ; Siva
on his bull Nandi; Yama on a buffalo; Kirttikeya on a
peacock ; KAmadeva on the marine monster Makara, or on
a parrot ; Agni on a ram ; Varuna on a fish. Ganesa is
accompanied by his rat, whence his name Akhuratha, " rat-
borne." This an ingenious comparative mythologist makes
out to represent " the pagan Sun god crushing under his
feet the mouse of night." * VS.yu rides on an antelope,
Sani or Safcurn on a vulture, and Durg4 on a tiger.
The same is the case with the Avatiras or incarnations of
the deities. Vishnu appears in the form of Vdrdha, the boar ;
Kurma, the tortoise; Matsya, the fish; Nara Sinha, the
man-lion; Kalki, the white horse. Rudra and Indra are
also represented in the form of the boar.
The Boar as a Totem.
How the boar came to be associated with Vishnu has been
much disputed. One and not a very plausible explanation
* Gubematis, '* Zoological Mythology,*' ii. 68 ; and see Lang, '* Custom
and Myth," 113.
TOTBMISM AND FETISHISM. I57
which has been suggested is that it is because the boar is a
destroyer of snakes/ We know that in R&jput&na there
was a regular spring festival at which the boar was killed
because he was regarded as the special enemy of Gaurf , the
Rijput tribal goddess.'
The comparative mythologists account for the spring
boar festival by connecting it with the ceremonial eating of
the boar's head at Christmas in Europe, as a symbol of the
gloomy monster of winter, killed at the winter solstice, after
which the days get longer and brighter.' Mr. Frazer
explains it by the killing of the Corn Spirit in the form of
the boar.^
But it is, perhaps, simpler to believe with Sir A. Lyall *
that " when the Brdhmans convert a tribe of pig- worship-
ping aborigines, they tell their proselytes that the pig was
an Avat&r of Vishnu. The Minas in one part of Rijpu-
t&na used to worship the pig. When they took a turn
towards Isldm they changed their pig into a saint called
Father Adam, and worshipped him as such." Mr. Frazer
has pointed out that the "customs of the Egyptians touching
the pig are to be explained as based upon an opinion of the
extreme sanctity rather than of the extreme uncleanness of
the animal ; or rather to put it more correctly, they imply
that the animal was looked on not simply as a filthy and a
disgusting creature, but as a being endowed with high super-
natural powers, and that as such it was regarded with that
primitive sentiment of religious awe and fear in which the
feelings of reverence are almost equally blended."
There are indications of the same belief in India. Thus,,
in Baghera " the boar is a sacred animal, and the natives
there say that if any man were to kill a wild boar in the
neighbourhood, he would be sure to die immediately after-
wards, while no such fatal result would follow if the same
man killed a boar anywhere else." * In the same way the
Prabhus of Bombay eat wild pork once a year as a religious
* Conway, ** Demonology/'>i. 144. ^ Tod, "Annals,'' i. 599,
• Gubematis, loc, city ii. 13. * ** Golden Bough,'' ii. 26 saq., 58.
^ *' Archaeological Reports/ vi. 135
* ** Asiatic Studies,'* 264. ^ ''Archaeological Reports, vi. 137^
158 Folk-lore of Northern India.
duty. The Vaddars of the Dakkhin say that they are not
troubled with ghosts, because the pork they eat and hang in
their houses scares ghosts. We know that among the
Drdvidian races and many of the menial tribes of Hindustan
the pig is the favourite offering to the local godlings and to
the deities of disease. Swine's teeth are often worn by
Hindu ascetics, and among the Kolarian races the women
are forbidden to eat the flesh. In Northern India the chief
place where the worship of Vishnu in his VarAha or boar
incarnation is localized is at Soron on the banks of the
Bdrht Gangi, or old Ganges, in the Etah District. The
name of the place has been derived from Sukarakshetra,
" the place of the good deed," because here Vishnu slew the
demon Hiranyakesu. It is certainly Sukarakshetra, "the
plain of the hog." *
Garuda, another of these vehicles, is the wonder-working
bird common to many mythologies — the Rukh of the
Arabian Nights, the Eorosh of the Zend, the Simurgh of the
Persians, the Anka of the Arabs, the Kargas of the Turks,
the Kirni of the Japanese, the Dragon of China, the Norka
of Russia, the Phoenix of classical fable, the Griffin of
chivalry and of Temple Bar.
From totemism we get a clue to many curious usages,
especially in the matter of food. From this idea probably
arose the unclean beasts of the Hebrew ritual. Many
Hindu tribes will not eat the onion or the turnip. Br4h-
mans and Bachgoti Rijputs object to potatoes. The
R&jputs place a special value on the wood of the Ntm tree ;
one clan alone, the RaikwArs, are forbidden to use it as
a tooth-stick. Some Kolarian tribes, as we have already
seen, reftise to use the flesh or wool of the sheep. The
Murmu, or Santils of the blue bull sept, will not eat the
flesh of that animal. The system of the Ordons is more
elaborate still, for no sub-tribe can eat the plant or animal
after which it is named. So, the Bansetti Binjhiyas, who
take their name from the bamboo, do not touch the tree at
a wedding ; the Harbans Chamltrs, who are said to be in
* Fiihrer, ** Monumental Antiquities," 88.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. 159
some way connected with a bone {hadda\ cannot wear bones
in any shape ; the Rikhiisan Chiks do not eat beef or pork ;
the Sanu&ni Dhenu&rs cannot wear gold ; the Dhanu&r
Kharijras cannot eat rice gruel. Numerous instances of
this kind are given by Mr. Risley.' The transition from
such observances and restrictions to the elaborate food
regulations of the modern castes is not difficult.
Fetishism Defined.
Fetishism is "the straightforward, objective admiration
of visible substances fancied to possess some mysterious
influence or faculty. . . . The original downright adoration
of queer-looking objects is modified by passing into the
higher order of imaginative superstition. First, the stone
is the abode of some spirit, its curious shape or position
betraying possession. Next, the strange form or aspect
argues some design or handiwork of supernatural beings, or
is the vestige of their presence upon earth, and one step
further leads us to the regions of mythology and heroic
legend." ' The unusual appearance of the object is thus
supposed to imply an indwelling ghost, without which
deviation from the ordinary type would be inexplicable.
Hence fetishism depends on animism and the ghost theory,
to which in order of time it must have succeeded.
Fetishism Illustrated in Afghanistan.
The process by which the worship of such a fetish grows
is well illustrated by a case from Afghanistan. " It is
sufficient for an Afghan devotee to see a small heap of stones,
a few rags, or some ruined tomb, something, in short, upon
which a tale can be invented, to imagine at once that some
saint is buried there. The idea conceived, he throws some
more stones upon the heap and sticks up a pole or flag ;
those who come after follow the leader; more stones and
* ** Tribes and Castes," ii. Appendix; Dalton, loc, cit, 162, note, 213,
254.
2 Lyall, "Asiatic Studies," 9 sq.
i6o Folk-lore of Northern India.
more rags are added ; at last its dimensions are so consider-
able that it becomes the vogue ; a Mullah is always at hand
with a legend which he makes or had revealed to him in a
dream ; all the village believe it ; a few pilgrims come ;
crowds follow ; miracles are wrought, and the game goes on,
much to the satisfaction of the holy speculator, who drives a
good trade by it, till some other Mullah more cunning than
himself starts a saint of more recent date and greater
miraculous powers, when the traffic changes hands." '
The same process is daily going on before our eyes in
Northern India, and it would be difficult to suggest anything
curious or abnormal which the Hindu villager will not adopt
as fetish.
The Lorik Legend.
The legend of Lorik is very popular among the Ahir tribe,
and has been localized in the Mirzapur District in a curious
way which admirably illustrates the principles which we have
been discussing. The story is related at wearisome length,
but the main features of it, according to the Shdhdbid
version, are as follows : Siudhar, an Ahir, marries Chandani,
and is cursed by Pdrvatt with the loss of all passion.
Chandani forms an attachment for her neighbour Lorik and
elopes with him. The husband pursues, fails to induce her
to return, fights Lorik and is beaten. The pair go and meet
Mahapatiya, a Dusadh, the chief of the gamblers. He and
Lorik play until the latter loses everything, including the
girl. She urges that her jewels did not form part of the
stake, and induces them to gamble again. She stands
opposite Mahapatiya and distracts his attention by giving
him a glance of her pretty ankles. Finally Lorik wins every-
thing back. The girl then tells Lorik how she has been
insulted, and Lorik with his mighty sword cuts off the
gambler's head, when it and the body are turned into stone.
Lorik had been betrothed to a girl named Satmandin>
who was not of age and had not joined her husband. Lorik
had an adopted brother named Semru. Lorik and Chan-
^ Ferrier, " Caravan Journey," i86.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. i6i
dani, after killing the gambler, went on to Hardoi, near
Mongir, where Lorik defeated a Rija and conquered his
country. Lorik was finally seized and put into a dungeon,
whence he was released by the aid of the goddess Durgi.
He again conquered the RSja, recovered Chandant, had a
son born to him, and gained considerable wealth. So they
determined to return to their native land.
Meanwhile Semru, Lorik's brother by adoption, had been
killed by the Kols and all his cattle and property were
plundered. Lorik's real wife, SatmanAin, had grown into a
handsome woman, but still remained in her father's house.
Lorik was anxious to test her fidelity ; so when she came
to sell milk in his camp, not knowing her husband, he
stretched a loin cloth across the entrance. All the other
women stepped over it, but the delicacy of Satman4in was
so excessive that she would not put her foot across it.
Lorik was pleased, and filling her basket with jewels,
covered them with rice. When she returned, her sister saw
the jewellery and charged her with obtaining them as the
price of her dishonour. She indignantly denied the accusa-
tion, and her nephew, Semru's son, prepared to fight Lorik
to avenge the dishonour of his aunt. Next day the matter
was cleared up to the satisfaction of all parties.
Lorik then reigned with justice, and incurred the dis-
pleasure of Indra, who sought to destroy him. So the
goddess Durgd took the form of his mistress Chandant and
tempted him. He succumbed to her wiles, and she struck
him so that his face turned completely round. Overcome
by grief and shame, he went to Benares, and there he and
his friends were turned into stone and sleep the sleep of
magic at Manikarnika Gh&t.
The Mirzapur Version.
The Mirzapur version is interesting firom its association
with fetishism. As you descend the MArkundi Pass into the
valley of the Son, you observe a large isolated boulder split
into two parts, with a narrow fissure between them. Further
on in the bed of the Son is a curious water- worn rock, which,
VOL. II. M
i62 Folk-lore of Northern India.
to the eye of faith, suggests a rude resemblance to a head-
less elephant. On this foundation has been localized the
legend of Lorik, which takes us back to the time when the
Aryan and the aboriginal Dasyu contended for mastery in
the wild borderland. There was once, so the tale runs, a
barbarian king who reigned at the fort of Agori, the frontier
fortress on the Son. Among his dependents was a cowherd
maiden, named Manjant, who was loved by her clansman
Lorik. He, with his brother S&nwar, came to claim her as
his bride. The Rdja insisted on enforcing the Jus primae
noctts. The heroic brethren, in order to escape this infamy,
carried off the maiden. The R&ja pursued on his famous
wild elephant, which Lorik decapitated with a single blow.
When they reached in their flight the M&rkundi Pass,
the wise Manjanl advised Lorik to use her father's sword,
which, with admirable forethought, she had brought with her.
He preferred his own weapon, but she warned him to test
both. His own sword broke to pieces against the huge boulder
of the Pass, but Manjant's weapon clave it in twain. So
Lorik and his brother, with the aid of the magic brand,
defeated the infidel hosts with enormous slaughter, and
carried off the maiden in triumph.
If you doubt the story, there are the cloven boulder and
the petrified elephant to witness to its truth, and both are
worshipped to this day in the name of Lorik and his bride
with offerings of milk and grain.
This tale embodies a number of incidents which con-
stantly appear in the folk-tales. We have the gambling
match in the Mahdbhirata and in the tale of Nala and
Damayanti, as well as in the Celtic legend of the young
king of Easaidh Ruadh.^ The magic sword and the various
fidelity tests appear both in the folk-tales of the East and
West.
1 Muir, " Ancient Sanskrit Texts," v. 425 sq. ; Lai Bihiri D^, " Folk-
tales ,'--'••
" Wideawake btories," 277 sqq. ;
\ of Bengal," 193 sq., 277 ; Temple, " Legends of the Panjib," 48 sqq. ;
ideawake Stories," 277 sqq. ; Campbell, " Popular Tales," i. 2 ;
Tawney, " Katha Sarit S&gara,^' ii. 323 ; and for fidelity tests, Grimm,
" Household Tales," i. 453 ; Tawney, loc. cit, ii. 601 ; Clouston, " Popular
Romances," i. 43, 173.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 163
Of living creatures turned into stone we have many
instances in connection with the PAndava legend, as in
Cornwall, the granite rocks known as the " Merry Maidens "
and the " Pipers " are a party who broke the Sabbath, were
struck by lightning, and turned into stone.*
JiRlYl BhavInI.
Of a similar type is Jirdyd Bhavdnt, who is worshipped
at Jungail, south of the Son. In her place of worship, a
cave on the hillside, the only representative of the goddess
is an ancient rust-eaten coat of mail. This gives her name,
which is a corruption of the Persian Zirah, meaning a coat
of armour. Close by is a little stream, known as the
Suaraiya, the meaning of which is, of course, assumed to
be " Hog river," from the Hindi SClar, a pig. Here we
have all the elements of a myth. In one of the early fights
between Hindu and Musalm&n, a wounded hero of Isl&m
came staggering to the bank of the stream, and was about
to drink, when he heard that its name was connected with
what is an abomination to the true believer. So he preferred
to die of thirst, and no one sees any incongruity in the fact
that the armour of a martyr of the faith has become a
form of the Hindu goddess. The shrine is now on its pro-
motion, and Jirdyd BhavAnt will be provided with a
Sanskrit etymology and develop before long into a genuine
manifestation of Kdli.
Village Fetish Stones.
It is hardly necessary to say that, as Sir J. Lubbock has
shown, the worship of fetish stones prevails in all parts of
the world.^ There is hardly a village in Northern India
without a fetish of this kind, which is very often not appro-
priated to any special deity, but represents the Grimadevata
1 Tylor, " Primitive Culture," i. 352, note ; " Wideawake Stories,"
419 sqq. ; ** Panjib Notes and Queries," iv. 201 ; Knowles, "Folk-tales
of Kashmir," 192 ; Tawney, loc, ciU, i. 123 ; Grimm, loc, cit, ii. 400 ; Hunt,
"Popular Romances," 178.
2 Also see Rhys, "Lectures,'' 206; Lang, "Custom and Myth," 52.
M 2
164 Folk-lore of Northern India.
or G&nw-devi, or Deohdr, the collective local divine cabinet
which has the affairs of the community under its charge.
Why spirits should live in stones has been debated. Mr.
Campbell perhaps presses the matter too far when he
suggests that stones were by early man found to contain
fire, and that heated stones being found useful in disease,
cooking, and the like may have strengthened the idea.
" The earliest theory was perhaps that as the life of the
millet was in the millet seed and the life of the Mango tree
was in the Mango stone, a human spirit could live in a rock
or a pebble. The belief that the soul, or part of the soul of
a man, lives in his bones, seems closely connected with the
belief in the stone as a spirit house. Probably it was an
early belief that the bones should be kept, so that if the
spirit comes back and worries the survivors he may have a
place to go to." *
It is quite possible that the worship of stocks and stones
may not in all places be based on exactly the same train of
ideas. To the ruder races,'the more curious or eccentric the
form of the stone is, the more likely it is to be the work and
possibly the abode of a spirit, and in a stoneless land, like
the Gangetic plain, any stone is a wonder, and likely to be
revered. The conception of the worshipper will always vary
in regard to it. To the savage it will be the actual home or
the occasional resting-place of the spirit ; to the idolater of
more advanced ideas it will be little more than a symbol,
which reminds him of the deity without shape or form whom
he is bound to worship.
Other fetish stones, again, by their form prove that they
are the work of another or a higher race. Thus, on the
village fetish mounds we often find the carved relics of some
Buddhistic shrine, or the prehistoric stone implements,
which were the work of a forgotten i>eople.
Lastly, many stones lend themselves directly to the needs
of the phallic cultus.
One form of stone is regarded with special reverence,
those that have holes or perforations. Among these may
1 "Notes," 163.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. 165
be mentioned the Silagrima, a sort of ammonite found in
the Gandak river, which has perforations, said to be the
work of the Vajrakita insect and hence sacred to Vishnu.
The story goes that the divine NArdyana once wandered
through the world in the form of the Vajrakita or golden
bee. The gods, attracted by his beauty, also took the form
of bees, and whirled about him in such numbers that Vishnu,
afraid of the consequences, assumed the form of a rock and
stopped the moving of Garuda and the gods. On this
Garuda, followed by all the gods, made each a separate
dweUing in the rock for the conversion of the infidels. So
the Cornish Milpreve, or adder stone which is a preservative
against vij)ers, is a ball of coralline limestone, the sections
in the coral being thought to be entangled young snakes.^ In
Italy, pieces of stalagmite full of cavities are valued as
amulets.
The respect for these perforated stones rests, again, on
the well-known principle that looking through a stone which
has a hole bored through it improves the sight.
All over the world it is a recognized theory that creeping
through the orifice in a perforated stone or under an arching
stone or tree is a valuable remedy in cases of disease. Mr.
Lane describes how women in Cairo walk under the stone
on which the decapitated bodies of criminals are washed, in
the hope of curing ophthalmia or procuring offspring. The
woman must do this in silence, and with the left foot fore-
most.^ In Cornwall, Mr. Hunt writes : " In various parts
of the country there are, amongst the granitic masses, rocks
which have fallen across each other, leaving small openings,
or there are holes, low and narrow, extending under a pile
of rocks. In nearly every case of this kind, we find it is
popularly stated that any one suffering from rheumatism or
lumbago would be cured if he crawled through the opening.
In some cases nine times are insisted on to make the charm
complete." ' So, walking under a bramble which has formed
a second root in the earth is a cure for rheumatism, and
^ Hunt, " Popular Romances/' 418. ^ " Modern Egyptians," i. 325.
* " Popular Romances," 177.
i66 Folk-lore of Northern India.
strumous children were passed nine times through a cleft
ash tree, against the sun. The tree was then bound up, and
if the bark grew the child was cured, if the tree died the
death of the child was sure to follow.*
In the same way at many shrines it is part of the worship
to creep through a narrow orifice from one side to the other.
At Kankhal, worshippers at the temple of Daksha creep
through a sort of tunnel from one side to the other. The
same is the rule at the temple at Kabraiya in the Hamlrpur
District, and at many other places of the same kind.^
The same principle probably accounts for the respect paid
to the grindstone. Part of the earliest form of the marriage
ritual consisted in the bride standing on the family grind-
stone. At the present day she puts her foot upon it and
knocks down little piles of heaped grain. It is waved over
the heads of the pair to scare evil spirits. In Bombay it is
said that sitting on a grindstone shortens life, and the
Kunbis of Koliba place a grindstone in the lying-in room,
and on it set a rice flour image of a woman, which is wor-
shipped as the goddess, and the baby is laid before it. Such
a stone readily passes into a fetish, as at Ahmadnagar, where
there is a stone with twjx^hojes, which any two fingers of
any person's hand can fill, and the mosque where it stands
is, in consequence, much respected.*
Much, however, of the worship of stones appears to be the
result of the respect paid to the tombstone or cairn, which,
as we have already said, keeps down the ghost of the dead
man, and is often a place in which his spirit chooses to
reside.
These rude stones are very often smeared with ruddle or
red ochre. We have here a survival of the blood sacrifice of
a human being or animal which was once universal/ Sutth
sacrifices rest on the principle that it is necessary to supply
attendants to the dead or to the tribal gods in the other
* ** Popular Romances," 412, 415.
2 Fiihrer, ** Monumental Antiquities," 173.
' " Bombay Gazetteer," xi. 56 ; xvii. 698.
* Robertson-Smith, ** Kinship," 49 ; Lubbock, ** Origin of Civilization,**
306 ; Tylor, ** Primitive Culture," ii. 164 ; Conway, " Demonology,*' ii. 284.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. 167
world ; and the commutation of human sacrifices, first into
those of animals, and then into a mere scarlet stain on the
fetish stone, is a constantly recurring fact in the history of
custom.^ It may be worth while to discuss this transition
firom the Indian evidence.
Human Sacrifice among the Indo-Aryans.
That human sacrifice prevailed among the early Aryans
in India is generally admitted. The whole question has
been treated in detail by that eminent Hindu scholar,
Rajendra L^a Mitra. He arrives at the conclusion that,
looking to the history of the ancient civilisation and the
ritual of the Hindus, there is nothing to justify the belief
that the Hindus were incapable of sacrificing human victims
to their gods ; that the Sunasepha hymns of the Rig Veda
Sanhita most probably refer to a human sacrifice ; that the
Aitareya BrAhmana refers to an actual and not to a typical
human sacrifice ; that the Parushamedha originally required
the actual sacrifice of men ; that the Taitareya BrAhmana
enjoys the killing of a man at the horse sacrifice ; that the
Satapatha Br&hmana sanctions human sacrifice in some
cases, but makes the Parushamedha emblematic ; that the
PurAnas recognize human sacrifices to ChandikA, but
prohibit the Parushamedha rite; that the Tantras enjoin
human sacrifices to ChandikA, and require that when human
victims are not available, an effigy of a human being should
be sacrificed to her.^
Human Sacrifice in the Folk-tales.
There is ample evidence from the folk-tales of the exist-
ence of human sacrifice in early times. We have in the
tales of Somadeva constant reference to human sacrifices
^ Spencer, ''^ Principles of Sociology," i. 268 ; Lang, " Custom and
Myth,*' i. 270.
' " Indo-Aryans," ii. 70 sqq. ; •* Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,*' 1876 ;
Max Miiller, " Ancient Sanskrit Literature,*' 408 sq. ; Muir, " Ancient
Sanskrit Texts," i., ii., passim \ Wilson, " Rig Veda," 1. 59, 63 ; " Essays,"
ii. 247 sqq. ; Atkinson, " Him&layan Gazetteer," ii. 800, 867.
i68 Folk-lore of Northern India.
made in honour of Chandika or Chdmundd. We find one
Muravara, a Turushka or Indo-Scythian, who proposes to
make a human sacrifice in memory of his dead father ; we
have expiatory sacrifices to ChandikA to save the life of a
king. In one of the Panjdb tales a ship will not leave port
till a human victim is offered. In one of the modern tales
we have an account of a man and his family who sacrifice
themselves before the god Jyoti Bara, " the great diviner/'
who is worshipped by the Sinsya gypsies.*
The folk-tales also disclose ample evidence of cannibalism.
The Magian cannibals of the Book of Sindibad used to eat
human flesh raw, and the same tale is told by Herodotus of
the Massagetae, the Padaei of India, whom Col. Dalton
identifies with the Birhors of Chota NAgpur, and of the
Essedones near Lake Moeotis.' It is needless to say that
Indian folk-tales abound with references to the same prac-
tices. We have cannibal RsLkshasas in abundance, and in
one of Somadeva's stories DevaswAmin, the Brahman, looks
out and finds his " wife's mouth stained with blood, for she
had devoured his servant and left nothing of him but the
bones." And in the tale of Asokadatta we have a woman who
climbs on a stake and cuts slices of the flesh of an impaled
criminal, which she eats.' In the Mahibhdrata we find the
legend of Kalmashapada, who, while hunting, meets Saktri^
son of Vasishtha, and strikes him with his whip. The in-
censed sage cursed him to become a cannibal. This curse was
heard by Viswamitra, the rival of Vasishtha, and he so con-
trived that the body of the king became possessed by a man-
eating R&kshasa. Kalmashapada devoured Saktri and the
hundred sons of Vasishtha, who finally restored him to his
original state. In a tale recently collected among the
DrAvidian M&njhis, a girl accidentally cuts her finger and
some of the blood falls upon the greens, whereupon her
* Tawney, ** Katha Sarit S^ara," i. 336 ; ii. 253, 338 ; Temple, " Wide-
awake Stories/' 147 ; Ul BihAri D6, " Folk-tales," 194 ; Miss Frere,
"Old Deccan Days," 6 ; " North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. iii, 129 j
iii. 105.
2 Burton, " Arabian Nights," iv. 376.
* Tawney, loc. «/., i. 212 ; ii. 616.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. 169
brothers, finding that it flavoured the mess, killed and
devoured her.*
Human Sacrifice in Modern Times.
Up to quite modern times the same was the case, and
there is some evidence to show that the custom has not quite
ceased.
Until the beginning of the present century, the custom of
offering a first-born child to the Ganges was common. Akin
to this is the Gangd JAtra, or murder of sick relatives on
the banks of the sacred river, of which a case occurred
quite recently at Calcutta. At Katwa, near Calcutta, a
leper was burnt alive in 1812 ; he threw himself into a pit
ten cubits deep which was filled with burning coals. He
tried to escape, but his mother and sister thrust him in
again and he was burnt. They believed that by so doing he
would gain a pure body in the next birth.' Of this religious
suicide in Central India, Sir J. Malcolm wrote : " Self-
sacrifice of men is less common than it used to be, and the
men who do it are generally of low tribes. One of their
chief motives is that they will be born RS.jas at their next
incarnation. Women who have been long barren, vow their
first child, if one be given to them, to Omkdr Mandhita.
The first knowledge imparted to the infant is this vow, and
the impression is so implanted in his mind, that years before
his death he seems like a man haunted by his destiny.
There is a tradition that anyone saved after the leap over
the cliff near the shrine must be made Rija of the place ;
but to make this impossible, poison is mixed with the last
victuals given to the devoted man, who is compeUed to carry
out his purpose.*
The modern instances of human sacrifice among the
KhAndhs of Bengal and the Mers of RAjputdna are suffi-
ciently notorious. It also prevailed among some of the
Drdvidian tribes up to quite recent times. The Kharw4rs>
^ ** North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 65.
' Ibid., ii. 22. ' " Central India," ii. 210.
170 Folk-lore of Northern India.
since adopting Hinduism, performed human sacrifices to
Kill in the form of Chandf. Some of our people who fell
into their hands during the Mutiny were so dealt with.
The same was the case with the Bhuiyas, Kh^ndhs, and
Mundas. Some of the Gonds of Sarguja used to offer
human sacrifice to Burha Deo, and still go through a form
of doing so/- There is a recent instance quoted among the
Tiyars, a class of boatmen in Benares ; one Tonurim sacri-
ficed four men in the hope of recovering the treasures of
seven Rajas ; another man was killed to propitiate a Rik-
shasa who guarded a treasure supposed to be concealed in a
house where the deed was committed.* About 1881 a village
headman sacrificed a human being to Kill in the Sambalpur
District, and a similar charge was made against the chief of
Bastar not many years ago.
Of the Karhfilda Brihmans of Bombay, Sir J. Malcolm
writes : ® " The tribe of Brihmans called KarhAda had for-
merly a horrid custom of annually sacrificing to their deities
a young Brahman. The Sakti is supposed to delight in
human blood, and is represented with fiery eyes and covered
with red flowers. This goddess holds in one hand a sword
and in the other a battle-axe. The prayers of her votaries
are directed to her during the first nine days of the Dasahra
feast, and on the evening of the tenth a grand repast is pre-
pared, to which the whole family is invited. An intoxicating
drug is contrived to be mixed with the food of the intended
victim, who is often a stranger whom the master of the
house has for several months treated with the greatest kind-
ness and attention, and sometimes, to lull suspicion, given
him his daughter in marriage. As soon as the poisonous
and intoxicating drug operates, the master of the house un-
attended takes the devoted person into the temple, leads him
three times round the' idol, and on his prostrating himself
1 Campbell, " Khondistdn," fassim; Frazer, *' Golden Bough," i. 384
sqq. ; " Rdjputina Gazetteer," li. 47 ; Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology,"
130, 147, 176, 285 sq., 281.
2 Chevers, " Medical Jurisprudence," 406, 411.
8 Campbell, " Notes," 339 ; Wilson, " Indian Caste," ii. 22 sq. ;
** Bombay Gazetteer," x. 114.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 171
before it, takes this opportunity of cutting his throat. He
collects with the greatest care the blood in a small bowl,
which he first applies to the lips of the ferocious goddess,
and then sprinkles it over her body ; and a hole having been
dug at the feet of the idol for the corpse, he deposits it with
great care to prevent discovery. After this the Karhdda
BrAhman returns to his family, and spends the night in mirth
and revelry, convinced that by the bloodthirsty act he has
propitiated the goddess for twelve years. On the morning
of the following day the corpse is taken from the hole in
which it had been thrown, and the idol deposited till next
Dasahra, when a similar sacrifice is made."
There seems reason to suspect that even in the present
day such sacrifices are occasionally performed at remote
shrines of K411 or Durg4 Devt. Within the last few years
a significant case of the kind occurred at Benares. There
are numerous instances from NepsQ.* At Jaypur, near
Vizagapatam, the Rdja is said, at his installation in 1861, to
have sacrificed a girl to DurgA.' A recent case of such
sacrifice with the object of recovering hidden treasure
occurred in Ber&r ; a second connected with witchcraft at
Muzaffamagar.* At Chanda and Lanji in the Province of
N&gpur there are shrines to K&li at which human sacrifices to
the goddess have been offered almost within the memory of
this generation.
Besides the religious form of human sacrifice in honour of
one of these bloodthirsty deities, there are forms of the
rite which depend on the mystic power attributed to human
flesh and blood in various charms and black magic.
In connection with human flesh a curious story is told
of a man who went to bathe in the Ganges, and met
one of the abominable Faqtrs known as Augars or Aghor-
panthis, who carry about with them fragments of a human
corpse. He saw the Faqir cut off and eat a piece of the
flesh of a corpse, and he then offered him a piece, saying
» Wright, " History," 11, note. « BaU, "Jungle Life," 580.
' "North Indian Notes and Queries,'' i. 112, 148. And for other in-
stances, see Balfour, •* Cyclopsedia," iii. 477 sqq.
172 Folk-lore of Northern India.
that if he ate it he would become enormously rich. He
refused the ghastly food, and the Faqlr then threw a piece
at him which stuck to his head, forming a permanent lump/
In one of the tales of Somadeva the witches are seen flying
about in the air, and say, " These are the magic powers of
witches' spells, and are due to the eating of human flesh."
In another the hero exchanges an anklet with a woman for
some human flesh.^
The same mysterious power is attributed to human blood*
The blood of the Jinn has, it is hardly necessary to say,
special powers of its own. Thus, in one of the Kashmir
stories the angel says: "This is a most powerful Jinn.
Should a drop of his blood fall to the ground while life is in
him, another Jinn will be quickly formed therefrom, and
spring up and slay you."* Bathing in human blood has
been regarded as a powerful remedy for disease. The Em-
peror Constantine was ordered a bath of children's blood,
but moved by the prayers of the parents, he forbore to apply
the remedy and was rewarded by a miraculous recovery. In
one of the European folk-tales a woman desirous of offspring
is directed to take a horn and cup herself, draw out a clot
of blood, place it in a pot, lute it down and only uncover it
in the ninth month, when a child would be found in the
pot. In the German folk-tales, bathing in the blood of
innocent maidens is a cure for leprosy.*
The same beliefs largely prevail in India. In 1870, a
MusalmsLn butcher losing his child was told by a Hindu
conjuror that if he washed his wife in the blood of a boy,
his next infant would be healthy. To ensure this result a
child was murdered. A similar case occurred in Muzaffar-
nagar, where a child was killed and the blood drunk by a
barren woman.^ In one of the tales of Somadeva the preg-
* " Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 75.
2 Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 157, 214.
3 Knowles, " Folk-tales," 2.
* Leland, "Etruscan Roman Remains," 294; Grimm, "Household
Tales," i. 396 ; Hartland, " Legend of Perseus," i. 98.
* " Report Inspector-General Police, N.-W.P., 1870," page 93 ; " Pan-
}kb Notes and Queries," ii. 205 ; iii. 74, 162 ; Chevers, ** Medical Juris-
prudence," 842, 396 ; Campbell, " Notes," 338.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. I73
nant queen asks her husband to gratify her longing by filling
a tank with blood for her to bathe in. He was a righteous
man, and in order to gratify her craving he had a tank filled
with the juice of lac and other extracts, so that it seemed
to be full of blood. In another tale the ascetic tells the
woman that if she killed her young son and offered him to
the divinity, another son would certainly be born to her.
Quite recently at Muzaffamagar a childless Jit woman was
told that she would attain her desire if she bathed in water
mixed with the blood of a Brahman child. A Hindu coolie
at Mauritius bathed in and drank the blood of a girl, think-
ing that thereby he would be gifted with supernatural
powers. It would be easy to add largely to the number of
instances of similar beliefs.^
Survivals of Human Sacrifice.
There are, in addition, numerous customs which appear
to be survivals of human sacrifice, or of the blood covenant,
which also prevailed in Arabia.* Among the lower castes
in Northern India the parting of the bride's hair is marked
with red, a survival of the original blood covenant, by which
she was introduced into the sept of her husband. We see
that this is the case from the rites of the more savage tribes.
Among the Kewats of Bengal, a tiny scratch is made on the
little finger of the bridegroom's right hand and of the bride's
left, and the drops of blood drawn from these are mixed
with the food. Each then eats the food with which the
other's blood has been mixed. Among the Santdls blood is
drawn in the same way from the little finger of the bride
and bridegroom, and with it marks are made on both above
the clavicle.*
Human Sacrifice and Buildings.
One standing difGiculty at each decennial census has been
the rumour which spreads in remote tracts that Government
^ " North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 148 ; iii. 71.
2 Robertson-Smith, " Kinship," 48 sq.
3 Risley, " Tribes and Castes," i. 456 ; Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology,*'
22a
174 Folk-lore of Northern India.
is making the enumeration with a view of collecting victims
to be sacrificed at some bridge or other building, or that a
toll of pretty girls is to be taken to reward the soldiery after
some war. Thus, about a fort in Madras it had long been a
tradition that when it was first built a girl had been built
into the wall to render it impregnable.^ It is said that a
R4ja was once building a bridge over the river Jargo at
Chun&r, and when it fell down several times he was advised
to sacrifice a Br&hman girl to the local deity. She has now
become the Mart or ghost of the place, and is regularly wor-
shipped in time of trouble.' In Kumaun the same belief
prevails, and kidnappers, known as Dokhutiya, or two-legged
beasts of prey, are said to go about capturing boys for this
purpose. In Kithiiwar, if a castle was being built and the
tower would not stand, or if a pond had been dug and would
not hold water, a human victim was offered.' The rumour
that a victim was required spread quite recently in connec-
tion with the Hughli Bridge at Calcutta and the Benares
water-works. The NarmadH, it was believed, would never
allow herself to be bridged until she carried away part of the
superstructure, and caused the loss of lives as a sacrifice..
At Ahmad&bid, by the advice of a Br&hman, a childless
V&nya was induced to dig a tank to appease the goddess
Sitald. The water refused to enter it without the sacrifice of
a man. As soon as the victim's blood fell on the ground,
the tank filled and the goddess came down from heaven and
rescued the victim.* In building the fort of Sikandarpur in
Baliya, a Brahman and a Dusadh girl were both immolated.*^
The Vadala lake in Bombay refused to hold water till the
local spirit was appeased by the sacrifice of the daughter of
the village headman. When the Shorkot fort was being
built one side repeatedly fell down. A Faqlr advised the
Rdja to put a first-born son under the rampart. This was
done and the wall stood. The child's mother went to Mecca,
and returned with an army of Muhammadans ; but they
» " Folk-lore," iv. 260.
2 " North Indian Notes and Queries/' iii. 40. ^ Ibid., 106.
* '* Bombay Gazetteer," ii. 349 ; xiv. 49.
^ Fiihrer, " Monumental Antiquities," 194.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. I75
could not take the fort. Then a Faqir transformed himself
into a cock and flew on the roof of the palace, where he set
up a loud crow. The Raja was frightened and abandoned
the place. As he was leaving it, he shouted, " Shame on
thee, O Fort ! to remain standing ! " and the walls at once
fell down.^
Modifications of Human Sacrifice.
There are also many instances of the transition from
human sacrifices to those of a milder form. Thus, when
Ahmaddbad was building, Minik Bdwa, a saint, every day
made a cushion, and every night picked it to pieces. As he
did so the day's work fell down. The Sultdn refrained from
sacrificing him, but got him into a small jar and kept him
there till the work was over.' The VilUlis of Pfina on the
fifteenth day after a death shape two bricks like human
beings, dress them, and lay them on a wooden stool. They
weep by them all night, and next day, taking them to the
burning ground, cremate them. Among the Telugu Br4h-
mans of Pdna, if a man dies at an unlucky time, wheaten
figures of men are made and burnt with the corpse. The
Konkani Marithas of Kanara on the feast of RaulnAth get a
man to cut his hand with a knife and let three drops of blood
fall on the ground.^ Formerly in HoshangdbAd, men used
to swing themselves from a pole, as in the famous Bengal
Charakh Pfiji. In our territories this is now uncommon, as
the village headmen being afraid of responsibility for an
accident, generally, instead of a man, fasten up a white
pumpkin, which they swing about.*
At the installation of a Bhuiya Rija, a man comes
forward whom the RAja touches on the neck, as if about to
* For similar instances see " Archaeological Reports," v. 98 ; " Bombajr
Gazetteer," XX. 144; "Folk-lore Records," iii. Part II. 182; " Oudh
Gazetteer," iii. 253; ** Indian Antiquary," xi. 117; "Calcutta Review,"
Ixxvii. 106; Lil Bihiri D^, "Folk-tales," 130; " Paniib Notes and
Queries," iii. 1 10 ; " North Indian Notes and Queries, ' ii. 27, 63, 93 ;.
Campbell, " Sant^l Folk-tales," 106.
* " Bombay Gazetteer," iv. 276. ^ « Campbell, " Notes," 348.
* " Settlement Report," 126.
176 Folk-lore of Northern India.
cut off his head. The victim disappears for three days ;
then he presents himself before the R&ja, as if miraculously
restored to life. Similarly, the Gonds, instead of a human
sacrifice, now make an image of straw, which they find
answers the purpose. The Bhuiyas of Keunjhar used to
offer the head of their prime minister to Thakurdnl MM.
She is now transformed into the Hindu Durga and accepts
a sacrifice of goats and sheep.* In Nepdl, after the Sithi
Jitra feast, the people divide into two parties and have a
match at stone-throwing ; formerly this used to be a serious
matter, and any one who was knocked down and fell into the
hands of the other side was sacrificed to the goddess Kankes-
wari. The actual killing of the victim, as in the case of
sacrifices to the goddess Bachhld Devi, has now been dis-
continued under the influence of British officers.' We shall
meet later on in another connection other instances of mock
fights of the same kind.
MOMIAt.
In connection with human sacrifice may be mentioned the
curious superstition about MomiM or mummy.
The virtues of human fat as a magical ointment appear all
through folk-lore. Othello, referring to the handkerchief
which he had given to Desdemona, says, —
'* It was dyed in the mummy which the skilful
Conserved of maidens' hearts.''
Writing of witches Reginald Scot says : " The devil teacheth
them to make ointment of the bowels and members of chil-
dren, whereby they ride in the air and accomplish all their
desires. After burial they steal them out of their graves and
seethe them in a cauldron till the flesh be made potable, of
which they make an ointment by which they ride in the air."
In Macbeth the first witch speaks of —
" Grease that sweaten
From the murderer's gibbet.'*
' Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology," 146, 281 ; Risley, "Tribes and
Castes," i. 115.
2 Wright, " History," 35 sq., 156, note, 126, 205, 265.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. 177
Indian witches are believed to use the same mystic prepara-
tion to enable them to fly through the air, as their European
sisters are supposed to use the fat of a toad.^ Human £a.t
is believed to be specially efficacious for this purpose. In
one of Somadeva's stories the Brihman searches for treasure
with a candle made of human fat in his band.' One of the
Mongol Generals, Marco Polo tells us, was accused of boiling
down human beings and using their fat to grease his
mangonels ; and Carpini says that when the Tartars cast
Greek fire into a town they used to shoot human fat with
it, in order to cause the fire to burn more quickly,'^ So, in
Europe a candle of human fat is said to have been used by
robbers with the Hand of Glory to prevent the inmates
waking, and on the Scotch border the torch used in the
mystic ceremony of " saining " was made from the fet of a
slaughtered enemy/
In India, the popular idea about Momiilt is that a boy, the
fatter and blacker the better, is caught, a small hole is bored
in the top of his head, and he is hung up by the heels over a
slow fire. The juice or essence of his body is in this way
distilled into seven drops of the potent medicine known as
Momidt.
This substance possesses healing properties of a super-
natural kind. Sword cuts, spear thrusts, wounds from
arrows and other weapons of warfare are instantly cured by
its use, and he who possesses it is practically invulnerable.
In Kumaun, this substance is known as N^riyan Tel or R4m
Tel, the "oil of Vishnu or Rima."
It is further believed that a European gentleman, known
as the Momiii-wila Sahib, has a contract firom Government
of the right of enticing away suitable boys for this purpose.
He makes them smell a stick or wand, which obliges them
to follow him, and he then packs them off to some hill station
where he carries on this nefarious manufacture.
As an instance of this belief, " A very black servant of a
1 Tawney, « Katha Sarit Sigara," ii. 594. 2 ibj^j^^ i ^q^
' Yule, " Marco Polo » ii. 165.
* Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,'' 54, 200 sqq.
VOL. II. N
178 Folk-lore of Northern India.
firiend of mine states that he had a very narrow escape from
this sahib at the Nauchandi fair at Meerut, where Govern-
ment allows him to walk about for one day and make as
many suitable victims as he can by means of his stick. The
S&hib had just put his hand in his pocket and taken out the
sticky which was dry and shrivelled and about a span long,
when the servant with great presence of mind held out his
hands and said, * Bos ! Bas ! ' * Enough ! enough ! ' Thus
intimidated, the Sahib went away into the crowd. In con-
nection with MomiHt, a lady here narrowly escaped a very
uncanny reputation. Some of her servants gave out that she
possessed a Momi&i stick, for which she had paid a hundred
rupees. On hearing this an inquiry was made which brought
out that the lady had missed a pod of vanilla about seven
inches long, of a very special quality, that she kept rolled up
in a piece of paper among some of her trinkets. The ayah
who mislaid it was scolded for her carelessness, and told that
it was worth more than she thought. She promptly put two
and two together. The shrivelled appearance which is sup-
posed to be peculiar to mysterious sticks, such as snake
charmers produce, the fuss made about it, and the value
attached to it convinced her that her mistress owned a
Momiai stick."*
These mystic sticks appear constantly in folk-lore. We
have the caduceus of Hermes, the rod of Moses, the staff of
Elisha, the wand of Circe, or of Gwydion or Skirni. In one
of Somadeva's tales the Kapilika ascetic has a magic stick
which dances. In one of the Kashmir tales the magic wand
placed under the feet of the prince makes him insensible,
when laid under his head he revives. Many people in
England still believe in the divining rod which points out
concealed springs underground.*
Every native boy, particularly those who are black and
fet, believes himself a possible victim to the wiles of the
dreaded MomiHl SUhib, who frequents hill stations because
* ** North Indian Notes and Queries/' i. 19a
« Miss Cox, " Cinderella," 485 ; Knowles, " Kashmir Tales," 199 ;
Clouston, " Popular Tales," i. 88 ; Rhys, " Lectures/' 241 ; Tawney,
" Katha Sarit Sigara," ii. 612.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 179
he is thus enabled to carry on his villainous practices with
comparative impunity and less danger of detection. Even
to whisper the word Momiil is enough to make the crowd of
urchins who dog the steps of a district officer when he is on
his rounds through a town, disperse in dismay. Surgeons
are naturally exposed to the suspicion of being engaged in
this awful business, and some years ago most of the coolies
deserted one of the hill stations, because an enthusiastic
anatomist set up a private dissecting-room of his own.
Freemasons, who are looked on by the general native public
as a kind of sorcerers or magicians, are also not free from
this suspicion. That such ideas should prevail among the
rural population of India is not to be wondered at, when in
our own modern England it is very commonly believed that
luminous paint is made out of human fat.^
The Danapurwala Sahib.
Another of these dreaded Sihibs is the DdnapurwAla
Sdhib, or gentleman from Dinapur. Why this personage
should be connected with Dinapur, a respectable British
cantonment, no one can make out. At any rate, it is
generally believed that he has a contract from Government
for procuring heads for some of the museums, and he too
has a magic stick with which he entices unfortunate
trrvellers on dark nights and chops off their heads with a
pa* of shears. The influence of these magic wands by
smelling may perhaps be associated with the fact that the
nose is a spirit entry, as we have seen in the case of sneezing.
Fetish Stones.
To return after this digression to fetish stones* Of
this phase of belief we have well-known instances in the
coronation stone in Westminster Abbey, which is associated
\ " Folk-lore Record/* iii. Part II. 283. For the commonplace Momiit
which is used as an application by women before parturition, see Watt's
"Dictionary of Economic Products," ii. 115.
N 2
i8o Folk-lore of Northern India,
with the dream of Jacob, and the Hajuru'l Aswad of Mecca,
which Sir R. Burton believed to be an aerolite. No one
will bring a stone from the Sacred Hill at Govardhan near
Mathura, because it is supposed to be endowed with life.
The Y4davas, who are connected with the same part of the
country, had a stone fetish, described in the Vishnu Purina,
which brought rain and plenty. There are numerous legends
connected with many of these fetish stones, such as that in
the temple of Daksha at Kankhal and Gorakhn&tha in
Kheri,* which are said to owe the fissures in them to the
blow of the battle-axe or sword of one of the iconoclast
Muhammadan Emperors. Of Gorakhn&tha it is said that
Aurangzeb attempted to drag up the great Lingam, and
failed to do so even with the aid of elephants. When he
came to investigate the cause of his failure, tongues of flame
burst from the bottom of the pillar.
The stalactites in the Behir Hills are regarded as the
images of the gods.' The pestle and mortar in which a
noted Darvesh of Oudh used to grind his drugs are now
worshipped, and a leading family in the Lucknow District
keep before their family residence a large square stone which
they reverence. They say that their ancestors brought it
from Delhi, and that it is the symbol of their title to the
estates, which were granted to them by one of the Emperors.
He enjoined them to take it as the foundation of their
settlement, and since that time each new Rija on his acces-
sion presents flowers, sweetmeats, and money to it.'
A great rock in the river above Badarindth, the famous
shrine in the Hills, is worshipped as Brahm Kap41 or the
skull of Brahma, and Nandi Devt, the mountain goddess of
the Himalaya, is worshipped in the form of two great stones
glittering with mica, and reflecting the rays of the sun.* At
Amosi in the Lucknow District they worship at marriages
and birth of boys the door-post of the house of an old
R&jput leader, named BinHik, who is honoured with the
* Fuhrer, ** Monumental Antiquities," 284.
^ Buchanan, " Eastern India/ i. 526.
' " Oudh Gazetteer," i. 303 ; ii. 415.
* Atkinson, " Himilayan Gazetteer,'* ii. 311, note, 792 sq.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. iSl
title of Biba or " father." ' At Deodhiira in the Hills the
grey granite boulders near the crest of the ridge are said to
have been thrown there in sport by the P4ndavas. Close
to the temple of Devi at the same place are two large
boulders, the uppermost of which is called Ransila, or " the
stone of battle," and is cleft through the centre by a deep,
fresh-looking fissure, at right angles to which is a similar
rift in the lower rock. A small boulder on the top is said
to have been the weapon with which Bhimsen produced
these fissures, and the print of his five fingers is still to be
seen upon it. Ransila itself is marked with the lines for
playing the gambling game of Pachfsi, which, though it led
to their misfortunes, the P&ndavas even in their exile could
not abandon. There are many places where the marks of
the hoofs of the horse of Bhimsen are shown.' ** One spot
on the margin of Lake Regillus was regarded during many
ages with superstitious awe. A mark, resembling in shape a
horse's hoof, was discernible in the volcanic rock ; and this
mark was believed to have been made by one of the celestial
chargers." '
Fetishes among the Santals.
The SantHls, like all uncivilized races, have a whole army
of fetishes. A round piece of wood, nearly a foot in length,
the top of which is painted red, is called Banhl, or ** the
protector of the jungle." Another stands for Laghfi, the
goddess of the earth, who is sometimes represented by a
mountain. An oblong piece of wood, painted red, stands
for Mahdmil, " the great Mother," Devi's daughter ; a small
piece of white stone daubed with red is BurhiyS. Mil, or
** the old Mother," her granddaughter ; an arrow-head
stands for D6dh4 M4t, "the milk Mother," the daughter
of Burhiya ; a trident painted red represents the monkey
god HanumAn, who executes all the orders of Devt. " Sets
of these symbols are placed, one on the east and one on the
1 "Oudh Gazetteer," i. 6i. ^ "Himalayan Gazetteer," ii. 282.
' Macaulay, ** Battle of Lake Regillus," Introduction.
i82 Folk-lore of Northern India.
west of their huts to protect them from evil spirits, snakes,
tigers, and all sorts of misfortune." ^
Very similar to this is the worship of Birn4th, the fetish
of the Mirzapur Ahirs. His platform, which is made of clay,
usually contains one, three, or five rude wooden images,
each about three feet high, with a rough representation of
a human face sculptured on the top. He was, it is said,
an Ahir who was killed by a tiger, and he is now worshipped
by them in times of trouble. His special function is to
protect the cattle from beasts of prey. The worshipper
bathes, plasters his platform with fresh clay, and laying his
offering on it, says : " BlrnHth ! Keep our cattle safe and
you will get more." The same form of worship prevails
all along the Central Indian Hills. " In the south of the
BhandHra District the traveller frequently meets with
squared pieces of wood, each with a rude figure carved in
front, set up close to each other. These represent Ban-
gardm, Bangard B4i, or Devt, who is said to have one sister
and five brothers, the sister being styled Kill, and four out
of the five brothers being known as Gantarim, Champarim,
Niikarim, and Potlinga. They are all deemed to possess
the power of sending disease and death upon men, and under
these or other names seem to be generally feared in the
region east of Nigpur, Bhimsen, again, is generally adored
under the form of one or two pieces of wood standing three
or four feet in length above the ground, like those set up
in connection with Bangardm's worship." "
Fetish Stones which Cure Disease.
Many of these stones have the power of curing disease,
and the water with which they have been bathed is con-
sidered a useful medicine. This is the case with a number
of sacred Mahideva Lingams all over the country. A
common proverb speaks of the old woman who is ready
enough to eat the Prasad or offering to the god, but hesitates
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology/* 220.
- " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 2,
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 183
to drink the water in which his feet have been washed. In
Western India no orthodox Br4hman will eat his food till he
has thrice sipped the water in which his Silagr&ma stone
has been washed.^ We have already noticed the fetish bowl»
the washings of which are administered by midwives to
secure easy parturition. So, in Western lands the stones
fetched by Merlin had the power of healing if washed in
water and the patient bathed in it.' Stone celts are, in
Cornwall, supposed to impart a healing effect to water in
which they have been soaked.' In Java a decoction of the
lichen which grows on fetish stones is used as a remedy for
disease.* In the Isle of Lewis cattle disease is attributed to
the bites of serpents, and the suffering animals are made to
drink water into which charm stones are put ; in the High-
lands large crystals of a somewhat oval shape were kept by
the priests to work charms with, and water poured thereon
was given to cattle as a preventative of disease.*
Fetish Stones the Abode of Spirits.
The virtue of all these fetish stones rests in their embody-
ing the spirits of gods or deified men. As we have shown,
this is a common principle of popular belief. In one of
Miss Stokes's Indian tales, " The man who went to seek his
fate," the fate is found in stones, some standing up and some
lying down. The man beats the stone which embodies his
fate because he is miserably poor. Mr. H. Spencer thinks
that the idea of persons being turned into stones may have
arisen from instances of actual petrifaction of trees and the
like ; but this is not very probable, and it is much simpler
to believe with Dr. Tylor that it depends on the principles
of animism.*
^ Campbell, " Notes,*' 30. - Rhys, " Lectures," 193.
* Hunt, " Popular Romances," 427.
^ Forbes, " Wanderings of a Naturalist," 103.
* Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 165 ; Brand,
*' Observations," 621.
« " Principles of Sociology," i. 109 sq., 310; Tylor, "Primitive Cul-
ture," i. 353.
i84 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Family Fetishes.
Some fetishes, like the Bombay Devaks, are special to
particular families. Such is the case with the ThUrus, a
non-Aryan tribe in the sub-Himilayan Tarii. Each member
of the tribe constructs a hollow mound in front of his door,
and thereon erects a stake of Paldsa wood {Butea frondosa),
which is regarded as the family fetish and periodically
worshipped.
Tool Fetishes.
Next comes the worship of the tool fetish, which, accord-
ing to Sir A. Lyall, is " the earliest phase or type of the
tendency which later on leads those of one guild or walk in
life to support and cultivate one god, who is elected in lieu
of the individual trade fetishes melted down to preside over
their craft or trade interests." ^
A good example of this is the pickaxe fetish of the Thags.
When K41t refused to help them in the burial of their
victims she ^ave them one of her teeth for a pickaxe, and
the hem of her lower garment for a noose. Hence the
pickaxe was venerated by the Thags. Its fabrication was
'superintended with the utmost care, and it was consecrated
with many ceremonies. A lucky day was selected, and a
smith was appointed to forge it with the most profound
secrecy. The door was closed against all intruders; the
leader never left the forge while the manufacture was going
on ; and the smith was allowed to do no other work until
this was completed. Next came the consecration. This
was done on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, and
care was taken that the shadow of no living thing fell upon
the axe. The consecrator sat with his face to the west, and
received the implement in a brass dish. It was then washed
in water which was allowed to fall into a pit made for the
purpose. Then further ablutions followed, the first in sugar
and water, the second in sour milk, and the third in spirits.
The axe was then marked from the head to the point with
* "Asiatic Studies/' 16.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 185
sev^n spots of red lead, and replaced on the brass dish with
a cocoanut, some cloves, white sandalwood, and other
articles.
A fire was next made of cowdung and the wood of
the Mango and Ber tree. All the articles deposited on the
brass plate, with the exception of the cocoanut, were thrown
into the fire, and when the flame rose the Thag priest passed the
pickaxe with both hands seven times through the fire. The
cocoanut was then stripped of its husk and placed on the
ground. The officiant, holding the axe by the point, asked :
" Shall I strike ? " The bystanders assented, and he then
broke the cocoanut with the blunt end of the weapon,
exclaiming, " All hail, Devi ! Great Mother of us all I " The
spectators responded, " All hail, Devt, and prosper the
Thags." If the cocoanut was not broken at one blow, all the
labour was lost ; the goddess was considered unpropitious,
and the entire ceremony had to be repeated. The broken
shell and kernel of the cocoanut were then thrown into the
fire, the pickaxe wrapt in white cloth was placed on the
ground towards the west, and all present prostrated them-
selves before it.*
Here we have another example of magic in its sympathetic
form, the use of sundry spirit scarers, which have been
already discussed, and the cocoanut representing an actual
human victim.
Weapons and Implement Fetishes.
In the same way soldiers and warlike tribes worship their
weapons. Thus, the sword was worshipped by the Rijputs,
and when a man of lower caste married a RAjput girl, she
was married, as in the case of Holkar, to his sword with his
kerchief bound round it* This sword-worship is specially
performed, as by the Baiswars of Mirzapur and the Gautam
sept of Rijputs. The Nepilese worship their weapons and
regimental colours at the Dasahra festival. At the Diw<,
1 •* Illustrations of the History and Practice of the Thags," 46 sqq.
* Tod, *• Annals," i. 615 ; " Panj^b Notes and Queries," iii. 221.
i86 Folk-lore of Northern India.
or feast of lamps, on the first day they worship dogs ; on
the second day cows and bulls ; on the third day capitalists
worship their treasure under the name of Lakshmt, the
goddess of wealth; on the fourth day every householder
worships as deities the members of his family, and on the
fifth day sisters worship their brothers.*
The same customs prevail among the artisan castes
in Northern India. The hair-scraper of the tanner is
worshipped by curriers, and the potter's wheel, regarded as
a type of productiveness, is reverenced at marriages by many
of the lower castes. Even the clay which has been mixed
by the potter has mystic powers. When a person has
been bitten by a mad dog, a lump of this clay is brought,
and the wound is touched with it while a spell is recited."
Carpenters worship their yard measure ; Chamdrs swear by
the shoemaker's last, and the children of the Darzi or tailor
are made to worship the scissors.
In Bengal, the Alakhiya sect of Saiva ascetics profess
profound respect for their alms-bag ; the carpenters worship
their adze, chisel, and saw; the barbers their razors, scissors,
and mirror. At the Sripanchamt, or fifth day of the month
of Mdgh, the writer class worship their books, pens, and
inkstand. The writing implements are cleaned, and the
books, wrapped in white cloth, are strewn over with flowers
and the leaves of young barley.*
The same customs prevail in Bombay. A mill is the
Devak or guardian of oil-makers ; dancing girls worship a
musical instrument; jewellers worship their pincers and
blowpipe ; curriers worship an axe, and market gardeners a
pair of scales.*
In the Panj&b, farmers worship their oxen in August,
their plough at the Dasahra festival, and they have a cere-
mony at the end of October to drive away ticks from their
cattle ; shepherds worship their sheep at the fiiU moon of
1 Oldfield, " Sketches," 344, 352.
^ " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 54.
» Wilson, "Essays,'' ii. 188; Risley, "Tribes and Castes," i. 16,67,
93. 451-
* Campbell, " Notes," 9.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 187
July ; bankers and clerks worship their books at the Diw<
festival ; grain-sellers worship their weights at the Dasahra,
Diw&lfy and Holi, and, in a way, eveiy morning as well
Oilmen worship their presses at odd times ; artisans salute
their tools daily when they bathe ; and generally the means
of livelihood, whatever they may be, are worshipped with
honour at the Diw&li, Dasahra, and Holi.' So the Pokharna
Br&bmans, who are said to have been the navvies who
originally excavated the lake at Pushkar, worship in
memory of this the Kud&la, or mattock.'
All these customs are as old as the time of the Chaldeans,
" who sacrifice unto their net and burn incense unto their
drag, because by them their portion is fat and their meat
plenteous." *
Among these implement fetishes the corn-sieve and the
plough, the basket, the broom, and the rice-pounder are of
special importance.
The Corn-sieve.
The corn-sieve or winnowing basket, the Mystica vannus
lacchi of Virgil, has always enjoyed a reputation as an
emblem of increase and prosperity, and as possessing
magical powers. The witch in Macbeth says : —
*' Her husband's to Aleopo gone, Master of the Tiger;
But in a sieve Til thither sail"
It was used in Scotland to foretell the future at AUhallow
Eve. Divination was performed with a pair of shears and a
sieve. Aubrey describes how "the shears are stuck in a
sieve, and the maidens hold up the sieve with the top of
their fingers by the handle of the shears, then say, * By
St. Peter and St. Paul, he hath not stolen it.' After many
adjurations the sieve will turn at the name of the thief." *
In India the sieve is the first cradle of the baby, and in
* " Panjib Notes and Queries," ii. 20 sq., 93.
2 Tod, "Annals,'' ii. 320.
' Habakkuk i. 16; Isaiah xxi. 5.
* Dyer, ** Popular Customs," 400 ; Brand, " Observations," 209, 773 ;
Aubrey, •* Remaines," 25.
i88 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Bombay the winnowing fan in which a newly-born child is
laid is used on the fifth day for the worship of Satv&i. This
makes it impure, and it is henceforward used only for the
house sweepings. In Northern India, when a mother has
lost a child, she puts the next in a sieve and drags it about,
calling it Kadheran or Ghasttan, *' the dragged one," so as
to baffle the Evil Eye by a pretence of contempt.
All through Upper India, at low-caste marriages, the
bride's brother accompanies the pair as they revolve in the
marriage shed, and sprinkles parched grain over them out
of a sieve as a charm for good luck and a means of scaring
the demon which causes barrenness. So Irish brides in old
times used to be followed by two attendants bearing high
over the heads of the couple a sieve filled with meal, a sign
of the plenty that would be in the house, and an omen of
good luck and the blessing of children.* We have already
seen that this rite survives in the custom of flinging rice
over the newly-married pair as they leave for the honey-
moon.
This habit of scaring the spirits of evil by means of the
sieve appears in a special usage at the Diwdli festival. Very
early in the morning the house-mother takes a sieve and a
broom, and beats them in every corner of the house, ex-
claiming, " God abide, and poverty depart ! " The fan is
then carried outside the village, generally to the east or
north, and being thrown away, is supposed, like the scape-
goat, to bear away with it the poverty and distress of the
household. The same custom prevails in Germany. The
Posterli is imagined to be a spectre in the shape of an old
woman. In the evening the young fellows of the village
assemble, and with loud shouts and clashing of tins, ring-
ing of cow-bells and goat-bells, and cracking of whips,
tramp over hill and dale to another village, where the young
men receive them with like uproar. One of the party re-
presents the Posterli, or they draw it in a sledge in the
shape of a puppet, and leave it standing in a corner of the
1 Udy Wilde, "Legends/' 1 16.
TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM. 189
other village. In the same way the Eskimo drive the demon
Tuna out of their houses.'
Among the Kols, when a vacancy occurs in the office of
the village priest, the winnowing fan with some rice is used»
and by its magical power it drags the person who holds it
towards the individual on whom the sacred mantle has
fallen. The same custom prevails among the OrAons.'
The Greeks had a special name, Koskinomantis, for the
man who divined in this way with the sieve, and the practice
is mentioned by Theocritus.' The sieve is very commonly
used in India as a rude form of the planchette. Through
the wicker-work of the raised side or back a strong
T-shaped twig is fixed, one end of which rests on the
finger. A question is asked, and according as the sieve
turns to the right or left, the answer is " Yes " or " No."
This is exactly what is known as " Caufif-riddling " in
Yorkshire and Scotland.* In the eastern districts of the
North- Western Provinces, when the Ojha or "cunning
man " is called in to cure disease, or possession by evil
spirits, he puts some sesamum into a sieve, shakes it about,
and then proceeds to identify the ghost concerned by count-
ing the number of grains which remain stuck between the
reeds. At a Santal cremation, a man takes his seat near
the ashes, and tosses rice on them with a winnowing fan
till a frenzy appears to seize him, and he becomes inspired
and says wonderful things.*
It is one of the curiosities of comparative folk-lore that
this instrument should be credited with magical powers all
over two continents.*
The winnowing basket, again, perhaps from its associa-
^ Grimm, " Teutonic Mythology," 934 ; Frazer, ** Golden Bough," ii.
164.
2 Dalton, *' Descriptive Ethnology," 187, note, 247.
> " Idylls,'' iii. 31.
* Henderson, *' Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 52; Gregor,
" Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,'' 43, 92.
* Dalton, he. at, 218.
« "Academy," 23rd July, 1887; "Gentleman's Magazine," July, 1887 ;
Henderson, ioc, «/., 233; Brand, "Observations," 233; Lady Wilde,
" Legends," 207.
igo Folk-lore of Northern India,
^. tion, like the winnowing fan, with the sacxed grain, has
? mystic powers. In Scotland it was used in the rite of
creeling as a means of scaring barrenness. " The young
^ wedded pair, with their friends, assemble in a convenient
. spot. A small creel or basket is prepared for the occasion,
into which they put some stones; the young men carry it
alternately, and allow themselves to be caught by the
maidens, who have a kiss when they succeed. After a great
/ deal of innocent mirth and pleasantry, the creel falls at
length to the young husband's share, who is obliged
generally to carry it for a long time, none of the young
^ women having compassion upon him. At length his fair
■ mate kindly relieves him from his burden ; and her com-
. plaisance, in this particular, is considered as a proof of her
satisfaction at the choice she has made.* "
In Bengal, at the full moon immediately following the
DurgA P6j&, the festival of Lakshmt, the goddess of wealth,
is held. In every Hindu house a basket, which serves as
the representative of prosperity, is set up and worshipped.
This basket, or corn measure, is filled with paddy, encircled
with a garland of flowers, and covered with a piece of cloth.
They sit up all night and watch for Lakshmi to arrive, and
any negligence in watching is believed to bring misfortune
on the family.^
The Broom.
The same idea applies to the broom used in sweeping the
house or collecting the grain on the threshing-floor. We
have already seen the use of it to drive out poverty.
" Pythagoras warned his followers against stepping over a
broom. In some parts of Bavaria, housemaids in sweeping
out the house are careful not to step over the broom for
fear of the witches. Again, it is a Bavarian rule not to step
< over a broom while a confinement is taking place in a
house ; otherwise the birth will be tedious, and the child
will always remain small with a large head. But if anyone
1 Brand, " Observations," 354. * " Calcutta Review," xviii. 60.
TOTEMISM AND FeTISHISM. IQX
has stepped over a broom inadvertently, he can undo the
spell by stepping backwards over it again." * So, in Bombay,
they say you should never step over a broom, or you will
cause a woman to suffer severely in childbed.
In Bombay, some old Hindu woman, to cure a child
affected by the Evil Eye, waves salt and water round its
face and strikes the ground with a broom three times ; and
among the Bani IsrAlls of Bombay, when the midwife drives
off the blast of the Evil Eye, she holds in her left hand a.
shoe, a winnowing fan, and a broom.' In Italy, the broom
is an old Latin charm against sorcery. The Beriyas, a
gypsy tribe of the Ganges-Jumna Du&b, drive off the disease
demon with a broom. In Oudh, it is said, when a broom-
stick has been done with, it should always be laid down, and
not left standing. Mahli-Brihmans, who gain by officiating
at funeral ceremonies, are alleged to violate this rule in order
to cause deaths.'
The Rice-pounder.
The rice-pounder, too, has magical powers. We have
seen that it is one of the articles waved round the heads of
the bride and bridegroom to scare evil spirits. In Bengal,
it is worshipped when the child is first fed with grain. And
there is a regular worship of it in the month of Baisikh, or
May. The top is smeared with red lead, anointed with oil,
and offerings of rice and holy Dfirva grass made to it. The
worship has even been provided with a Brahmanical legend..
A Guru once ordered his disciple to pronounce the word
Dhenk at least one hundred and eight times a day. Nirada
Muni was so pleased with his devotion, as he is the patron
deity of the rice-pounder, that he paid him a visit riding on
one, and carried off his votary to heaven.*
1 "Folk-lore," i. 157; ii. 293. « Campbell, ** Notes," 53.
^ " Panj^b Notes and Queries/' iii. 202 ; Leland, " Etruscan Roman.
Remains," 79.
* " Calcutta Review," xviii. 51.
192 Folk-lore of Northern India.
The Plough.
Next comes the plough as a fetish. The carrying about
of the plough and the prohibition common in Europe against
moving it on Shrove Tuesday and other holidays have, like
many other images of the same class, been connected with
Phallicism.^ But, considering the respect which an agri-
cultural people would naturally pay to the chief implement
used in husbandry, it is simpler to class it with the other
tool fetishes of a similar kind. In India, as in Europe on
Plough Monday,* there is a regular worship of the plough at
the end of the sowing season, when the beam is coloured
with turmeric, adorned with garlands, and brought home
from the field in triumph. After that day it is considered
unlucky to use it or lend it. The beam is put up in the
village cattle track when rinderpest is about, as a charm to
drive away the disease. Among some castes the polished
share is fixed up. in the marriage shed during the ceremony.
Among the Ordons, the bride and bridegroom are mad« to
stand on a curry stone, under which is placed a sheaf of corn
resting on the plough yoke, and among the same people
their god Darha is represented by a plough-share set upon
an altar dedicated to him.^ Here we have the mystic
influence of grain and iron combined with the agricultural
implement fetish.
Fire.
Fire is undoubtedly a very ancient Hindu protective
fetish, and its virtue as a scarer of demons is very generally
recognized. One of the earliest legends of the Hindu race
is that recorded in the Rig Veda, where Agni, the god of
fire, conceal^ Jii.Qiself in heaven, was brought down to
earth by M^atarisvan, and made over to the princely tribe of
Bhrigu, in which we have the Oriental version of the myth
of Prometheus. In the Vedas, Agni ranks next to the Rain
god, and takes precedence of every other god in connection
* Cox, " Mythology of the Aryan Nations," ii. 119, note.
2 Chambers, " Book of Days," i. 94 sq,
• Dalton, loc. cit^ 252, 258.
PRIESTS OF THE SACRED FIRE.
//. 193.
TOTEMISU AKD FETISHISM. Z93
with sacrificial rites. Even the Son godling is regarded as
a form of the heavenly fire. One of the titles of Agni is
Pramantha, because on each occason when he was required
he was summoned by the firiction of the Arant^ or sacred fi^-
drill. This word Pramantha is probably the equivalent of
the Prometheus of the Greeks.
Origin of Fire-worship.
According to Dr. Tylor, " the real and absolute worship
of fire falls into two great divisions, the first belonging to
fetishism, the second to polytheism proper, and the two
apparently representing an earlier and later stagp of
theological ideas. The first is the rude, barbarous adora-
tion of the actual flame which he watches writhing, devour-
ing, roaring like a wild animal ; the second belongs to an
advanced generalization that any individual fire is a
manifestation of one general elemental being, the fire god." '
In a tropical country it would naturally be associated with
the worship of the sun, and with that of the sainted dead
as the medium by which the spirit wings its way to the other
world. Among many races fire is provided for the ghost
after interment, to enable it to warm itself and cook its food.
As Mr. Spencer points out, the grave fire would tend to
develop into kindred religious rites.* *^
The Sacred Fire.
But it is almost certainly erroneous to class the sacred
fire as an institution peculiar to the so-called Aryan races.
The Homa is, of course, one of the most important elements
of the modern Hindu ritual ; but at the same time it pre-
vails extensively as a means of propitiating the local or
village godlings among many of the Drividian races, who are
quite as likely to have discovered for themselves the mystical
art of fire production by mechanical means, as to have
1 "Primitive Culture," ii. 277.
2 " Principles of Sociology," i. 158, 273.
VOL. II.
194 Folk-lore of Northebu* India.
adopted it by a process of conscious or unconscious imitation
from the usages of their Hinda neighbours.
The production of fire by means of friction is a discovery
which would naturally occnr to jungle races, who must
have constantly seen it occur by the ignition of the bamboo
stalks rubbed together by the blasts of summer. From this
would easily be developed the very primitive fire-drill or
Asgara, used to this day by the Cheros, Korwas, Bhiliyas
and other DrAvidian dwelliers in the jungle. These people
even to the present day habitually produce fire in this way.
A small round cavity is made in a dry piece of bamboo, in
which two men alternately with their open hands revolve
a second pointed piece of the wood of the same tree.
-Smoke and finally fire are rapidly produced in this way,
and the sparks are received on a dry leaf or other suitable
tinder. The use of the flint and steel is also common, and
was possibly an early and independent invention of the
same people. Even to the present day in some of their
more secret worship of the village godlings of disease, fire
is produced for the fire sacrifice by this primitive method.
The Fire-drill.
What has been called the Aryan fire-drill, the Arani,
which in one sense means " foreign " or "strange," and in
another ** moving" or "entering," "being inserted," is not
apparently nowadays used in the ordinary ritual for the
production of fire for the Homa or fire sacrifice. The rites*
connected with the sacred fire have been given in detail in
another place.^ In Northern India, at least, the production
of the sacred fire has become the speciality of one branch of
the Br^hmans, the Gujardti, who are employed to conduct
certain special services occasionally conducted at large cost
by wealthy devotees, and known as Jag or Yaksha, in the
sense of some particular religious rite.
The Arani in its modern form consists of five pieces.
The Adhararanl is the lower bed of the instrument, and is
» " Tribes and Castes of the N.-W.P. and Oudh," s.v. " Agnihotri."
TOTEMISM AtlD FeTISHISM. I95
usually made of the hard wood of the Khadira or Khair —
Acacia catechu. In this are bored two shallow holes, one,
the Carta, a smdl shallow round cavity, in which the
plunger or revolving drill works and produces fire by friction.
Close to this is a shallow oblong cavity, known as the Yont
or matrix, in which combustible tinder, generally the husk
of the cocoanut, is placed, and in which the sparks and
heated ashes are received and ignited. The upper or
revolving portion of the drill is known as Uttararanl or
Pramantha. This consists of two parts, the upper portion
a piece of hard, round wood which one priest revolves with
a rope or cord known as Netra. This part of the implement
is known as Mantha or " the churner." It has a socket at
the base in which the Sanku, a spike or dart, is fixed.
This Sanku is made of a softer wood, generally that of the
Ptpal, or sacred fig tree, than the Adhararant or base ; and
each Aran! is provided with several spare pieces of fig wood
for the purpose of replacing the Sanku, as it becomes
gradually charred away by frictio^. The last piece is the
Upamantha or upper churner, which is a flat board with a
socket. This is pressed down by one priest, so as to force
the Sanku deep and hard into the Carta or lower cavity,
and to increase the resistance.
The working of the implement thus requires the labour
of two priests, one of whom presses down the plunger, and
the other who revolves the drill rapidly by means of the
rope. It is not easy to obtain specimens of the implement,
which is regarded as possessing mystical properties, and the
production of the sacred fire is always conducted in secret.. .
We have in one of the African folk-tales aTeference to
the production of the fire by friction, in which the hyaena
gets his ear burnt.i In one of the tales of Somadeva we
read, ** Then the Brdhman blessed the king and said to him,
' I am a Brahman named Niga Sarman, and bear the fruit,
I hope, from my sacrifice. When the god of fire is pleased
with this Vilva sacrifice, then Vilva firuits of gold will come
out of the fire cavity. Then the god of fire will appear in
^ Grimm, " Household Tales,*' ii. 547.
O 2
jg6 Folk-lore of Northern Ikdia,
bodily foritiy and grant me a boon, and so I have spent
much time in offering Vilva fruits/ Then the seven^rarod^.
god appeared from the sacrificial cavity, bringing the king
a golden Vilva fruit of his tree of valour." *
N The Agnikunda, the hole or enclosed space for the sacred
fire, out of which, according to the popular legend, various
^ Rajput tribes were produced, is thus probably derived from
the Carta or pit out of which the sparks fly in the fire-
drill.
The Agnihotri Br&hman has to take particular care to
preserve the germ of the sacred fire, as did the Roman
vestal virgins. It is in charge of the special guardians at
some shrines, such as those of Sambhundth and Kharg
Jogini at NepAl.'
The Muhammadan Sacred Fire.
But it is not only in the Hindu ritual that the sacred fire
holds a prominent place. Thus, in ancient Ireland, the
sacred fire was obtained by the friction of wood and the
striking of stones, and it was supposed " that the spirits of
fire dwelt in these objects, and when the priests invoked
them to appear, they brought good luck to the household
for the coming year, but if invoked by other hands on that
special day, their influence was malific." '
So, among the Muhammadans in the time of Akbar, " at
) noon^of the day when the sun enters the 19th degree of
Aries, the whole world being surrounded by the light, they
expose a round piece of a white shining stone, called in
Hindi Sftrajkrant.* A piece of cotton is then held near it,
which catches fire from the heat of the stone. The celestial
fire is committed to the care of proper persons." * Perhaps
1 Tawney, " Katha Sarit S&gara/' i. 322.
« Oldfield, " Sketches/' ii. 242 ; Wright, " History," 35 ; and compare
Prescott, " Peru," i. chap. 3 ; Lubbock, "Origin of Civilization," 312.
» Lady Wilde, ''Legends," 126.
* Abul Fazl appears to have confused Suraj Sankrinti or the entrance
of the sun into a constellation with SClrya-K^ta or ** sun-beloved,'' the
sun-crystal or lens, which gives out heat when exposed to the rays of the
sun.
* Blochmann, ^ Ain-i- Akbari," i. 48.
TOTBMISM AND FBTISHISM. IQ/
the best example of the Mnhammadan sacred fire is that
at the Im&mbdra at Gorakhpur. There it was first started
by a renowned Shiah Faqtr, named Roshan 'Ali, and has
been maintained unquenched for more than a hundred
years, a special body of attendants and supplies of wood
being provided for it. There seems little reason to believe
that the fire is a regular Muhammadan institution ; it has
probably arisen firom an imitation of the customs of the
Hindu Jogis.
It is respected both by Hindus and Musalm&ns, and as in
the case of the fires of the same kind, maintained by many
noted Jogis^ its ashes have a reputation as a cure for fever.
We shall meet with the same belief of the curative effects of
the ashes of the sacred fire in the case of the Holi. The ashes
of the Jogi*s fire form a part of many popular charms. In
Italy, the holy log burnt on Christmas Eve, which corre*
spends to the Yule log of the North of Europe, is taken with
due observances to the Faunus, or other spirits of the forest.*
In Ireland part of the ashes from the bonfire on the 24th of
June is thrown into sown fields to make their produce
abundant.* The ceremony of strewing ashes on the peni-
tent on Ash Wednesday dates from Saxon times." A
modem Muhammadan of the advanced school has en-
deavoured to rationalise the curative effect of the ashes of
the Gorakhpur fire by the suggestion that it is the potash in
it which works the cure, but probably the element of faith
has much to do with it.*
Volcanic Firr ; Will-o'-the-Wisp.
Fire of a volcanic nature is, as might be expected,
regarded with veneration* Such is the fire which in some
places in ELashmtr rises out of the ground.*
The meteoric light or Sbahdba is also much respected.
In Hoshang&b&d there is a local godling, known as Khapra
^ Leiand, ** Etruscan Roman Rtmains," 103.
* " Folk-lore," iv. 359. • Dyer, ^ Popular Customs," 92.
^ *^ North Indian Notes and Queries,^ i. i^.
* Httgel, " Travels," quoted by Jarrett, ** Afn-i-Akbari," ii. 314.
X
K
198 Folk-lore of Northern India.
B&ba, who lives on the edge of a tank, and is said to appear
in the darkness with a procession of lights/ In Rohilkhand
and the western districts of Qudh, one often hears of the
Shah&ba. In burial-grounds, especially where the bodies
of those slain in battle are interred, it is said that phantom
armies appear in the night. Tents are pitched, the horses
are tethered, and lovely girls dance before the heroes and the
Jinn who are in their train. Sometimes some foolish mortal
is attracted by the spectacle, and he suffers .for his fool-
hardiness by loss of life or reason. Sometimes these ignes
fatui mislead the traveller at night, as Robin Goodfellow
" misleads night wanderers, laughing at their harm," or the
Cornish piskies, who show a light and entice people into
bogs.* There appears to be in Northern India no trace of
the idea which so widely appears in Europe, that such lights
are the souls of unbaptized children.'
The Tomb Fetish.
Ne3rt comes the respect paid to the cairn which covers
the remains of the dead or is a mere cenotaph commemo-
rating a death. We have already seen instances of this in
the pile of stones which marks the place where a tiger has
killed a man, and in the cairns in honour of the jungle
deities, or the spirits which infest dangerous passes. The
rationale of these sepulchral cairns is to keep down the
ghost of the dead man and prevent it from injuring the
living. We see the same idea in the rule of the old ritual,
that on the departure of the last mourner, after the con-
clusion of the funeral ceremony, the Adhvdiyu, or officiating
priest, should place a circle of stones behind him, to prevent
death overtaking those who have gone in advance.^
The primitive grave-heap grows into the cairn, and the
» " Settlement Report," 121.
3 "North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 117; Hunt, ** Popular
Romances," 81 ; Campbell, *' Popular Tales," ii. 82.
* Conway, " Demonology," i. 225.
« Rajendra lAla Mitra, '* Indo-Ajyans," i. 146.
X
TOTEMISM AKD FETISHISM. I99
csdrn into the tomb or Sti^pa.^ In the way of a tomb
Hindus will worship almost ansrthing. The tomb of an
English lady is worshipped at Bhandira in the Central
Provinces. At Murmari, in the N&gpur District, a similar
tomb is smeared with turmeric and lime, and people offer
cocoanuts to it in the hope of getting increased produce
from their fields. The tomb of an English officer near the
Fort of Bijaygarh in the Aligarh District was/,when I visited
the place some years agO| revered as the shrine of the local
village godling. There is a similar case at R&walpindi.
There is a current tale of some people offering brandy and
cigars to the tomb of a European planter who was addicted
to these luxuries in his lifetime, but no one can tell where
the tomb actually exists.*
Miscellaneous Fetishes.
We have already referred to the SilagrAma fetish. Akin
to this is the Vishnupada, the supposed footmark of Vishnu,
which is very like the footmark of Hercules, of which
Herodotus speaks.'
There is a celebrated Vishnupada temple at Gaya, where
the footprint of Vishnu is in a large silver basin under a
canopy, inside an octagonal shrine. Pindas or holy balls
and various kinds of offerings are placed by the pilgrims
inside the basin and around the footprint.* It was probably
derived from the footmark of Buddha, which is a feivourite
subject in the early §u3dhistic sculptures. Dr. Tylor,
curiously enough, thinks that it may have some connection
with the footmarks of extinct birds or animals imprinted on
the strata of alluvis^ rocks.'
1 Ferguson, ** Tree and Serpent Worship," 88 ; " History of Indian
Architecture/* 60 ; Cunningham, " Bhilsa Topes," 9 ; Spencer, " Prin-
ciples of Sociology," i. 254 sq.
3 " Central Provinces Gazetteer," 63 ; " Panj^b Notes and Queries,"
ii. 8 ; " North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 93.
* iv. 82.
* Monier-Williams, ^* Hinduism and Br^manism," 309.
* Tennent, *• Ceylon, ii. 132 ; Ferguson, " Indian Architecture,/ 184,
with engraving ; Tylor, " Early History," 1 16.
200 FOL&LORB OF NORTHERN INDIA.
Even among Muhammadans we have the same idea, and
the Qadam-i-RasAl| or mosque of the footprint of the
Prophet at Lucknow, used to contain a stone marked with
his footmarks, which was said to have^Been brought by
some pilgrim from Arabia. It disappeared during the
Mutiny*^ There is another in a mosque at Chunftr and at
many other places.
The same respect is paid to the footprint of R&manand
in his monasteiy at Benares, and the pin of Brahma's
slipper is now fixed up in the steps of the bathing-place at
Bith<lr, known as the residence of the infamous Nina S&hib,
where it is worshipped at an annual feast.
1 « Oudh Gazetteer,'' iu 370.
CHAPTER IV,
ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
Tfl» df xal KvTOfUlkw vnayt (vy6v AKtat tinrovs
Tovs ZrtKM Zt(f>vpt» avifiM ^Apirvia UoUdpyfi
Boo'KoiJLttnj \€ifi&vi irap^ poor 'Oicfoyotb.
Iliads xvi. 148*5 1.
Origin of Animal-worship,
We now come to consider the special worship of certain
animals. The origin of this form of belief may possibly be
traced to many different sources.
In the first place, no savage fixes the boundary line
between man and the lower forms of animal life so definitely
as more civilized races are wont to do. The animal, in
their belief, has very much the same soul, much the same
feelings and passion as men have, a theory exemplified in
the way the Indian ploughman speaks to his ox, or the
sheph^d calls his flock.
To him, again, the belief is familiar that the spirits of his
ancestors appear in the form of animals, as among the
Drftvidian races they come in the shape of a tiger which
attacks the surviving relatives, or as a chicken which leaves
the mark of its footsteps in the ashes when it re-visits its
former home.
So, all these people believe that the witch soul wanders
about at night, and for want of a better shape enters into
some animal, takes the form of a tiger or a bear, or flies
through the air like a bird.
All through folk-lore we find the idea that man has kinship
202 Folk-lore of Northern India.
with animals generally accepted. We constantly find the
girl wooed by the frog, marrying the pigeon, elephant, eagle,
or whale. Every child in the nursery reads of the frog
Prince, and no savage sees any particular incongruity in his
marriage and transformation. In more than one of the
Indian tales the childless wife longs for a child and is
delivered of a snake.
The incident of animal metamorphosis is also familiar.
Thus, in one of Somadeva's tales his mistress turns a man
into an ox; in another his wife transforms him into a
buffalo ; in a third the angry hermit turns the king into an
elephant.^ Everyone remembers the terrific scene of trans-
formation into various animals which makes up the tale of
the second Qalandar in the Arabian Nights. Animals, too,
constantly assume other shapes. In one of the Bengal
stories the mouse becomes a cat. In other Indian tales the
golden deer becomes the mannikin demon, the white hind
becomes the white witch, the hero's mother becomes a black
bitch, the hero himself a parrot, and so on.^ In fact a large
part of the incidents of Indian stories turns on various forms
of metamorphosis, and every English child knows how the
lover of Earl Mar's daughter took the shape of a dove.
We have again the veiy common incident in the folk-tales
of animals understanding the speech of human beings, and
men learning the tongue of birds, and the like. Solomon,
according to the Qur&n, knew the language of animals; in
the tales of Somadeva, the Vaisya Bh&sh&jna knows the
language of all beasts and birds, a faculty which in Germany
is gained by eating a white snake.^
Then there is the large cycle of tales in which the grateful
animal warns the hero or heroine of approaching danger, as
in the story of Bopuluchi, or brings news, or produces gold.
^ Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 342 ; ii. 135, 230, 302, 363 ;
"North Indian Notes and Queries," Hi. 13; Clouston, "Popular Tales,"
i.448.
2 Ul BiMri D6, "Folk-tales," 139.
» Tawney, 16c, city i. 499 ; ii. 276 ; Grimm, " Household Tales,*' No
33 ; !• 357; Knowles, " Folk-tales of Kashmir/' 432 ; Campbell, ** SantA.
Folk-tales," 22; Miss Cox, ••Cinderella," 496; Campbell, " Popular
Tales,'* i. 283.
Animal Worship. 203
The idea of grateful animals assisting their benefaictors runs
through the whole range of folk-lore.^
Another series of cognate ideas has been very carefully
analyzed by Mr. Campbell. The spirits of the dead haunt
two placesy the house and the tomb. Those who haunt the
house are friendly ; those who haunt the tomb are unfriendly.
Two classes of animals correspond to these two classes of
spirits — an at-home, fearless class, as the snake, the rat,
flies and ants and bees, into which the home-haunting or
friendly spirits would go ; and a wild, unsociable class, such
as bats and owls, dogs, jackals,'or vultures, into which the
unfriendly or tomb-haunting spirits would go. In the case
of some of these tomb-haunting animals, the dog, jackal,
and vulture, the feeling towards them as tomb-haunters seems
to have given place to the belief that as the spirit lives in
the tomb where the body is laid, so, if the body be eaten by
an animal, the spirit lives in the animal, as in a living
tomb.*
Other animals, again, are invested with particular qualities,
fierceness and courage, strength or agility, and eating part
of their flesh, or wearing a portion as an amulet, conveys to
the possessor the qualities of the animal. A familiar in-
stance of this is the belief in the claws and flesh of the tiger
as amulets or charms against disease and the influence of
evil spirits.
Many animals, too, are respected for their use to man or
as scarers of demons, as the cow ; as possessors of wisdom,
like the elephant or snake; as semi-human in origin or
character, as the ape. But it is, perhaps, dangerous to
attempt, as Mr. Campbell has done, to push the classifica-
tion much farther, because the respect paid to any particular
animal is possibly based on varied and diverging lines of
belief.
Lastly, as Mr. Frazer has shown, many anJmals are re-
* Temple, "Wideawake Stories," 74, 41^2; litl Bih&ri Dd, he. cit„ 40,
106, 134, 138, 155,210, 223; "Cinderella," 526; "North Indian Notes
and Queries" iiu 13; Clouston, loc. cit^ i. 223.
» Campbell, " Notes," 259.
204 Folk-lore of Northern India.
garded as representing the Corn spirit, and are either
revered or killed in their divine forms to promote the return
6f vegetation with each recurring spring.
Horse-worship.
To illustrate some of these principles from the worship of
certain special animals, we may begin with tl:^ horse.
War horses were so highly prized by the early A^y^^s in
their battles with the aborigines, that the horse, und^r the
name of Dadhikra, '' he that scatters the hoar frost like
milk," soon became an object of worship, and in the Veda
we have a spirited account of the worship paid to this
godlike being.^
Another horse often spoken of in the early legends is
Sy&ma Karna, '* he with the black ears," which alone was
considered a suitable victim in the horse sacrifice or
Asvamedha. One hundred horse sacrifices entitled the
sacrificer to displace Indra from heaven, so the deity was
always trying to capture the horse which was allowed to
roam about before in^molation. The saint G&lava, who was
a pupil of Visvamitra, when he had completed his studies,
asked his tutor what fee he should pay. The saint told him
that he charged no fee, but he insisted in asking, till at last
the angiy Rishi said that he would be content with nothing
less than a thousand black- eared horses. After long search
GIdava found three childless R^'as, who had each two
hundred such horses, and they consented to exchange them
for sons. G&lava then went to Yay&ti, whose daughter
could bear a son for any one and still remain a virgin. By
her means the three Rijas became fathers of sons, Visvamitra
took them, and to make up the numbi&r, had biniself two
sons by the same mystic bride.
. In the Mah&bh&rata, Uchchaihsravas, ^* he with the long
ears," or '' he that neighs loudly," is the king of the horses,
and belongs to Indra. He is swift as thought, follows the
* "Rig Veda," iv. 33 ; Datt, ** History of Civilization," i. 72 sq., 79 ;
Monier-Williams, *' Bnlhmanism and Hinduism,** 329.
Animal Worship. 205
path of the sun, and is luminous and white, with a black
tail, made so by the magic of the serpents, who have covered
it with black hair. In the folk-tales he consorts with mares
of mortal birth, and begets steeds of unrivalled speed, like
the divine Homeric coursers of iBneas.^ In the tales of
Somadeva we find the king addressing his faithful horse,
and praying for his aid in danger, as Achilles speaks to his
steeds Xanthos and Balios, and in the Karling legend of
Bayard.' We meet also with the horse of Manidatta, which
was '^ white as the moon; the sound of its neighing was as
musical as that of a clear conch or other sweet-sounding
instrument ; it looked like the waves of the sea of milk
surging on high ; it was marked with curls on the neck, and
adorned with the crest jewels, the bracelet, and other signs,
which it seemed it had acquired by being born in the race
of Gandharvas."
At a later mythological stage we meet Kalki, the white
horse which is to be the last Avat4ra of Vishnu, and re-
minds us of the white horse of the Book of Revelation.
We meet in the Rig Veda with Yatudhanas, the demon horse,
which feeds now upon human flesh (like the Bucephalus of
the kgend of Alexander), now upon horseflesh, and now
upon milk from cows. He has a host of brethren, such as
Arvan, half horse, half bird, on which the Daityas are sup-
posed to ride. Dadhyanch or Dadhicha has a curious legend.
He was a Rishiand. Indra, after teaching him the sciences,
threatened to cut his head off if he communicated the know-
ledge to any one else. But the Aswins tempted him to
disobey the god, and then, to save him from the wrath of
Indra, cut off his head and replaced it with that of a horse.
Finally Indra found his horse-head in the lake at Kurukshetra,
and using it as Sampson did the jaw-bone of the ass, he
slew the Asuras. We have, again, Vishnu in the form of
Hayagriva, or " horse-necked," which he assumed to save
1 Wright, " History," 165 ; " Iliad," v. 265 sqq. ; Tawney, " Katha
Sarit SAgara," ii. 593.
2 Tawney, J^tt/., i. 130, 574, quoting Grimm, "Teutonic Mythology,"
i. 392.
2o6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
the Veda, carried off by two Asuras, and in another shape
he is Hayasiras or Hayasirsha, which vomits forth fire and
drinks up the waters. In the Pur^nas we meet the Daitjra
Kesi, who assumes the form of a horse and attacks Krishna,
but the hero thrusts his hand into his mouth and rends
him asunder. A large chapter of Scottish folk-lore depends
on the doings of magic horses such as these.^
The flying horse of the Arabian Nights has been trans-
ferred into many of the current folk-tales, and has found its
way into European folk-lore.' In the same connection we
meet the magic bridle ; the flying car, such as Pushpaka,
the flying vehicle of Kuvera, the god of wealth ; the flying
bed, the Urin Khatola of the Indian tales ; the fljdng boat,
and the flying shoes.'
There are numerous other horses famous in Hindu legend.
The saint Alam Sayyid of Baroda was known as Ghorfe KSl
P!r, or the horse saint. His horse was buried near him,
and Hindus hang images of the animal on trees round his
tomb.* We have already spoken of Gdga and his mare
JavAdiyA. The horse of the king of Bhilsa or Bhadrivatl
was of dazzling brightness, and regarded as the palladium
of the kingdom, but in spite of all the care bestowed upon
it, it was carried off by the PAndavas.
There is a stock horse miracle story told in connection
with Lai Beg, the patron saint of the sweepers. The king
of Delhi lost a valuable horse, and the sweepers were ordered
to bury it, but as the animal was very fat, they proceeded to
cut it up for themselves, giving one leg to the king's priest.
They took the meat home and proceeded to cook it, but
being short of salt, they sent an old woman to buy some.
She went to the salt merchant's shop and pressed him to
serve her at once, ** If you do not hurry," said she, " a
thousand rupees' worth of meat^will be ruined." He informed
the king, who, suspecting the state of the case, ordered the
^ Campbell, " Popular Tales," Introduction, Ixxviii.
* Miss Cox, " Cinderella," 476; Clouston, " Popular Tales," i. 373.
> Clouston, he, city u 417; Grimm, "Household Tales," ii. 479;
Tawney, A?^. at, ii. 261 ; Clouston, ibid:, i. no, 218; Tawney, ibid,, i. 13.
^ Roussdet, " India and its Native Princes,'' 116.
Animal Worship. 207
sweepers to produce the horse. They were in dismay at
the order, but they laid what was left of the animal on a
mound sacred to ULl Beg, and prayed to him to save them,
whereupon the horse stood up, but only on three legs. So
they went to the king and confessed how they had disposed
of the fourth leg. The unlucky priest was executed, and the
horse soon after died also.^
The horse is regarded as a lucky and exceedingly pure
animal. When a cooking vessel has become in any way
defiled, a common way of purifying it is to make a horse
smell it. In the Dakkhin it is said that evil spirits will not
approach a horse for fear of his foam.' In Northern India,
the entry of a man on horseback into a sugar-cane field
during sowing time is regarded as auspicious. This
taking of omens from horses was well known in Germany,
and Tacitus says, ^^ PropHum gentis equorum praesagia
ac monitus expeririy kinnitus ac fremitus observant ^^ ' There
does not appear to be in India any trace of the idea preva-
lent in England that the horse has the power of seeing ghosts,
or that it can cure diseases such as whooping cough.^ But,
like the bull, the stallion is believed to scare the demon of
barrenness. In the Ramiyana, Kausalyi touches the stallion
in the hope of obtaining sons, and with the same object the
king and queen smell the odour of the burnt marrow or fat
of the horse. The water in which a fish is washed has the
same effect on women in Western folk-lore. With the same
object, at the Asvamedha, the queen lies at night beside the
slain sacrificial horse.* ^
It is popularly supposed that the horse originally had
wings, and that the chestnuts or scars on the legs are the
places where the wings originally grew. Eating horseflesh
is supposed to bring on cramp, and when a Sepoy at rifle
practice misses the target, his comrades taunt him with
having eaten the unlucky meat.*
^ " Indian Antiquary," xi. 325 sq. ; '* Panj&b Notes and Queries," ii. 2.
2 Campbell, " Notes," 392. ' *| Germania," 10.
* Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,'^ 142.
* Gubematis, ** Zoological Mythology," i. 332.
* "Panj&b Notes and Queries," i. 113,
2o8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Modern Horse-worship.
Of modern horse-worship there are many examples* The
Palliw&l Br&hmans of Jaysalmer worship the bridle of a
horse, which Colonel Tod siq)poses to prove the Scythic origin
of the early colonists, who were equestrian as ¥^11 as
nomadic.^ Horse-worship is still mixed up with the creed of
the Buddhists of Yun4n, who doubtless derived it from
India."
In Western India this form of worship is common. It is
the chief object of reverence at the Dasahra festival. Some
Rijput Bbils worship a deity called Ghor&deva or a stone
horse ; the Bhitiyas worship a clay horse at the Dasahra,
and the Ojha Kumhirs erect a clay horse on the sixth day
after birth, and make the child worship it. Rag horses are
offered at the tombs of saints at Gujarit. The Kunbis wash
their horses on the day of the Dasahra, decorate them with
flowers, sacrifice a sheep to them, and sprinkle the blood on
them.* The custom among the Drividian races of offering
clay horses to the local gods has been already noticed. The
Gonds have a horse godling in Kodapen, and at the opening
of the rainy season they worship a stone in his honour
outside the village. A Gond priest offers a pottery image of
the animal and a heifer, saying, " Thou art our guardian !
Protect our oxen and cows ! Let us live in safety ! " * The
heifer is then sacrificed and the meat eaten by the wor-
shippers. The Devak or marriage guardian of some of the
Dakkhin tribes is a horse.
The Worship of the Ass.
The contempt for the ass seems to have arisen in post-
Vedic times. Indra had a swift-footed ass, and one of the
epithets of Vikramaditya was Gadharbha-rfipa, or "he in
the form of an ass." The Vishnu Pur&na tells of the demon
Dhenuka, who took the form of an ass and began to kick
Balar&ma aiyl Krishna, as they were plucking fruit in the
demon's grove. Balar&ma seized him, with sundry of his
^ "Annals," ii. 319. ' Lubbock, "Origin of Civiliiation,** 275.
3 Campbell, " Notes," 292. * Hislop, " Papers," Appendix, i. iii.
Animal Worship. 209
companions and flung him on the top of a palm tree.
Khara, a cannibal R&kshasa who was killed by R&ma
Chandra, also used to take the form of an ass. Muhammad
said, " The most ungrateful of all voices is surely the voice
of asses.'* Muhammadans believe that the last animal which
entered the ark was the ass to which Iblis was clinging. At
the threshold the beast seemed troubled and could enter no
farther, when Noah said unto him, *' Fie upon thee ! Come
in ! " But as the ass was still in trouble and did not advance,
Noah cried, " Come in, though the Devil be with thee ! "
So the ass entered, and with him Iblis. Thereupon Noah
asked, " O enemy of Allah I Who brought thee into the
ark ? " And Iblis answered, " Thou art the man, for thou
saidest to the ass, 'Come in, though the Devil be with
theer"^
The worship of the ass is chiefly associated with that of
Sitali, whose vehicle he is. The Agarwila sub-caste of
Banyas have a curious rule of making the bridegroom just
before marriage mount an ass. This is done in secret, and
though said to be intended to propitiate the goddess of
small-pox, is possibly a survival of some primitive form of
worship.
In folk-lore the ass constantly appears. We have in
Somadeva the fable of the ass in the panther's skin, which
also appears in the fifth book of the Panchatantra. Pro-
fessor Weber asserts that it was derived from the original in
Msop, but this is improbable, as it is also found in the
Buddhist Jdtakas. In one of the Kashmir tales we have
the bird saying, " If any person will peel off the bark of my
tree, pound it, mix the powder with some of the juice of its
leaves and then work it into a ball, it will be found to work
like a charm ; for any one who smells it will be turned into
an ass."* We have instances of ass transformation in
Apuleius and Lucian, and in German and other Western
folk-tales.
^ Burton, " Arabian Nights," ii. 340.
» Knowles, " Folk-tales," 90 ; Tawney, " Katha Sarit S&gara," ii. 168 ;
Clouston, " Popular Tales," i. 97 ; Grimm, " Household Tales," ii. 419.
VOL. II. , P
210 Folk-lore of Northern India.
The Lion.
The lion, from his comparative rarity in Northern India,
appears little in popular belief. It is one of the vehicles of
Pdrvatl, and rude images of the animal are sometimes
placed near shrines dedicated to Devf. There is a current
idea that only one pair of lions exists in the world at the
same time. They have two cubs, a male and a female,
which, when they arrive at maturity, devour their parents.
In the folk-tales the childless king is instructed that he will
find in the forest a boy riding on a lion, and this will be
his son. The lovely maiden in the legend of Jimutavihana
is met riding on a lion. We have the lion Pingalika, king
of beasts, with the jackal as his minister, and in one of the
cycle of tales in which the weak animal overcomes the more
powerful, the hare by his wisdom causes the lion to drown
himself. The basis of the famous tale of Androcles is pro-
bably Buddhistic, but only a faint reference to it is found in
Somadeva. In one of the modern stories the soldier takes
a thorn out of the tiger's foot, and is rewarded with a box
which contains a manikin, who procures for him all he
desires.^
The Tiger.
The tiger naturally takes the place of the lion. According
to the comparative mythologists, " the tiger, panther, and
leopard possess several of the mystical characteristics of
, the lion as the hidden sun. Thus, Dionysos and Siva, the
phallical god par excellence^ have these animals as their
emblems." * Siva, it is true, is represented as sitting in his
ascetic form on a tiger skin, but it is his consort, Durgi,
who uses the animal as her vehicle. Quite apart from the
solar myth theory, the belief that witches are changed into
tigers, and the terror inspired by him, are quite sufficient to
account for the honour bestowed upon him.
* Tawney, loc, cit^ i. yj^ 78 ; ii. 28, 32 ; Grimm, loc. ciU^ ii. 404 ; Tawney,
loc, city ii. 107.
' Gubernatis, loc, cit^ ii. 160.
Animal Worship. 211
Much also of the worship of the tiger is probably of
totemistic origin. Thus the Baghel R&jputs claim descent,
and from him {pdgh^ vydghra^ " the spotted one ") derive
their name. This tribe will not, in Central India, destroy
the animal. So, " no consideration will induce a Sumatran
to catch or wound a tiger, except in self-defence, or imme-
diately after the tiger has destroyed a friend or a relation.
When a European has set traps for tigers, the people
of the neighbourhood have been known to go by night to
the spot and explain to the tiger that the traps were not
set by them, nor with their consent." The Bhlls and the
Bajriwat R&jputs of Rijput&na also claim tiger origin.^
Another idea appearing in tiger-worship is that he eats
human flesh, and thus obtains possession of the souls of the
victims whom he devours. For this reason a man-eating
tiger is supposed to walk along with his head bent, because
the ghosts of his victims sit on it and weigh it down.^
He is, again, often the disguise of a sorcerer of evil
temper, an idea similar to that which was the basis of the
European dread of lycanthropy and the were-wolf. " Ac-
counts differ as to the way in which the were-wolf was
chosen. According to one account, a human victim was
sacrificed, one of his bowels was mixed with the bowels
of animal victims, the whole was consumed by the wor-
shippers, and the man who unwittingly ate the human
bowel was changed into a wolf. According to another
account, lots were cast among the members of a particular
family, and he upon whom the lot fell was the were-wolf.
Being led to the brink of a tarn, he stripped himself, hung
his clothes on an oak tree, plunged into the tarn, and swim-
ming across it, went into desert places. There he was
changed into a wolf, and herded with wolves for nine years.
If he tasted human blood before the nine years were out he
had to remain a wolf for ever. If during the nine years he
1 Forsyth, " Highlands of Central Indian," 278 ; Tod, " Annals," ii.
660; Rowney, ** Wild Tribes," 139; Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology,"
214; Frazer, "Golden Bough," ii. no.
3 Trumbull, *' Blood Covenant," 312 ; Tylor, " Primitive Culture," i.
309 ; Sleeman, " Rambles," i. 153 sqq.
P 2
212 Folk-lore of Northern India.
abstained from preying on men, then, when the tenth year
came round, he recovered his human shape. Similarly,
there is a negro family at the mouth of the Congo who are
supposed to possess the power of turning themselves into
leopards in the gloomy depths of the forest. As leopards,
they knock people down, but do no further harm, for they
think that if, as leopards, they once lapped blood, they
would be leopards for ever." *
Hence in India the jungle people who are in the way of
meeting him will not pronounce his name, but speak of
him as Gidar, " the jackal," JAnwar, " the beast," or use
some other euphemistic term. They do the same in many
cases with the wolf and bear, and though they sometimes
hesitate to kill the animal themselves, they will readily
assist sportsmen to destroy him, and make great rejoicings
when he is killed. A Shikari will break off a branch on the
road as he goes along, and say, " As thy life has departed,
so may the tiger die ! " When he is killed they will bring
forward some spirits and pour it on the head of the animal,
addressing him, " Mahiraja ! During your life you confined
yourself to cattle, and never injured your human subjects.
Now that you are dead, spare us and bless us ! " In
Akola the gardeners are unwilling to inform the sportsmen
of the whereabouts of a tiger or panther vfhich may have
taken up its quarters in their plantation, for they have a
superstition that a garden plot loses its fertility from the
moment one of these animals is killed there. So, with the
Ainos of Japan, who when a bear is trapped or wounded by
an arrow, go through an apologetic or propitiatory cere-
mony.'
In Nep&l they have a regular festival in honour of the
tiger known as the Bdgh Jitra, in which the worshippers
used to dance in the disguise of tigers.
1 " Folk-lore,'* i. 169; Lyall, "Asiatic Studies," 13 ; Spencer, "Prin-
ciples of Sociology," i. 323 ; Conway, ** Demonology," i. 313 sq. ; Scott,
"Letters on Demonology," 174.
2 " Ber&r Gazetteer,*'* 62 ; Wright, " History of Nepil," 38 ; Frazer,
" Golden Bough," ii. loi.
Animal Worship. 213
Tiger-worship among the Jungle Races.
But, as is natural, the worship of the tiger prevails
more widely among the jungle races. We have already
met with Bagheswar, the tiger deity of the Mirzapur forest
tribes. The Santdis also worship him, and the Kis&ns
honour him as Banrdja, or " lord of the jungle." They
will not kill him, and believe that in return for their
devotion he will spare them. Another branch of the tribe
does not worship him, but all swear by him. The Bhuiyars,
on the contrary, have no veneration for him, and think
it their interest to slay him whenever they have an oppor-
tunity. The Ju&ngs take their oaths on earth from an
ant-hill, and on a tiger's skin ; the ant-hill is a sacred ^ ^1 ^u-^v
object with the Khariyas, and the tiger skin is brought in
when the Hos and Santils are sworn. Among the eastern
Santils, the tiger is worshipped, but in Ramgarh only those
who have suffered from the animal's ferocity condescend to
adore him. If a man is carried off by a tiger, the Bagh
Bhtit, or " Tiger ghost," is worshipped, and an oath on a
tiger's skin is considered most solemn.^
BlGH Deo, the Tiger Godling.
Further west the Kurkus of Hoshangibid worship the
tiger godling, B&gh Deo, who is the Wigh Deo of Berir.
At Petri in Ber&r is a sort of altar to Wdghai Devi, the
tiger goddess, founded on a spot where a Gond woman was
once seized by a tiger. She is said to have vanished as if
by some supernatural agency, and the Gonds who desire
protection from wild beasts present to her altar gifts of
every kind of animal from a cow downwards. A Gond
presides over the shrine and receives the votive offerings.
In Hoshangibdd the Bhomka is the priest of Bdgh Deo.
"On him devolves the dangerous duty of keeping tigers out of
the boundaries. When a tiger visits a village, the Bhomka
repairs to Bkgh Deo, and makes his offerings to the god,
and promises to repeat them for so many years on condition
* Dalton, loc\ciU^ 132, 133, 158, 214.
214 Folk-lore of Northern India.
that the tiger does not appear for that time. The tiger, on
his part, never fails to fulfil the compact thus solemnly made
by his lord ; for he is pre-eminently an upright and honour-
able beast — 'pious withal,' as Mandeville says, not faithless
or treacherous like the leopard, whom no compact can bind.
Some Bhomkas, however, masters of more powerful spell,
are not obliged to rely on the traditional honour of the
tiger, but compel his attendance before Bagh Deo ; and
such a Bhomka has been seen, a very Daniel among tigers,
muttering his incantations over two or three at a time as
they crouched before him. Still more mysterious was the
power of K^bfait Bhomka (now, alas ! no more). He died,
the victim of misplaced confidence in a Louis Napoleon of
tigers, the basest and most bloodthirsty of his race. He
had a fine large Saj tree into which, when he uttered his
spells, he would drive a nail. On this the tiger came and
ratified the contract with enormous paw manual. Such was
that of Timtir the Lame, when he dipped his mighty hand
in blood and stamped its impression on a parchment
grant." '
In the same way in other parts of the Central Provinces
the village sorcerers profess to be able to call tigers from the
jungles, to seize them by the ears, and control their voracity
by whispering to them a command not to come near their
villages, or they pretend to know a particular kind of root,
by burying which they can prevent the beasts of the forest
from devouring men or cattle. With the same object they
lay on the pathway small models of bedsteads and other
things which are supposed to act as charms and stop their
advance.
Magical Powers of Dead Tigers.
All sorts of magical powers are ascribed to the tiger after
death. The fangs, the claws, the whiskers are potent
charms, valuable for love philters and prophylactics against
demoniacal influence, the Evil Eye, disease and death. The
1 " Berir Gazetteer," 191 sq. ; " HbshangaMd Settlement Report,*'
255 sq.
Animal Worship. 215
milk of a tigress is valuable medicine, and it is one of the
stock impossible tasks or tests imposed upon the hero to
find and fetch it, as he is sent to get the feathers of the
eagle, water from the well of death, or the mystical cow
guarded by D4nos or Rikshasas.* The fat is considered a
valuable remedy for rheumatism and similar maladies. The
heart and flesh are tonics, stimulants and aphrodisiacs, and
give strength and courage to those who use them. The
Miris of Assam prize tiger's flesh as food for men ; it gives
them strength and courage ; but it is not suited for women,
as it would make them too strong-minded.' The whiskers
are believed, among other qualities which they possesSj^To"
be a slow poison when taken with food, and 'the curious
rudimentary clavicles, known as Santokh or " happiness,"
are highly valued as amulets. There is a general belief that
a tiger gets a new lobe to his liver every year. A favourite
amulet to repel demoniacal influence consists of the whiskers
of the tiger or leopard mixed with nail parings, some sacred
root or grass, and red lead, and hung on the throat or upper
arm. This treatment is particularly valuable in the case of
young children immediately after birth. Tiger's flesh is also
a potent medicine and charm, and it is burnt in the cow-
stall when cattle disease prevails. The flesh of the tiger, or
if that be not procurable, the flesh of the jackal is burnt in
the fields to keep off blight from the crops.
Tigers, Propitiation of.
Some tigers are supposed to be amenable to courtesy. In
one of the Kashmir tales, the hero in search of tiger's milk
shoots an arrow and pierces one of the teats of the tigress,
to whom he explains that he hoped she would thus be able
to suckle her cubs with less trouble. In other tales we find
the tiger pacified if he is addressed as " Uncle." ' So, Colonel
Tod describes how a tiger attacked a boy near his camp, and
was supposed to have, like the fierce Rakshasa of the Nepil
> See for example Knowles, ** Kashmir Folk-tales," 3, 45, 46,
* Dalton, loc, cit., 33.
3 Knowles, loc. cit, 47 ; Campbell, " S'litil Tales," 18.
2i6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
legend, released the child when he was addressed as
" Uncle." ' " This Lord of the Black Rock, for such is
the designation of the tiger, is one of the most ancient
bourgeois of Morwan ; his stronghold is K41a Pahdr,
between this and Magawdr ; and his reign during a long
series of years has been unmolested, notwithstanding
numerous acts of aggression on his bovine subjects. In-
deed, only two nights before he was disturbed gorging on a
buffalo belonging to a poor oilman of Morwan. Whether
the tiger was an incarnation of one of the Mori lords of
Morwan, tradition does not say ; but neither gun, bow, nor
spear has ever been raised against him. In return for this
forbearance, it is said, he never preyed on man ; or if he
seized one, would, on being entreated with the endearing
epithet of ' Uncle,' let go his hold." '
TiGER-WORSHIP AMONG THE GONDS.
Among the Gonds tiger-worship assumes a particularly
disgusting form. At marriages among them, a terrible ap-
parition appears of two demoniacs possessed by Bdgheswar,
the tiger god. They fall ravenously on a bleating kid, and
gnaw it with their teeth till it expires. " The manner,"
says Captain Samuells, who witnessed the performance, " in
which the two men seized the kid with their teeth and killed
it was a sight which could only be equalled on a feeding day
in the Zoological Gardens or a menagerie." ^
Men Metamorphosed into Tigers.
The only visible difference between the ordinary animal
and a man metamorphosed into a tiger was explained to
Colonel Sleeman to consist in the fact that the latter had
no tail. In the jungles about Deori there is said to be a
root, which if a man eats, he is converted into a tiger on the
spot ; and if, when in this state, he eats another species of
root, he is turned back into a man again.
» Wright •* History," 169. « "Annals," ii. 669.
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 280.
Animal Worship. 217
"A melancholy instance of this/* said Colonel Sleeman's
informant, " occurred in my own father's family when I was
an infant. His washerman Raghu was, like all washermen,
a great drunkard. Being seized with a violent desire to
ascertain what a man felt like in the state of a tiger, he
^ent one day to the jungle and brought back two of these
roots, and desired his wife to stand by with one of them,
and the instant she saw him assume the tiger's shape to
thrust the root she held into his mouth. She consented,
and the washerman ate his root and instantly became a
tiger, whereupon she was so terrified that she ran off with
the antidote in her hand. Poor old Raghu took to the
ivoods, and there ate a good many of his friends from the
neighbouring villages ; but he was at last shot, and recog-
nized from his having no tail. You may be quite sure when
you hear of a tiger having no tail that it is some unfortunate
man who has eaten of that root, and of all the tigers he will
be found the most mischievous." ^
This is a curious reversal of the ordinary theory regarding
the tail of the tiger, to which a murderous strength is
attributed. A Hindu proverb says that the hair of a tiger's
tail may be the means of losing one's life. This has been
compared by Professor De Gubernatis with the tiger Manti-
kora spoken of by Ktesias, which has on its tail hairs which
are darts thrown by it for the purpose of defence.'
A Nepal legend describes how some children made a clay
image of a tiger, and thinking the figure incomplete without
a tongue, went to fetch a leaf to supply the defect. On their
return they found that Bhairava had entered the image and
had begun to devour their sheep. The image of Bdgh
Bhairava and the deified children are still to be seen at this
place. We have the same legend in the Panchatantra and
the tales of Somadeva, where four Brdhmans resuscitate a
tiger and are devoured by it.*
We have many instances in the folk-tales of the tiger be-
^ " Rambles and Recollections/* i. 154 sqq.
' "Zoological Mythology,*' i. i6o sq.
3 Wright, "History/' i6i ; Tawney, " Katha Sarit SAgara," ii. 348 sq.
2i8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
fooled. In one of the tales told by the Mdnjhis of Mirzapur
the goat has kids in the tiger's den, and when he arrives she
makes her kids squall and pretends that she wants some
tiger's flesh for them.' In a Panjdbi tale the farmer's wife
rides up to the tiger calling out, " I hope I may find a tiger
in this field, for I have not tasted tiger's flesh since the day
before yesterday, when I killed three," whereupon the tiger
runs away. The tale which tells how the jackal succeeds in
getting the tiger back into the cage and thus saves the
Brahman is common in Indian folk-lore.*
DOG-WORSHIP.
In the Nepdl legend which we have been discussing we
find Bhairava associated with the tiger, but his prototype,
the local godling Bhairon, has the dog as his sacred animal,
and his is the only temple in Benares into which the dog is
admitted.'
Two conflicting lines of thought seem to meet in dog-
worship. As Mr. Campbell says, " There is a good house-
guarding dog, and an evil scavenging and tomb-haunting
dog. Some of the products of the dog are so valued in
driving off spirits that they seem to be a distinct element in
the feeling of respect shown to the dog. Still it seems better
to consider the dog as a man-eater, and to hold that, like the
tiger, this was the original reason why the dog was con-
sidered a guardian." * It is perhaps in this connection that
the dog is associated with Yama, the god of death.
An ancient epithet of the dog is Kritajna, " he that is
mindful of favours," which is also a title of Siva. The most
touching episode of the Mahibhdrata is where Yudishthira
refuses to enter the heaven of Indra without his favourite
dog, which is really Yama in disguise. These dogs of Yama
probably correspond to the Orthros and Kerberos of the
Greeks, and Kerberos has been connected etymologically
^ " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 65.
« Temple, "Wideawake Stories/' 116; Campbell, " Santal Folk-tales,**
40; Ciouston, " Popular Tales," i. 146. i
» Sherring, " Sacred City," 63, 65. * " Notes," 276.
o
o
Q
<
O
<
X
QQ
Animal Worship. 219
with Sarvaxi, which is an epithet of the night, meaning
originally " dark" or "pale." ' The same idea shows itself
in the Parsi respect for the dog, which may be traced to
the belief of the early Persians. The dog's muzzle is placed
near the mouth of the dying P4rsi in order that it may
receive his parting breath and bear it to the waiting angel,
and the destruction of a corpse by dogs is looked on with no
feeling of abhorrence. The same idea is found in Buddhism,
where on the early coins " the figure of a dog in connection
with a Buddhist StApa recalls to mind the use to which the
animal was put in the bleak highlands of Asia in the pre-
ferential form of sepulchre over exposure to birds and wild
beasts in the case of deceased monks or persons of position
in Tibet. Strange and horrible as it may seem to us to be
devoured by domestic dogs, trained and bred for the
purpose, it was the most honourable form of burial among
Tibetans." '
The Kois of Central India hold in great respect the P4n-
dava brethren Arjuna and Bhlma. The wild dogs or Dhol
are regarded as the DOtas or messengers of the heroes, and
the long black beetles which appear in large numbers at the
beginning of the hot weather are called the Pdndavas' goats.
None of them will on any account interfere with these divine
dogs, even when they attack their cattle.'
Dog-worship: Bhairon,
In modern times dog-worship appears specially in con-
nection with the cultus of Bhairon, the Brihmanical
Bhairava, the Bhairoba of Western India. No Maratha will
lift his hand against a dog, and in Bombay many Hindus
worship the dog of Kdla Bhairava, though the animal is
considered unclean by them. Khand^ Rdo or Khandoba or
Khandoji is regarded as an incarnation of Siva and much
^ Cox, ** Mythology of the Aryan Nations," ii. 336.
2 •» Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal/' lix. 212. The horror with which
the Homeric Greeks regarded the eating of a corpse by dogs comes out
very strongly in the Iliad.
» " Indian Antiquary,** v. 358 sq.J
220 Folk-lore of Northern India.
worshipped by Marithas, He is most frequently represented
as riding on horseback and attended by a dog and accom-
panied by his wife MalsurA, another form of Pdrvati. His
name is usually derived from the Khanda or sword which
he carries, but Professor Oppert without much probability
would connect it with that of the aboriginal Khdndhs who
are supposed to have been original settlers in Khindesh,
after whom it was called/ In many temples of Bhaironndth,
as at Benares and Hardwdr, he is depicted on the wall in a
deep blue colour approaching to black, and behind him is
the figure of the dog on which he rides. Sweetmeat sellers
make little images of a dog in sugar, which are presented to
the deity as an offering.
At Loh^ni, in the PanjAb, a common-looking grave is
much respected by the Hindus. It is said to contain the
remains of a dog formerly possessed by the chief of the
victorious Thakurs, which is credited with having done
noble service in battle, springing up and seizing the wounded
warriors' throats, many of whom it slew. Finally it was
killed and buried on the spot with beat of drum, and has
since been an object of worship and homage. " Were it
not," says General Cunningham, "for the Sagparast of
Naishapur, mentioned in Khusru's charming Darvesh tales,
this example of dog-worship would probably be unique." "
This is, it is hardly necessary to say, a mistake.
Thus, close to Bulandshahr, there is a grove with four
tombs, which are said to be the resting-place of three holy
men and their favourite dog, which died when the last of
the saints departed this life. They were buried together, and
their tombs are held in much respect by Muhammadans.'
In Pfina, Dattatreya is guarded by four dogs which are
said to stand for the four Vedas, and at Jejuri and Ndgpur
children are dedicated to the dogs of Khand^ Rio. The
Ghisadis, on the seventh day after a birth, go and worship
water, and on coming back rub their feet on a dog. At
* "Original Inhabitants," IJ7 scj.
* " Archaeological Reports, xxi ii. 26.
* "North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 118.
Animal Worship. 221
Dharwar, on the fair day of the Dasahra at Malahdri's temple,
the Vdggayya ministrants dress in blue woollen coats and
meet with bell and skins tied round their middles, the
pilgrims barking and howling like dogs. Each Vdggayya
has a wooden bowl into which the pilgrims put milk and
plantains. Then the Vdggayyas lay down the bowls, fight
with each other like dogs, and putting their mouths into
the bowls, eat the contents.* In Nepil, there is a festival,
known as the Khichi PAjS., in which worship is done to
dogs, and garlands of flowers are placed round the neck of
every dog in the country.* Among the Gonds, if a dog dies \
or is born, the family has to undergo purification.^
Dogs in Folk-lore : The Bethgelert Legend.
The famous tale of Bethgelert, the faithful hound which
saves the child of his master from the wolf and is killed by
mistake, appears all through the folk-tales and was probably
derived from India. In the Indian version the dog usually
belongs to a Banya or to a Banjdra, who mortgages him to
a merchant. The merchant is robbed and the dog discovers
the stolen goods. In his gratitude the merchant ties round
the neck of the dog a scrap of paper, on which he records
that the debt has been satisfied. The dog returns to his
original master, who upbraids him for deserting his post,
and, without looking at the paper, kills him, only to be
overcome by remorse when he learns the honesty of the
faithful beast. This famous tale is told at Haidar&bid,
Lucknow, Sitapur, Mirzapur, and Kashmir. In its more
usual form, as in the Panchatantra and the collection of
Somadeva, the mungoose takes the place of the dog and
kills the cobra on the baby's cradle/
Throughout folk-lore the dog is associated with the
1 Campbell, " Notes," 276 sq. » Wright, " History," 39 sq.
» Hislop, " Papers." 6.
* " Folk-lore," iii. 127 ; " Panjib Notes and Queries," Hi. 94, 148 ; iv.
46, 150, 173; "North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 18, 67; Knowles,
" Folk-tales of Kashmir," 36, 429 ; Clouston, " Popular Tales," ii. 166 •,:
Tawney, " Katha Sarit sdgara," ii. 90 ; " Gesta Romanorum,** Introd. xlii.
222 Folk-lore of Northern India.
spirits of the dead, as we have seen to be the case with
Sy4ma, "the black one," and Sabala or Karvara, the
" spotted ones," the attendants of Yama.* Hence the dog
is regarded as the guardian of the household, which they
protect from evil spirits. According to Aubrey,- " all over
England a spayed bitch is accounted wholesome in a house ;
that is to say they have a strong belief that it keeps away
evil spirits from haunting of a house." As in the Odyssey,
the two swift hounds of Telemachus bear him company and
recognize Athene when she is invisible to others, and the
dogs of Virgil howl when the goddess approaches, so the
Muhammadans believe that dogs recognize Azrall, the angel
of death, and in Northern India it is supposed that dogs
have the power of seeing spirits, and when they see one
they howl. In Shakespeare King Henry says : —
" The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign ;
The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time ;
Dogs howled and hideous tempests shook down trees/'
Hence in all countries the howling of dogs in the vicinity
of a house is an omen of approaching misfortune.
The respect for the dog is well shown in the case of the
Bauris of Bengal, who will on no account kill a dog or
touch its body, and the water of a tank in which a dog has
been drowned cannot be used until an entire rainy season
has washed the impurity away. They allege that as they
kill cows and most other animals, they deem it right to fix
on some beast which should be as sacred to them as the
cow to the Brdhman, and they selected the dog because it
was a useful animal when alive and not very nice to eat
when dead, " a neat reconciliation of the twinges of con-
science and cravings of appetite." '
Various omens are in the Panjib drawn from dogs.
When out hunting, if they lie on their backs and roll, as
they generally do when they find a tuft of grass or soft
ground, it shows that plenty of game will be found. If a
1 Conway, " Demonology," i. 134 ; Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-
East Scotland,'' 126 sq.
« " Remaines," 53. » Risley, " Tribes and Castes," i. 79 sq.
Animal Worship. 223
dog lies quietly on his back in the house, it is a bad omen,
for the superstition runs that the dog is addressing heaven
for support, and that some calamity is bound to happen.*
We have seen already that some of the Central Indian
tribes respect the wild dog. The same is the case in the
Hills, where they are known as " God's hounds," and no
native sportsman will kill them.^ In one of Grimm's tales
we read that the " Lord God had created all animals, and
had chosen out the wolf to be his dog," and the dogs of
Odin were wolves.' Another sacred dog in Indian folk-lore
is that of the hunter Shambuka. His master threw him into
the sacred pool of Uradh in the Himalaya, Coming out
dripping, he shook some of the water on his owner, and
such was the virtue of even this partial ablution that on
their death both hunter and dog were summoned to the
heaven of Siva.'*
All over Northern India the belief in the curative power
of the tongue of the dog widely prevails. In Ireland they
say that a dried tongue of a fox will draw out thorns, how-
ever deep they be, and an old late Latin verse says : —
In cane bis Hna sunt, et lingua medicina
Maris odoratus, amor intiger^ atque latratus!"
Among Musalmdns the dog is impure. The vessel it
drinks from must be washed seven times and scrubbed with
earth. The Qurdn directs that before a dog is slipped in
chase of game, the sportsman should call out, " In the name
of God, the great God ! " Then all game seized by him
becomes lawful food.
The Goat.
The goat is another animal to which mystic powers are
attributed. In the mythology of the West he is associated
with Dionysos, Pan, and the Satyr. In England it is com-
1 " Panj4b Notes and Queries," i. 88.
2 " Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,*' 1847, p. 234.
' " Household Tales," ii. 444.
* Atkinson, " Himalayan Gazetteer," ii. 329.
•* " Folk-lore," iv. 351 ; " Gesta Romanorum," 25.
-9& '*4^f • ^^'^^^
224 Folk-lore of Northern India.
monly believed that he is never seen for twenty-four hours
together, and that once in this space he pays a visit to the
Devil to have his beard combed,^ The Devil, they say,
somietimes appears in this form, which accounts for his
horns and tail. The wild goat was associated with the
worship 6f Artemis, the Arab unmarried goddess.* In the
R4d3i4yana, Agamukhi, or " goat's face," is the witch who
wishes Sit& to be torn to pieces.
Mr. Conway asks whether this idea about the goat is due
to the smell of the animal, its butting and injury to plants,
or was it demonized merely because of its uncanny and
shaggy appearance ? ' Probably the chief reason is because
it has a curious habit of occasionally shivering, which is
r^^rded as caused by some indwelling spirit. The Thags
in their sacrifice used to select two goats, black, and perfect
in all their parts. They were bathed and made to face the
west, and if they shook themselves and threw the water off
their hair, they were regarded as a sacrifice acceptable to
Devi. Hence in India a goat is led along a disputed
boundary, and the place where it shivers is regarded as
the proper line. Plutarch says that the Greeks would not
sacrifice a goat if it did not shiver when water was thrown
over it.
In the Panjalb it is believed that when a goat kills a snake
it eats it and then ruminates, after which it spits out a
Manka or bead, which, when applied to a snake-bite, absorbs
the poison and swells. If it be then put in milk and squeezed,
the poison drips out of it like blood, and the patient is cured.
If it is not put in milk, it will burst to pieces.* It hence
resembles the Ovum Anguinum, or Druid's Egg, to which
reference has been already made.* If a person suffers from
spleen, they take the spleen of a he-goat, if the patient be a
male ; or of a she-goat, if the patient be a female. It is
rubbed on the region of the spleen seven times on a Sunday
or Tuesday, pierced with acacia thorns and hung on a
1 Brand, " Observations," 583. ^ Robertson-Smith, " Kinship," 194.
* " Demonology," i. 122.
4 "North Indian Notes and Queries,'* i. 15.
Brand, " Observations,'* 785.
Animal Worship, 225
tree. As the goat's spleen dries, the spleen of the patient
reduces.
The horn is regarded as somehow most closely connected
with the brain. So, in the " Merry Wives of Windsor,"
Mrs. Quickly says : " If he had found the young man, he
would have been horn mad," and Horace gives the advice,
" Fenum habet in comu longefuge.^^ Martial describes how
in his time the Roman shrines were covered with horns,
Dissimulatque deum comibus orafrequens}
It is for this reason that the local shrines in the Himalaya
are decorated with horns of the wild sheep, ibex, and goat.
In Persia many houses are adorned with rams' heads fixed to
the corners near the roof, which are to protect the building
from misfortune. In Bilochistdn and Afghanistan it is
customary to place the horns of the wild goat and sheep on
the walls of forts and mosques.' Akbar covered his Kos
Minars or mile-stones with the horns of the deer he had
killed. The conical support of the Banjdra woman's head-
dress was originally a horn, and many classes of Faqirs tie a
piece of horn round their necks. We have the well-known
horn of plenty, and it is very common in the folk-tales to
find objects taken out of the ears or horns of the helpful
animals.'
Goat and Totemism.
We perhaps get a glimpse of totemism in connection with
the goat in some of the early Hindu legends. When Parusha,
the primeval man, was divided into his male and female
parts, he produced all the animals, and the goat was first
formed out of his mouth. There is, again, a mystical con-
nection between Agni, the fire god, Br4hmans, and goats, as
between Indra, the Kshatriyas, and sheep, Vaisyas and kine,
SOdras and the horse. These may possibly have been tribal
^ " Epigrams," i. 6,
2 "Panjdb Notes and Queries," iv. 131 ; Moorcroft, "Travels,*' i. 22;
** Journal Asiatic Society Bengal,*' 1840, p. 572 ; ** Atn-i-Akbari," i. 289.
' Miss Cox, " Cinderella," 473,
VOL. IL Q
226 Folk-lore of Northern India.
totems of the races by whom these animals were venerated.*
The sheep, as we have already seen, is a totem of the
Keriyas. The Aheriyas, a vagrant tribe of the North- Western
Provinces, worship Mekhasura or Meshasura in the form of
a ram.
Cow AND Bull Worship.
But the most famous of these animal totems or fetishes is
the cow or bull. According to the school of comparative
mythology the bull which bore away Europe from Kadmos
is the same from which the dawn flies in the Vedic hymn.
He, according to this theory, is " the bull Indra, which, like
the sun, traverses the heaven, bearing the dawn from east
to west. But the Cretan bull, like his fellow in the Gnossian
labyrinth, who devours the tribute children from the city of the
Dawn goddess, is a dark and malignant monster, akin to the
throttling snake who represents the powers of night and
darkness."^ This may be so, but the identification of
primitive religion, in all its varied phases, with the sun or
other physical phenomena is open to the obvious objection
that it limits the ideas of the early Aryans to the weather
and their dairies, and antedates the regard for the cow to a
period when the animal was held in much less reverence than
it is at present.
Respect for the Cow Modern.
That the respect for the cow is of comparatively modern
date is best established on the authority of a writer, himself
a Hindu. " Animal food was in use in the Epic period, and
the cow and bull were often laid under requisition. In the
Aitareya Br&hmana, we learn that an ox, or a cow which
suffers miscarriage, is killed when a king or honoured guest
is received. In the Brdhmana of the Black Yajur Veda the
kind and character of the cattle which should be slaughtered
in minor sacrifices for the gratification of particular divinities
^ Muir, "Ancient Sanskrit Texts," i. 24 sq. ; iii. 166, 310 sq. ;
McLennan, "Fortnightly Review," 1870, 198 sq.
* Cox, " Mythology of the Aryan Nations,'* i. 107, 437 sq. ; ii. 49 sq.
QQ
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Animal Worship. 227
are laid down in detail. Thus a dwarf one is to be sacrificed
to Vishnu, a drooping-horned bull to Indra, a thick-legged
cow to VAjoi, a barren cow to Vishnu and Varuna, a black
cow to Pftshan, a cow having two colours to Mitra and
Varuna, a red cow to Indra, and so on. In a larger and
more important ceremonial, like the Aswamed^a, no less
than one hundred and eighty domestic animals, including
horses, bulls, goats, sheep, deer, etc., were sacrificed.
" The same BrAhmana lays down instructions for carving,
and the Gopatha Br&hmana tells us who received the por-
tions. The priests got the tongue, the neck, the shoulder,
the rump, the legs, etc., while the master of the house wisely
appropriated to himself the sirloin, and his wife had to be
satisfied with the pelvis. Plentiful libations of Soma beer
were to be allowed to wash down the meat. In the Sata-
patha Br&hmana we have a detailed account of the slaughter
of a barren cow and its cooking. In the same Brahmana
there is an amusing discussion as to the propriety of eating
the meat of an ox or cow. The conclusion is not very
definite. ' Let him (the priest) not eat the flesh of the cow
and the ox. Nevertheless Yajnavalkya said (taking appa-
rently a very practical view of the matter), * I, for one, eat it,
provided it is tender.' " ^
The evidence that cows were freely slaughtered in ancient
times could be largely extended. It is laid down in the
early laws that the meat of milch cows and oxen may be
eaten, and a guest is called a Goghna or " cow-killer,"
because a cow was killed for his entertainment.^ In the
Grihya SAtra we have a description of the sacrifice of an ox
to Kshetrapati, " the lord of the fields." In another ancient
ritual the sacrifice of a cow is stated to be very similar to
that of the Sati, and, according to an early legend, kine were
created from Parusha, the primal male, and are to be eaten
as they were formed from the receptacle of food.'
1 Romesh Chandra Datt, " History of Indian CivilizatioD," i. 253 sq.
3 Biihler, "Sacred Laws," Part i. 64, 119, note.
* Rajendra Lila Mitra, " I ndo- Aryans," ii. 134; Muir, "Ancient
Sansknt Texts," i. 24 sqq.
2
228 Folk-lore of Northern India.
It need hardly be said that the worship of the cow is not
peculiar to India, but prevails widely in various parts of the
world.*
Origin of Cow-worship.
The explanation of the origin of cow-worship has been a
subject of much controversy. The modern Hindu, if he has
formed any distinct ideas at all on the subject, bases his
respect for the cow on her value for supplying milk, and for
general agricultural purposes. The PanchagAvya, or five
products of the cow — milk, curds, butter, urine, and dung —
are efficacious as scarers of demons, are used as remedies
in disease, and play a very important part in domestic ritual
Gaurochana, a bright yellow pigment prepared from the
urine or bile of the cow, or, as is said by some, vomited by
her or found in her head, is used for making the sectarial
mark, and as a sedative, tonic, and anthelmintic. In Bombay
it is specially used as a remedy for measles, which is con-
sidered to be a spirit disease.*
There is, again, something to be said for the theory which
finds in these animals tribal totems and fetishes.^ We have
a parallel case among the Jews, where the bull was probably
the ancient symbol of the Hyksos, which the Israelites
having succeeded them could adopt, especially as it may
have been retained in use by their confederates the Midianites ;
and it appears in the earliest annals of Israel as a token of
the former supremacy of Joseph and his tribe, and was
subsequently adopted as an image of lahveh himself.
So, speaking of Egypt, Mr. Frazer writes : " Osiris was
regularly identified with the bull Apis of Memphis and the
bull Mnevis of Heliopolis. But it is hard to say whether
^ Schliemann, " Ilios," 112 ; Rawlinson, "Herodotus," ii. 27 sq., 41 ;
Ewald, " History of Israel," ii. 4; Robertson- Smith, "Kinship," 196;
Frazer, " Golden Bough,*' ii. 40.
3 Campbell, " Notes," 285.
8 Gubematis, " Zoological Mythology," i. 3 sqq. ; Cox, " Introduction,"
151 sqq. ; Kuenen, " Religion of Israel," i. 236 sq. ; Goldziher, " Mythology
among the Hebrews/* 226, 343 ; Wake, " Serpent-worship," 35 ; Spencer,
" Principles of Sociology," i. 340 ; McLennan, " Fortnightly Review," 1870,
p. 199.
Animal Worship. 229
these bulls were embodiments of him as the corn spirit, as
the red oxen appear to have been, or whether they were not
entirely distinct deities which got fused with Osiris by syncre-
tism. The fact that these two bulls were worshipped by all
the Eg}rptians, seems to put them on a different footing from
the ordinary sacred animals, whose cults were purely local.
Hence, if the latter were evolved from totems, as they pro-
bably were, some other origin would have to be found for the
worship of Apis and Mnevis. If these bulls were not origin-
ally embodiments of the corn god Osiris, they may possibly
be descendants of the sacred cattle worshipped by a pastoral
people. If this were so, ancient Egypt would exhibit a strati-
fication of the three great types of religion corresponding to
the three great stages of society. Tot^mism or (roughly
speaking) the worship of wild animals — the religion of society
in the hunting stage — ^would be represented by the worship
of the local sacred animals ; the worship of cattle — ^the
religion of society in the pastoral stage — ^would be repre-
sented by the cults of Apis and Mnevis ; and the worship of
cultivated plants, especially of corn — the religion of society
in the agricultural stage — would be represented by the wor-
ship of Osiris and Isis. The Egyptian reverence for cows,
which were never killed, might belong either to the second or V
third of these stages." ^
There is some evidence that the same process of religious
development may have taken place in India. It is at least
significant that the earlier legends represent Indra as created
from a cow ; and we know that Indra was the Kuladevatal or
family godling of the race of the Kusikas, as Krishna was
probably the clan deity of some powerful confederation of
Rijput tribes. Cow- worship is thus closely connected with
Indra and with Krishna in his forms as the " herdman god,"
Govinda or Gop&la ; and it is at least plausible to conjecture
that the worship of the cow may have been due to the absorp-
tion of the animal as a tribal totem of the two races, who
venerated these two divinities.
Further, the phallic significance of the worship, in its
^ " Golden Bough/' ii. 60.
230 Folk-lore of Northern India.
modern form at least, and its connection with fertility can-
not be altogether ignored.* This is particularly shown in the
close connection between Siva's bull Nandi and the Lingam
worship ; and there seems reason to suspect that the bull is
intended to intercept the evil influences which in the popu-
lar belief are continually emitted from the female principle
through the Yon!. As we have already seen, the dread of
this form of pollution is universal. Hence when the Lingam
is set up in a new village the people are careful in turning
the spout of the Yoni towards the jungle, and not in the
direction of the roads and houses, lest its evil influence should
be communicated to them; and in order still further to
secure this object, the bull Nandi is placed sitting as a
guardian between the Yoni and the inhabited site.*
Cow-worship assumes another form in connection with the
theory of transmigration. It has become part of the theory
y^ that the soul migrates into the cow immediately preceding
its assumption of the human form, and she escorts the soul
across the dreaded river Vaitarani, which bounds the lower
world.
Cow-woRSHiP: Its Later Development.
Though cow-worship was little known in the Vedic period,
by the time of the compilation of the Institutes of Manu it
had become part of the popular belief. He classes the
slaughter of a cow or bull among the deadly sins ; " the
preserver of a cow or a Br&hman atones for the crime of kill-
ing a priest ; '* ' and we find constant references in the
mediaeval folk-lore to the impiety of the Savaras and other
DrUvidian races who killed and ate the sacred animal. Sakti-
deva one day, " as he was standing on the roof of his palace,
saw a Chandila coming along with a load of cow's flesh, and
said to his beloved Vindumati : ' Look, slender one ! How
can the evil-doer eat the flesh of cows, that are the object of
veneration to the three worlds ? ' Then Vindumati, hear-
1 Hartland, " Lejjend of Perseus/' i. 158.
2 Sellon, " Memoirs Anthropological Society of London," i. 328.
» " Institutes,"* xi. 60, 80.
Animal Worship. 231
ing that, said to her husband : * The wickedness of this act is
inconceivable ; what can we say in palliation of it ? I have
been bom in this race of fishermen for a very small offence
owing to the might of cows. But what can atone for this
man's sin ? * " ^
Re-birth through the Cow.
When the horoscope forebodes some crime or special
calamity, the child is clothed in scarlet, a colour which re-
pels evil influences, and tied on the back of a new sieve,
which, as we have seen, is a powerful fetish. This is passed
through the hindlegs of a cow, forward through the forelegs
towards the mouth, and again in the reverse direction, signi-
fying the new birth from the sacred animal. The usual wor-
ship and aspersion take place, and the father smells his child,
as the cow smells her calf. This rite is known as the Hiranya-
garbha, and not long since the Mah&r&ja of Travancore was
passed in this way through a cow of gold.'
The same idea is illustrated in the legend of the Pushkar
Lake, which probably represents a case of that fusion of
races which undoubtedly occurred in ancient times. The
story runs that Brahma proposed to do worship there, but
was perplexed where he should perform the sacrifice, as he
had no temple on earth like the other gods. So he collected
all the other gods, but the sacrifice could not proceed as
Savitri alone was absent ; and she refused to come without
Lakshml, P&rvati, and Indr^nl. On hearing of her refusal,
Brahma was wroth, and said to Indra : " Search me out a
girl that I may marry her and commence the sacrifice, for
the jar of ambrosia weighs heavy on my head." Accordingly
Indra went and found none but a GAjar's daughter, whom he
purified, and passing her through the body of a cow, brought
her to Brahma, telling him what he had done. Vishnu said :
" BrAhmans and cows are really identical ; you have taken
her from the womb of a cow, and this may be considered a
second birth." Siva said : " As she has passed through a
» Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," i. 227.
3 " North Indian Notes and Queries/' iii. 215.
232 Folk-lore of Northern India.
cow, she shall be called G&yatri." The Br&hmans agreed
that the sacrifice might now proceed ; and Brahma having
married Giyatrl, and having enjoined silence upon her,
placed on her head the jar of ambrosia and the sacrifice was
performed.^
Respect Paid to the Cow.
The respect paid to the cow appears everywhere in
folk-lore. We have the cow Kdmadhenii, known also as
K4madugh4 or Kdmaduh, the cow of plenty, SavaU, "the
spotted one," and Surabht, "the fragrant one," which
grants all desires. Among many of the lower castes the
cow-shed becomes the family temple.' In the old ritual,
the bride, on entering her husband's house, was placed on
a red bulPs hide as a sign that she was received into the
tribe, and in the Soma sacrifice the stones whence the
liquor was produced were laid on the hide of a bull. When
a disputed boundary is under settlement, a cow skin is
placed over the head and shoulders of the arbitrator, who
is thus imbued with the divine influence, and gives a just
decision. It is curious that until quite recently there was a
custom in the Hebrides of sewing up a man in the hide of
a bull, and leaving him for the night on a hill-tpp, that he
might become a spirit medium.* The pious Hindu touches
the cow's tail at the moment of dissolution, and by her aid
he is carried across the dread river of death. I have nwjre
than once seen a criminal ascend the scaffold with the
utmost composure when he was allowed to grasp a cow's
tail before the hangman did his office. The tail of the cow
is also used in the marriage ritual, and the tail of the wild
cow, though nowadays only used by grooms, was once the
symbol of power, and waved over the ruler to protect him
from evil spirits. Quite recently I found that one of the
chief BrUhman priests at the sacred pool of Hardw&r keeps
^ Atkinson, " Himalayan Gazetteer," ii. 914 ; " R^jputina Gazetteer,*"
ii. 67.
^ " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 39.
* Miss Gordon-Cumming, "From the Hebrides to the Himalaya,**
i. 141.
Animal Worship. 233
a wild cow's tail to wave over his clients, and scare demons
from them when they are bathing in the Brahma Kund or
sacred pool.
The Hill legend tells how Siva once manifested himself
in his fiery form, and Vishnu and Brahma went in various
directions to see how far the light extended. On their re-
turn Vishnu declared that he had been unable to find out
how far the light prevailed ; but Brahma said that he had
gone beyond its limits. Vishnu then called on KimadhenA,
the celestial cow, to bear testimony, and she corroborated
Brahma with her tongue, but she shook her tail by way of
denying the statement. So Vishnu cursed her that her
mouth should be impure, but that her tail should be held
holy for ever.*
Modern Cow-worship.
There are numerous instances of modern cow-worship.
The J4ts and GOjars adore her under the title of G&t
Mdtd, " Mother cow." The cattle are decorated and sup-
plied with special food on the Gopashtami or Gokulash-
tami festival, which is held in connection with the Krishna
cultus. In NepAl there is a New&ri festival, known as the
GS,fe Jitra, or cow feast, when all persons who have lost
relations 4uring the year ought to disguise themselves as
cows and dance round the palace of the king.' In many
of the Central Indian States, about the time of the Diw41i,
the Maun Char4An, or silent tending of cattle, is performed.
The celebrants rise at daybreak, wash and bathe, anoint
their bodies with oil, and hang garlands of flowers round
their necks. All this time they remain silent and com-
municate their wants by signs. When all is ready they
go to the pasture in procession in perfect silence. Each of
them holds a peacock's feather over his shoulder to scare
demons. They remain in silence with the cattle for an
hour or two, and then return home. This is followed by
1 Atkinson, ioc, «/., ii. 771 ; Wright, ** History of Nepal," 82.
' "Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 109.
/
234 Folk-lore of Northern India.
an entertainment of wrestling among the Ahirs or cow-
herds. Whennight has come, a gun is fired, and the Mih4-
r4ja breaks his fast and speaks. The rite is said to be in
commemoration of Krishna feeding the cows in the pastures
of the land of Braj.^
During an eclipse, the cow, if in calf, is rubbed on the
horns and belly with red ochre to repel the evil influence,
and prevent the calf being born blemished. Cattle are not
worked on the Amdvas or Ides of the month. There are
many devices, such as burning tiger's flesh, and similar
prophylactics, in the cow-house to drive away the demon
of disease. So, on New Year's Day the Highlander used to
fumigate his cattle shed with the smoke of juniper.' Cow
hair is regarded as an amulet against disease and danger,
in the same way as the hair of the yak was valued by the
people of Central Asia in the time of Marco Polo.' An ox
with a fleshy excrescence on his eye is regarded as sacred,
and is known as Nadiya or Nandi, " the happy one," the
title of the bull of Siva. He is not used for agriculture,
but given to a Jogi, who covers him with cowry shells, and
carries him about on begging excursions. One of the most
unpleasant sights at the great bathing fairs, such as those
of Prayig or Hardwir, is the malformed cows and oxen
which beggars of this class carry about and exhibit. The
Gonds kill a cow at a funeral, and hang the tail on the
grave as a sign that the ceremonies have been duly per-
formed." The Kurkus sprinkle the blood of a cow on the
grave, and believe that if this be not done the spirit of the
departed refuses to rest, and returns upon earth to haunt
the survivors.* The Vrishotsarga practised by Hindus on
the eleventh day after death, when a bull calf is branded
and let loose in the name of deceased, is apparently an
attempt to shift on the animal the burden of the sins of the
dead man, if it be not a survival of an actual sacrifice.
^ ** North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 154.
« Dyer, '' Popular Customs," 18. » Yule, « Marco Polo," ii. 341.
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 283.
* " Indian Antiquary," i. 348 sq.
Animal Worship. 235
Feeling against Cow-killing.
Of the unhappy agitation against cow-killing, which has
been in recent years such a serious problem to the British
Government in Northern India, nothing further can be said
here. To the orthodox Hindu, killing a cow, even acci-
dentally, is a serious matter, and involves the feeding of
Brdhmans and the performance of pilgrimages. In the
Hills a special ritual is prescribed in the event of a plough
ox being killed by accident.* The idea that misfortune
follows the killing of a cow is common. It used to be said
that storms arose on the Plr Panj&l Pass in Kashmir if a
<:ow was killed."
General Sleeman gives a case at S4gar, where an epidemic
was attributed to the practice of cattle slaughter, and a
popular movement arose for its suppression.' Sindhia
offered Sir John Malcolm in 1802 an additional cession of
territory if he would introduce an article into the Treaty
-with the British Government prohibiting the slaughter of
<:ows within the territory he had been already compelled
to abandon. The Emperor Akbar ordered that cattle
should not be killed during the Pach6sar, or twelve sacred
days observed by the Jainas; Sir John Malcolm gives a
-copy of the original FirmAn.* Cow-killing is to this day
prohibited in orthodox Hindu States, like NepAl.
BuLL-woRSriip among BanjAras.
There is a good example of bull-worship among the
wandering tribe of Banj&ras. " When sickness occurs,
they lead the sick man to the foot of the bullock called
Hatddiya ; for though they say that they pay reverence to
images, and that their religion is that of the Sikhs, the
object of their worship is this Hat&diya, a bullock devoted
to the god B&lajt. On this animal no burden is ever laid,
^ Atkinson, ** HimAlayan Gazetteer,'* ii. 913.
' Jarrett, " Afn-i-Akbari," ii. 348, quoting Erskine ; " Babar," Introduc-
tion, 47.
» " Rambles," i. 199 sqq. * " Central India," i. 329, note; ii. 164.
236 Folk-lore of Northern India.
but he is decorated with streamers of red-dyed silk and
tinkling bells, with many brass chains and rings on neck
and feet, and strings of cowry shells and silken tassels
hanging in all directions. He moves steadily at the head
of the convoy, and the place he lies down on when tired,
that they make their halting-place for the day. At his feet
they make their vows when difficulties overtake them, and
in illness, whether of themselves or cattle, they trust to his
worship for a cure." The respect paid by Banjiras to
C2fttle seems, however, to be diminishing. Once upon a
time they would never sell cattle to a butcher, but nowadays
it is an every-day occurrence.^
Superstitions about Cattle.
Infinite are the superstitions about cattle, their marks,,
and every kind of peculiarity connected with them, and this-
has been embodied in a great mass of rural rhymes and
proverbs which are always on the lips of the people. Thus,
for instance, it is unlucky for a cow to calve in the month of
Bhadon. The remedy is to swim it in a stream, sell it to a
Muhammadan, or in the last resort give it away to a
GujarUti Br&hman. Here may be noticed the curious
prejudice against the use of a cow's milk, which prevails
among some tribes such as the Hos and some of the
aboriginal tribes of Bengal. The latter use a species of
wild cattle, the Mithun, for milking purposes, but will not
touch the milk of the ordinary cow.*
The Buffalo.
The respect paid to the cow does not fully extend to the
buffalo. The buffalo is the vehicle of Yama, the god of
death. The female buffalo is in Western India regarded as
the incarnation of Savitri, wife of Brahma, the Creator.
^ Balfour, ** Journal Asiatic Society Bengal," xiii. N.S.; Gunthorpe,.
" Notes on Criminal Tribes of Ber^r," 36.
* Ball, "Jungle Life," 165 ; "North Indian Notes and Queries," i.6o;
" Calcutta Review," Ixxx. 53, 58.
Animal Worship, 237
Durgi or Bhav&ni killed the buffalo-shaped Asura Mahisa,
MahisAsura, after whom MaisAr is called. According to
the legend as told in the MArkandeya Purina, Ditl, having
lost alj her sons, the Asuras, in the fight with the gods,
turned herself into a buffalo in order to annihilate them.
She underwent such terrible austerities to propitiate
Brahma, that the whole world was shaken and the saint
Suparsva disturbed at his devotions. He cursed Ditt that
her son should be in the shape of a buffalo, but Brahma so
far mitigated the curse that only his head was to be that of
a buffalo. This was MahisAsura, who ill-treated the gods,
until they appealed to Vishnu and Siva, who jointly pro-
duced a lovely representation of a Bhavdnf , the Mahisdsur-
mardanl, who slew the monster. This Mahisisura is
supposed to be the origin of the godling Mahasoba, wor-
shipped in Western India in the form of a rude stone
covered with red lead.
Another of these buffalo demons is Dundubhi, *' he that
roars like the sound of the kettle-drum," who in the Ram4-
yana bursts with his horns the cavern of Bali, son of Indra
and king of monkeys. Bali seized him by the horns and
dashed him to pieces. The comparative mythologists
regard him as one of the forms of the cloud monster the
sun.^
Sadasiva, one of the forms of Mahideva, took the form
of a buffalo to escape the Pindavas, and sank into the
ground at Ked&rn&th. The upper portion of his body is
said to have come to the surface at Mukhir Bind in Nepil,
where he is worshipped as Pasupatinitha. When the
Pindavas were freed from their guilt, they in their
gratitude built five temples in honour of the hinder parts
of the deity, which are now known as the Pdnch Keddr-
Kedarn§.th, Madhya Maheswar, Rudrandth, Tungunith, and
Kalpeswar.
The buffalo is constantly sacrificed at shrines in honour
of Durgd Devi. The Toda worship of the buffalo is familiar
to all students pf Indian ethnology.
^ GubernatiS) " Zoological Mythology," i. 75.
238 Folk-lore of Northern India.
The Antelope.
The black buck was in all probability the tribal totem of
some of the races occupying the country anciently known as
Aryivarta. Mr. Campbell accounts for the respect paid to
the animal by the use of hartshorn as a remedy for faint-
ness, swoons, and nervous disorders.^ But this hardly
explains the respect paid to it, and the use of its dung by
the Bengal Parhaiyas instead of cowdung to smear their
floors looks as if it were based on totemism.^ This too is
shown by the regard paid its skin. As Mr. Frazer has
proved, it is a custom among many savage tribes to retain
the skin as an image of the deity which the animal repre-
sented.* Hence according to the old ritual, the skin of
the antelope was the prescribed dress of the student of
theology, and it is still the seat of the ascetic*
The antelope constantly appears in the folk-tales as a
sort of Deus ex machina^ which leads the hero astray in the
chase and brings him to the home of the ogress or the
ensorcelled maiden.' In the Mah&bhirata, the King
Partkshit is led astray by a gazelle, and King Pandu dies
when he meets his wife Madri, because he had once killed
under similar circumstances a gazelle with his mate. In
the Vishnu Purana, Bharata loses the fruits of his austerities
by becoming enamoured of a fawn. These fairy hinds
appear throughout the whole range of folk-lore. A NepAlese
legend tells how the three gods Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma
once appeared in the form of deer, whence the place where
they were seen is known as Mrigasthali.®
The Elephant.
The elephant naturally claims worship as the type of
strength and wisdom. To the rustic he impersonates
1 "Notes," 287. 2 Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology,*' 131.
^ " Golden Bough,'* ii. 93. * Manu, "Institutes," ii. 41.
* Burton, "Arabian Nights," ii. 508; Tawney, "Katha Sarit Sigara,"
i. 166; Clouston, "Popular Tales,'' i.; "Gesta Romanorum,*' Tale xviii.
« Wright, "History,** 81.
THE ELEPHANT A TEMPLE WARDEN.
//. 238.
Animal Worship. 239
Ganesa, the god of wisdom, the remover of obstacles, who
is propitiated at the commencement of any important enter-
prise, such as marriage and the like. Many legends are
told to account for his elephant head. One tells how his
mother Pdrvatt was so proud of her baby that she asked
Sani to look at him, forgetting the baneful effects of the
look of the ill-omened deity. When he looked at the child
its head was burned to ashes, and Brahma, to console her,
told her to fix on the first head she could find, which hap-
pened to be that of the elephant. By another account she
put Ganesa to guard the door while she was bathing, and
when he refused to allow Siva to enter, the angry god cut
off his head, which was afterwards replaced by that of
the elephant. Again, one of his tusks was broken off by
Parasurima with the axe which Siva, father of Ganesa, had
given him.
Again, there are the Lokapilas, the eight supporters of
the world. These eight pairs of elephants support the
earth. Indra with Air&vata and Abhramu support the east ;
Agni with Pundarika and Kapili the south-east ; Yama with
VAmana and Pingald the south ; S6rya with Kumuda and
Anupam4 the south-west ; Varuna with Anjana and Anjana-^
vatl the west ; Viyu with Pushpadanta and Subhadanti the
north-west ; Kuvera on the north with Sarvabhauma, and
Soma on the north-east with Suprattka. As usual, there
are differences in the enumeration.
From these all the modern elephants are descended. As
Abul Fazl writes : " When occasion arises people read in-
cantations in their names and address them in worship.
They also think that every elephant in the world is offsprings
of one of them. Thus, elephants of a white skin and white
hairs are related to the first, and elephants with a large head
and long ears, of a fierce and bold temper, and eyelids far
apart, belong to the second. Such as are good-looking,
black, and high in the back, are the offspring of the third.
If tall, ungovernable, quick in understanding, short-haired,,
and with red and black eyes, they icome firom the fourth.
If bright black, with one tusk longer than the other, with a
240 Folk-lore of Northern India.
white breast and belly, and long and thick forefeet, from the
fifth. If fearful, with prominent veins, a short hump and ears,
and a long trunk, from the sixth. If thin-bellied, red-eyed,
and with a long trunk, from the seventh. And if of a com-
bination of the preceding seven qualities, from the eighth." *
Through India the reverence for the white elephant of
Burma and Siam has arisen. The figure of the elephant
appears on some of the pillars of Asoka. There is an
elephant gate at Fatehpur Sikri, one of the King Huvishkaat
Mathura, and another connected with the dynasty of Kanauj
at DabhAon in the Azamgarh District. Delhi contains the
remarkable elephant statues, believed by General Cunning-
ham to have been erected in honour of Jaymal and Patta,
the two Rdjput heroes who defended the Fort of Chithor
against Akbar.'
The elephant constantly occurs in folk-lore. In the pro-
jection of its forehead it possesses a pearl, known as the
Kunjara Mani, or Gaja Mukta, which is invested with
magical qualities. In the folk-tales the wooden horse of
Troy is represented by an artificial elephant filled with
soldiers ; other elephants have the power of flying through
the air ; in other stories, as in one of La Fontaine's fables,
an elephant selects a king by raising him up with his trunk ;
the elephant Kuvalyaptda is the guardian of a kingdom, and
touching an elephant is one of the tests of a woman's chastity.
We have also numerous instances of the metamorphosis of
human beings into elephants.*
^ The hair of the elephant's tail is in high repute as an
amulet, and little village children, when an elephant passes,
pat the dust where his feet have rested and sing a song,
of which one version is —
Hathi hathi, bdrdi
Sone ki tarwdr di —
'* Give us a hair, elephant, like a sword of gold."
* Blochmann, " Atn-i-Akbari," i. 121.
* Fiihrer, " Monumental Antiquities," 8, 73, 105, 188 ; Cunningham,
"Archaeological Reports," i. 225.
» Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sdgara," i. 73, 177, 328 sq. ; ii. 102, 215,
500, 540; Knowles, " Kashmir Folk-tales," 17.
Animal Worship, 241
In Europe, it may be noted, the hair from the tail of a
horse is commonly regarded as a cure for wens.^
In the Fatehpur District there is an elephant turned
into stone. The famous Jaychand of Kanauj, it is said, as
in the Carthage legend, offered to ParAsara Rishi as many
villages as an elephant could walk round. It traversed an
enormous extent of country, and finally halted at Irddatnagar,
where it was turned into stone, and once a year an enormous
fair is held in its honour.*
The Cat.
The cat is everywhere invested with demoniac qualities,
and is the companion of the witch. In " Macbeth " the
first witch says, " Thrice the brinded cat has mewed."
Among Muhammadans the cat is a pure animal, and to kill
a cat is very unlucky, and brings on trouble and sickness/
So, among Hindus, the killing of a cat can be expiated only
by the performance of the rite known as the Prajapati
Yajna, which secures the birth of male issue. They say
that Mahddeva and P^rvatt were one day playing dice, and
Pirvati called in Ganesa in his form as a rat to upset the
dice with his tail and cause her to make a good throw.
Mahideva was wroth, and called in a demon like a cat, but
he was afraid to kill Ganesa. Then Mah^deva cursed any
one in after days who should kill a cat. We have the same
tale in the Rasdlu cycle, where the rat of Dhol Raja changes
the course of the game between him and Rdja Sarkap. The
cat is respected because she is the vehicle of Shashthi, the
protectress of children, and part of the orthodox Hindu rite
at dinner is giving food to the cat. Among the Oraons, as
we have seen, the birth fiend Chordeva comes in the form
of a cat.
The Rat and Mouse.
The rat is sacred as the vehicle of Ganesa. In Bombay,
"" to call a rat a rat is considered by lower classes of Hindus
* Black, " Folk Medicine," 152. ^ Fiihrer, loc. #//., 161.
VOL. II. R
242 Folk-lore of Northern India.
as unlucky, and so they call him Undir M4ma, or * the rat
uncle.' He is so called because he is probably supposed to
be the spirit of an uncle. It is considered a great sin to
kill a rat, and so, when rats give trouble in a house, the
women of the house make a vow to them that, if they cease
troubling, sweet balls will be given to them on a certain day,
and it is believed by the Hindus that when such a vow has
been made, the rats cease troubling them for some time." *
In parts of England it is believed that a field mouse creeping
over the back of a sheep gives it paralysis, and that this
can be cured only by shutting up a mouse in a hollow of
the trunk of the witch elm or witch hazel tree and leaving
it to die of famine.'
The curiously deformed idiot boys which are collected at
the shrine of Shdh Daula at Gujarat are known from their
wizened appearance as the rats of Shah Daula.*
The Squirrel.
The little Indian squirrel is called in the Panjib RAma
Chandra KSl Bhagat, or the saint of Rdma Chandra, because
when he was building the bridge across the strait to Lanka,
the squirrel helped by shaking dust from his tail, and the
god stroked it on the back, hence the dark marks which it
bears to the present day. Many of the Drividian tribes
claim descent from the squirrel.
The Bear.
The bear is regarded as a scarer of disease, and sickly
children are taken for a ride on the back of a tame bear or
one of his hairs is worn round the neck as an amulet. It
was Jdmbavat, the king of the bears, who carried off the
celebrated amulet, Syamantaka. He was pursued by Krishna,
to whom he surrendered the gem and gave him his daughter
JS.mbavatt to wife. He afterwards with his army of bears
assisted Rinia in his invasion of Lanka.
^ Campbell, " Notes," 267. 2 Brand, " Observations," 739.
3 ** Panjd,b Notes and Queries," iv. 2.
Animal Worship. 243
The Jackal.
The jackal is an important character in the folk-tales,
where he assumes the part taken in Europe by the fox.
Many are the tales told of his acuteness. The pack is
supposed to howl only at each watch of the night, and the
leader says, Main Dilli ka Bddshdh h^n — " I am King of
Delhi" thrice, and his companions say. Ho! hoi hoi —
" Yes ! of course you are."
The Hare.
Of the hare in the moon we have spoken already, and
also referred to the animal in connection with omens. In
Cornwall, when a girl has loved not wisely but too well, she
haunts her deceiver in the shape of a white hare.^
Birds: The Crow.
Passing on to birds, the crow is a famous totem or sacred
bird.^ It personifies in Indian tradition the soul of the dead
man ; hence, to give food to the crows, known in Northern
India as Kdgaur, is equivalent to offering food to the Manes,
Rdma in the Rimiyana orders Sitd to make this offering,
and Yama, in reward for its services, conceded to it the
right of eating the funeral meats, for which reason the souls
of the dead, when this food is given to the crows, are enabled
to pass into a better world. Hence the bird is known as
Balipushta or " nourished by offerings," and Balibhuj or
" devourer of oblations." *
In the Mahdbhdrata, the son of Drona, one of the few
survivors of the Kauravas, sees an owl killing the crows on a
sacred fig tree, and this suggests to him the idea of attacking
the camp of the Pdndavas. This contest of the owl and the
crow forms the subject of one of the tales of Somadeva/
^ Hunt, " Popular Romances," 377.
^ For the crow in English folk-lore, see Henderson, " Folk-lore of the
Northern Counties,'' 126 ; Gregor, " Folk-lore of N.E. Scotland,*' 135 sq.
8 Gubernatis, " Zoological Mythology," ii. 253 sq. ; " Panjib Notes
and Queries," i. 27.
4 Tawney, ** Katha Sarit S&gara," ii. 64, 73.
R 2
244 Folk-lore of Northern India.
The incident of the wicked crow, which bit the foot of SitA,
is related in the R4m4yana. The Bhitus of Central India,
a class of migratory athletes, worship Niriyana and the
bamboo, with which all their feats are performed. When
they bury their dead they place rice and oil at the head of
the grave, and stand near to worship whatever animal comes
to eat the offerings. They draw the happiest omen of the
state of the departed from crows visiting the spot.*
In the Garuda Purina a tale is told of a wicked hunter
who was killed by a tiger in the depths of the forest, and his
ghost became a troublesome Bhiit, until one day a crow
carried off one of the bones and dropped it into the Ganges,
when the sinner was at once carried in a heavenly chariot
to the mansions of the blessed. This legend is localized in
the Hills and tells how Karma Sarma was killed by a tiger
in the forest. A crow took up one of his bones and carried
it to the shrine at Tungkshetra, and such is the virtue of the
soil there that the hunter was at once carried off to the
heaven of Indra.^
Bhusundi is the legendary crow of the battlefield, who
drinks the blood of the slain. He had more blood than he
could drink in the wars of the two Asuras, Sumbha and
Nisumbha, who contended with the gods. He just quenched
his thirst in the wars of Rdma, but broke his beak against
the hard, dry ground, which had soaked in the small amount
of blood shed by the comparatively degenerate heroes of the
Mahibhslrata. He now croaks over the armies as they go
out to war, and looks for some Armageddon, when his thirst
will at last be satisfied.
Manifold are the ideas about crows and omens taken
from their appearance and cawing. Some people think a
crow has only one eye, which he shifts from one cavity to
the other as he finds it convenient. In the Panjib, if a
crow picks up a woman's handkerchief and then drops it,
she will not use it, but gives it to a beggar.* The brains of
1 Balfour, " Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal,'* N.S. xiii.
3 Monier- Williams, " Brihmanism and Hinduism," 301 ; Atkinson,
" Himilayan Gazetteer,'' ii. 329.
3 " North Indian Notes and Queries,'' i. 15.
Animal Worship, 245
a crow are a specific against old age, but the cawing of a
crow is ominous at the beginning of a journey. If a crow
hops and caws on the roof a guest may be expected.
Musalmdns have both fear and respect for the crow, because
it was he showed Cain how to bury Abel.
The Hand of Glory.
It is a common belief in Europe that the Hand of Glory,
or the dried-up hand of a criminal who has been executed,
is a powerful charm for thieves. In Ireland, " if a candle is
placed in a dead hand, neither wind nor water can extinguish
it, and if carried into a house, the inmates will sleep the
sleep of the dead as long as it remains under the roof, and
no power on earth can wake them as long as the dead hand
holds the candle." The hand of a dead man is also used to
stir the milk when butter will not form.^ So, in Northern
India, thieves have a superstition that the ashes of a corpse
will, if sprinkled by the door of a house, prevent the inmates
from awaking during the commission of a burglary. The
Hand of Glory, according to Sir G. Cox, is "the light
flashing from the dim and dusky storm-cloud,"* but this can
hardly, with the utmost ingenuity, be invoked to explain
the similar usage of Indian burglars, who carry about with
them the stick out of a crow's nest, the Gad kl Lakri, which
opens locks and holds the household spell-bound. The
Indian thief, like his English brother, by the way, often
carries about a piece of charcoal as a charm in his opera-
tions.
The Fowl.
Among some of the Indian races the value set on the
fowl may possibly, as Mr. Campbell suggests, depend on
the feeling that the spirits of the dead wandering near their
1 Lady Wilde, "Legends," 81 sq., 172; ''Panjib Notes and Queries,**
iii. 24; Brand, "Observations,** 732; Henderson, "Folk-lore of the
Northern Counties," 239 sq.; Aubrey, " Remaines/' 197 ; "North Indian
Notes and Queries,'* ii. 215.
* ** Mythology of the Aryan Nations,** ii, 219 sq.
246 Folk-lore of Northern India.
ancient homes find an asylum in the domestic fowls/ At
any rate, as a sacrifice, the black fowl is very generally
preferred. This is so among the Drividian races of Central
India. In Ireland the first egg laid by a little black hen,
eaten the very first thing in the morning, will keep you from
fever for the year.* In Germany it was held that to find
treasure, that is to say, to scare the fiends which guard
and hide it, one should use a black he-goat and a black fowl.*
One of the Italian charms directs, "To bewitch one till he
die, take a black hen and pluck from it every feather ; and
this done, keep them all carefully, so that not one be lost.
With these you may do any harm to grown-up people or
children."* Another possible reason for the respect paid to
the fowl is that the corn spirit is often killed in the form
of a cock to promote the periodical yegetation of the
crops.
The Dove and Pigeon.
The dove is held in much respect by MusalmAns. " Among
the Northern Semites the dove is sacred to Ashtoreth and
has all the marks of a totem, for the Syrians would not eat
it. It was not merely a symbol, but received divine honour.
In Arabia we find a dove idol in the Qaaba, and sacred
doves surround it." * So, the Kheshgi Pathins of Qasiir in
the Panjib will not kill pigeons; they are similarly protected
by Hindus at Bharatpur, and among Muhammadans they
rank as the Sayyid among birds. In Northern India a
house with pigeons is supposed to be safe from ghosts.
The dove is believed to utter a peculiar note four times in
succession, in which she bewails her neglected lover. She
says, —
Pisilntht,kaiuniht:
Ayd thdy chald gayd.
» " Notes," 264. 9 « Folk-lore," iv. 350.
' Grimm, ** Teutonic Mythology," iii. 977.
* Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 354.
* Robertson-Smith, '* Kinship," 196 sq.
Animal Worship. 247
" WhUe I was grinding flour and spinning, he came and
departed." ^
The Goose or Swan.
The goose or swan is possibly an illustration of what may
be a tribal totem. It is said in the Bhdgavata Purina that
at one time there existed one Veda, one god Agni, and one
caste. This we learn from the commentator was in the
Krita age, and the one caste he tells us of was named
Hansa or Swan. The Kansas are, again, in the Vishnu
Purina, said to be one of four castes or tribes existing in a
district exterior to India, and finally we learn from the
Linga Pur&na that Hansa was a name of Brahma himself.
It is reasonable to suppose that we have a swan tribe in the
Indian Kansas.' As an argument in favour of the theory
that the Hansa was a tribal totem, we find that the Kalhans
Rijputs of Oudh are said to take their name from the Kila
Hansa or Black Swan; that Rijputs nowadays will not
eat it ; and that the same respect is shown to a bird of
allied type, the Brdhmani Duck, and its mate, the Chakwa,
Chakwi of our rivers. They were once two lovers, separated
by fate, changed into ducks, and all through the night they
call sadly to each other across the broad stream of the
Ganges, which keeps them apart.
To the Hansa is ascribed the fabulous power of being
able to separate milk from water after the two have been
mixed together.' In England the goose is supposed to
have some uncanny way of predicting weather.* In Welsh
belief the wild goose is a witch, especially if first seen on the
first Thursday night of the lunar month.* The ancient
Greeks ascribed to the swan the gift of prophecy and song ;
the sacred geese of the capital were respected at Rome, and
the ancient Germans considered it a prophetic bird. The
^ "North Indian Notes and Queries/' i. 12, 42, 60; ii. 29; iii^ 161;
Grimm, " Household Tales, i. 367 ; ii. 428, 573.
' McLennan, " Fortnightly Review," vi. 582.
» Knowles, " Kashmir Folk-tales," 449.
* Brand, " Observations," 699. * Rhys, " Lectures," 175.
248 Folk-lore of Northern India.
goose was a favourite Buddhist emblem, and a flock of them
is depicted on the Lion Pillar at Betiya in TirhAt.^
In the story of Nala and Damayanti, a flock of these birds
arranges the interviews between the lovers, and in the
Mahabharata the Rishis take the form of a swan to convey
the divine message. According to the comparative mytho-
logists, it is needless to say, the Hansa is the sun.'
Sundry Sacred Birds.
Mention has already been made of Garuda, half man,
half bird, the vehicle of Vishnu. He is the son of one of
the daughters of Daksha, whom we have already met with
in connection with the moon, and the sage Kasyapa.
According to the Mahabharata, he was given leave to devour
wicked men, but not to touch a Brahman. Once he did
devour a Brdhman, but the holy man so burnt his throat
that he wsis glad to disgorge him. In the RdmAyana we
meet with Jat4yu, who is said to be a son of Garuda and
king of the vultures. He tried to stop the chariot in which
Rdvana was abducting SttA, and though wounded, was able
to carry the news to Rdma.
A bird known as the Malahiri or " filth destroyer " is a
sort of totem of the Kanjar gipsies. If they see it singing
on a green branch to the front or right, it is an auspicious
omen, and they start at once on the prowl.
So with the Khanjarit, in Sanskrit Khanjandkriti, the wag-
tail, which is also known as Rim Chiraiya or " the bird of
Rima." It is associated with Vishnu, because the marks
on its throat are said to resemble the Sdlagrima. It comes
from the heaven of R4ma in the end of the rains, and remains
till the close of spring, and then bears back to Rima a report
of the state of the world and the crops. When it first
appears every one bows to it. A Sanskrit text lays down
that when a person first sees the bird, if he be standing near
a Brihman, or near water, or sitting on an elephant, or at
1 Ferguson, " History of Indian Architecture," 54 ; Tennent, " Ceylon,**
i. 484.
" Gubematis, " Zoological Mythology," ii. 307 sqq.
Animal Worship. 249
daybreak, or when the bird is flying near or sitting on a
serpent, it is considered propitious. * When a person first sees
it in the east, it brings him good luck all through the year ;
when seen in the south-east, it predicts loss by fire ; to the
south-west, fighting ; to the west, acquisition of wealth ; if
seen to the north-east, the observer will gain good clothes
and jewels. He who sees it in the north-west will die.
The superstitions in Europe connected with the magpie
and cuckoo are of much the same class. In Ireland it is
said, " Beware of killing the water wagtail, for it has three
drops of the Devil's blood in its little body, and ill-luck ever
goes with it and follows it." ^
The Ojhiyils or wizards of the Central Provinces sell the
skins of a species of Buceros, called Dhanchirya, which are
used to hang up in the house to secure wealth {dhan)^ whence
its name ; and thigh bones of the same bird are hung round
the wrists of children as a charm against evil spirits.*
The Hoopoe.
The legend of the hoopoe is thus told by Arrian : ** To
the king of the Indians was bom a son. The child had
elder brothers, who, when they came to man's estate, turned
out to be very unjust and the greatest of reprobates. They
despised their brother because he was the youngest ; and they
scoffed at their father and their mother, whom they despised
because they were old and grey-headed. The boy, accord-
ingly, and his aged parents could no longer live with these
wicked men, and away they fled from home, all three to-
gether. In the course of the protracted journeys which they
had then to undergo, the old people succumbed to fatigue
and died, and the boy showed them no light regard, but
buried them in himself, having cut off his head with a sword.
Then, as the Brachmanes (Br&hman) tell us, the all-seeing
sun, in admiration of this surprising act of piety, transformed
the boy into a bird, which is most beautiful to behold, and
which Uves to a very advanced age. So on his head there
* Lady Wilde, " Legends," 177. * Hislop, " Papers." 6.
250 Folk-lore of Northern India.
grew up a crest, which was, as it were, a memorial of what
he had done in the time of his flight/* ^
Somadeva gives another story of this bird. Rajatadanshtra
one day saw his sister SomaprabhA playing on a Pinjara, and
when she would not give it to him, took the form of a bird
and flew away with it to heaven. She cursed him that he
should become a bird with a golden crest, but promised that
when in his bird shape he should fall into a blind well, " and
a merciful person draws you out, and you do him a service
in return, you shall be released from this curse." '
The Muhammadan tradition is that the Hudhud, or
hoopoe, had the power of finding water which the devils
have buried under the earth, and she assisted Solomon to
find water for ablution, and helped him to find Bilqts, the
queen of Sheba. In Sweden the appearance of the hoopoe
is looked on as an omen of war.'
The Woodpecker.
So of the woodpecker, which is said to have been a R&ja
in a former birth, and still to retain his royal crest. In
Italian tradition the woodpecker {Picus Martis) is a digger
in forests, where he lives alone and digs and hews, and knows
all hidden secrets and treasures.* In India the Titihri, or
sandpiper, is said to sleep with his legs in the air and thus
supports the firmament.
The Peacock.
The peacock is, of course, a sacred bird. He is specially
venerated by the Jats, who strongly object to seeing the
bird killed near their villages. A bunch of the feathers is
waved over the sick to scare the demon of disease. As we
have already seen, it is a charm against snake-bite to
smoke one of its feathers in a pipe. In Europe the loud
calling of the bird presages a death.
* "North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 178.
2 Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," ii. 105.
' Brand, " Observations,** 701.
* Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 272.
Animal Worship. 251
The Pheasant.
Once upon a time the Mon41 pheasant of the Hills and
the Kalchuniya had a dispute as to when the sun arose.
The MonS.1 woke first and then walked between the legs of
the other, who was so injured that he has never been able
to do an3^hing but skip ever since.
The Kite.
Young kites do not open their eyes till they are shown a
tit of gold. The best cure for weak eyes is to apply to
them antimony mixed with the yolk of a kite's egg, a good
instance of sympathetic magic, because the kite is the most
long-sighted of birds. When sweepers suffer from rheumatic
pains, they kill a kite on Tuesday, cut up the bones, and
tie them to the affected part, which brings about an
immediate cure.'
The Partridge.
The partridge and the peacock once contended in dancing,
and when the turn of the partridge came he borrowed the
T)retty feet of the peacock, which he has never returned
since. R&ja Nala, at one period of his life, came under the
malignant influence of Sani or Saturn and lost all he possessed
in the world. At last, as he was starving, he managed to
catch a black partridge and set about roasting it. But the
ill-luck of the evil planet asserted itself and the dead bird
•came to life and flew away. The result is the black marks
of charring which still remain upon its body. Now it cries
in the words, Subhdn tert qudrat — " Great is the power of
the Almighty," because it was saved from the fire.
The Parrot.
Last among sacred birds comes the parrot. Of course,
according to Professor De Gubernatis and his school, he
^ " Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 81 ; " North Indian Notes and
<3ucries,** iii. 162.
252 Folk-lore of Northern India.
represents the sun.^ The bird appears constantly in the
folk-tales as gifted with the power of speaking and possessed
of wisdom. The wife of the sage Kasyapa was, according
to the Vishnu Purdna, the mother of all the parrots. In
the folk-tales we have the parrot who knows the four Vedas,
who is like the falcon in the Squire's tale of Chaucer.' In
others he warns the hero of fortune, befriends the heroine,
and is the companion of R4ja Rasdlu.* The talking parrot
constantly warns the deceived husband. The bird seems to
have been a sort of marriage totem among the Drdvidian
races, for images of it made of the wood of the cotton tree
or of clay are hung up in the marriage shed among the Kols
and lower castes in the North- Western Provinces,
The Alligator.
The alligator and crocodile are revered because of their
habit of killing human beings. Writing of South Africa,
Mr. Macdonald says: "To the Bathlapin the crocodile is
sacred, and by all it is revered, but rather under the form of
fear than of affection. I have often thought that the ' river
calling ' of South Africa, where there are no crocodiles, is
the survival of an ancient recoUection of the time when the
ancestors of the present Kaffirs dwelt on the margins of
rivers infested by these murderous brutes, and where they
often saw their women drawn underneath when going to
the river to fetch water." * The crocodile may thus be the
type of many of the Indian water demons to whom reference
has been already made. Hence, it is a general rule among
savages to spare crocodiles, or rather only to kill them in
obedience to the law of blood feud, that is, as a retaliation
for the slaughter of men by crocodiles. In India it became
a favourite form of religious suicide to be devoured by the
crocodiles at GangasS^gar. Makara, a sort of marine monster^
^ " Zoological Mythology," i. 375.
« Tawney, ** Katha Sant Sigara," ii. 18.
» Temple, "Wideawake Stories," 139, 205, 255 sqq.
* " Folk-lore," iii. 342.
Animal Worship, 253
half crocodile and half shark, is the vehicle of Kdmadeva,
the god of love, and Gang4 Mdl is depicted as riding on an
alligator. They are sometimes put into tanks and worshipped,
and fishermen have a tradition that, if duly appeased, they
never attack them.^
Fish.
Fish are in many places regarded as sacred. The salmon
of knowledge appears in the Celtic folk-lore.' The sacred
speckled trout are found in many Irish wells, and the same
idea prevails in many parts of Europe,' We find the fish
figuring in the Hindu myth of the Creation. Manii, while
he was bathing, found a fish in the water, which said, " I
will save thee from the flood which shall destroy the world."
The fish grew and was about to go to the ocean, when he
directed Manu to build a boat. When the deluge came,
the fish dragged the boat by his horn to a place of safety.
The m)^h appears in other forms, more or less akin to the
Hebrew story based on Babylonian tradition.
There are many places in India where fish are protected,
such as those at Kota and in the Mahdnadi river, the Betwa
at Bhilsa, Hardwslr, Mathura, Mijzapur, Benares, Nepdl,
and in Afghanistan.* In the Saraswata pool in the Himalaya
lived the sacred fish called Mrikunda ; they are fed on the
fourteenth of the light half of each month, and oblations
are offered for the repose of the Manes of deceased relations.*
It is a common custom among pious Hindus to feed fish at
sacred places with a lakh or more of little balls of flour
wrapped up in Bhojpatra or birch bark or paper with the
name of R4ma written upon it. Their eating the name of
the deity ensures their salvation, and thus confers religious
merit on the giver. The fish is the vehicle of Khwdja Khizr,
the water god, and hence has become a sort of totem of the
Shiah Musalmdns and the crest of the late royal family of
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 4, 38.
« Rhys, "Lectures," 553. » Lady Wilde, "Legends," 238 sq.
* Rousselet, "India and its Native Princes," 402 ; " North Indian Notes
and Queries," i. 76 ; ii. 57> 93 ; iii. 130-
* Atkinson, " Himalayan Gazetteer," ii. 380, 775.
254 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Oudh. Pictures of fish are constantly drawn on the walls of
houses as a charm against demoniacal influence.
The Fish in Folk-lore.
The fish constantly appears in the folk-tales. We have
in Somadeva the fish that laughed when it was dead ; the fish
that swallows the hero or heroine or a boat.* In one of
the Kashmir tales we have the fish swallowing the ring,
which is like the tale which Herodotus tells of Polycrates.
In another we have the Oriental version of the story of
Jonah, where the merchant is found by the potter in the
belly of the fish.' So, Pradyumna, son of Krishna and
Rukmint, was thrown into the ocean by the demon Sambara,
and recovered from the belly of a fish by his wife Miyi
Devi. In many of the modern tales the fish takes the form
of the Life Index. The king Bhartari, the brother of the
celebrated Raja Vikramaditya, who is now a godling and
spends part of the day at Benares and part at the Chundr
Fort, had a fish, " the digestion of which gave him know-
ledge of all that occurred in the three worlds." By a divine
curse the nymph Adriki was transformed into a fish which
lived in the Jumnd. Here she conceived by the king
Uparichara, was caught by a fisherman, taken to the king
and opened, when she regained her heavenly form, and
from her were produced Matsya, the male, and Matsyi, the
female fish, the progenitors of the finny race. The fish
often plays a part in the miraculous conception myths, as in
the Mahibharata we read of a fish which devours the seed,
and a girl having eaten it brings forth a child. The fish
incarnation of Vishnu possibly represents the adoption of a
fish totem into Brdhmanism. It is needless to say that the
legendary fish has been identified with the sun by the
?chool of comparative mythologists.'
^ Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sdgara," i. 24, 207 ; ii. 599.
a Knowles, ** Folk- tales," 27, 158.
' Cox, *' Mythology of the Aryan Nations," i. 292, note ; ii. 25 sq.
Animal Worship. 255
The Eel.
The eel is a totem of the Munddri Kols of Bengal and of
the Orions, neither of whom will eat it. In Northern
England an eel skin tied round the leg is a cure for cramp.
Eel fat, in the European tales, is used as a magic ointment,
and gives the power of seeing the fairies.*
The Tortoise.
The tortoise, again, is sacred. Vishnu appeared as a
tortoise in the Satya Yuga or first age to recover some
things of value which had been lost in the deluge. In the
form of a tortoise he placed himself at the bottom of the sea
of milk, and made his back the basis on which the gods
and demons, using the serpent Visuki as a rope, churned
the ocean by means of the mount Mandara. The GanrAr,
a tribe of Bengal fishermen, make sacrifices of the river
tortoise to the goddess Kolokumdri, the daughter of the
deep; this is the only sacrifice she will accept, and she
brings sickness on those who fail to make this offering.^
The tortoise is a totem of the Mundiri Kols, and the
KharwSrs and MAnjhis of Mirzapur worship clay images
of it, which they keep in their house, because on one
occasion it conveyed their first ancestor across a river in
flood.
The Gonds have a similar tradition that the tortoise
saved their ancestor Lingo from the clutches of the
alligator. The tortoise is also a helper in one of the
German tales.* In one of Somadeva's stories, the tortoise
is sacrificed by a Br&hman to the Manes of his father.*
The Frog.
The frog, again, is invested with mystical powers. The
^ Hartland, " Science of Fairy Tales," 65.
2 Buchanan, " Eastern India," iii. 532.
' Grimm, ** Household Tales," ii. 407. * Tawney, loc^ at, ii. 271.
256 Folk-lore of Northern India.
monstrous toad of Berkeley Castle is said to be really a
seal.*
In English folk-lore it is associated with witches, and
wears a precious jewel in its head. Hindus believe that the
female frog is the spirit of Mandodari, the wife of Rivana.
It is a common belief that the fat of the frog forms a magic
ointment which enables witches to fly through the air.^
According to a Scotch Saga, the middle piece of a white
snake roasted by the fire gives a knowledge of supernatural
things to anyone who shall put his finger in the fat which
drops from it. According to one of the Indian legends,
Agni, the fire god, took refuge in the water to escape the
gods, but the frogs, suffering from the heat, informed the
gods, and the angry deity cursed them that their speech
should henceforth be inarticulate. The frog by his voice
announces the coming of rain ; hence when rain holds off
it is a common charm to pour water over a frog, another
instance of sympathetic magic.
Insects.
Even insects are in some cases regarded with veneration.
In Cornwall, the ants are " the small people " in their state
of decay from off the earth ; it is deemed most unlucky to
destroy a colony of ants.*
The ant-hill is, as we have seen, used as an altar by some
of the Dr^vidian tribes, and on it they take their oaths.
Hence ants are carefully fed on certain days by both
Hindus and Jainas, and are regarded as in some way con-
nected with the souls of the sainted dead. We have in
many of the folk-tales the ant as a helper.
So, in many parts of the Panjab, the many-coloured
grasshopper, which feeds on the leaves of the Maddr or
great [swallow wort, is called R4mji-ki-ga6 or *' Rima's
-cow," which reminds us of the respect paid by English
' " Gloucestershire Folk-lore," 9.
* Tawney, loc, cit, ii. 594 ; Grimm, loc, cit., i. 357.
* Hunt, " Popular Romances,'' 130.
Animal Worship. 257
children to the ladybird insect.* So, the Greeks and
Romans called the Cicada Mantis or '^the soothsayer/'
and it is often delineated on their tombs as a charm against
evil. Mystic powers of the same kind are attributed to the
spider, and to Daddy Longlegs in our nurseries.
The souls of the dead are believed to enter into flies and
bees. Hence in parts of Great Britain news of a death in a
family is whispered into the beehive.' In -one of Soma-
deva's tales we find the monkeys trying to warm themselves
over a firefly, which is gifted with various miraculous
powers.* A fly falling into an inkstand is a lucky omen. In
the Rdm&yana Hanum&n metamorphoses himself into a fly to
reach Sttk, and there are many instances of this in the tales.
Lastly, comes the Tassar silkworm. In Mirzapur, when
the seed of the silkworm is brought to the house, the Kol
or Bhuiyir puts it in a place which has been carefully
plastered with cowdung to bring good luck. From that
time the owner must be careful to avoid ceremonial im-
purity ; he must give up cohabitation with his wife, he
must not sleep on a bed, he must not shave nor have his
nails cut, nor anoint himself with oil, nor eat food cooked
with butter, nor tell lies, nor do ansrthing opposed to his
simple code of morality. He vows to SingArmatl Devi
that if the worms are duly born he will make her an
ofiiering. When the cocoons open and the worms appear,
he collects the women of his house and they sing the usual
song as at the birth of a baby into the fam'ily, and some
red lead is smeared on the parting of the hair of all the
married women of the neighbourhood. He feeds his
clansmen, and duly makes the promised ofiiering to Sing^r-
matl Devi. When the worms pair, the rejoicings are made
as at a marriage.
In Bengal, in addition to these precautions, the women,
apparently through fear of sexual pollution, are carefully
excluded from the silkworm shed.* We have the same idea
^ " Panjib Notes and Queries/' iii. 8.
* Brand, ".Observations." 685. ^ " Katha Sarit Sagara," ii. 39.
* Buchanan, "Eastern India," ii. 157. *'
VOL II. S
258 Folk-lore of Northern India.
in the Western Isles of Scotland, where they send a man
very early on the morning of the first of May to prevent
any woman from crossing, for that, they say, would pre-
vent the salmon from coming into the river all the year
round.*
^ Dyer, " Popular Customs," 270.
CHAPTER V.
THE BLACK ART.
Simulacraque cerea figit
£t miserum tenues in jecur urget acus.
Ovidt Heroides, vi. 91, 92.
From the Baiga or Ojha, who by means of his grain sieve
fetish identifies the particular evil spirit by which his patient
is afflicted, we come to the regular witch or wizard. He
works in India by means and appliances which can be
readily paralleled by the procedure of his brethren in
Western countries.^
The Witch.
The position of the witch has been so clearly stated by
Sir A. Lyall, that his remarks deserve quotation. " The
peculiarity of the witch is that he does everything without
the help of the gods. It begins when a savage stumbles on
a few natural effects out of the common run of things,
which he finds himself able to work by unvarying rule of
thumb. He becomes a fetish to himself. Fetishism is the
adoration of a visible object supposed to possess active
power. A witch is one who professes to work marvels, not
through the aid or counsel of the supernatural beings in
whom he believes as much as the rest, but by certain occult
faculties which he conceives himself to possess. There is a
real distinction even in fetishism between the witch and the
* For the European witch, consult among other authorities Scott,
"Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,'* /ajj/»«y Chambers, " Book
of Days,'' i. 356 sq. ; Gregor, " Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 69 sq. ;
Conway, ** Demonology," ii. 317, 327 ; Lubbock, " Origin of Civilization,"
245 sq.
S 2
26o Folk-lore of Northern India.
brother practitioner on a fetish, or between the witch and
the Shaman, who rolls about the ground and screams out
his oracles ; and this line, between adoration and inspira-
tion, vows and oracles on the one side, and thaumaturgy
by occult, incomprehensible arts on the other, divides the
two professions from bottom to top. Hence, the witch,
and not the man who works through the fetish, is proscribed.
Hence any disappointment in the aid which the aboriginal
tribes are entitled to expect from their gods to avoid
averting disease or famine, throws the people on the scent
of witchcraft." *
Again, "The most primitive witchcraft looks very like
medicine in the embryonic state ; but as no one will give
the aboriginal physician any credit for cures or chemical
effects produced by simple human knowledge, he is soon
forced back into occult and mystic devices, which belong
neither to religion nor to destiny, but are a ridiculous
mixture of both ; whence the ordinary kind of witchcraft is
generated."
And he goes on to show how " the great plagues, cholera
and the small-pox, belong to the gods ; but a man cannot
expect a great incarnation of Vishnu to cure his cow, or find
his lost purse ; nor will public opinion tolerate his going to
any respectable shrine with a petition that his neighbour's
wife, his ox, or his ass may be smitten with some sore
disease." This, however, must be taken with the correction
that, as we have seen already, the deities which rule disease
are of a much lower grade than the divine cabinet which
rules the world. The main difference then between the
hedge priest and the witch is, as Sir A. Lyall shows, that
the former serves his god or devil, whereas the latter makes
the familiar demon, if one is kept, serve him.
Witchcraft: How Developed.
The belief in witchcraft is general among the lower and
less advanced Indian races. Colonel Dalton's assertion that
^ " Asiatic Studies," 79 sqq., 89 sqq.
The Black Art. 261
the JuAngs, who were quite recently in the stage of wearing
leaf aprons, do not believe in witchcraft or sorcery, must be
accepted with great caution. It is quite certain that all the
allied Dr&vidian races, even those at a somewhat higher
state of culture than the JuAngs, such as Kols, Kharwdrs,
and Cheros, firmly believe in witchcraft. But all these
people observe the most extreme reticence on the subject.
If you ask a Mirzapur Hill-man if there are any witches in
his neighbourhood, he will look round furtively and sus-
piciously, and even if he admits that he has heard of such
people, he will be very reluctant to give much information
about them.
A belief in witchcraft is, then, primarily the heritage of
the more isolated and least advanced races, like the Kols
and Bhtls, Santils and Th&rus. In fact, whatever may be
the ethnical origin of the theory, it is at present in Northern
India almost specialized among the Dr&vidian, or aboriginal
peoples. It also widely prevails among those who lead a
nomadic life and are thus brought more directly in contact
with nature in her wilder and sterner moods, such as the
Nat and the Kanjar, the HAbOra and the Sdnsiya. So, in
Europe sorcery and fortune-telling, the charming of disease,
the making of love philters, and so on are the function of
the Romani ; and Mr. Leland hazards the supposition that
Herodias was a gipsy.*
The belief that a certain person is a witch is probably
generated in various ways. Many a one becomes reputed
as a witch from the realization of some unlucky prophecy,
or the fulfilment of some casual, passionate curse or impre-
cation upon an enemy or rival. The old Scottish rhymes
exactly express this feeling : —
There dwelt a weaver in Moffat toun,
That said the minister would die sune ;
The minister died, and the fouk o* the toun
They brant the weaver wi' the wadd o* the lume,
And ca'd it weel- waned on the warloch loon.'
* ''Etruscan Roman Remains," 155.
' Chambers, " Popular Rhymes of Scotland," 23.
t62 Folk-lore of Northern India.
With this is intimately connected the belief in the Evil
Eye, and that certain persons have the power of calling
down on their enemies the influence of evil spirits; and,
as in Western lands, such a power is often attributed to
persons afflicted with ugliness, deformity, crankiness of
temper, liability to sudden fits of passion, epilepsy, and the
like. Disease or death, famine, accident, or any form of
trouble, never, in popular belief, come naturally. There is
alwa3^ behind calamity some malignant power which selects
the victim, and the attribution of this faculty to any one
naturally regarded as uncanny, or who practises rites or
worship strange to orthodox belief, is in the opinion of the
rustic only reasonable.
The Jigar Khor.
One particularly dreaded form of witch is the Jigar Khor or
liver-eater, of whom Abul Fazl gives a description : " One
of this class can steal away the liver of another by looks
and incantations. Other accounts say that by looking at a
person he deprives him of his senses, and then steals from
him something resembling the seed of a pomegranate, which
he hides in the calf of his leg ; after being swelled by the
fire, he distributes it among his fellows to be eaten, which
ceremony concludes the life of the fascinated person. A
Jigar Khor is able to communicate his art to another by
teaching him incantations, and by making him eat a bit of
the liver cake. These Jigar Khors are mostly women. It
is said they can bring intelligence from a long distance in a
short space of time, and if they are thrown into a river with
a stone tied to them, they nevertheless will not sink. In
order to deprive any one of this wicked power, they brand
his temples and every joint of his body, cram his eyes with
salt, suspend him for forty days in a subterraneous chamber,
and repeat over him certain incantations."
Of the modern Jigar Khors of the Panjdb we are told that
when a witch succeeds in taking out a man's liver, she will
not eat it for two and a half days. If after eating it she is
The Black Art. 263
put under the iniSuence of an exorclser, she can be forced to
take the liver of some animal and put it back to replace
that taken from the original victim.* In one of the tales of
Somadeva the wicked wife of the barber is a witch, and
when he is asleep she takes out his entrails and sucks them,
and then replaces them as before.'
The Witch in Folk-lore.
We have already learned to look to the folk-tales for the
most trustworthy indications of popular belief, and here the
dark shadow of witchcraft overclouds much of their delicate
fancy. Here we find the witch taking many forms — of an
old woman in trouble, of a white hind with golden horns, of
a queen. Others, like the archwitch KAlaritrl or " black
night," are of repulsive appearance ; she has dull eyes, a
depressed, flat nose. Her eyebrows, like those of the were-
wolves or vampires of Slavonia,' meet together; she has
large cheeks, widely parted lips, projecting teeth, a long
neck, pendulous breasts, a large belly, and broad, expanded
feet. *' She appears as if the Creator had made a specimen
of his skill in producing ugliness." Like the Jigar Khor she
obtains her powers by eating human flesh, or like modern
witches, who claim to possess the Diyan kA, Mantra or
Ddkinf s spell, by which she can tear out the heart of her
victim.
The powers of such witches are innumerable. They can
find anything on earth, can open or patch up the sky, possess
second sight, can restore the dead to life, can set fire to
water, can turn stones into wax, can separate lovers, can
metamorphose the hero into any shape they please. They
control the weather and cause storms and tempests. If
they follow one they hate and measure his footsteps in the
dust, he at once becomes lame.*
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 14.
* Tawney, " Katha Sarit S4gara," i. 289.
» Tylor, '* Primitive Culture," ii. 176 ; Tawney, ioc. cit,, i. 375.
* Temple, "Wideawake Stories," 395; Tawney, Ioc, cit^ i. 157, 159,
289, 340 ; ii. 164, 240 ; Brand, ** Observations/' 589 ; Rhys, " Lectures,"
199 : Hunt, " Popidar Romances/' 327.
264 Folk-lore of Northern India.
They carry on their unholy revels in cemeteries and
cremation grounds. They meet under the leadership of the
dreaded Bhairava, as German witches assemble on the
Blocksberg. So Diana Herodias leads the Italian witches
who meet at the walnut tree of Benevento, as those of
Cornwall collect at Trewa.*
Many witches obtain power over the fever demon. She
fastens a string round the hero's neck, and by a spell turns
him into an ape. She often kills a child, and the heroine,
like Genoveva, is falsely accused, and expelled from her
home, until the plot is discovered and she is restored to
her husband's love. Lastly, we have the conflict between
the powers of good and evil, the benevolent and malignant
witch, which forms one of the stock incidents of the
European folk-tales.' The malignant, liver-eating witch is
naturally associated with the tomb-haunting badger. One
of them appeared quite recently at AhmadS.b4d, and being
supposed to carry off children in the disguise of a badger,
was called Adam Khor, or the devourer of the sons of men.*
Instruction in Witchcraft.
Writing of Italy, Mr. Leland says : * — " Among the
priestesses of the hidden spell, an elder dame has usually
in hand some younger girl, whom she instructs, firstly, in
the art of bewitching or injuring enemies, and secondly, in
the more important processes of annulling or unbinding the
spells of others, or causing mutual love or conferring luck."
So, among the Agariyas of Bengal, there are old women,
professors of witchcraft, who stealthily instruct the young
girls. " The latter are all eager to be taught, and are not
considered proficient till a fine forest tree selected to be
experimented on is destroyed by the potency of their
charms; so that the wife a man takes to his bosom has
^ Leland, "Etruscan Roman Remains," 150; Hunt, loc, city 328.
2 Dyer, " Popular Customs," 395 ; Tawney, loc. ctt, i. 313.
* "Bombay Gazetteer," iv. 27; Temple, "Legends of the PanjAb,''
iii. 13-
* Loc, cit., 3.
The Black Art. 265
probably done her tree, and is confident in the belief that
she can, if she pleases, dispose of her husband in the same
manner, if he makes himself obnoxious." *
So, in Bombay, when a Guru, or teacher, wishes to
initiate a candidate into the mysteries of the Black Art, he
directs the candidate to watch a favourable opportunity for
the commencement of the study, the opportunity being the
death of a woman in childbirth. As soon as this event
takes place, the candidate is instructed what to do. He
watches the procession as the dead is being taken to the
burning or burial ground, and takes care to see who the
bearers are. He then takes a small tin box in his hand,
and picking up a pinch of the earth out of the hind footsteps
of the two rear bearers, he keeps the earth in the tin box.
Then he watches where the dead body is being burnt, and
goes home.
" Next day he goes to the spot, and taking a little of the
ashes of the corpse, puts it in the tin box. Subsequently, on a
suitable day, that is on a new moon or on an eclipse day,
he goes to the burning ground at midnight, and taking oflF
his clothes, he sits on the ground, and placing the tin box
in front of him, lights a little incense, and repeats the
incantations taught to him by his guru or teacher. When
he has practised the repetition of the incantations, the
spirit Hadal becomes subject to his control, and by her help
he becomes able to annoy any one he pleases.
" Among the troubles which the witch or magician brings
updh his enemies, the following are said to be the most
common in the Dakkhin as well as in the Konkan. The
witch causes star-shaped or cross-like marks of marking-
nuts on the body of the person she has a grudge against.
The peculiarity of these marks is that they appear in
numbers in different parts of the body, and as suddenly
disappear. The other troubles are the drying-up of the
milk of milch cattle, or turning the milk into blood;
stopping or retarding the growth of the foetus in cattle, and
turning them into moles ; stealing grain or other field
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 323,
266 Folk-lore of Northern India.
produce from the faxm-yards of the victim ; letting loose
wolves, jackals, or rats into the victim's field ; pricking
needles or thorns into the victim's eyes or body ; applying
turmeric to the eyes of a female victim, or putting lamp-
black into her eyes ; or tearing the open end of her robe ;
and causing death to an enemy by means of a method of
the Black Art, called MAth, literally ' a handful.'
" The Miith generally consists of a handful of rice or Urad
pulse (Phaseolus radiatus) charmed and sent by the witch
against her enemy through the agency of the familiar spirit.
It is likened to a shock of electricity sudden and sharp,
which strikes in the centre of the heart, causes vomiting and
spitting of blood, and may, if not warded against, end in the
death of the victim. Practised experts pretend to see the
Mtith rolling through the air, like a red-hot ball, and say
that they can avert its evil consequences in two ways —
either by satiating it, which is done so as to cause a little
bleeding, and allowing the blood to drop on a charmed
lemon, which is afterwards cut and thrown into a river ; or
by reversing its action and sending it back to the person
who issued it, which is done by charging a lemon and
throwing it in the direction whence the MOth has been seen
to come. The operation of a MAth is most dreaded in many
parts of Bombay, and especially in the Konkan. Cases of
sudden illness, blood vomiting, or sudden death are frequently
attributed to the agency of a Mflth or charmed handful of
rice or pulse sent by an enemy." ^
We have here examples of the dread of the woman dying
at her confinement, which we have already noticed in the
case of the Churel, and the nudity charm is also familiar.
Witch Seasons.
In Central India, witches are supposed, by the aid of their
familiars, who are known as Bir, or ** the hero," to inflict
pain, disease, and death upon human beings. Their power
of witchcraft, like that of all Indian witches, exists on the
» Campbell, " Notes," 203 sq.
The Black Art. 267
fourteenth, fifteenth, and twenty-ninth of each month, and
in particular at the Diwilt or feast of lamps, and the Nau-
rdtri or nine days devoted to the worship of Durg4.
In the same way the Irish witches flit on November Eve,
and " on that night mortal people should keep at home, or
they will suffer for it ; for souls of the dead have power over
all things on that night of the year, and they hold a festival
with the fairies, and drink red wine from the fairy cups and
dance to fairy music till the moon goes down."* Of the
Allhallows demon Professor Rhys writes : " This night
was the Saturnalia of all that was hideous and uncanny in
the world of spirits. It had been fixed as the time of all
others when the Sun god, whose power had been gradually
falling off since the great feast associated with him on the
first of August, succumbed to his enemies, the powers of
darkness and of winter. It was their first hour of triumph
after an interval of subjection, and the popular imagination
pictured them stalking abroad with more than ordinary
insolence and aggressiveness." ^
At other times the Indian witches appear, dress, talk, and
eat like other women, but " when the fit is on them, they are
sometimes seen with their eyes glaring red, their hair dis-
hevelled and bristled, while their heads are often turned round
in a strange, convulsive manner. On the nights of those
days, they are believed to go abroad, and after casting off
their garments, to ride about on tigers and other wild animals ;
and if they desire to go on the water, alligators come Uke the
beasts of the forests at their call, and they disport in rivers
and lakes upon their backs till dawn of day, about which
period they always return home, and resume their usual
forms and occupations." '
Witches Taking the Form of Tigers.
The idea that witches take the form of tigers is widespread.
Colonel Dalton describes how a Kol, tried for the murder of
^ Lady Wilde, " Legends," 78. ^ ** Lectures," 516 sq.
» Malcolm, ''Central India," ii. 212.
268 Folk-lore of Northern India.
a wizard, stated in his defence that his wife having been killed
by a tiger in his presence, he stealthily followed the animal
as it glided away after gratifying its appetite, and saw that
it entered the house of one PAsa, a Kol, whom he knew. He
called out PAsa's relations, and when they heard the story,
they not only credited it, but declared that they had long
suspected PCisa of possessing such power ; on entering they
found him, and not a tiger ; they delivered him bound into
the hands of his accuser, who at once killed him. In expla-^
nation of their proceedings, they deposed that PClsa had one
night devoured an entire goat, and roared like a tiger while
he was eating it ; and on another occasion he had informed
his friends that he felt a longing for a particular bullock, and
that very night the bullock was carried off by a tiger.*
Mr. Campbell gives a very similar story from Bombay, in
which a man-eating tiger was supposed to be a witch in dis-
guise.' All these stories very closely resemble the European
were- wolf and similar legends.* In Mirzapur they tell a tale
of one of the DrAvidian Bhuiydrs, whose wife went recently
on the Pura Mamudr Hill, when an evil spirit in the form of
a tiger attacked and killed her. This was after her death
ascertained to be the case by the inquiries of the village
Baiga, who now does an annual ceremony and sacrifice near
the place. For such witch tigers the favourite remedy is to
knock out their teeth to prevent their doing any more
mischief and becoming the Indian equivalent of the
Loupgarou.*
Witches Extracting Substances from their Victims*
Another remedy is thus described by Abul Fazl : " The
sorceress casts something out of her mouth like the grain of
a pomegranate, which is believed to be part of the heart
which she has eaten. The patient picks it up as part of his
1 Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 29a ' " Notes," 257 sq.
» Tylor, ** Primitive Culture," i. 312 sqq. ; Henderson, " Folk-lore of the
Northern Counties," 201 sq.
* Balfour, " Cyclopaedia,*^' i. 961 ; Lyall, " Asiatic Studies," 85 ; " Panjib
Notes and Queries,** iii. 7.
The Black Art. 269
own intestine and greedily swallows it. By this means, as if
liis heart was replaced in his body, he recovers his health by
degrees."
The idea that witches extract substances out of a sick per-
son's body is very common.^ The witch in Macbeth says,
" I will drain him dry as hay." In the same way the original
object of kissing is said to be to extract an evil spirit out of a
person. Many people get a holy man to kiss a sick child and
blow over some water which is given it to drink, and thus
the evil spirit is removed.
General Sleeman gives the case of a trooper who had
taken some milk from an old woman without payment, and
was seized with severe internal pains, which he attributed to
her witchcraft. She was sent for, but denied having be-
witched him. She admitted, however, that " the household
gods may have punished him for his wickedness." She was
ordered to cure him, and set about collecting materials for
the purpose, but meanwhile the pains left him.
Another man took a cock from an old Gond woman and
was similarly affected. " The old cock was actually heard
crowing in his belly." In spite of all the usual remedies he
died, and the cock never ceased crowing at intervals till his
death.
He tells of another witch who was known to be such by
the juice of the sugar-cane she was eating turning into
blood. A man saw her staring at him and left the district
at once. " It is well known that these spells and curses can
only reach a distance of ten or twelve miles, and if you
offend one of these witches, the sooner you put that distance
between you and them, the better."
Another witch was bargaining with a man for some sugar-
cane. She seized one end of the stalk and the purchaser
the other. A scufBe ensued, and a soldier came up and
cut the cane in two with a sword. Immediately a quantity
of blood flowed from the cane to the ground, which the
witch had been drawing through it from the man's body. So
we read of the two witches in the Italian tale, who " seeing
1 Tylor, ** Early History," 276.
270 Folk-lore of Northern India.
that he would not go, cast him by their witchcraft into a
deep sleep, and with a small tube sucked all his blood from
his veins, and made it into a blood pudding which they
carried with them. And this gave them the power to be
invisible till they should return." *
" It is the general belief that there is not a village or a
single family without its witch in this part of the country.
Indeed, no one will give his daughter in marriage to a family
without one, saying, * If my daughter has children, what
will become of them without a witch to protect them from
witches of other families in the neighbourhood ? ^ " ' Sir John
Malcolm notices the same fact. " In some places men will
not marry into a family where there is not a Ddkini or witch
to save them from the malice of others ; but this name,
which is odious, is not given to those persons by their
relations and friends. They are termed Rakhwdli or
guardians."*
Witches and Cats.
One sign of the witch is that she is accompanied by her
cat. This is an idea which prevails all over the world.
Thus, in Ireland, cats are believed to be connected with
demons. On entering a house the usual salutation is, " God
save all here except the cat ! " Even the cake on the griddle
may be blessed, but no one says, " God bless the cat ! " *
The negroes in Mussouri say " some cats are real cats and
some are devils ; you can never tell which is which, so for
safety it is well to whip them all soundly." * One explana-
tion of the connection of witches and cats is that " when
Galinthis was changed into a cat by the Fates, Hecate took
pity on her and made her her priestess, in which office she
continues to this day." * We have already seen that it is
probably her stealthy ways and habit of going about at night
which gave the cat her uncanny character.
^ Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains," 218.
• Rambles and Recollections," i. 84 sqq.
' " Central India," ii. 216. * Lady Wilde, " Legends," 151.
* Leland, loc, cit., 221. • Brand, " Observations," 609.
The Black Art. 271
The cat, say the jungle people, is aunt of the tiger, and
taught him everything but how to climb a tree. The Ord.ons
of Chota Ndgpur say that Chordeva, the birth fiend, comes
in the form of a cat and worries the mother.* The Thags
used to call the caterwauling of cats Kdlt ki Mauj\ or the
roaring wave of Kill, and it was of evil omen. The omen
could be obviated only by gargling the mouth in the morning
with sour milk and spitting it out. We have already seen
the danger of killing a cat. Z&lim Sinh, the famous regent
of Kota, thought that cats were associated with witches, and
on one occasion when he believed himself exposed to en-
chantment, ordered that every cat should be expelled firom
his cantonment.'
Witch Ordeals.
All the ordeals for witches turn on the efficacy of certain^
things to which reference has been already made as scarers.
of evil spirits.
Thus, the ordeal of walking over hot coals and on heated
ploughshares was a common method of testing a witch both
in India and in Europe.' Zdlim Sinh, however, generally
used the water ordeal, a test which is known all over the
world.* Even Pliny knew that Indian witches could not
sink in water.* Manu prescribes water as a form of oath,^
and to this day it is a common form of oath ordeal for a man
to stand in water when he is challenged to swear. Zdlim
Sinh used to say that handling balls of hot iron was too
slight a punishment for such sinners as witches, for it was
well known that they possessed substances which enabled
them to do this with impunity ; so he used to throw them
into a pool of water ; if they sank, they were innocent ; if
they, unhappily, came to the surface, their league with the
powers of darkness was apparent. A bag of cayenne pepper
1 Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 252.
' Malcolm, ** Central India," ii. 214, note.
» Leland, loc, city,S7 ; Brand, loc, ciU, 740 ; Clouston, " Popular Tales,"
i. 177-
* Tod, " Annals," ii. 106. * " Natural History," vii. 2.
272 Folk-lore of Northern India.
tied over the head, if it failed to suffocate, afforded another
test.
" The most humane method employed was rubbing the
eyes with a well-dried capsicum ; and certainly if they could
furnish the demonstration of their innocence by withholding
tears, they might justly be deemed witches." * Akin to these
tests is the folk-tale ordeal by which the calumniated heroine
bathes in boiling oil to prove her chastity.*
Santal Witch Ordeals.
Forbes gives the tests in vogue in his day among the
Sant&ls, whom he calls Soontaar. Branches of the S41 tree
(Skorea robt^sta) marked with the names of all the females
of the village, whether married or unmarried, who had
attained the age of twelve years, were planted in the morn-
ing in water for the space of four and a half hours ; and the
withering of any of these branches was proof of witchcraft
against the person whose name was attached to it. Small
portions of rice enveloped in pieces of cloth marked as
before, were placed in a nest of white ants ; the consumption
of the rice in any of the bags was proof of witchcraft against
the woman whose name it bore. Lamps were lighted at
night ; water was placed in cups made of leaves, and mustard
oil was poured drop by drop into the water, while the name
of each woman in the village was pronounced. The appear-
ance of the shadow of any woman in the water during the
ceremony proved her to be a witch.'
Witch Tests, BilIspur.
One of the most noted witch-finders in the BilAspur
District of the Central Provinces had two most effectual
means of checkmating the witches. " His first effort was to
get the villagers to describe the marked eccentricities of the
old women of the community, and when these had been
1 Tod, "Annals," ii. 638 ; Malcolm, loc. city ii. 212.
• Temple, " Legends of the Panjib," i. Introduction, xxij; " Wideawake
Stories," 429.
' " Oriental Memoirs," ii. 374 sq.
The Black Art. 273
detailed, his experience soon enabled him to seize on some
ugly or unlucky idiosyncrasy, which indicated in un-
mistakable clearness the unhappy offender. If no con-
clusion could be arrived at in this way, he lighted an
ordinary earthen lamp, and repeating consecutively the
name of each woman in the village, he fixed on the witch or
witches by the flicker of the wick when the name or names
were mentioned. The discovery of the witch soon led to
her being grossly maltreated, and, under the Native Govern-
ment, almost invariably in her death. Since the intro-
duction of the British rule these cases are becoming year
year rarer; but the belief itself remains strong and
universal, and the same class of superstitions pervades
every-day life." *
Witch Tests, Bastar.
In Bastar, " a fisherman's net is wound round the head of
the suspected witch to prevent her escaping or bewitching
her guards. Two leaves of the Pipal or sacred fig tree, one
representing her and the other her accusers, are thrown
upon her outstretched hands. If the leaf in her name fall
uppermost, she is supposed to be a suspicious character ; if
the leaf fall with the lower part upwards, it is possible that
she may be innocent, and popular opinion is in her favour."
The final test is the usual water ordeal.'
Miscellaneous Tests : Eggs.
Several persons, natives of the Khasiya Hills, were con-
victed of beating to death a man whom they believed to be a
wizard. They confessed freely, saying that he destroyed
their wives and daughters by witchcraft. One of the
accused was the brother of the wife of the deceased. It
appears that they discovered he was a sorcerer by the
appearance of an egg when broken.^ A similar case is
reported among the Banjdras of Berdr.* The use of eggs
* " Central Provinces Gazetteer," no sq. • Ibid., 39
» "Reports Nizimat AdAlat," 14th December, 1854.
* " Berir Gazetteer," 197.
VOL. II. T
274 Folk-lore of Northern India.
in this way opens up an interesting chapter in folk-lore.
Thus, we have the famous legend which tells how a golden
egg was produced at the beginning of all things, and from
it Prajapati Brahma, the g^eat progenitor of the universe,
was produced. This piece of primitive folk-lore appears in
the folk-tales in the numerous stories of children produced
from eggs.* In one of the Kashmir tales the egg of the
wondrous bird has the power of transmuting anything it
touches into gold.' Again, we have everywhere instances of
the belief in the power of eggs as guardians against evil
spirits. " An egg laid on Ascension Day hung to the roof
of the house preserveth the same from all hurts." ' Children
in Northumberland, when first sent abroad in the arms of
the nurse, are presented with an egg, salt, and fine bread.
In India, we constantly see the eggs of the ostrich hung up
in mosques and tombs to repel evil influences. We have the
same idea in the use of eggs at Easter in England. In the
Konkan, Kunbis give a mixture of eggs and turmeric to a
man who spits blood ; and to remove the effects of the Evil
Eye, they wave bread and an egg round a sick person. The
Sult4nk4rs, when their wives are possessed with evil spirits,
offer rice, a fowl, and an egg, and the spirit passes away^
The Beni Israels, to avert evil, break a hen's egg under the
forefoot of the bridegroom's horse.^
There is another form of witch test in Chhatlsgarh, where
a pole of a particular wood is erected on the banks of a
stream, and each suspected person, after bathing, is required
to touch the pole ; it is supposed that if any witch does this
her hand will swell.
The Rowan Tree.
According to British folk-lore, one of the most potent
antidotes for witches is a twig of the rowan tree bound with
scarlet thread, or a stalk of clover with four leaves laid in
* Hartland, " Legend of Perseus," i. 98.
* Knowles, " Folk-tales," ^^.
* Dyer, "Popular Customs," 164; Brand, "Observations," 108, 341.
* Campbell, " Notes," 83.
The Black Art. 275
the byre, or a bough of the whitty, or " wayfaring tree." *
Many, in fact, are the herbs which are potent in this way,
of which the chief is perhaps that Moly, " that Hermes once
to wise Ulysses gave." In India, the substitute for these
magic trees is a branch of the tamarind, or a stalk of the
castor-oil tree {Palma Christi). If, after receiving in silence
an ordinary scourging by the usual methods, the suspected
person cries out at a blow with the magic branch, he is
certainly guilty.' These plants are eversrwhere supposed to
exercise power over witches, and even in places like the
North- Western Provinces, where witch-hunting is happily a
thing of the past, a Chamdr or currier, a class which enjoy
an uncanny reputation, is exceedingly afraid of even a slight
blow with a castor-oil switch.
Witch-finding among Kols.
The Kolarian witch-finder's test is to put a large wooden
grain measure under a flat stone as a pivot on which the
latter can revolve. A boy is then seated on the stone
supporting himself with his hands, and " the names of all
the people in the neighbourhood are slowly pronounced. As
each name is uttered a few grains of rice are thrown at the
hoy. When they come to the name of the witch or wizard,
the stone turns and the boy rolls off." • This, no doubt, is
the effect of the boy's falling into a state of coma, and losing
the power of supporting himself with his hands.
Marks of Witches.
Some witches are believed to learn the secrets of their
craft by eating filth. We have already seen that this is also
believed to be the case with evil spirits. Such a woman, in
popular belief, is always very lovely and scrupulously neat
» "Folk-lore," ii. 290; Gregor, ** Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,"
188 ; Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 201, 218 sq.,
244 ; Aubrey, " Remaines," 247 ; Farrer, " Primitive Manners," 290 sq.
• '* Central Provinces Gazetteer," 157.
• Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 199.
T 2
276 Folk-lore of Northern India.
in her personal, appearance, and she always has a clear line
of red lead applied to the parting of her hair. Witches have
a special power of casting evil glances on children, and
after a child is buried, they are believed to exhume the
corpse, anoint it with oil, and bring it to life to serve some
occult purpose of their own. On the same principle the
K&firs believe that dead bodies are restored to life, and
made hobgoblins to aid their owners in mischief.^ Indian
witches, moreover, are supposed to keep a light burning
during the ceremony of child exhumation, and if the father
or the mother has the courage to run and snatch away the
child just as it is revived, and before the witch can blow out
the light, the child will be restored to them safe and sound.*
Charms Recited Backward.
One well-known characteristic of witches is that she cannot
die as long as she is a witch, but must while alive pass on
her craft to another, is well recognized in India. Hence a
witch is always on the look-out for some one to whom she
may delegate her functions, and many well-meaning people
have been ruined in this way through misplaced confidence
in the benevolence of a witch.*
Indian witches also resemble their European sisters in
their habit of reciting their charms backward, —
He who 'd read her aright must say her
Backwards like a witch's prayer.
And in **Much ado about Nothing," Hero says of
Beatrice, —
** I never yet saw man
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured.
But she would spell him backward.''
This backward recital of spells appears all through folk-
lore.* Indian witches are supposed to repeat two letters
^ Spencer, " Principles of Sociology,** i. 240.
• " Panjib Notes and Queries," ii. 6.
' See Leland, '' Etruscan Roman Remains," 199.
* Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 32 ; Gregor,
** Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 183.
The Black Art. 277
and a half from a verse in the Qurin, known only to them-
selves, and to say them backwards. We have the same
belief in one of the tales of Somadeva, where Bhtmabhatta
prays in his extremity to Mother Ganges, and she says,
" Now receive from me this charm called * forwards and
backwards.' If a man repeats it forwards, he will become
invisible to his neighbour ; but if he repeats it backwards, he
will assume whatever shape he desires." * The use of this
charm enables the witch to take the liver out of a living
child and eat it. But, in order to do this effectively, she
must first catch some particular kind of wild animal not
larger than a dog, feed it with cakes of sugar and butter,
ride on it, and repeat the charm one hundred times. When
dying, the breath will not leave the body of the witch until
she has taught the two and a half letters to another woman,
or failing a woman, until she has repeated it to a tree.'
Witchcraft by Means of Hair, Nail Parings, etc.
The idea is common in folk-lore that a witch can acquire
power over her victim by getting possession of a lock of
hair, the parings of his nails, or some other part of his
body. In the " Comedy of Errors," Dromio of Syracuse
says, —
" Some devils ask but the parities of one's nail,
A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin,
A nut, a cherry stone."
In Ireland, nail-parings are an ingredient in many charms,
and hair-cuttings should not be placed where birds can find
them, for they take them to build their nests, and then you
will have headaches all the year after.* The same is the
case with the leavings of food, which should be thrown to
the crows lest some ill-disposed person get possession of
them. On the same principle English mothers hide away
» Tawney, ''Katha Sarit Sigara,*' ii. 221.
' " Panj^b Notes and Queries," iii. 7.
• Lady Wilde, " Legends," 197, 206. See instances collected by Hart-
land, ** Legend of Perseus," ii. 64 sq.
278 Folk-lore of Northern India.
the first tooth of a child.i There are numerous instances
of these and similar beliefs all through the whole range of
folk-lore. Hence natives of India are very careful about
the disposal of hair-cuttings and nail-parings ; and it is only
at shrines and sacred places of pilgrimage where shaving is
a religious duty that such things are left lying about on the
ground. In the GrihyasAtras it is provided that the hair
cut from a child's head at the end of the first, third, fifth, or
seventh year shall be buried in the earth at a place covered
with grass or in the neighbourhood of water. The care-
lessness shown at places of pilgrimage in this respect rests
on the belief that the sanctity of the place is in itself a
protective against sorcery. But some people do not depend
on this, and fiing the hair into running water. At Hardw&r
the barber at the sacred pool takes the hair which he keeps
collected in a bag and fiings it into the air on the top of the
neighbouring hill, at least he assures his patrons that he
does so.
Witchcraft by Means of Images.
Another means which witches are supposed to adopt in
order to injure those whom they dislike, is to make an
image of wax, flour, or similar substances, and torture it,
with the idea that the pain will be communicated to the
person whom they desire to annoy.
Thus, among Muhammadans, when the death of an
enemy is desired, a doll is made of earth taken from a
grave, or a place where bodies are cremated, and various
sentences of the Qurdn are read backwards over twenty-one
small wooden pegs. The officiant is to repeat the spell
three times over each peg, and is then to strike them so as
to pierce various parts of the body of the image. The image
is then to be shrouded like a corpse, conveyed to a cemetery,
' Aubrey, ** Remaines,** 11 ; and for examples of similar practices see
Sir W. Scott, " Letters on Demonology/" 273 ; Spencer, ** Principles of
Sociology,'* i. 243; Tylor, ** Primitive Culture," i. 116 ; ii. 149; Lubbock,
" Origin of Civilization," 241, 244 ; Henderson, loc, cit, 148 ; Farrer,
" Primitive Manners," 287 ; Oldenberg, " Grihya Sdtras," i. 57. ; Hart-
land, " Legend of Perseus," ii. 70 sq.
The Black Art. 279
and buried in the name of the enemy whom it is in-
tended to injure. He will, it is believed, certainly die after
this rite is performed. The practice has becom.e a branch
of the fine arts and numerous methods are detailed by
Dr. Herklots.*
It is almost unnecessary to say that similar ideas prevail
in Europe. The wounded Melun in " King John " says : —
*' Have I not hideous death within my view,
Retaining but a quantity of life,
Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire ?"
An old woman in Cornwall was advised "to buy a
bullock's heart, and get a packet of pound pins. She was
to stick the heart as full of pins as she could, and the body
that wished her ill felt every pin run into the bullock's
heart, same as if they had been run into her." ' Examples of
such images may be seen in the Pitt-Rivers collection at
Oxford. Sir W. Scott describes how, under the threshold
of a house in Dalkeith, was found the withered heart of
some animal, full of many scores of pins ; and Aubrey tells
us of one Hammond, of Westminster, who was hanged or
tried for his life in 1641 for killing a person by means of an
image of wax. This was one of the charges made against
the unfortunate Jane Shore.*
In Bengal, " a person sometimes takes a bamboo which
has been used to keep down a corpse during cremation, and
making a bow and arrow with it, repeats incantations over
them. He then makes an image of his enemy in clay, and
lets fly an arrow into this image. The person whose image
is thus pierced is said to be immediately seized with a pain
in his breast." In the folk-tales restoration to life is usually
effected by collecting the ashes or bones of the deceased and
making an image of them, into which life is breathed/
1 " Qinftn-i-Islim," 222 sq.
• Hunt, •* Popular Romances," 320.
• "Letters on Demonology,'* 273 ; " Remaines,'' 61, 228 ; "Folk-lore,"
iii. 385 ; iv. 256 ; Miss Cox, ** Cinderella," 491.
• Ward, "Hindus,** i. 100; Temple, "Legends of the Panj&b,» i. In-
troduction, xvii ; and compare Tawney, " Katha Sarit Sigara," ii.
28o Folk-lore of Northern India.
Witchcraft through the Footsteps.
It was a precept of Pythagoras not to run a nail or a
knife into a man's foot. This, from the primitive point of
view, was really a moral, not merely a prudential precept.
For it is a world-wide superstition that by injuring the foot-
steps you injure the foot that made them. Thus, in Mecklen-
burgh it is thought that if you thrust a nail into a man's
footsteps the man will go lame. The Australian blacks held
exactly the same view. " Seeing that a Tutungolung was
very lame," says Mr. Howitt, " I asked him what was the
matter. He said, * Some fellow has put bottle in my foot.'
I asked him to let me see it. I found that he was probably
suffering from acute rheumatism. He explained that some
enemy must have found his foot-track, and have buried in it
a piece of broken bottle." ' The same feeling widely prevails
in Northern India, and rustics are in the habit of attributing
all sorts of pains and sores to the machinations of some
witch or sorcerer who has meddled with their footprints.
Punishment of Witches.
The method by which witches are punished displays a
diabolical ingenuity. The Indian newspapers a short time
ago recorded six out of nine murders in the Sambalpur
District as due to " the superstition, which is so general,
that the spread of cholera is due to the sorcery of some
individual, whose evil influence can be nullified if he be
beaten with rods of the castor-oil plant. The people who
are thus suspected are so cruelly beaten that in the majority
of cases they die under the infliction."
A milder form of treatment is to make the witch drink the
filthy water of a washerman's tank, which is believed to
destroy her skill.^ The punishment in vogue in Central
India was to make witches drink the water used by curriers,
leather being, as we have seen, a scarer of evil spirits, and
drinking such water involves degradation from caste. In
1 " Folk-lore," i. 157 : Hartland, •* Legend of Perseus," ii. 78.
» " Hoshang^bid Settlement Report/' 287.
The Black Art. 281
more serious cases the witch's nose was cut off, or she was
put to death,*
In Bastar, if a man is adjudged guilty of witchcraft, he is
beaten by the crowd, his hair is shaved, the hair being
supposed to constitute his power of mischief, his front teeth
are knocked out, in order, it is said, to prevent him from
muttering incantations, or more probably, as we have already
seen, to prevent him from becoming a Loupgarou. All
descriptions of filth are thrown at him ; if he be of good
caste, hog's flesh is thrust into his mouth, and lastly he is
driven out of the country, followed by the abuse and execra-
tions of his enlightened fellow-men. Women suspected of
sorcery have to undergo the same ordeal ; if found guilty,
the same punishment is awarded, and after being shaved,
their hair is attached to a tree in some public place. In
Chhattisgarh, a witch has her hair shaved with a blunt
knife, her two front teeth are knocked out, she is branded in
the hinder parts, has a ploughshare, which is a strong fetish,
tied to her legs, and she is made to drink the water of a
tannery.'
Witchcraft Punishments among the Dravidians.
In former times among the Dravidian races persons
denounced as witches were put to death in the belief that
witches breed witches and sorcerers. A terrible raid was
made on these unfortunate people when British authority
was relaxed during the Mutiny, and most atrocious murders
were committed. " Accusations of witchcraft are still some-
times made, and persons denounced are subjected to much
ill-usage, if they escape with their lives." ' Among the Bhils
suspected persons used to be suspended from a tree head
downwards, pounded chillies being first put into the witch's
eyes to see if the smarting would bring tears from her.
Sometimes after suspension she was swung violently from
side to side. She was finally compelled to drink the blood
* Malcolm, "Central India/' ii. 212 sq.
• " Central Provinces Gazetteer,'' 39, 157.
» Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 199.
^82 Folk-lore of Northern India.
of a goat, slaughtered for the purpose, which is regarded as
a substitute for the sick man's life, and to satisfy the witch's
craving for blood. She was then brought to the patient's
bedside, and required to make passes over his head with a
Ntm branch ; a lock of hair was also cut from the head of
the witch and buried in the ground, that the last link
between her and her former powers of mischief might be
broken.*
Other Witchcraft Punishments.
Dr. Chevers has collected a number of instances in which
the punishment of death or mutilation was inflicted on sup-
posed witches. He quotes a case in 1802^, in which several
of the witnesses declared that they remembered numerous
instances of persons being put to death for sorcery ; one of
them, in particular, proved that her mother had been tried
and executed as a witch. In another case a Kol, thinking
that some old women had bewitched him, placed them in a
line and cut off all their heads, except that of the last, who,
objecting to this drastic form of ordeal, ran away and
■escaped. In another, the nose-ring of a suspected witch
was torn out with such violence as to cause extensive lacera-
tion. There are recorded instances of even more brutal
forms of mutilation. A case occurred at Dhdka in which
some people went to the house of a supposed witch, intend-
ing, as they said, to make her discontinue her enchantments,
and ill-treated her in such a shameful way as to leave her in
a dying state. She appears to have been in the habit of
prescribing medicine for children, and this seems to have
been the only basis for the reports that she practised magic*
Drawing Blood from a Witch.
One favourite way of counteracting the spells of a witch
is to draw blood from her. Thus, Professor Rhys, writing
^ Chevers, ** Indian Medical Jurisprudence," 546 sq.
' Ibid., 12, note, 14, note, 393, 488, 492, note, 493, 514; Ball, "Jungle
Life,*' 115 sq. ; "Calcutta Review," v. 52.
The Black Art, 283
of Manxland, says": " There is a belief that if you can draw
Wood, however little, from a witch or one who has the Evil
Eye, he loses his power of harming you ; and I have, been
told that formerly this belief was sometimes acted on.
Thus, on leaving church, for instance, the man who fancied
himself in danger from another would go up to him, or
walk by his side, and inflict on him a slight scratch or
some other trivial wound, which elicited blood." ^ In the
First Part of " Henry VI." Talbot says to the Pucelle de
Orleans, —
" PU have a bout with thee ;
Devil or devil's dam, PU conjure thee ;
Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch."
And Hudibras says, —
'' Till drawing blood o' the Dames like witches,
They're forthwith cur'd of their capriches."
So at the present day in Mirzapur, when a woman is
marked down as a witch, the Baiga or Ojha pricks her
tongue with a needle, and the blood thus extracted is
received on some rice, which she is compelled to eat. In
another case she is pricked on the breast, tongue, and
thighs, and given the blood to drink. The ceremony is
most efficacious if performed on the banks of a running
•stream. This is probably a survival of the actual blood
sacrifice of a witch.
Witch Haunts,
'* In any country an isolated or outlying race, the lin-
gering survivors of an older nationality, is liable to the
imputation of sorcery."' This is exactly true of Asia.
Marco Polo makes the same assertion about Pachai In
Badakhshdn. He says the people of Kashmir " have
extraordinary acquaintance with the devilries of enchant-
1 " Folk-lore," ii. 293 ; Hunt, " Popular Romances," 315.
« Tylor, •' Primitive Culture," i. 113.
284 Folk-lore of Northern India.
menty insomuch that they can make their idols to speak.
They can also by their sorceries bring on changes of
weather, and produce darkness, and do a number of things
so extraordinary, that without seeing them no one would
believe them. Indeed this country is the very original
source from which idolatry has spread abroad." In
Tibet, he says, "are the best enchanters and astrolo-
gers that exist in that part of the world ; they perform
such extraordinary marvels and sorceries by diabolical
art, that it astounds one to see or even hear of them." *
So in European folk-lore the north was considered the-
home of witches, and in Shakespeare La Pucelle invokes
the aid of the spirit under the " lordly monarch of the
north."
In India, the same is the case with the Konkan in
Bombay.' The semi-aboriginal Th4rus of the Himalayan
TarAi are supposed to possess special powers of this kind,
and Thiruhat, or "the land of the Thdrus," is a common
synonym for " Witchland." At Bh4galpur, Dr. Buchanan
was told that twenty-five children died annually through the
malevolence of witches. These reputed witches used to driver
a roaring trade, as women would conceal their children on
their approach and bribe them to go away. In Gorakhpur,
he says, the Tonahis or witches were very numerous, " but
some Judge sent an order that no one should presume to-
injure another by enchantment. It is supposed that the
order has been obeyed, and no one has since * imagined
himself injured, a sign of the people being remarkably easy
to govern,"' and it may be added of the patriarchal style
of government in those early days. Nowadays the accu-
sation of witchcraft is practically confined to the menial
tribes. The wandering, half-gipsy Banj4ras, or grain-
carriers, are notoriously witch-ridden, and the same is the
case with the Dom, Sinsiya, Hibiira, and other vagrants
of their kin.
' Yule, ** Marco Polo," i. 172, 175, with note; ii. 41; Sir W. Scott,.
** Letters on Demonology," 68 sq.
3 Campbell, " Notes," 141. • *' Eastern India," ii. 108, 445-
The Black Art. 285
NoNl Chamarin, the Witch.
At the present day the half-deified witch most dreaded in
the Eastern Districts of the North- Western Provinces is
Lon4, or Non&, a Chamarin, or woman of the currier caste.
Her legend is in this wise. The great physician Dhanwan-
tara, who corresponds to LuqmAn Hakim of the Muham-
madans, was once on his way to cure King Parikshit, and
was deceived and bitten by the snake king Takshaka.
He therefore desired his son to roast him and eat his flesh,
and thus succeed to his magical powers. The snake king
dissuaded them from eating the unholy meal, and they let
the cauldron containing it float down the Ganges. A cur-
rier woman, named Lond, found it and ate the contents, and
thus succeeded to the mystic powers of Dhanwantara. She
became skilful in cures, particularly of snake-bite. Finally
she was discovered to be a witch by the extraordinary
rapidity with which she could plant out rice seedlings.
One day the people watched her, and saw that when she
believed herself unobserved, she stripped herself naked, and
taking the bundle of the plants in her hands threw them
into the air, reciting certain spells. When the seedlings
forthwith arranged themselves in their proper places, the
spectators called out in astonishment, and finding herself
discovered, NonA rushed along over the country, and the
channel which she made in her course is the Lonl river
to this day. So a saint in Broach formed a new course
for a river by dragging his clothes behind him. In Nona's
case we have the nudity charm, of which instances have
been already given.
PtTTANA, the Witch Fiend.
Another terrible witch, whose legend is told at Mathura,
is Pfitand, the daughter of Bali, king of the lower world.
She found the infant Krishna asleep, and began to suckle
him with her devil's milk. The first drop would have
poisoned a mortal child, but Krishna drew her breast with
such strength that he drained her life-blood, and the fiend.
286 Folk-lore of Northern India.
terrifying the whole land of Braj with her cries of agony^
fell lifeless on the ground. European witches suck the
blood of children ; here the divine Krishna turns the tables
on the witch.*
The Witch of the Palwars.
The Palwir RAjputs of Oudh have a witch ancestress^
Soon after the birth of her son she was engaged in bakings
cakes. Her infant began to cry, and she was obliged to
perform a double duty. At this juncture her husband
arrived just in time to see his demon wife assume gigantic
and supernatural proportions, so as to allow both the
baking and nursing to go on at the same time. But finding^
her secret discovered, the witch disappeared, leaving her
son as a legacy to her astonished husband.' Here, though
the story is incomplete, we have almost certainly, as in the
case of Noni ChamArin, one of the Melusina type of legend,,
where the supernatural wife leaves her husband and children,,
because he violated some taboo, by which he is forbidden ta
see her in a state of nudity, or the like.'
The history of witchcraft in India, as in Europe, is one of
the saddest page^ in the annals of the people. Nowadays,,
the power of British law has almost entirely suppressed the
horrible outrages which, under the native administration,,
were habitually practised. But particularly in the more
remote and uncivilized parts of the country, this super-^
stition still exists in the minds of the people, and occasional
indications of it, which appear in our criminal records, are
quite sufficient to show that any relaxation of the activity of
our magistrates and police would undoubtedly lead to its
revival in some of its more shocking forms.
* Gubematis, "Zoological Mythology," ii. 202; Growse, "Mathura^**
53-
2 " Oudh Gazetteer," iii. 480.
» Hartland, *' Science of Fairy Tales," 270 sqq.
CHAPTER VI.
SOME RURAL FESTIVALS AND CEREMONIES.
*Ev d' cVi^ci V€i6v /iaXoic^v vUipav apovpav,
"Evpfuuf, rpiiroKov' iro^oi 5* apor^pcr iv avrtj
Zcvyfa div€voifT€S (Xdarptov tv6a xcu ivBcu
Iliad f xviii. 541-43.
The subject of rural festivals is much too extensive for
treatment in a limited space. Here reference will be made
only to a few of those ceremonies which illustrate the prin-
ciples recently elucidated from the folk-lore of Europe by
Messrs. Frazer, Gomme, and Mannhardt.^
The AkhtIj.
The respect paid to ploughing is illustrated by the early
Vedic legend of SU4, who, like the Etruscan Tago, sprung
from a furrow.* It is only in a later development of the
story that she becomes the daughter of Janaka, and wife of
R&ma Chandra.
The agricultural year in Northern India begins with the
ceremony of the Akhttj, "the undecaying third," which is
celebrated on the third day of the light fortnight in the
month of BaisAkh, or May. In the North-Western Pro-
vinces the cultivator first fees his Pandit to select an
auspicious hour on that day for the commencement of
* Frazer, "Golden Bough;" Gomme, "Ethnology in Folk-lore ;**
Mannhardt, " Wald-und Feldkulte."
' Leland, " Etruscan Roman Remains,'' 96.
288 Folk-lore of Northern India.
ploughing. In most places he does not begin till 3 p.m. ;
in Mirzapur the time fixed is usually during the night, as
secrecy is in most of these rural ceremonies an important
part of the ritual.
In Rohilkhand the cultivator goes at daybreak to one of
his fields, which must be of a square or oblong shape. He
takes with him a brass drinking vessel of water, a branch of
the Mango tree, both of which are, as we have seen, effica-
cious in scaring spirits, and a spade. The object of the
rite is to propitiate Prithivl, " the broad world," as con-
trasted with Dhartt MM, or " Mother Earth," and Sesha
N4ga, the great snake which supports the world. When-
ever Sesha yawns he causes an earthquake.
The Pandit first makes certain observations by which he
is able to determine in which direction the snake happens
at the time to be lying, because, in order to ease himself of
his burden, he moves about beneath the world, and lies,
sometimes north and south, north-west and south-east,
and so on. This imaginary line having been marked off,
the peasant digs up five clods of earth with his spade.
This is a lucky number, as it is a quarter more than four.
Hence Sawii, or one and a quarter, has been taken as one of
the titles of the Mahirdja of Jaypur. He then sprinkles water
five times into the trench with the branch of the sacred
mango. The object of this is by a form of sympathetic magic
to ensure the productiveness of the crop, and scare the demons
of evil which would injure it. In Bombay, at the beginning
of the sowing season, a cocoanut is broken and thrown at
each side of the plough, so that the soil spirits may leave
and make room for Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity,
who is represented by the plough.* During all these pro-
ceedings the peasant watches the omens most carefully,
and if anything inauspicious happens, the ceremony must
be discontinued and recommenced at a luckier hour later on
in the day. When he gets home, some woman of the
family, who must not be a widow, who is naturally con-
sidered unlucky, presents him with curds and silver for
1 Campbell, " Notes,'' 89.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 289
good luck. He then stays all day in the house, rests, and
does no work, and does not even go to sleep. He avoids
quarrels and disputes of all kinds, and on that day will
give neither grain nor money, nor fire to any one.* Next
day he eats sweet food and balls of wheaten flour, toasted
with curds and sugar, but carefully abstains from salt
These usages have parallels in the customs of other lands.
Thus, the rule against giving fire on the sowing day pre-
vailed in Rome, and is still observed in the rural parts of
England. In Iceland and the Isle of Man it is believed
that fire and salt are the most sacred things given to man,
and if you give them away on May Day you give away your
luck for the year ; no one will give fire from a house while an
unbaptized baby is in it."
In Rajputina the custom is less elaborate. The first
day of ploughing after the rains begin is known as the
Halsotiya festival. Omens being favourable, the villagers
proceed to the fields, each household^carrying a new earthen
pot, coloured with turmeric, the virtues of which have been
already explained, and full of Bdjra millet. Looking to the
north, the home of the gods, they make an obeisance to the
earth, and then a selected man ploughs five furrows. The
ploughman's hands and the bullock's hoofs are rubbed with
henna, and the former receives a dinner of delicacies.'
In Mirzapur, only the northern part of the field, that
facing the Himalaya is dug up in five places with a piece of
mango wood. The peasant, when he goes home, eats rich
food, and abstains from quarrels.
All over the country the people seem to be becoming
less careful about these observances. Some, without con-
sulting a Pandit at all, go early to the field on the morning
after the Holi fire is lighted, scratch the ground with a
ploughshare, and on their return eat cakes and sweetmeats.
^ On the rule against giving fire from his house, see Hartland,
** Legend of Perseus," ii. 94.
2 Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 74 ; ** Folk-lore,"
iii. 12,84,90; Dyer, "Popular Customs," 14; Lady Wilde, ** Legends,"
103, 106, 203.
3 " Gazetteer," iii. 237.
VOL. II. U
290 Folk-lore of Northern India,
Others, on the first day after the Holt, when they hear the
voice of the Koil, or Indian cuckoo at twilight, go in silence
to the field and make a few scratches.^
Among the Dr&vidian Hill tribes of Mirzapur, the cere-
mony seems to be merely a formal propitiation of the
village godlings. Among the Korwas, before ploughing
commences, the Baiga makes an offering of butter and
molasses in his own field. This he burns in the name of
the village godlings, and does a special sacrifice at their
shrine. After this ploughing commences. The Kharwirs,
before sowing, take five handfuls of grain from the sowing
basket, and pray to Dharti M4t4, the earth goddess, to be
propitious. They keep the grain, grind it, and offer it at
her annual festival in the month of Siwan or August. The
Pankas only do a burnt offering through the Baiga, and
ofEer up cakes and other food, known as Nfeuj. Before the
spring sowing, a general offering of five cocks is made to the
village godlings by the Baiga, who consumes the sacrifice
himself. All these people do not commence agricultural
work till the Baiga starts wcrk in his own field, and they
prefer to do this on Monday.
In Hoshangdb4d the ceremony is somewhat different.
The ploughing is usually begun by the landlord, and all the
cultivators collect and assist at the ceremony in his field
before they go on to their own. " It is the custom for him
to take a rupee and fasten it up in the leaf of the Pal&sa
tree with a thorn. He also folds up several empty leaves
in the same way and covers them all with a heap of leaves.
When he has done worship to the plough and bullocks, he
yokes them and drives them through the heap, and all the
cultivators then scramble for the leaf which contains the
rupee. They then each plough their fields a little, and
returning in a body, they are met by the daughter or sister
of the landlord, who comes out to meet them with a brass
vessel fiiU of water, a light in one hand and the wheaten
cakes in the other. The landlord and each of the cultivators
of his caste put a rupee into her water vessel and take a
* " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 95.
\
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 291
bit of the cake, which they put on their heads. On the same
day an earthen jar full of water is taken by each cultivator
to his threshing-floor, and placed to stand on four lumps of
earth, each of which bears the name of one of the four
months of the rainy season. Next morning as many lumps
as are wetted by the leaking of the water jar (which is very
porous and always leaks), so many months of rain will there
be, and the cultivator makes his arrangements for the
sowing accordingly." *
In the Himalaya, again, there is a different ritual : " On
the day fixed for the commencement of ploughing the
ceremony known as Kudkhyo and Halkhyo takes place.
The Kudkhyo takes place in the morning or evening, and
begins by lighting a lamp before the household deity and
ofifering rice, flowers, and balls made of turmeric, borax, and
lemon juice. The conch is then sounded, and the owner of
the field or relative whose lucky day it is, takes three or
four pounds of seed-grain from a basin and carries it to the
edge of the field prepared for its reception. He then scrapes
a portion of the earth with a mattock, and sows a part of
the seed. One to five lamps are placed on the ground, and
the surplus seed is given away. At the Halkhyo ceremony,
the balls as above described are placed on the ploughman,
plough, and plough cattle ; four or five furrows are ploughed
and sown, and the farm servants are fed." ^ This custom
of giving away what remains of the seed-grain to labourers
and beggars prevails generally throughout Northern India.
A curious rite is performed in Kulu at the rice planting.
" Each family in turn keeps open house. The neighbours,
men and women, collect at the rice-fields. As soon as a
field is ready, the women enter it in line, each with a bundle
of young rice in her hands, and advance dabbing the young
plants into the slush as they go. The mistress of the house
and her daughters, dressed in their gayest, take their stand
in front of the line, and supply more bundles of plants as
they are wanted. The women sing in chorus as they work ;
1 "Settlement Report," 123 sq.
3 Atkinson, " Himalayan Gazetteer," ii. 856.
U 2
292 Folk-lore of Northern India.
impromptu verses are often put in, which occasion a great
deal of laughter. Two or three musicians are generally
entertained by the master of the house, who also supplies
food and drink of his best for the whole party. The day's
work often ends with a tremendous romp, in which every
one throws mud at his neighbours, or tries to give him or
her a roll in it. No such ceremony is observed in sowing
other crops, rice having been formerly, in all probability,
the most important crop. It is also the custom to make a
rude image of a man in dough and to throw it away as a
sacrifice to the Ishta Deoti or household deity." ^ This
can hardly be anything but a survival of an actual sacrifice
to appease the field godlings at sowing time. The rude
horseplay which goes on is like that at the Saturnalia and
on the English Plough Monday.
Going on to the Dravidian races, the Mundas have a feast
in May at the time of sowing for the first rice crop. '* It is
held in honour of the ancestral shades and other spirits,
who, if unpropitiated, would prevent the seed from germi-
nating. A he-goat and a cock are sacrificed." Again in
June they have a festival to propitiate the local gods, that
they may bless the crops. " In the Mundiri villages every-
one plants a branch of the Bel tree in his land, and con-
tributes to the general ofiFering, which is made by the priest
in the sacred grove, a fowl, a pitcher of beer, and a handful
of rice." In July, again, each cultivator sacrifices a fowl,
and after some mysterious rites, a wing is stripped off and
inserted in a cleft of a bamboo, and stuck up in the rice-
field- or dung-heap. If this is omitted, the rice crop, it is
supposed, will not come to maturity. It appears more like
a charm than a sacrifice. Among the Kols of Chota NAgpur,
there is a special dance, *' the women follow the men and
change their attitudes and positions in obedience to signals
from them." In one special figure " the women all kneel and
pat the ground with their hands, in tune of music, as if
coaxing the earth to be fertile." '
* ** North Indian Notes and Queries/' iii. 196.
' Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology," 198.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 293
Prohibition of Ploughing.
A clergyman in Devonshire informed Brand that the old
farmers in his parish called the three first days of March
** Blind Days," which were anciently considered unlucky,
and on them no farmer would sow his seed.*
In Northern India there are certain days on which
ploughing is forbidden, such as the Nagpanchami or snake
feast held on the fifth of the light half of S&wan, and the
fifteenth of the month K4rttik. Turning up the soil on such
days disturbs Seshandga, the great world serpent and Mother
Earth. But Mother Earth is also supposed to sleep on six
days in every month — the 5th, 7th, gth, nth, 21st, and 24th ;
or, as others say, the ist, 2nd, 5th, 7th, loth, 21st, and 24th.
On such days it is inadvisable to plough if it can be possibly
avoided. The fifteen days in the month of Kudr which
are devoted to the worship of the Pitri or sainted dead, are
also an inauspicious time for agricultural work.
All these ceremonies at the commencement of the agri-
cultural season remind us in many ways of the observance
of the festivals of Plough Monday and similar customs in
rural England.*
The Rakshabandhan and JIyI Festivals.
We have already noticed the use of the knotted cord or
string as an amulet. On the full moon of Si wan is held
the Salono or Rakshabandhan festival, when women tie these
amulets round the wrists of their friends. Connected with
this is what is known as the barley feast, the ]iyt or Jawira
of Upper India, and the Bhujariya of the Central Provinces.
It is supposed to be connected in some way with the famous
story of Alha and Udal, which forms the subject of a very
popular local epic. They were Rijputs of the Bandphar clan,
and led the Chandels in their famous campaign against the
Rdhtaurs of Kanauj, which immediately preceded, and in fact
led up to, the Muhammadan conquest of Northern India.'
* ** Observations," 316.
^ Chambers, " Book of Days," i. 94 sqq. ; Aubrey ** Remaines," 40 sq.
* Cunningham, " Archaeological Reports," ii. 455.
294 Folk-lore of Northern India.
In connection with this simple rural feast, a most elaborate
ritual has been prescribed under Br&hmanical influence, but
all that is usually done is that on the seventh day of the
light half of S4wan, grains of barley are sown in a pot of
manure, and spring up so rapidly that by the end of the
month the vessel is full of long, yellowish- green stalks. On
the first day of the next month, Bhidon, the women and
girls take these out, throw the earth and manure into water,
and distribute the plants to their male friends, who bind them
in their turbans and about their dress.^
We have already come across an instance of a similar
practice among the Kharwdrs at the Karama festival, and
numerous examples of the same have been collected by
Mr. Frazer.' Thus, ** in various parts of Italy and all over
Sicily it is still customary to put plants in water or in earth
on the Eve of St. John, and from the manner in which they
are found to be blooming or faded on St. John's Day omens
are drawn, especially as to fortune in love. In Prussia two
hundred years ago the farmers used to send out their
servants, especially their maids, to gather St. John's wort on
Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Day. When they had
fetched it, the farmer took as many plants as there were
persons and stuck them on the wall or between the beams ;
and it was thought that the person whose plant did not
bloom would soon fall sick or die. The rest of the plants
were tied in a bundle, fastened to the end of a pole, and set
up at the gate or wherever the corn would be brought in at
the next harvest. This bundle was called Kupole, the
ceremony was known as Kupole's festival, and at it the
farmer prayed for a good crop of hay, etc."
We have the same idea in the English rural custom of
"wearing the rose." There can be no reasonable doubt
that all these rites were intended to propitiate the spirit of
vegetation and promote the germination and growth of the
next crop.*
* Atkinson, loc, cit, ii. 886. « " Golden Bough,'* i. 249,
* " Hoshangibad Settlement ^Report/' 124; Atkinson, ii?^. «/., ii. 870 ;
** Panjdb Notes and Queries," iv. 197.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 295
The DiwlLt, or Feast of Lamps.
The regular Diw41i, or Feast of Lamps, which is per-
formed on the last day of the dark fortnight in the month of
Kdrttik, is more of a city than a rural festival. But even in
the villages everyone burns a lamp outside the house on that
night.
The feast has, of course, been provided with an appropriate
legend. Once upon a time an astrologer foretold to a Rija
that on the new moon of KArttik his K41, or fate, would
appear at midnight in the form of a snake ; that the way to
avoid this was that he should order all his subjects on that
night to keep their houses, streets, and lanes clean; that
there should be a general illumination ; that the king, too,
should place a lamp at his door, and at the four corners of
his couch, and sprinkle rice and sweetmeats everywhere.
If the door-lamp went out it was foretold that he would
become insensible, and that he was to tell his R&nt to sing
the praises of the snake when it arrived. These instructions
were carefully carried out, and the snake was so pleased
with his reception, that he told the R4ni to ask any boon she
pleased. She asked for long life for her husband. The
snake replied that it was out of his power to grant this, but
that he would make arrangements with Yamarija, the lord
of the dead, for the escape of her husband, and that she was
to continue to watch his body.
Then the snake carried off the spirit of the king to
Yamarija. When the papers of the king's life were
produced before Yamarija his age was denoted by a cipher,
but the kindly snake put a seven before it, and thus raised
his age to seventy years. Then Yamarija said : " I find
that this person has still seventy years to live. Take him
back at once." So the snake brought back the soul of the
king, and he revived and lived for seventy years more, and
established this feast in honour of the event Much the
same idea appears in one of Grimm's German tales.*
The original basis of the feast seems to have been the idea
1 ** Household Talcs." ii. 276.
296 Folk-lore of Northern India.
that on this night the spirits of the dead revisit their homes,
which are cleaned and lighted for their reception. Now it is
chiefly observed in honour of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth
and good luck, who is propitiated by gambling. On this night
the women make what is called " the new moon lampblack "
{Amdwas Kd iTo/ii/), which is used throughout the following
year as a charm against the Evil Eye, and, as we have
already seen, the symbolical expulsion of poverty goes on.
Immediately following this festival is the Bhaiyya Dftj, or
" Brothers' second," when sisters make a mark on the fore-
heads of their brothers and cause them to eat five grains of
gram. These must be swallowed whole, not chewed, and
bring length of days. The sister then makes her brother sit
facing the east, and feeds him with sweetmeats, in return
for which he gives her a present.
The Govardhan.
Following the Diw41i comes what is known as the
Govardhan, or Godhan, which is a purely rural feast. In
parts of the North-Western Provinces, the women, on a
platform outside the house, make a little hut of mud and
images of Gauri and Ganesa ; there they place the parched
grain which the girls offered on the night of the Diw41i ;
near it they lay some thorny grass, wave a rice pounder
round the hut, and invoke blessings on their relations and
friends. This is also a cattle feast, and cowherds come
round half drunk and collect presents from their employers.
They sing, " May this house grow as the sugar-cane grows,
as Ganga increases at the sacred confluence of PrayAg ! "
In the Panj&b " the women make a Govardhan of cow-
dung, which consists of Krishna lying on his back surrounded
with little cottage loaves of dung to represent mountains,
in which are stuck stems of grass with tufts of cotton or
rag on the top for trees, and by little dung balls for cattle,
watched by dung men dressed in little bits of rag. Another
opinion is that the cottage loaves are cattle, and the dung
balls calves. On this they put the churn-staff, five white
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 297
sugar-canes, some parched rice, and a lamp in the middle.
The cowherds are then called in, and they salute the whole,
and are fed with rice and sweets. The Brd.hman then takes
the sugar-cane and eats a bit, and till then no one must eat,
cut, or press cane. Rice-milk is then given to the Br&hmans,
and the bullocks have their horns dyed and are extra well
fed."^
The Emperor Akbar, we are told, used to join in this
festival.'
The custom in Cawnpur, known as the D&ng, or " Club,"
DiwAlt is very similar. The cowherds worship Govardhan
in the form of a little heap of cowdung decorated with
cotton, and go round to the houses of the persons whose
<:attle they graze, dance to the music of two sticks beaten
together and a drum played by a Hindu weaver, and get
presents of grain, cloth, or money."
Cattle Festivals.
There are a number of similar usages in various parts of
the country solemnized with the object of protecting the
herds. Thus in Hoshangdbdd they have the rite of frighten-
ing the cattle. " Everyone keeps awake all night, and the •
-herdsmen go out begging in a body, singing, and keeping the
<cattle from sleeping. In the morning they are all stamped
with the hand dipped in yellow paint for the white ones, and
white paint for the red ones, and strings of cowries or pea-
cocks' feathers are tied to their horns. Then they are
-driven out with wild whoops or yells, and the herdsman
standing at the doorway smashes an earthen water jar on
the last. The neck of this is placed on the gateway leading
to the cattle sheds, and preserves them from the Evil Eye.
In the afternoon the cattle are all collected together, and
the Parih4r priest sprinkles them with water, after which
they are secure from all possible evil." *
* Ibbctson, " Panj4b Ethnography,** 120.
* Blochmann, " Ain-i-Akbari," 1. 217.
•Wright, "Cawnpur Memorandum," 105; Buchanan, "Eastern
India," i. 194.
* " Settlement Report," 17.
298 Folk-lore of Northern India.
This reminds us of the custom of Manx cattle dealers^
who drive their herd through fire on May Day, so as to
singe them a little, and preserve them from harm.* The
same was probably the origin of the bull-running in the
town of Stamford of which Brand gives an account. So the
Chinese make an effigy of an ox in clay, which after being
beaten by the governor, is stoned by the people till they^
break it in pieces, from which they expect an abundant year*
We have already met with instances where the scape
animal merges in a sacrifice. In Garhwdl, at the sacrifice in
honour of Devt, the Br4hmans make a circle of flour filled
with various sorts of colours. Inside this they sit and repeat
sacred verses. Then a male buffalo is made to move round
the circle seven times, and everyone throws some holy rice
and oats over it. After this the headman of the village
strikes it lightly on the back with a sword and makes it run^.
on which the people follow and hack it to pieces with their
swords.'
So in Bengal, on the last day of the month Kdrttik
(October-November) a pig is turned loose among a herd of
buffaloes, who are encouraged to gore it to death. The
carcase is given to the Dus4dh village menials to eat. The
Ahirs, who practise this strange rite, aver that it has no
religious significance, and is merely a sort of popular amuse«
ment. They do not themselves partake of any part of the
pig.' It is plainly a survival of a regular sacrifice, probably-
intended to promote the fertility of the herds and crops.
Similar customs for the protection of cattle prevail in other
parts of the country. Thus, in Mirzapur, at the DiwAlt, a
little earthen bell is procured from the village potter, and
hung round the necks of the cattle as a protective.
In Berdr, at the Pola festival, the bullocks of the whole
village pass in procession under a sacred rope made of
twisted grass and covered with mango leaves. The sacred
pole of the headman is then borne aloft to the front. He
* " Folk-lore,'' ii. 303 ; Brand, " Observations,*' 7 ; Rhys, " Lectures,'^
520.
' " North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 92.
» Risley, " Tribes and Castes," i. 290.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 299
gives the order to advance, and all the bullocks, his own
leading the way, file under the rope according to the respec-
tive rank of their owners. The villagers vie with each other
in having the best decorated and painted bullocks, and large
sums are often expended in this way. This rope is supposed
to possess the magic power of protecting the cattle from
disease and accident.^
In Northern India it is a common charm to drive the
cattle under a rope fixed over the village cattle path, and
among the DrAvidians of Mirzapur, two poles and a cross
bar are fixed at the entrance of the village with the same
object. The charm is rendered more powerful if a plough
beam is sunk in the ground close by.
The custom of the silent tending of cattle has been
already mentioned. At the cattle festival in Rijputina, in
the evening the cow is worshipped, the herd having been
previously tended. " From this ceremony no rank is ex-
cepted ; on the preceding day, dedicated to Krishna, prince
and peasant all become pastoral attendants of the cow in
the form of Prithivi or the Earth." ' In some places the
flowers and other ornaments of the cattle, which they lose
in their wild flight, are eagerly picked up and treated as
relics bringing good fortune. We have a similar idea in the
blessing of cattle in Italy,' and this is probably the origin of
the observance described by Aubrey, when " in Somerset-
shire, where the wassaile (which is, I think, Twelfe Eve),
the ploughmen have their Twelfe cake, and they go into
the ox-house to the cattle, and drink to the ox with the
crumpled horn that treads out the come." *
The Sleep of Vishnu.
According to the rural belief, Vishnu sleeps for four
months in the year, from the eleventh of the bright half
of the month Asirh, the Deosoni EkAdasht, "the reposing
I " BeiAr Gazetteer/' 207. « Tod, "Annals," i. 631.
• Gubematis, "Zoological Mythology," i. 51.
* " Remaines," 40 ; Brand, " Observations," 17.
300 Folk-lore of Northern India.
of the god/' till the eleventh of the bright half of the month
Kirttik, the Deothin, or " god's awakening." So the demon
Kumbha Karana in the R&m&yana when he is gorged sleeps
for six months. According to Mr. Campbell/ during these
four months while the god sleeps demons are abroad, and
hence there are an unusual number of protective festivals in
that period. On the day he retires to rest women mark
the house with lines of cowdung as a safeguard, fast during
the day, and eat sweetmeats at night. During the four
months of the god's rest it is considered unlucky to marry,
repair the thatch of a hut, or make the house cots. His
rising at the Deothin marks the commencement of the sugar-
cane harvest, when the cane mill is marked with red paint,
and lamps are lighted upon it. The owner of the crop then
does worship in his field, and breaks off some stalks of
sugar-cane, which he puts on the boundary. He distri-
butes five canes each to the village Br&hman, blacksmith,
carpenter, washerman, and water carrier, and takes five
home.
Then on a wooden board about one and a half feet long
two figures of Vishnu and his wife Lakshm! are drawn with
lines of butter and cowdung. On the board are placed some
cotton, lentils, water-nuts, and sweets; a fire sacrifice is
offered, and the five canes are placed near the board and
tied together at the top. The S&lagrima, or stone emble-
matical of Vishnu, is lifted up, and all sing a rude melody,
calling on the god to wake and join the assembly. " Then
all move reverently round the emblems, the tops of the cane
are broken off and hung on the roof till the Holl, when they
are burnt. When the worship has been duly performed, and
the officiating Brihman has declared that the fortunate
moment has arrived, the cutting may commence. The whole
village is a scene of festivity, and dancing and singing go on
frantically. Till this day no Hindu will eat or touch the
crop. They believe that even jackals will not eat the cane
till then. The real fact is that till then the juice has not
properly come up, and the cane is not worth eating. On
* Campbell, " Notes," 376.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 301
the first day the cane is cut the owner eats none of it, it
would bring him bad luck." ^
Ceremonies to Avert Blight, etc.
There are various ceremonies intended to save certain
crops from the ravages of blight and insects. Blight is very
generally attributed to the constant measurement of the
soil . which goes on during settlement operations, to the
irreligious custom of eating beef, or to adultery, or to a
demon of the east wind, who can be appeased with prayers
and ceremonies.^ No pious Hindu, if the seed fails, will
re-sow his winter crop.
When sugar-cane germinates, the owner of the crop does
worship on the next Saturday before noon. On one of the
days of the Nauratri in the month of Ku4r the cultivator
himself, or through his family priest, burns a fire sacrifice in
the field and offers prayers. In the month of Kdrttik he has
a special ceremony to avert a particularly dangerous grub,,
known as the Stindi. For this purpose he takes from his
house butter, cakes, sweets, and five or six lumps of dough
pressed into the shape of a pear, with some clean water. He
goes to the field, offers a fire sacrifice, and presents some of
the cakes to the field spirit. He then buries one of the lumps
of dough at each corner of his field, and, having eaten the
rest of the cakes, goes home happy.'
When field-mice do injury to the crop the owner goes to a
Sy&na, or cunning man, who writes a charm, the letters of
which he dissolves in water and scatters it over the plants-
The ancient Greek farmer was recommended to proceed as
follows : " Take a sheet of paper and write on it these words^
' Ye mice here present, I adjure ye that ye injure me not,
neither suffer another mouse to injure me. I give you yonder
field (specifying the field), but if ever I catch you here again^
by the help of the Mother of the gods, I will rend you in
seven pieces.' Write this and stick the paper on an unhewn
^ "Bareilly Settlement Report," 93 sq.
' Sleeman, " Rambles and Recollections," i. 235, 240.
» ** Bareilly Settlement Report," 93.
302 Folk-lore of Northern India.
stone in the field where the mice are, taking care to keep the
written side uppermost." ^
General Sleeman gives a case of a cowherd who saw in a
vision that the water of the Biy&s river should be taken up
in pitchers and conveyed to the fields attacked with blight,
but that none of it should be allowed to fall on the ground
in the way. On reaching the field a small hole should be
made in the bottom of the pitcher so as to keep up a small
but steady stream, as the bearer carried it round the border
of the field, so that the water might fall in a complete ring
except at a small opening which was to be kept dry, so that
the demon of the blight could make his escape through it.
Crowds of people came to fetch the water, which was not
supposed to have any particular virtue except that arising
from this revelation.*
Scaring OF Locusts.
Locusts, one of the great pests of the Indian peasant's life,
are scared by shouting, lighting of fires, beating of brass pots,
and in particular, by ringing the temple bell. In Sirsa, the
Karwa, a flying insect which injures the flower of the B&jra
millet, is expelled by a man taking his sister's son on his
shoulder and feeding him with rice-milk while he repeats the
following charm : " The nephew has mounted his uncle's
shoulder. Go, Karwa, to some other field ! " '
In the Panj&b a popular legend thus explains the enmity
between the starling and the locust. Once upon a time the
locusts used to come and destroy the crops as they were
ripening. The people prayed to N&riyana, and he im-
prisoned them in a deep valley in the Himalaya, putting the
starlings to keep them in confinement. Now and again the
locusts try to escape and the starlings promptly put them to
death. The legend is probably based on the fact that both
the starlings and the locusts come from the Hills, and about
the same time.*
1 •* Folk-lore," i. 163. « " Rambles and Recollections," i. 248.
» ** Settlement Report," 256.
^ ** North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 64.
\
)!
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 303
Another device to scare them is based on the well-known
principle of treating with high distinction one or two chosen
individuals of the obnoxious species, while the rest are pur-
sued with relentless vigour. " In the East Indian island of
Bali, the mice which ravage the rice-fields are caught in great
numbers and burnt in the same way that corpses are burnt.
But two of the captured mice are allowed to live and receive
a little packet of white linen. Then the people bow down
before them, as before gods, and let them go." * So in Mirza-
pur the Dr4vidian tribes, when a flight of locusts comes, catch
one, decorate its head with a spot of red lead, salaam to it,
and let it go, when the whole flight immediately departs.
Betel Planting.
When cultivators in the North- Western Provinces sow
betel, they cook rice-milk near the plants and offer it to the
local godling. They divide the offering, and a little coarse
sugar is dedicated to Mahibir, the monkey god, which is
taken home and distributed among the children. This is
known as Jeonir PtijA or " the banquet rite." The Barais,
who make a speciality of cultivating the plant, have two god-
lings of their own, Sokha Bdba, the ghost of some famous
magician, and N^gbeli, the " creeper N&ga," or snake, who
is connected with the sinuous growth of the tendrils.
In Bengal, the Baruis, a similar caste, worship their
patron goddess on the fourth day of the month Baisakh with
offerings of flowers, rice, sweetmeats, and sandal-wood paste.
Some do the Navami Piiji in honour of Ushas, or the Aurora,
on the sixth day of the waning moon in Asin. Plantains,
rice, sugar, and sweetmeats are placed in the centre of the
garden, from which the worshippers retire, but after a little
time return, and carrying out the offerings, distribute them
among the village children. In Bikrampur, Sunjdi, a form
of Bh&gawati, is worshipped.
They do not employ Brdhmans in the worship, because,
they say, a BrAhman was the first cultivator of betel.
^ Frazer, " Golden Bough," ii. 131.
304 Folk-lore of Northern India.
Through his neglect the plant grew so high that he used
his sacred thread to fasten up the tendrils, but as it still shot
up faster than he could supply thread, its charge was given
to a Kiyasth or writer. Hence it is that a Brihman cannot
enter a betel garden without defilement.^ In another form
of the story, the thread of the Br&hman grew up to the sky
and became a betel tendril. So, in a Tartar story, the hop
plant originates from the bow-string of a man that had been
turned into a bear.'
All over India, the betel plant, perhaps on account of the
delicacy of its growth, is considered as being very susceptible
to demoniacal influence, and a woman or a person in a state
of ceremonial pollution is excluded from the nursery. We
meet with an instance of the same idea among the Ainos.
" They prepare for the fishing by observing rules of cere-
monial purity, and when they have gone out to fish the
women at home must keep strict silence, or the fish would
hear them and disappear. When the first fish is caught he
is brought home and passed through a small opening at the
end of the hut, but not through the door ; for if he were
passed through the door, the other fish would certainly see
him and disappear."'
All these protective measures intended to guard the crop
from defilement and demoniacal influence are rather like the
old English rule of the young men and girls walking round
the corn to bless it on Palm Sunday, an observance which
Audley drily remarks in his. time " gave many a conception."*
Sugar-cane Sowing.
When sugar-cane is being planted, the sower is decorated
with silver ornaments, a necklace, flowers, and a red mark
is made on his forehead. It is considered a favourable omen
if a man on horseback come into the field while the sowing
is going on. After the sowing is completed, all the men
1 Risley, "Tribes and Castes," i. 72. ' "Folk-lore," iii. 321.
» Frazer, " Golden Bough," ii. 122.
* "Remaines," 9 ; Brand, "Observations," 118.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 305
employed come home to the farmer's house and have a good
dinner.* All surplus seed is carefully destroyed with fire, as
it is believed that the plants grown from it would be worth-
less and produce only flowers and seed.
In the Panj4b, on the first day of sowing, sweetened rice
is brought to the field, the women smear the outside of the
vessel with it, and it is then distributed to the workmen.
Next morning a woman puts on a necklace and walks round
the field, winding thread on a spindle. This forms a sacred
circle which repels evil influence from the crop. On the
night of the DeothAn, when Vishnu wakes from his four
months' sleep, lamps are lighted on the cane mill, and it is
smeared with daubs of red paint.'
Cotton Planting.
When the cotton has sprung up, the owner of the field
goes there on Sunday forenoon with some butter, sweetmeats,
and cakes. He burns a fire sacrifice, offers up some of the
food, and eats the remainder in silence. Here we have
another instance of the taboo against speaking, which so
commonly appears in these rural ceremonies.*
When the cotton comes into flower, some parched rice is
taken to the field on a Wednesday or Friday; some is
thrown broadcast over the plants, and the rest given to
children, the object assigned being that the bolls may
swell, as the rice does when parched. Many instances of
symbolical or sympathetic magic of the same kind might be
collected from the usages of other races. Thus, for instance,
in Sumatra, the rice is sown by women, who, in sowing, let
their hair hang loose down their back, in order that the rice
may grow luxuriantly and have long stalks.*
When the cotton is ripe and ready for picking, the women
pickers go to the north or east quarters of the field with
* " Bareilly Settlement Report," 93.
- " KamU Settlement Report," 151.
' ". Bareilly Settlement Report," 93 ; " North Indian Notes and Queries,"
iii. 94 ; and compare Tylor, " Primitive Culture," ii. 40 ; Lady Wilde,
" Legends," 199.
* Frazer, " Golden Bough," iii. 94.
VOL. II. X
3o6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
parched rice and sweetmeats. These directions are, of
course, selected with reference to the Himalaya, the home of
the gods, and the rising sun. They pick two or three large
podsi and then sit down and pull out the cotton in as long a
string as possible without breaking it. They hang these
threads on the largest cotton plant they can find in the field,
round which they sit, and fill their mouths as full as possible
with the parched rice, which they blow out as far as they can
in each direction ; the idea being, of course, the same as in
the ceremony when the plant flowers. A fire offering is made
and the picldng commences.^
The custom in KarnAl is very similar. When the pods
open and the cotton is ready for picking, the women go
round the field eating rice-milk, the first mouthful of which
they spit on the field towards the west. The first cotton
picked is exchanged for its weight in salt, which is prayed
over and kept in the house till the picking is over, when it
is distributed among the members of the household and
friends.*
The Last Sheaf.
In Hoshangabdd, when the reaping is nearly over, a small
patch of corn is left standing in the last field, and the reapers
rest a little. Then they rush at this piece, tear it up, and
cast it in the air, shouting victory to their deities, Omkdr
MahArija, Jhamajl, Rdmji D4s, or other local godlings
according to their persuasions. A sheaf is made of this
corn, which is tied to a bamboo, stuck up on the last harvest
cart, carried home in triumph, and fastened up at the
threshing-floor or to a tree, or on the cattle shed, where its
services are essential in averting the Evil Eye.'
The same custom prevails in the eastern districts of the
North- Western Provinces. Sometimes a little patch in the
corner of the field is left untilled as a refuge for the field
spirit ; sometimes it is sown and the corn reaped with a rush
^ " BareiJly Settiement Report," 87 sq.
» " Kamdl Settlement Report/' 183. * " Settlement Report," 78.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 307
and shout and given to the Baiga as an offering to the local
godlings, or distributed among beggars.
This is a most interesting analogue of a branch of Euro-
pean folk-lore which has been copiously illustrated by
Mr. Frazer.* It is the Devon custom of " Crying the Neck."
The last sheaf is the impersonation of the Corn Mother, and
is worshipped accordingly. We have met already with the
same idea in the reservation of small patches of the original
forest for the accommodation of the spirits of the jungle.
First-fruits.
There are many customs connected with the disposal of
the first-fruits of the crop. The eating of the new grain is
attended with various observances, in which the feeding of
Br4hmans and beggars takes a prominent place. In KAngra,
the first-fruits of corn, oil, and wine, and the first fleece of
the sheep are not indeed actually given, but a symbolical
offering is made in their stead. These offerings are made to
the ]kk or field spirit to whom reference has already been
made. The custom has now reached a later stage, for the
local Rija puts the right of receiving the offerings on behalf
of flie J4k to public auction.*
In the same way at Lad&kh, " the main rafters of the
houses are supported by cylindrical or square pillars of wood,
the top of which, under the truss, is, in the houses of the
peasantry, encircled by a band of straw and ears of wheat,
forming a primitive sort of capital. It is the custom, I was
told, to consecrate the two or three first handsful of each
year's crop to the spirit who presides over agriculture, and
these bands are thus deposited. Sometimes rams' horns are
added to this decoration." '
In Northern India the first pressing of the sugar-cane is
attended with special observances. When the work of
^ " Golden Bough," i. 333 sqq. ; Brand, " Observations," 311 ; Hender-
son, ** Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," 87 ; " Folk-lore," iv. 123 ; Hunt,
^' Popular Romances," 385.
2 " Panjib Notes and Queries," iii. 56.
' " North Indian Notes and Queries," i. 57.
X 2
3o8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
pressing commences, the first piece of sugar made is pre-
sented to friends or beggars, as is the first bowl of the
extracted juice, and in the western districts of the North-
western Provinces some is offered in the name of the saint
Shaikh Farld, who from this probably gains his title of
Shakkarganj, or " Treasury of sugar."
The Sant&ls have a harvest-home feast in December, at
which the Jag Mdnjhi, or headman of the village, entertains
the people. The cattle are anointed with oil and daubed
over with vermilion, and a share of rice-beer is given to each
animal.^
Everywhere in treading out the grain the rule that the
cattle move round the stake in the course of the sun is rigidly
observed.
Ceremonies at Winnowing.
Winnowing is a very serious and solemn operation, not
lightly to be commenced without due consultation of the
stars.
In Hoshang&b4d, when the village priest has fixed a
favourable time, the cultivator, his whole family, and his
labourers go to the threshing-floor, taking with them the
prescribed articles of worship, such as milk, butter, turmeric,
boiled wheat, and various kinds of grain. The threshing-
floor stake is washed in water, and these things are offered
to it and to the pile of threshed grain. The boiled wheat is
scattered about in the hope that the Bh6ts or spirits may
content themselves with it and not take any of the harvested
corn. Then the master stands on a three-legged stool, and
taking five basketsfiil from the threshed heap, winnows
them. After winnowing, the grain and chaff" are collected
again and measured ; if the five baskets are turned out full,
or anything remains over, it is a good omen. If they cannot
fill the baskets, the place where they began winnowing is
considered unlucky and it is removed a few yards to another
part of the threshing-floor. The five basketsful are presented
^ Dalton, "Descriptive Ethnology/' 213.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 309
to a Brahman, or distributed in the village, not mixed with
the rest of the harvest.
Winnowing can then go on as convenient, but one pre-
caution must be taken. As long as winnowing goes on the
basket must never be set down on its bottom, but always
upside down. If this were not done, the spirits would use
the basket to carry off the grain. The day's results are
measured generally in the evening. This is done in perfect
silence, the measurer sitting with his back to the unlucky
quarter of the sky, and tying knots to keep count of the
number of the baskets. The spirits rob the grain until it is
measured, but when once it has been measured they are
afraid of detection.^
In the Eastern PanjAb, the clean grain is collected into a
heap. Preparatory to measuring, the greatest care has to
be observed in the preparation of this heap, or evil spirits
will diminish the yield. One man sits facing the north, and
places two round balls of cowdung on the ground. Between
them he sticks in a plough-coulter, a symbol known as
Sh^od Matd or " the mother of fertility." A piece of the
Akh or swallow-wort and some Dtib grass are added, and
they salute it, saying: "O Mother Shdod! Give the increase!
Make our bankers and rulers contented ! " The man then
carefully hides the image of Shdod from all observers while
he covers it up with grain, which the others throw over his
head from behind. When it is well covered, they pile the
grain upon it, but three times during the process the cere-
mony of Ch3.ng is performed. The man stands to the south
of the heap and goes round it towards the west the first and
third time, and the reverse way the second time. As he
goes round, he has the hand furthest from the heap full of
igrain, and in the other a winnowing fan, with which he taps
the heap. When the heap is finished they sprinkle it with
Ganges water, and put a cloth over it till it is time to
measure the grain. A line is then drawn on the ground all
round the heap, inside which none but the measurer must
* " Settlement Report," 78 sq.
310 Folk-lore of Northern India.
go. All these operations must be performed in profound
silence.*
In Bareillyi when the whole of the grain and chaflf has
been winnowed, all the dressed grain is collected into a
heap. " The winnower, with his [^basket in» his right hand>
goes from the south towards the west, and then towards the
north, till he reaches the pole to which the treading-out
cattle have been tethered. He then'returns the same way,,
goes to the east till he reaches the pole, and back again to
the south ; then he places the basket on the ground and
utters some pious ejaculation. Then an iron sickle, a stick of
the sacred Kusa grass, and a bit of swallow-wort, with a
cake of cowdung in a cleft stick, are placed on the heap,,
and four cakes of cowdung at the four corners ; and a line
is traced round it with cowdung. A fire oflfering is then
made, and some butter and coarse^sugar are offered as sacri-
fice. Water is next thrown round the piled grain and the
remainder of the sugar distributed to those present." '
In the Etah District, the owner of the field places to the
north of the pile of grain a threshing-floor rake, a bullock's
muzzle, and a rope at a distance of three spans from the
piled grain ; and between these things#and the pile he lays a
little offering consisting of a few ears of grain, some leaves
of the swallow-wort, and a few flowers. These things are
laid on a piece of cowdung. He then covers the pile of
grain with a cloth to protect it firom thieving Bhtits, and
puts in a basket three handfuls of grain as the perquisite of
the village priest who lights the Hoi! fire. Something is
also laid by for the village beggars. Then he sprinkles a
little grain on the cloth, and fiUs'aJbasket full of grain which
he pours back on the pile as an emblem of increase. He
then bows to the gods who live in the northern hills, and
mutters a prayer; it is only at this time that he breaks
the silence with which the whole ceremony is performed.
The cloth is then removed, and the rite is considered
complete.
* « KamM Settlement Report;' 173. » " Settlement Report,'' 78-
Some Rural. Festivals and Ceremonies. 311
Measurement of Grain.
All these precautions are based on principles which have
been already discussed, and we meet in them with the
familiar fetishes and demon-scarers, of which we have
already quoted instances — ^the iron implements, the sacred
grasses and plants, water and milk, cowdung, the winnow-
ing fan, and so on.
All over Northern India a piece of cowdung, known as
Barh4wan,'* that which gives the increase," is laid on the
piled grain, and a sacred circle is made with fire and water
round it. Silence, as we have already seen, is a special
element in the worship. All this rests on the idea that until
the grain is measured, vagrant Bhiits will steal or destroy it.
This is something like the principle of travellers, who keep a
cowry or two in their purses, so that thieves may not be
able to divine the contents. So, in a Talmudic legend we
read, " It is very difl&cult for devils to obtain money, because
men are careful to keep it locked or tied up ; and we have
^ no power to take an5rthing that is measured or counted ; we
are permitted to take only what is free and common." *
In the Eastern Panj4b grain must not be measured on the
day of the new or full moon, and Saturday is a bad day for
it. It must be begun at dawn, or sunset, or midnight, when
the Bhtits are otherwise engaged. Four men go inside the
enclosure line with a wooden measuring vessel, and no one
must come near them till they have finished. They sit
facing the north and spread a cloth on the ground. One
fills the measure from the heap with the winnowing fan,
another empties it on the cloth, substituting an empty one
for it. The man who has the measure puts down for every
measure filled a small heap of grains of corn, by which the
account is kept. Perfect silence must be observed till the
whole ojperation is finished, and especially all counting aloud
of the number of measures must be avoided. But when
once the grain is measured, it is safe firom the Evil Eye ; the
people are at liberty to quarrel over the division of it.*
^ Conway, " Demonology," ii. 117.
« «*Kamai Settlement Report," 174.
^iz , Folk-lore of Northern India.
The same rule of silence often appears in the custom of
Europe. Favete Unguis was the principle on such occasions
in Rome. So in the " Tempest " Prospero says, —
'* Hush and be mute,
Or else our spell is marred."
In the Highlands, on New Year's Day, a discreet person is
sent to draw a pitcher of water from the ford, which is drunk
next day as a charm against the spell of witchcraft, the ma-
lignity of Evil Eyes, and the activity of all infernal agency.
So the baker who makes the bannocks on Shrove Tuesday
must be mute as a stone ; the cake on St. Mark's Eve must
be made in silence, and the same is the rule on St. Faith's
Day.*
The same rule of secrecy and silence is observed in the
worship of Dulha Deo. Among the Gaiti Gonds, their great
festival is held after the ingathering of the rice harvest,
when they proceed to a dense part of the jungle, which no
woman is permitted to enter, and where, to represent the
great god, a copper coin has been hung up, enclosed in a
joint of bamboo. Arriving, at the spot, they take down the
copper god in his case, and selecting a small area about a
foot square, they lay on it the copper coin, before which they
arrange as many small heaps of uncooked rice as there are
deities worshipped by them. The chickens brought for
sacrifice are loosed and permitted to feed on the rice, after
which they are killed and their blood sprinkled between
the copper coin and the rice. Goats are also offered,
and their blood presented in the same manner. Until
prohibited by the Hindus, sacrifices of cows were also
common. On the blood some country spirits is poured
as a libation to their deities. The copper coin is now
lifted, replaced in its bamboo case, which is shut up with
leaves, wrapped up in grass, and returned to its place in
the tree, to remain there till it is required on the following
year.'
^ Dyer, •* Popular Customs,'' 17, 90, 199, 384.
« Hislop, " Papers," 22.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 313
The HoLt : Its Origin.
The most famous and interesting of the village festivals is
the Holl, which is held in the early spring, at the full moon
of Phaigun. One account of its origin describes it as
founded' in honour of a female demon or R&kshast called
Dundhas, " she who would destroy many."
Another account connects the observance with the well-
known legend of Hiranya-kasipu, " golden-dressed," and his
son Prahiada. Hiranya-kasipu was, it is said, a Daitya,
who obtained from Siva the sovereignty of the three worlds
for a million years, and persecuted his pious son PrahUda
because he was such a devoted worshipper of Vishnu.
Finally the angry god, in his Nara-sinha or man-lion in-
carnation, slew the sinner.
Harndkas, as the father is called in the modern version of
the story, was an ascetic, who claimed that the devotion of
the world was to be paid to him alone. His son Prahl&da
became a devotee of Vishnu, and performed various miracles,
such as saving a cat and her kittens out of the blazing kiln
of a potter. His father was enraged at what he considered
the apostasy of his son, and with the assistance of his sister
Holl or Holiki, commenced to torture Prahl4da. Many
attempts on his life failed, and finally Vishnu himself entered
a pillar of heated iron, which had been prepared for the
destruction of Prahldda, and tore Harna.kas to pieces. Then
HoH tried to bum herself and Prahlada together, but the
fire left him unscathed and she was consumed. The fire
is now supposed to be burnt in commemoration of this
tragedy.
This legend has been localized at a place called Deokali
near Irichh in the Jh&nsi District, where Hiranya-kasipu is
said to have had his palace. Just below it is a deep pool,
into which Prahlada was flung by the orders of his father,
and the mark of the foot of the martyr is still shown on a
neighbouring rock.*
Another legend identifies Holl with the witch PAtand, who
^ Fuhrer, " Monumental Antiquities," 118.
314 Folk-lore of Northern India.
attempted to destroy the infant Krishna by giving him her
poisoned nipple to suck.^
Lastly, a tale told at Hardwir brings us probably nearer
the real origin of the rite. Holikd. or Holi was, they say,
sister of Sambat or Sanvat, the Hindu year. Oncei at the
beginning of all things, Sambat died, and Holi in her exces-
sive love for her brother insisted on being burnt on his pyre,
and by her devotion he was restored to life. The Holt fire
is now burnt every year to commemorate this tragedy.
Propitiation of Sunshine.
There seems to be little doubt- that the custom of burnings
the Holt fire rests on the same basis as that of similar obser-
vances in Europe. The whole subject has recently beett
copiously illustrated by Mr. J. G. Frazer.* His conclusion
is that " they are sun charms or magical ceremonies intended"
to ensure a proper supply of sunshine for men, animals, and
plants. We have seen that savages resort to charms for
making sunshine, and we need not wonder that primitive
man in Europe has done the same. Indeed, considering the
cold and cloudy climate of Europe during a considerable
portion of the year, it is natural that sun charms should
have played a much more prominent part among the super-
stitious practices of European peoples than among those of
savages who live near the equator. This view of the festival
in question is supported by various considerations drawn
partly from the rites themselves, partly from the influences
they are believed to exert on the weather and on vegetation-
For example, the custom of rolling a burning wheel down a.
hill-side, which is often observed on these occasions, seems
a very natural imitation of the sun's course in the sky, and
the imitation is particularly appropriate on Midsummer Day,.
1 Buchanan, ''Eastern India," ii. 480; Wilson, "Essays," ii. 233;
Atkinson, ** Himilayan Gazetteer," ii. 867 sq. ; " Panjib Notes and
Queries," iii, 127 ; Growse, ** Mathura," 56.
* "Golden Bough,^ ii. 246; and see Conway, " Demonology," i. 65
sqq. ; Henderson, " Folk-lore of the Northern Counties/* 72 sqq. ; Gregor,
" Folk-lore of North-East Scotland," 167 sq. ; Brand, " Observations,'*"
165 sqq.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies, 315
when the sun's annual declension begins. Not less graphic
is the imitation of his apparent revolution by swinging a
burning tar barrel round a pole. The custom of throwing
blazing discs^ shaped like suns^ into the air, is probably also
a piece of imitative magic." ' In these, as in so many cases,
the magic force is supposed to take effect through mimicry
or sympathy.
It is true, of course, that the climatic conditions of
Northern India do not, as a rule, necessitate the use of
incantations to produce sunshine. But it must be remem-
bered that the native of the country does not look on the
fierceness of the summer sun with the same dread as is felt
by Europeans. To him it is about the most pleasant and
healthy season of the year, and people who are sometimes
underfed and nearly always insufficiently dressed have more
reason to fear the chills of December and January than the
warmth of May and June. It is also usually recognized in
popular belief that seasonable and sufficient rainfall depends
on the due supply of sunshine.
The HolI Observances.
The HoU, while generally observed in Northern India, is
performed with special care by the cowherd classes of the
land of Braj, or the region round the city of Mathura, where
the myth of Krishna has been localized, and it is here that
we meet with some curious incidents which are undoubtedly
survivals of the most primitive usages.
The ceremonies in vogue at Mathura have been very care-
fully recorded by Mr. Growse.' He notes " the cheeriness
of the holiday-makers as they throng the narrow, winding
streets on their way to and from the central square of the
town of Barsina, where they break into groups of bright and
ever varying combinations of colour, with the buffooneries of
the village clowns, and the grotesque dances of the lusty
swains, who^ with castanets in hand, caricature in their
» Frazcr, "Golden Bough," ii. 268. » ** Mathura," 84 sq.
3i6 Folk-lore of Northern India.
movements the conventional graces of the Indian ballet
girl.
"Then follows a mock fight between the men of the
adjoining village of Nandgd.nw and the women of Bars&na.
The women have their mantles drawn down over their faces
and are armed with long, heavy bamboos, with which they
deal their opponents many shrewd blows on the head and
shoulders. The latter defend themselves as best they can
with round leather shields and stag horns, as they dodge in
and out among the crowd, and now and again have their
flight cut oif, and are driven back upon the crowd of excited
viragoes. Many laughable incidents occur. Not unfre-
quently blood is drawn ; but an accident of this kind is re-
garded rather as an omen of good fortune*, and has never been
known to give rise to any ill-feeling. Whenever the fury of
their female assailants appears to be subsiding, it is again
excited by the men shouting at them snatches of ribald
rhymes."
The Lighting of the HolI Fire.
Next day the Holi fire is lit. By immemorial custom, the
boys are allowed to appropriate fuel of any kind for the fire,
the wood-work of deserted houses, fences, and the like, and
the owner never dares to complain. We have the same
■custom in England. The chorus of the Oxfordshire song
sung at the feast of Gunpowder Plot runs, —
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake ;
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
The worse for you.
This is chanted by the boys when collecting sticks for the
bonfire, and it is considered quite lawful to appropriate any
old wood they can lay hands on after the recitation of these
lines.*
Mr. Growse goes on to describe bow a large bonfire had
* Dyer, " Popular Customs,** 414.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 317
been stacked between the pond and the temple of Prahl&da
(who, as we have already seen, is connected with the legend),
inside which the local village priest, the Kherapat or Panda,
who was to take the chief part in the performance of the
day, was sitting, telling his beads. At 6 p.m. the pile was
lit, and being composed of the most inflammable materials,
at once burst into a tremendous blaze. The lads of the
village kept running close round it, jumping and dancing
and brandishing their bludgeons, while the Panda went
round and dipped in the pond, and then with his dripping
turban and loin-cloth ran back and made a feint of passing
through the fire. In reality he only jumped over the outer-
most verge of the smouldering ashes, and then dashed into
his cell again, much to the dissatisfaction of the spectators,
who say that the former incumbent used to do it much more
thoroughly. If on the next recurrence of the festival the
Panda shows himself equally timid, the village proprietors
threaten to eject him as an impostor from the land which
he holds rent-free, simply on the score of his being fire-
proof.
It is hardly necessary to say that this custom of jumping
through the fire prevails in many other places. We have
already had an instance of it in the case of the fire worship
of R&hu. In Greece people jump through the bonfires
lighted on St. John's Eve. The Irish make their cattle
pass through the fire, and children are passed through it in
the arms of their fathers. The passing of victims through
the fire in honour of Moloch is well known.^
The Throwing of the Powder.
In the Indian observance of the HoH next followed a
series of performances characterized by rude horseplay and
ribald singing. Next day came the throwing of the powder.
*' Handfuls of red powder, mixed with glistening talc, were
thrown about. Up to the balconies, above and down on the
» "Hunt, "Popular Romances," 208; "Folk-lore," i. 520; ii. 128;
Dyer, /oc. at,, 234.
3i8 Folk-lore of Northern India.
heads of the people below; and seen through this atmo-
sphere of coloured cloudy the frantic gestures of the throng,
their white clothes and faces all stained with red and
yellow patches, and the great timbrels with branches of
peacocks' feathers, artificial flowers and tinsel stars stuck in
their rims, borne above the players' heads, and now and
then tossed up in the air, combined to form a curious and
picturesque spectacle."
Then followed another mock fight between men and
women, conducted with perfect good-humour on both sides,
and when it was all over, many of the spectators ran into
the arena, and rolled over and over in the dust, or streaked
themselves with it on the forehead, taking it as the dust
hallowed by the feet of Krishna and the Gopis.
The HolI in MIrwIr.
Colonel Tod gives an interesting account of the festival
as performed at Mirwir. He describes the people as
lighting large fires into which various substances, as well as
the common powder, were thrown ; and around which
groups of children danced and screamed in the streets,
*' like so many infernals ; until three hours after sunrise of
the new moon of the month of Chait, these orgies are con-
tinued with increased vigour; when the natives bathe,
change their garments, worship, and return to the ranks of
sober citizens, and princes and chiefs receive gifts from their
domestics." ^
The Ashes of the HolI Fire.
The belief in the efficacy of the HolI fire in preventing
the blight of crops, and in the ashes as a remedy for disease,
has been already noticed. So in England, the Yule log was
put aside, and was supposed to guard the house from evil
spirits.'
» "Annals," i. 599 sq. * Dyey^ /^^^ ^it^ 52.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 319
The Basis of the HolI Rite.
We have seen that the primary basis of this and similar
xites is probably the propitiation of sunshine. But the
present observances in India are probably a survival of a
very much more primitive cultus. We have already seen
that in one form of the popular legend, Holl is the sister of
Sambat, the year, and revived him from death by burning
berself with his corpse. We find the same idea in NepAl,
where a wooden post adorned with flags is erected in front
of the palace, and this is burned at night, representing the
"burning of the body of the old year, and its re-birth with
each succeeding spring.*
The Drdvidian Hill tribes of Mirzapur do not perform
the Hoi! ceremony like their Hindu neighbours, but on
the same date the Baiga burns a stake, a ceremony which
is known as Sambat Jalind, or "the burning of the old
year."
In Kumaun each clan puts up the Chir or rag-tree. A
middle-sized tree or a large branch is cut down and stripped
of its leaves. Young men go round and beg scraps of cloth,
which are tied to the tree, and it is then set up in the middle
of the village. Near it the Holl fire is burnt. On the last
day the tree itself is burnt, and the people jump over the
ashes as a cure for itch and similar diseases. While the tree
is burning, men of other clans try to snatch away some of
the rags. It is regarded as being very propitious to be able
to do this, and the clan which loses is not allowed to set up
the tree again. Faction fighting in order to gain the right
of setting up the tree has practically ceased under British
law.^
The ceremony in another form appears at Gw&lior.
There, instead of a tree, they burn large heaps of cowdung
fuel. The Marwdris erect a nude figure known as Nathurdm,
made of bricks, of a most disgusting shape. This, when
the pile of cowdung cakes is consumed, is broken to pieces
1 Wright, « History," 41.
2 " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 92.
320 Folk-lore of Northern India.
with blows of shoes and bludgeons. Another beautifully
carved image of the same kind is paraded through the
bazars and kept safely from year to year. This Nathurim
is said to have been a scamp from some part of Northern
India, who went to Mirwir and seduced a number of women,
until he was detected and put to death. He then became a
malignant ghost and began to torment women and children,
and now his spirit can be appeased only by a series of
indecent songs and gestures performed by the women. No
M4rw£lri household is without an image of Nathur4m; and a
representation of him is laid with the married pair after the
wedding, while barren women and those whose children die
pray to him for offspring. He is in short a phallic fetish.
The HoH, then, in its most primitive form, is possibly an
aboriginal usage which has been imported into Br&hmanism.
This is specially shown by the functions of the Kherapat or
village priest, who lights the fire. He is sometimes a
Br&hman, but often a man drawn from the lower races. As
we have seen, his duties among the Drdvidian races are per-
formed by the Baiga, who is always drawn from the non-
Aryan races. It seems probable that the legends connecting
the rite with Prahldda and Krishna are a subsequent inven-
tion, and that the fire is really intended to represent the
burning of the old year and the re-birth of the new, which
they pray may be more propitious to the families, cattle, and
crops of the worshippers. The observance seems also to in-
clude certain ceremonies intended to scare the evil spirits
which bring disease and famine. The compulsory entry of
the local priests into the fire can hardly be anything but a
survival of human sacrifice, intended to secure the same
results ; and the dancing, singing, waving of flags, scream-
ing, the mock fight, and the throwing of red powder, a colour
supposed, as we have seen, to be obnoxious to evil spirits,
are probably based on the same train of ideas.
Finally comes the indecency of word and gesture, which
is a distinct element in the rite. There seems reason to be-
lieve that in the worship of certain deities in spring, pro-
miscuous intercourse was regarded as a necessary part of the
SoME^ Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 321
ceremony.^ This appears at what is called the K&hi ka Mela
in Kulu, in which indecency is supposed to scare evil spirits.'
We have already noticed the practice of indecency as a rain
charm^ and it seems at least a plausible h}rpothesis that the
unchecked profligacy which prevails among the Hindus at
the spring feast and at the Kajali in autumn may be intended
to repel evil spirits which checkthefecundityof men, animals,
and crops. The same idea probably also underlies the
licentious observance of the Karama among the Drdvidian
races. The same theory explains similar usages in Europe,
such as the Lupercalia, Festum Stultorum, Matronalia
Festa, Liberalia, and our own All Fools' Day, where the in-
decent part of the performance has disappeared under the
influence of a purer faith and a higher morality, and a little
kindly merriment is its only survival.
Of the mock fight as a charm for rain we have spoken
already, and at the Holi it may be merely a fertility charm.
Of these mock fights we have numerous instances in the
customs of Northern India. Thus, in Kumaun, in former
days at the Bagwdh festival the males of several villages used
to divide into two bodies and sling stones at each other across
a stream. The results were so serious that it was suppressed
after the British occupation of the country.* The people in
some places attribute the increase of cholera and other
plagues to its discontinuance. In the plains, the custom
survives in what is known as the Barra, when the men of two
villages have a sort of Tug of War with a rope across the
boundary of the village. Plenty is supposed to follow the
side which is victorious.
Another of these spring rites is that known as the R41i
ka Mela in Kdngra, the R41i being a sort of rude image of
Siva or P&rvati. The girls of the village in March take
baskets of Dftb grass and flowers, of which they make a
heap in a selected place. Round this they walk and sing
for ten days, and then they erect two images of Siva and
1 "Folk-lore," ii. 178 ; "Herodotus," ii. 58.
' " North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 184.
' Ibid., iii. 17, 99.
VOL. II. Y
/
322 Folk-lore of Northern India.
P4rvat!, who are married according to the regular rites. At
the conjunction or Sankr&nt in the month of Baisdkh the
images are flung into a pool and mock funeral obsequies are
performed. The object of the ceremonial is said to be to
secure a good husband.*
In Gorakhpur this spring rite takes the form of hunting
and crucifying a monkey on the village boundary. This is
said to be intended to scare these animals, which injure the
crops. But the rite seems to be intended to secure fertility,
and is possibly the survival of aYi actual sacrifice.
Of the same class is what is known in the Hills as the
Badw&r rite, where a Dom, one of the menial castes, is made
to slide down a rope from a high precipice. The intention
is to promote the fertility of the crops and expel the demons
of disease.
Marriage of the Powers of Vegetation.
Mr. Frazer has collected instances of the marriage of the
powers of vegetation, of which we have a survival in the
English King and Queen of the May. This seems to be
the explanation of the remarkable rite among the Kharw&rs,
of which Mr. Forbes has given an account.'
" One of the most remarkable of the Kharwir deities is
called Durgdgiya Deoti ; this spirit rejoices in the name of
Mflchak Rinl. She is a Chamirin by caste, and her home
is on a hill called BuhorSj ; her priests are Baigas. All the
Kharwars regard her with great veneration, and offer up
pigs and fowls to her several times during the year. Once
a year, in the month of Aghan, what is called the Kslruj
Pfiji takes place in her honour.
"The ceremony is performed in the village threshing-
floor, when a kind of bread and kids are offiered up. Once
in three years the ceremony of marrying the Rdnl is per-
formed with great pomp. Early in the morning of the
bridal day both men and women assemble with drums and
* " Indian Antiquary," xi. 297.
* "North Indian Notes and Queries," iii. 24.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 323
horns, form themselves into procession and ascend the hill,
singing a wild song in honour of the bride and bridegroom.
One of the party is constituted the priest, who is to perform
the wedding ceremony. This man ascends the hill in front
of the procession, shouting and dancing till he works him-
self into a frenzy. The procession halts at the mouth of a
cave, which does, or is supposed to, exist on the top of the
hill. The priest then enters the cave and returns bearing
with him the Rint, who is represented as a small oblong-
shaped and smooth stone, daubed over with red lead. After
going through certain antics, a piece of Tasar silk cloth is
placed on the Rdnf s head, and a new sheet is placed below
her, the four corners being tied up in such a manner as to
allow the Rani, who is now supposed to be seated in her
bridal couch, to be slung on a bamboo, and carried like a
dooly or palanquin.
" The procession then descends the hill and halts under
a Banyan tree till noon, when the marriage procession starts
for the home of the bridegroom, who resides on the Kandi
hill.
" On their arrival there, offerings, consisting of sweetened
milk, two copper pice, and two bell-metal wristlets, are
presented to the bride, who is taken out of her dooly and
put into the cave in which the bridegroom, who, by the
way, is of the Agariya caste, resides. This cave is supposed
to be of immense depth, for the stone goes rolling down,
striking the rocks as it falls, and the people all listen eagerly
till the sound dies out, which they say it does not do for
nearly half an hour.
" When all is silent, the people return rejoicing down the
hill, and finish off the evening with a dance. The Strangest
part of the story is that the people believe that the caves
on the two hills are connected, and that every third year
the Rint returns to her father's house. They implicitly
believe that the stone yearly produced is the same. The
village Baigas could probably explain the mystery.
•* In former times the marriage used to take place every
year, but on one occasion, on the morning succeeding the
Y 2
324 Folk-lore of Northern India.
marriage ceremony, the R&ni made her appearance in the
Baiga's house. The Baiga himself was not present, but his
wife, who was at home, was very indignant at this flightiness
on the part of the Rknt, and the idea of her going about the
country the morning after her marriage so shocked the
Baig^in's sense of propriety, that she gave the Rknt a good
setting down, and called upon her to explain herself, and as
she could give no satisfactory account of her conduct, she
was punished by being married every three years, instead of
yearly as before."
The mock marriage of Ghazi Miy«Ln, to which some
reference has been already made, a very favourite rite
among the Musalm&ns and low Hindu castes of the North.
Western Provinces, is very possibly the survival of some
non-Ar3ran rite of this kind, performed to secure the annual
revival of the year and the powers of vegetation.
The DrIvidian Saturnalia.
Some of the Dravidian tribes enjoy the Saturnalia in other
forms.
Thus, the Gond women have the curious festival known
as Gurt6tn4 or "breaking of the sugar." "A stout pole about
twelve or fifteen feet high is set up, and a lump of coarse
sugar with a rupee in it placed on the top ; round it the
Gond women take their stand, each with a little green
tamarind rod in her hands. The men collect outside, and
each has a kind of shield made of two parallel sticks joined
with a cross-piece held in the hand to protect themselves
from the blows. They make a rush together, and one of
them swarms up the pole, the women all the time plying
their rods vigorously ; and it is no child's play, as the
men's backs attest next day. When the man gets to the top,
he takes the piece of sugar, slips down, and gets off as
rapidly as he can. This is done five or six times over with
the greatest good-humour, and generally ends with an attack
of the women en masse upon the men. It is the regular
Saturnalia for the women, who lose all respect, even for a
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies. 325
settlement officer ; and on one occasion when he was
looking on, he only escaped by the most abject submission
and presentation of rupees." *
The Bhlls of Gujardt plant a small tree or branch firmly
in the ground. The women stand near it, and the men out-
side. One man rushing in tries to uproot the tree, and the
men and women fall upon him and beat him so soundly that
he has to retire. He is succeeded by another, who is be-
laboured in the same way,, and this goes on till one man
succeeds in bearing off the tree^ but seldom without a load
of blows which cripples him for days»*.
All these mock combats have their parallels in English
customs, such as the throwing of the hood at Haxey, the
football match at Derby, the fighting on Lammas Day at
Lothian, and hunting of the ram at Elton*'
The Desauli of the Hos.
The Hos of Chutia N&gpur have a similar festival, the
Desauli held in January, '*^when the granaries are full of
grain, and the people are, to use their own expression, * full
of devilry ! ' They have a strange notion that at this period
men and women are so overcharged with vicious propensities
that it is absolutely necessary for the safety of the person to
let off steam by allowing for the time full vent to the passions.
The festival, therefore, becomes a sort of Saturnalia, during
which servants forget their duty to their masters, children
their reverence for their parents, men their respect for
women, and women all notions of gentleness, modesty, and
delicacy ; they become raging Bacchantes. It opens with a
sacrifice to Desauli of three fowls, a cock and two hens, one
of which must be black,, and offered with some flowers of the
PaUsa tree {Butea frondosd)^ bread made from rice flour and
sesamum seeds. The sacrifice and offering are made by the
village priest, if there be one, or if not by any elder of the
village who possesses the necessary legendary lore ; and he
* " Hoshangibid Settlement Report/' 126 sq.
' ** Bombay Gazetteer,'* vi. 29.
» Dyer^ ** Popular Customs," 32, 75, 85, 353 sq.
326 Folk-lore of Northern India.
prays that during the year they are going to enter on they
and their children may be preserved from all misfortune
and sickness, and that they may have seasonable rain and
good crops. Prayer is also made in some places for the
souls of the departed. At this period an evil spirit is sup-
posed to infest the locality, and to get rid of it, men, women,
and children go in procession round and through every part
of the village with sticks in their hands, as if beating for
game, singing a wild chant and vociferating loudly, till they
feel assured that the bad spirit must have fled, and they
make noise enough to frighten a legion. These religious
ceremonies over, the people give themselves up to feasting,
drinking immoderately of rice-beer till they are in a state of
wild ebriety most suitable for the purpose of letting off
steam." '
With these survivals of perhaps the most primitive ob-
servances of the races of Northern India we may close this
survey of their religion and folk-lore. To use Dr. Tylor's
words in speaking of savage religions generally, " Far from
its beliefs and practices being a rubbish heap of miscel-
laneous folly, they are consistent and logical in so high a
degree as to begin, as soon as even roughly classified, to
display the principles of their formation and development ;
and these principles prove to be essentially rational, though
working in a mental condition of intense and inveterate
ignorance.'"
* Dalton, " Descriptive Ethnology,** 196 sq.
» ** Primitive Culture,'* i. 22 sq.
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Ward, W., " View of the History, Literature, and Religion of the Hindus,"
Madras, 1863.
Westropp, H. M., " Primitive Symbolism," London, 1885.
Wheeler, J. T., " History of India," 3 vols., London, 1867-74.
Whitney, W. D., ** Oriental and Linguistic Studies," New York, 1873.
Wilde, Lady, "Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of
Ireland," London, 1888.
Williams, Sir Monier, "Sanskrit-English Dictionary," Oxford, 1872.
Williams, Sir Monier, ** Brihmanism and Hinduism," 4th edition, London,
1891.
Wilson, J., ** Indian Caste," 2 vols., Bombay, 1877.
Wilson, H. H., "Works," 12 vols., London, 1862-71.
Wilson, H. H., ** Vishnu Pur&na," London, 1840.
' Wilson, J., " Kamai Settlement Report," Lahore, 1886.
Wright, D., " History of Nepal," Cambridge, 1877.
Wright, F. N., " Memorandum on the Agriculture of Cawnpur,"
Allahabad, 1877.
Yule, H., " The Book of Ser Marco Polo," 2 vols., London, 1871.
INDEX.
Abdul Qadir JiiJIni, a saint, I.
216.
Abdul Wahid, a Pir, I. 203.
Abhramu, the elephant, II. 239.
Abor tribe, belief in tree spirits, II. 78.
Abu 'Ali Qalandar, a saint, I. 218.
Abul FazI, murder of, I. 138.
Acberi, a Bhiit, I. 137, 263.
Achilles, horses of, II. 205.
Adbhiitandthaj a deified aerolite, I. 82.
Aditi, the eternal Mother, I. iii, 242.
Aditya, worship of, I. 5.
Adonis, I. 48.
Aerolites, theory regarding, I. 82 ;
used as fetish stones, I. 82.
Aeshma, I. 280.
Aetites, the, I. 1 16.
Agamukhi. a demon, II. 324.
Aiiariya tribe, respect for iron, II. 12 ;
instruction in witchcraft, II. 264.
Agarw^la tribe, worship of the ass, II.
209; of the snake, II. 139.
Agastya, the saint, I. 25, 64, 76, 77.
AghSsura, the serpent king, II. 130.
Aghorpanthi sect, eaters of human
flesh, II. 171.
Agni, the fire god, I. 2 ; II. 156, X92 ;
well of, I. 53.
Agnidurga^ worship of, I. 9$.
Agnikunda, the fire-pit, II. 196.
Agwin, worship of, I. 128.
Agwdni, sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Ahalya, legend of. I. 13.
Ahban RSjput, a totem sept, II. 149.
Aheriya tribe, barring the ghost, II.
57 ; sheep worship, II. 226 ; sun
worship, I. 9 ; worship of V&lmiki,
I. 195.
Ahi, the weather dragon, I. 66; II.
123, 126.
Ahiran, worship of, II. 122.
Ahiwdsi, a totem tribe, II. 149.
Aindrini, one of the Mothers, I. 112.
Air, spirits of the, I. 65.
A'rivata, a sacred elej^nt, II. 239.
Airi, a BhAt, I. 261.
Aiyan^, worship of, I. 262.
*Ajab S&lSr, a Plr, I. 205.
Ak^h Bel creeper, a charm for barren-
ness, I. 227.
Akata Btr, wcnrship of, I. 255.
Akbar, rules about cow-killing. IL
235 ; fire worship, IL 196 ; sun
^ worship, I. 7.
Akh tree, marriage with, II. 115, 117.
Akhttj, a rural festival, II. 287.
Akshaya Vata, a sacred tree, II. 98.
Alakhiya sect, fetish worship of the
alms-bag, II. 186.
Alam Sayyid, a saint, II. 206.
AUwaka, a Yaksha, II. 80.
Alexander of Macedon, legend of, I.
47.
AJha and Udal, song of, used as a rain
charm, I. 75 ; II. 293 ; supposed to
be still alive, I. 283.
'Ali, one of the Ptrs, I. 202 ; wor-
shipped by wrestlers, I. 87.
All Fools' Day, II. 321.
Alligator, a sacred animal, II. 252.
Amivas, a day of rest for cattle, II.
234-
Amazons, the, II. 7.
Amba Bhawftni, worship of, I. 113.
Amber bead, used as an amulet, li. 19.
Amethyst, a sacred stone, IL 17, 18.
Amina Sati, a Pir, I. 205.
Amputation, prejudice against, L 280.
Amrita, legend of, I. 19.
Amritsar, lake of, I. 58.
Amulets, II. 15, 37.
Anasdya, legend of, I. 39.
Ancestors, worship of, I. 175 ; identi-
fied with the soil godling, I. 106 ;
re-born in a calf, 1. 179 ; re-bom in a
child, I. 179; worship connected
334
Index.
with tree worship, II. 83 ; with
snake worship, II. 145.
Androclus and the lion, II. 210.
Animal, a demon scarer, 1 1. 203 ) parts
of, used in amulets, II. 38, 203 ;
euphemism in connection with, II.
54; grateful, II. 202; house and
tomb haunters, II. 203 ; representing
the Com Spirit, II. 204: under-
standing human speech, II. 202;
worship of, II. 201 sqa.
Animism, theory of, II. 83, 183.
Anjana, the elephant, II. 2^1,
Anjanavati, the elephant, II. 239.
Anka, the, II. 158.
Annadeva, the food godling, II. 11.
Annapilma, worship of, I. 283.
Ant, the, II. 256.
Ant&i, the whoopiug cough Mother, I.
"3.
Antelope, the, II. 238.
Ant-hill, an altar, I. 10 ; II. 256
Anumati, a title of the moon, I. 15.
Anupama, the elephant, IL 239.
Anvil, sacred, I. 74 ; II. 14.
Aonla, a sacred tree, II. 102.
Apis, worship of, II. 229.
Appointment, charm to obtain, I. 152.
Apsaras, the, I. 265.
Arani, the fire drill, II. 107, 194.
Arch, mystic effect of, I. 117.
Ardhanari, a title of Siva, I. 1 12.
Argha, the, II. 16.
Arjan, a snake godling, II. 133.
Arrow causing a well to flow, I. 52.
Arthur, King. I. 283.
Artisans, fetishes of, II. 186.
Arunah Ketavah, the, I. 19*
Arvan, the, II. 205.
Asapura, a Mother, I. 113.
Asarori, worship of, I. 115.
Ascetics, use of dust, I. 29.
Asgara, the fire drill, II. 194.
Ash tree connected with snakes, II.
104.
AshUb-ul-kabf, the, I. 283.
Asherah, the, II. 86
Ashes, footmarks of ghosts seen in, I.
176 ; II. 73 ; respect for, 1. 292 ;
from a cremation ground, I. 261 ; of
the sacred fire, II. 197, 318.
Ashma stone, the, II. 61.
Ashraf 'Ali, shrine of, I. 225.
Ashta Matri, the, I. 112.
Asmodeus, I. 280.
Asoka, pillars of, I. gt.
Aspen, a sacred tree, II. q8.
Ass, worship of, II. 208 : in a panther's
skin, II. 209 ; the vehicle of Sttala,
I. 136 ; II. 209.
Assis-ins, sect of, I. 215.
Astbhuja Devi, worship of, I. 63, 284.
Astika Muni, legend of, II. 139.
Asuras, the, I. 251, 282.
Asvamedha, rite, II. 204.
Athletes, patron of, I. 210.
Athr&ha ka manka, the, II. 41.
Atmadevata, worsMp of, I. 112.
Augar sect, eaters of human flesh, II.
171.
Aula Btbi, a disease goddess, I. 130.
Avalanche, demon of, I. 264.
Avat^, an incarnation, II. 156.
Axe, a fetish, II. 184.
B.
BAba Kap^r, a saint, I. 219.
Babiil, sacred tree, II. 114.
Bachelor ghosts, I. 261.
Bachgoti Rftiput sept, objection to
potatoes, II. 158.
Bachla Devi, worship of, II. 176.
Bad smells offensive to BhAts, II. 21.
Badarinith, shrine at, I. 127.
BaHiya tribe, tree worship, II. 91.
Badw&r rite, the, II. 322.
Bagaha, worship of, I. 267.
Bagilya, a whirlwind sprite, I. 81.
B4garwdla, a title of Gilga, I. 211.
Bi^di tribe, respect for the Sal tree,
II. 100.
BUgh.Bhiit, the tiger gho<it, II. 213.
Bigh Deo, the tiger godling, II. 213.
Bigh Jitra, the tiger festival, II. 212.
Baghel Rajput sept, respect for the
tiger, II. 211.
Bigheswar, worship of, I. 256 ; II.
78, 213.
Bagh<;u N&g, worship of, II. 126.
Baghw&h festival, the, II. 321.
BahS.-ud-din Zikariya, a Ptr, I. 203,
208.
Bahdwal Haqq, the saint, I. 228.
Baheliya tribe, worship of VUlmtki, I.
Bahlano, a Ptr, I. 205.
Baiga,adevil piiest, I. 95, 147, 152,
157 9 proceedings as a ghost-finder,
I. 103, 152.
Bairim, a saint, I. 221.
Bais Rajput sept, snake descent, II.
124, 152.
Baiswir tribe, sword worship, II. 185.
Baitai, aBhiit, I. 2^3.
BIjgi tribe, totemism, II. 152.
Bajr^vat tribe, tiger origin, II. 211.
Bakhtiyir tribe, totemism, II. X5a
Index.
335
B&laji, worship of. II. 335.
B&lakhiiya, the, I. 244.
Bila tribe, sun worship among, I. 9.
BUla P!r, a saint, I. 220.
Balarfima, legend of, I. 37.
Baldness, a protection against the Evil
Eye, II. 36.
Bali, a Daitya, I. 252.
Bamboos, respect for, II. 1 13.
Bandarpiinchh hill, the, I. 87.
Band6, a Ptr, I. 205.
Bangara, a codling of fever, I. 136.
BangaraBii, worship of, II. 182.
Banhi, worship of, H^ 181.
Bani Isr&el tribe, broom worship, II.
191 ; birth rites, 1. 277 ; burial rites,
1.30-
Banj&ra tribe, bull worship, II. 235 ;
corpse removal, II. 56 ; barring the
ghost, II. 56 ; continence, tests of,
II. 105 ; use of horns. II. 225 ;
worship of Mitthu BhAkhiya, I. 197.
B&npa N&g, worship of, II. 125.
Bansapti M&i, the jungle Mother, I.
62, 115.
Banshee, the, I. 256.
B&nsphor tribe, respect for trees, II.
103.
Banya, influencing rain, I. 78.
Banyan tree, the, II. 98.
Bara Deo, worship of, I. 61 ; II. 103.
B&rahdudri, worship of, I. 105.
Barant a, well of, I. 52.
Barbarossa. I. 283.
Barbers, saint of, I. 204.
Bareheaded person influencing rain, I.
78
Bargaballi tribe, totemism, II. 154.
Barhiwan, the, II. 31 1.
Barley, a sacred grain, I. 152, 227 ; II.
27.
Barra rite, the, II 321.
Barrenness, cures for, I. 50, 68, 69, 87,
100, 160, 225 ; II. 190 ; caused by
wandering spirits, II. 86.
Barring the ghost, II. 56.
Barun, a weather godling, I. 2.
Barw^r tribe, worship of the Ptr, I.
206.
Basant Sh&h, a saint, I. 59.
Basanti, the sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Basket, a fetish, II. 113, 189 ; upturned,
II. 309.
Basor tribe, barring the ghost. II. 58.
Bisuk N^, the snake god, II. 131.
Bat, the, I. 279 ; bone ot, II. 45.
Bathing, ceremonial, II. 25 ; a cure for
disease, I. 39 ; at eclipses^ I. 22 ; in
the Ganges, I. 37.
Battlefield ghosts, I. 259.
Battnk Bhairon, a godling, I. 109.
Baudhin worship of, II. 81.
Bauri tribe, respect for the dog, II.
222 ; for the S&l tree. II. loi.
B&wariya tribe, goat sacrifice, I. 263 ;
totemism, II. 154; tree marriage. It.
119.
Bayard, IT. 205.
Bazar prices fixed by Khw&ja Khizr, I.
48.
Bead, a protective, I. 115; II. 19.
Bean, sacred, II. 27.
Bear, the, II. 242.
Beasts, unclean, II. 158.
Beauty regained by bathing, I. 59.
Bed, flying, II. 2di5.
Bel and the Dragon, II. 73.
Bel tree, sacred, II. 86, 112 ; marriage
with, II. 117.
Bela, worship of, I. 199.
Bell, rung to scare Bh^te, I. 78 ; use
of, I. 167 ; worship of, 1. 168.
Beoh&r B&ba, worship of, I. 255.
Ber^, a cholera Mother, I. 113.
Beriya tribe, use of the broom, II. 191.
Bero, a title of the sun, I. 9.
Betel planting, II. 303 ; nuts scrambled
for, I. 50.
Bethgelert, legend of, II. 130, 221.
Bhidon, new moon of, I. 16.
Bhadra Kill, a sister of Sttala, I. 129
Bhigiratha, a saint, I. 35.
Bhagwin. a title of the sun, I. 9.
Bhiilla, worship of, I. 8.
Bhainsasura, a demon, I. 44.
Bhains^uri Devi, worship of, I. 85.
Bhairava, worship of, I. 04^ 108.
Bhairavi, worship of, I. 3, 108.
Bhairoba, worship of, I. 108.
Bhairon 1 worship of, I. 84, 107,
Bhaironnith / 109, 205, 209 ; II. 219.
Bhairwanand, worship of, I. 195.
Bhajang, a snake godiing, I. 214.
Bhdkur, a bugaboo, II. 82.
Bhandari tribe, repelling the Churel,
I. 272.
Bhiradvaja. a totem sept. II. 149.
Bhiskatacharya, legend of, I. 7.
bhitiya tribe, horse worship, II. 208.
Bhitu tribe, respect for the crow, II. 244.
Bhekal N^, worship of, II. 125.
Bherunda, a Yogini, I. 129.
Bhtl tribe, worship of Amba Bhavdni,
I. 113; horse worship, II. 208;
charming of rain, I. 73 ; origin from
the tiger. II. 21 1 ; rite of Sati, I. 186 ;
Saturnalia, II. 325 ; tree marriage,
IT. 119; witchcraft, II. 261.
336
Index.
BhtmpenlM'orship of, I. 66, 89,250;
Bhfmsen < II. 182 ; lice of, I. 58.
Bhtshma, worship of, I. 36, 92.
Bhtw^u, worship of, L 9a
Bhokaswa, a bugaboo, II. 82.
Bholanith, worship of, I. 194, 280.
Bhomkaia village priest, I. 95, 153,
Bhop>a / 157 ; II. 213.
Bhotiya tribe, religious rites, I. 173;
II. 65 ; worship of Sain, II. 81.
Bhriwari, worship of, I. 55.
Bhuiya tribe, ancestor worship, I. 178 ;
of Bhtmsen, I. 91 ; human sacritice,
II. 175 ; recalling; the dead, I. 182 ;
respect for the Mahua tree, II. 103 ;
monkey worship, I. 86, 88 ; sun
worship, I. 9.
Bhuiydr tribe, ancestor worship, I. 178 ;
dream ghosts, I. 233 ; food for the
dead, II. 69 ; tiger worship, II. 213.
Bhujariya rite, II. 293.
Bhdkhi M^ta, worship of, I. 1 1 6.
Bhdmak, a village priest, I. 90.
Bhiimij tribe, buffalo huut» I, 173;
funeral feast, II. 71.
BhOmisvara Mahideva, worship of, I«
107.
Bhiimtsvari Devi, worship of, I. 107,
Bhumiya, worship gX^ I. 12, 74, 95,
105.
Bhdmiya R&ni, worship of, I. 105.
Bhfira Sinh, worship of, II. 132.
Bhusundi, the crow, II. 244.
Bhfit, a malignant ghost, I. 234 ; food
of, I. 236 ; places infested by, I.
277 ; posture of, I. 237 ; speech of,
I. 238; tests of, I. 237; treasure
guarded by, I. 286 ; varieties of, I.
242 ; worship of, I. 94.
Bhi^t Bhairon, worship of, I. 109.
Bhutisvara, a title of Siva, I. 234.
Bibi Kamilo, a saint, I. 218, 221.
Bibi Ri6, worship of, I. 209.
Bijaliya Bir, a lightning godling, I.
235-
Bijaysen, worship of, I. 137.
Bijiesvari Devi, a goddess of lightning,
I. 224.
Bind tribe, worship of Kllsi B4ba, I.
145.
Binjhiya tribe, totemism, IT. 158.
Bir, a ghost, I. 178, 253 ; a companion
of the witch, II. 266.
Birch, a sacred tree, II. 86, 114.
Bird, marriage to, I. 236; II. 119;
omens from, II. 48.
Birhor tribe, respect for the bamboo,
II. 113; cannibalism, II. 168;
funeral rites, II. 56 ; tattooing, II.
31.
Bimath, worship of, II. 182.
Birth rites, I. 277 ; fiends, I 264.
Biruri Panchami feast, the, II. 137.
Birwat, a demon, L 62.
Biscobra, the, II. 140.
Black Art, the, II. 259 sqq.
Black colour, dreaded by evil spirits,
I. 142 ; II. 3, 28, 50.
Blacksmith, respect for the, I. 74 ; II. ]
14, 24 ; saint of, I. 203. I
Blight, averting of, II. 301.
Blind of an eye, I. 77 ; II. 3.
Blockberg, a haunt of witches, I. 61.
Blood, bath of, II. 173; clouds dis-
persed by, I. 80 ; covenant, II. 29,
46 ; drawn from a victim by a witch,
II. 269; drawn from a witch, II.
282 ; human, powers of, I. 80 ; II.
172; pollution by, I. 269; a pro-
tective, II. 19 ; survival of sacrifice
of, I. 51 ; taboo of, I. 27.
Bloody Hand of Ulster, II. 39.
Blot intentional, a protective, II. 3,
10.
Boar, a totem, II. 156.
Boat, launched in honour of Khw&ja
Khizr, I. 47 ; flying, II. 206.
Bodhi tree, the, II. 98.
Body, functions of, omens from, II. 51.
Boils, cured at a shrine, I. 221 ; at a
tank, I. 59.
Bolster, the giant, I. 91.
Bona Dea, the, I, 69.
Boram, a title of the sun, I. 9 ; identi-
fied with the monkey godling, I. 86 ;
worship of, I. 86.
Bottles tied to trees, I. 162.
Boundaries guarded by the sainted
dead, I. 182.
Boys dressed as girls, II. 6.
Bracelet, the, a protective, II. 43, 44.
Brahm, a Brihman ghost, I. 192.
Brahro Kap41, the, II. 180.
Brahma, worship of, I. 2 ; vehicle of,
II. 156 ; temple of, I. 54 ; skull of,
I. 94 ; slipper of, II. 200.
Brahmadaitya, the, I. 243 ; II. 77.
Brahmagranthi, the, II. 47.
Brahmaparusha, the, II. 78.
Brahmaraksbasa, the, I. 253 ; II. 7&
Brahmarandhra, the, I. 238.
Brihman, ghosts of, I. 253 ; II 77 ;
a god, I. 189 ; use of sacred grass,
II. 36 ; suicide of, I. 193.
Brahmani, worship of, I. 1 12.
Br^mani duck, the. II. 247.
Br^manical cord, the, II. 47.
Brahmi, a mother, I. 112.
Brass, a protective, II. 15 ; worship of,
II. 12.
Index.
337
Bride, false. II. 8 ; grain thrown over
the, II. 26.
Bridegroom revolving round the sacred
fire, I. II; deified, I. 119; capture
of, I. 121.
Bridle, magic, II. 206.
Briid, II. 73.
Broado Koro, the, II 86.
Brocken, the, an abode of witches, I.
64.
Broom, a fetish, I. 81, 133 ; II. 190.
Brownie, II. 77.
Bruce, legend of, I. 283.
Buahna, a Pir, I. 205.
Bu 'All Qalandar, a saint, I. 218.
Buccas, the, I. 285.
Bucephalus, II. 205.
Buddha, begging bowl of, II. 38 ; con-
nected with the hare, II. 50 ; fv>ot-
print of, II. 199 ; relics of, causing
rain, I. 75 ; shadow of, I. 233 ;
sneezing superstition, I. 240 ; snake,
descent of, II. 124 ; producing a
well, I. 52.
Buddhists, food for the dead, II. 69 ;
worship of Indra, I. 66 ; moon wor-
ship, I. 18 ; horse worship, II. 208.
Buddhua, a kindly ghost, II. 81.
Buffalo, rtspect for, II. 236 ; sacrificed.
1. 173 ; vehicle of Yama, I. 169 ; II.
236.
Bugaboos, II. 82.
Buildings, human sacrifices at, II. 173.
Bull, released at a death. I. 105 ; hide
of, II. 232 ; worship of, II. 226.
Bundela, a title of Hardaul, I. 140.
BAndi, RAja of, I. 257.
Bunker's Hill, ghosts at, I. 259.
B6rha Deo, human sacrifice in honour
of, II. 170.
Burh6 BUba, a Pir, I. 206.
Burhiya MsU, a Mother, II. 181.
Burial during epidemics, I. 136 ; face
downwards, II. 60 ; grounds infested
by Bhflts, 1. 277 ; of the nude corpse,
I. 68 ; in trees, II. 103.
Burmiya, a birth fiend, I. 265.
Buma, a water demon, I. 45.
Butchers, saint of, I. 204.
Butterfly, a Life Index, II. 71.
Caduceus, the, II. 178.
Cairn, the, I. 39; II. 61, 198.
Camel, bones of, II. 36.
Canal, ancient traditions of, I. 37.
Cannibal Rikshasa, the» I. 247, 253;
II. 168.
Cannibalism, II. 168.
Canopus, the constellation, I. 25.
Cap of invisibility, the, II. 43.
Car flying, the, II. 2o5.
Caste saints, I. 203.
Castigation, I. 99 sq.
Castor oil plant, a protective, II. 20,
275.
Cat, the, II. 241 ; metamorphosed into
a girl, I. 93 ; companion of a witch,
II. 27a
Cat*s-cye stone, the, II. 17.
Cattle disease charms, I. 71, 160, 166 ;
disease demon, I. 144 1 festivals, II.
297; superstitions regarding, II,
236.
Cauff riddling. II. 189.
Cauld Lad otHilton. the, II. 77.
Cave deities, I. 283 ; refuge of ascetics,
I. 285 ; spirits, I. 282 ; burial in, I.
283.
Celts, magical powers of I. 97.
Cemeteries, a haunt of Bhiits, I. 278,
280.
Chain, sacred, I. 99.
Chakma tribe, sacrificial rites, II. 46;
funeral ceremonies, II. 71.
Chakratlratha, a sacred lake, I. 58.
Chakravy^ha fort, the, I. 116.
Chalauwa, the, I. 164.
Chimar, worship of, I. 1 29.
Chamanya, sister of Sttala, I. 129.
Chamar tribe, branding of, I. 170 ;
burial customs, I. 168 ; worship of
Madain, II. 125 ; worship of the
Ptr, I. 206 ; tattooing, 11. 32 ;
totemism, II. 158.
Chambal river, legend of, I. 39.
Chambasapa, worship of, I. 183.
Chambhir tribe, bunal rites, I. 30.
Champaram, worship of, II. 182.
Charaunda, worship of, I. 112 ; II. 168.
Chance, element of, in superstition, I.
104.
Chindali, worship of, I. 95.
Chandanh^r, an amulet, II. 44.
Chandika, worship of, I. 3, 112; II.
168.
Chando Omal, the Moon deity, I. 10.
Chin HSji, a saint, I. 287.
Chandra, the Moon godling, I. 12.
Chandrabansi Rijput sept, totemism,
II. ISO.
Chandragupta, descent from the bull,
IL 153.
Ching rite, the, II. 309.
Changelings, I. 265.
Chan wand, worship of, I. 106.
VOL, II.
338
Index.
Charact, the, II. 41.
Charan tribe, burial rites, II. 60 ;
women, worship of, I. 112.
Charanamrita, the, I. 242.
Charan DSs, a saint, I. 1S4.
Charcoal, a protectivCt II. XO, 245 ;
omens from, II. 50.
Charms recited backwards, II. 276 ;
used in exorcism, I. 159.
Chauk Chanda festival, I. 17.
Chaumu, worship of, II. 81.
Chaunda Gusitn, worship of, II. 113.
Chero tribe, sacred groves, II. 90 ;
snake descent, II. 154; totemism, II.
154-
Cbajju-panthi sect, the, I, 184.
Chatthi, a birth fiend, I. 265.
Chhtpicaste, worship of Nimdeo, 1. 204.
Chik tribe, totemism, II. 159.
Children, exposed to attacks of Bitdts,
I* 235 ; named after ancestors, I.
179; offered to the Ganges, II. 169 ;
protective godlings of, I. 137; re-
garded as Bhiits, I. 260 ; vowed to
Sakhi Sarwar, I. 209.
Chilianw&la, ghosts at, I. 259.
Chindiya Deo, worship of, I. 162.
Chtr tree, the, II. 319.
Chistiya Faquirs, I. 215.
Chithariya ) Bhawini, worship of^ I.
Chithraiya) 161.
Chitpdwan tribe, birth rites, I. 277;
marriage rites, II. 47. .
Cholera, caused by witchcraft, I. 143 ;
demon of, expeUed, I. 141 ; charm
against, I. 141.
Chondra tribe, use of vessels, II. 75.
Chondu, the itch godling, I. 136.
Chordeva, the field sprite, II. 79.
Chordevan, a birth fiend, I. 264.
Chordevi, a field sprite, II. 79.
Churel, the, I. 269 ; modes oi repelling,
I. 272 ; image of, painted on houses,
II. 10.
Chum used in hail charming, I. 80.
Chyavana, legend of, I. 59.
Circe, wand of, II. 178.
Circle, magic, I. 103, 142; II. 41.
City overturned, I. 217; selection of
site, II. 50.
Clay flung to disperse the whirlwind,
I. 81.
Cloak of invisibility, the, II. 43.
Clod festival, the, I. 16.
Clothes burnt with the corpse, II. 68 ;
filthy, put on children, II. 6^
Clouiie*s Croft, I. 278 ; II. 92.
Cloves, used in ceremonies, I. 152 ; II.
40.
Cock, sacrifice of, I. 20, 284.
Cocoanut symbolizing a victim, I. 46,
148, 227, 238 ; II. 106.
Colours, protective, II. 28.
Coluinn gun Cheann, I. 256.
Conception by a ghost, 1. 1 18.
Conch shell, the, I. 80 ; II. 16.
Concord, ghosts at, I. 259.
Confectioners, protection from the Evil
Eye, II. 10.
Copper, a protective, II. 15.
Coral, a protective, II. 16.
Cord, knotted, II. 43 ; magic, II. 46.
Corn Mother, the, I. 117; II. 157;
sieve, a fetish, I. 152; II. 187.
Coronation stone, the, II. 179.
Corpse, earned out by a special way,
II. 56 ; articles left with, II 68 ;
disinterring of, II. 65 ; parading <>f,
II 62 ; protection of, II. 65 ; river
springing from, I. 41 ; saluting, II.
56 ; spectres, I. 243 ; tying of, I. 273.
Cots, hung on shrines, I. 97.
Cotton printers, saint of, I. 204 ; tree,
respect for, II. 103; planting of, II.
Counting, I. 274.
Couvade, the, I. 113, 270, 274.
Covetousness, a cause of &scination, II.
3-
Cow, worship of, II. 226 ; dung, virtue
of, 1. 180 s II. 28 ; kilHng of, 1. 127 ;
II. 227, 235; respect paid to, 11.
232 ; sacrifice of, II. 64, 226 ; sh^d, a
temple, II. 232 ; tail of, II. 233 ; a
totem, II. 228.
Cowry, a protective, II. 17.
Crawling under a stone, 1. 227 ; II. 165.
Creeling, rite of, II. 190.
Criminal executed, influence over
barrenness, I. 226.
Cross roads, I. 77, 78, 165
Crow, the, I. 166; II. 243; omens
from, II. 48, 245.
Crown worn by the bridegroom, I. 239.
Cryiiig the Neck, II. 307.
Cup marks, I 235.
Curiosity taboo, the, I. 121, 238 ; II.
57, 128.
Currier's stone, the, II. 34.
Cybele Rhoea, I. 117.
Cyclopes, the, I. 2 ; II. 37.
Cj^ress tree, the, II. 91.
Dabh grass, sacred, I. 160.
Dadhicha, II. 205.
Dadhikra, II. 204.
Index.
339
Dadh3ranch, II. 205.
Didu» a saint, I. 184.
Daemon, the, I. 234.
DafSU caste, priests of the Ptr I. 206.
Daharchandi posts, the, I. lOi.
Daitra Btr, I. 255.
Daitya, the, I. 255.
Daitya ka HSr, the, I. 256.
D&kini, the, I. 94.
Diksha, legend of, I. 12.
Dalbhyeswara, a weather godling, I.
66.
Dalhtm, the, I. 267.
Dinapurwila Sahib, the, II. 179.
Dance, sacred, I. 154 ; II. 95.
Dando, a ^host, I. 262.
Ding Diwili feast, the, II. 297.
Dano, the, I. 233, 253, 284.
Dantadhivana, the, II. 89.
Dantan Deo, worship of, I. 119.
Darbha grass, sacred, I. 273 ; II. 29.
Darha, worship of, II. 113, 192.
Darrapit Deo, a hill godling, I. 62,
Dasaratha, l^end of, I. 228.
Dast-i-ghdib, the, I. 214.
Dattitreya, a saint, I. 196 ; II. 220.
Days, lucky and unlucky, II. 52.
Dead, offerings to, II. 6i8 ; road of the,
II. ss.
Death summons, the, I. 256 ; well of,
II. 215.
Deazil, rite of) I. 1 1.
Debt, removed at a tank, I. 59.
Deerhurst, dragon of, II. 130.
Demeter, worship of, I. 26, 117.
f)eo, ihe, I. 253.
Deohir, a shrine, I. 97 ; II. 164.
Deordsan, a demon, I. 62.
Deota, the, I. 3.
Deothin feast, the. II. 300.
Desauli feast, the, II. 325.
Deserts, a haunt of Bhiits, I. 278.
Deva, the, I. 3.
Devadekhni, the, I. 84.
Devak, the, II. 155.
Devaki, daughter of, I. 94.
Devasena, a Mother, I. 112.
Devi, worship of, I. 62, 84, 125, 236.
Devi Dii, worship of, I. 32.
Devil, clubfooted, I. 280.
Devirs Punch Bowl, the, I. 54.
Dhik, a sacred tree, II. iii.
Dhiman snake, the, II. 141.
Dhanchirya bird, the, II. 249.
Dhingar tribe, barring the ghost, II.
58 ; worship of R&u, 1. 19 ; to-
temism, II. 150.
Dhinuk tribe, ghost worship, I. 198.
Dhanwantara, legend of, I. 196 ; II.
285.
Dharii ri, worship of, I. 26.
Dharkir tribe, hill worship, I. 62.
Dharmasila, a sacred hill, I. 64.
Dharmdevata, a title of the sun, I. 9.
Dharmi, a title of the sun, I. 10.
Dharti Mata, worship of, I. 26, 32.
Dhela Chauth Mela, the, I. 16.
Dhenuir tribe, totemism, II. 159.
Dhenuka, a demon, II. 208.
Dhor tribe, marriage rites, II. 47.
Dhriti, a Mother, I. 112.
Dhruva, legend of, I. 24.
Diamond, legend of, II. 18.
Diarmid, legend of, II. 154.
Dichali godling of death, I. 136.
Dih, worship of, I. 95.
Dill, a protective, II. 25.
Direction of village shrines, I. 96.
Dirty places, haunts of BhQts, 1. 293.
DLsease, charms, I. 159; cured by
fetish stones, II. 182 ; cured by the
nudity charm, I. 70, 72 ; demoniacal
theory of, I. 123 ; exorcism of, I.
146 ; godlingsof, I. 123 ; scapegoats,
I. 169 ; transference of, I. 104, 290.
Distillers, worship of, I. 183.
Diuli ceremony, ihe, I. 165.
DiwSli festival, the. II. 295; water
drawn at, I. 50 ; return ot spirits at,
II. 74, 296.
Dn3rindeva worship of, I. 196.
Dog, connected with Bhairon, I. 108,
160; II. 219; bite, charm for, I.
151 ; a destroyer of corpses, II. 219 ;
respect paid to grave of, II. 220;
fairy, I. 243 ; associated with spirits,
II. 222 ; tongue of, II. 223 ; tortured
to stop rain, I. 77 ; wild, II. 223 ;
worship of, II. 218.
Dokarka!>wa, a bugaboo, II. 82.
Dokhutiya, the, 1 1. 174.
Doll producing water, I. 50.
Dom tribe, respect for iron, II, 1 2 ;
for the N!m tree, 11. 106 j worship
of Gandak, I. 197.
l>oniunha snake, the, II. 137.
Dove, the, II. 246.
Drac, a water demon, I. 44.
Diagon, the, II. J 58 ; cave of, II. 130
sq. ; sacred, II. 129.
Drake, Sir F , I. 256.
Draupadi, worship of, I. 94. 199.
Dreams, savage theory of, I. 231.
Drona Acbirya, worship of, I. 196,
Driwned people, ghosts of, I. 45.
Drowning people, prejudice against
saving, I. 46.
Drum, beaten at shrines, I. 95, 99 ;
sacred, I. 28, 108.
Diib grass, sacred, I. 49 ; II. 29, 45.
Z 2
340
Index.
Duck, used in disease transference, I.
165.
DMha Mai, worship of, II. 181.
Ddlha Deo, worship of, I. 75, 119,
292 ; II. 312.
Ditnd, the headless horseman, I. 256.
Dundhas, a RUkshasi, II. 313.
Dundubhi, a buffalo demon, II. 237.
Dung, offensive to Bhdts, II. 36.
Diingar Deo, worship of, I. 61, 103.
Durga Devi, vehicle of, II. 156;
worship of, I. 3, 94 ; II. 108.
Durga Ktli. sister of Sttala, I. 129.
Durgilgiya Deota, II 322.
DArva grass, sacred, II. 29.
Dusadh tribe, worship of Gauraiya, I.
197 ; of R^u, I. 19 ; of Salhes, I.
197.
Dust, mjrstic power of, I. 28.
Dwira Gusdtn, worship of. I. 104.
Dw^pila, a guardian deity, I. 84.
Dyaus, worship of, I. 5, 36.
layers, saint of, I. 203.
Dying man laid on the ground, I. 27 ;
II. 55.
E.
Eagle, feathers of, IL 215.
Ear, a spirit entry, I. 242.
Earth, dying person laid on, II. 55 ;
flung into the grave, I. 30 ; a house-
hold goddess, I. 29 ; a remedy for
disease, I, 28 ; sleep of, II. 293 ;
worship of, I. 26 ; worship of, a rain
charm, I. 72.
Earthen vessels broken at death and
eclipses, I. 21 ; II. 74.
Earthquakes, I. 35.
Eating food from the hand of a corpse,
I. 171 ; in secret, I. 293.
Eclipses, I. 18; ol^rvances at, I. 21 ;
protection of cattle at, II. 234.
Eel, the, II. 255.
Egg, belief regarding, I. 104; II. 13.
Eilythyia, I. 115.
Ekka, a totem sept, II. 151.
Elder tree, respect for, II. 107.
Eldest son, a family priesr, I. 177, 180.
Elephant, the, II. 238 ; in folk-lore,
II. 240 ; footsteps of, I. 28 ; con-
nected with Ganesa, II. 239 ; hair of,
II. 240 ; selecting a king, II. 240;
white, II. 240.
Elflocks, I. 107.
Eiisha, the prophet, I. 48 ; staff of, II.
178.
Elisoeus, a saint, I. 48.
Ellekone, the, I. 255.
Elsie Venner, II, 126.
Elves, the, II. 76.
Embalming corpses, II. 65.
Emerald, a sacred stone. II. 17.
Emigration, due to displeasure of the
load deities, I. loi.
Eorosh, the, II. 158.
Epilepsy, charms for, II. 45.
Equilateral triangle, the, II. 39.
Erinnyes, the, I. 126.
Eumenides, the, I. 126.
Euphemistic names of animals, II. 54,
142 ; ot deities, I. 126.
Europeans, ghosts of, I. 228 ; tombs
of, II. 199 ; power over ghosts. II.
9 ; figure of, painted on houses, II.
xo.
Evergreen trees, 11. 85.
Evil Eye, the, II. i sqq. ; causing
cholera, I. 143 ; influencing rain,
I. 78 ; charms to avert, I. 160 ; thto-
ries regarding, II. 2 ; persons
naturally protected from, II. 36.
Exogamy, II. 148.
Exorcism, of disease, I. 146 ; instruc-
tion in, I. 147 ; of snake-bite, II.
140.
Eyes, offering of, I. 209 ; throbbing of,
II. 52.
Face, covering the, II. 47.
Fairy, gifts, 1. 287; changelings, I.
265 ; lake of gifts, I. 55 ; in the
court of Indra, I. 66 ; haunting
mountains, I. 61 ; guarding treasures,
I. 249; successors of a pigmy race,
II. 12.
False Bride, the, II. 8.
Family fetishes, II. 184.
Famine, exorcism of, I. 1 16; goddess
of, I. 116.
Fan, a fetish, I. 133 ; II. 27, 187.
Faqir, causing rain, I. 50.
Fat, human, II. 176 ; of the eel. II.
255-
Ffttima, a Pir, I. 202 ; worship of, I.
III.
Faun, the, I. 264.
Fazl-ul-haqq, I. 222.
Feast, the funeral, II. 65.
Feathers, a protective, II. 9.
Fee I Fo ! Fum ! I. 246.
Feet, turned backward, I. 238, 262,
270 ; II. 79 ; flat, I. 242 ; a spirit
entry, I. 241 ; washing of, I. 31,
241.
Index.
341
Female line, descent an, I. 70, III ;
II. 46.
Fcnodyree, the, 11. 77.
Festum Stultoram, the, II. 321.
Fetish, defined, II. 159; stones, II.
179; stones an abode of spirits. 11.
183 ; stones curing disease, 11. 183.
Fever, caused by the snake godlings, I.
136; II. 132; charms, I. 239; II.
45.
Fidelity tests, II. 162, 240.
Field sprites, II. 307.
Fig tree, respect for, II. 97.
Filthy places, haunts of Bh&ts, I.
293.
Fir tree, respect for, II. 86.
Fire, drill, the, II. 194; fetish, the, II.
192 ; walking through, i. 19 ; II.
317 ; ordeal, I. 52 ; refusal to give
from the house hearth, II. 289 ; a
scarer of Bhuts. II. 59 ; worship of,
I. 265 ; II. 193 ; worship of Rahu,
I. 19.
First-fruits, II. 307.
Firstborn son, I. 35.
Fish in folk-lure, II. 254; food of
BhAte, I. 243; sacred, II. 253; a
vehicle, I. 47 ; II. 156.
FlagellaticJn, I. 99, 155 ; II. 34,
Flags, use of, II. 24.
Flesh, human, powers of, II. 171.
Flies, II. 257 ; dispelled by a saint, I.
218 ; abode of the ghost, II. 257.
Floods and drowning people, I. 46;
propitiation of, I. 46.
Flour mill, a fetish, I. 135.
Flowers, a haunt of Bhiits, I. 291,
Fly, a Life Index, II. 71.
Flying Dutchman, the, I. 44.
Food, of BhAts, I. 236 ; for the dead,
II. 67 ; at eclipses, I. 21 ; protected
from the Evil Eye, I. n ; from
Rikshasas, I. 248 ; connected with
totemism, II. 158 ; of spirit land, I.
271 ; II. 68 ; vases, II. 74.
Foot presentation, persons bom by, II.
36.
Footsteps, witchcraft through, II. 280.
Forespeaking, II. 4.
Forest, remnant of, II. 90.
Forge, water of, II. 25.
Forty-nine, a mystic number. II. 51.
Fowl, the, II. 245 ; offering of, I. 103 ;
let loose, I. 169.
Fraud in exorcism, I. 159.
Freemasons, II. 179.
Frog, the, II. 255 ; used in rain-
charming, I. 73.
Fruit whicti makes an old man young,
II. 89 i a spirit scarer, II. 36.
Funeral, feast, the, II. 65; in effigy,
II. 75, 114$ use of Nim leaves at»
II. 105. See Burial.
Gabriel's Hounds, I. 245.
Gi& J4tra, the, II. 233.
G^kw^rs, ancestor worship, I. 181.
Gaja Mukta, the. II. 240.
Galava, legend of, II. 204.
Gallows, superstition regarding, I. 226^
Gambling in folk-tales, II. 160.
Ganapati, worship of, I. 90, 95.
Gandak, worship of, I. 197.
Gindhari, legend of, I. 127.
Ganesa, worship of, I. 1 10, 160 ; con-
nected with the elephant, II. 239 ;
legend of, I. 13 ; vehicle of, II.
156 ; worship of, I. 49, 84^
Ganga Jdtra, the, II. 169.
Ganganith, worship of, I. 194.
Ganges, worship of, I. 35.
Ganor, queen of, I. 195.
Gansim, worship of, I. 117.
Gantarim, worship of, II. 182.
G^nwdevata, a village godling, I. 96 ;
II. 164.
Ganymede, I. 119.
Gardener, a priest of Sitala, I. 131.
Gardevi. a river spirit, I. 43.
Garha Era, worship of, I. 45.
Garland, a protective, II. 36,
Garlic, a protective, II 35.
Gdro tribe, biidegroom capture, I.
121 ; theory of diiiease, I. 124 ;
worship of the bamboo, II. 113.
Garuda, II. 138, 158, 165, 248.
Gill Mita, worship of, II. 233.
Gauhar Sh4h, a saint, I. 189.
Gaur Rajput sept, ghost of, I. 253.
Gaaraiya, worship of, I. 197.
Gauri, worship of, I. 49, 112; II. 157.
Gaurochana, II. 228.
Gaurua, the, II. 42.
Gautam Rijput sept, sword worship,
II. 185.
Gautama, legend of, I. 13 ; well of,
1.52.
Gayal, the, I. 234.
Gayatri, the, I. 8 ; II. 232.
Genda Bir, worship of, I. 254.
Gettysburg, ghosts at, I. 259.
Getuli, the, I. 285.
Ghaddar, the, I. 267.
Gbadsi tribe, legend of the sandal,
II. 114.
Ghagarapen, worship of, I. 168.
342
Index.
Ghanta Karnna, worship of. I. 84, 137.
Ghasiya tribe, ancestor worship, i.
176; barring- the ghost, II. 59;
worship of Dulha Deo, I. 120 ;
earth worship, I. 32 ; moon legend,
I. SI ; tattooing, II. 32.
Ghataut, the, I. 1 1*5.
Ghatotkacha, worsmp of, I. 94.
Ghaus-ul-Azam, the saint, I. 216.
Ghazi Miylln« a saint, I. 203 sqq.; mar-
riage of, II. 324.
Ghiziya, wor«hip of, I. 217.
Ghentu, the itch godling, I. 136.
Gbergis, I. 48.
(ihi, a protective, II. 28.
Ghis^di tribe, respect for dc^ II.
220.
Ghoghar, a bugaboo, II. 82.
Ghoradeva, worship of, II. 208.
Ghost, barring of, II. 55 ; departure
facilitated, II. 55 ; detection of, by
the Ojha, I. 152 ; friendly, II. 76 ;
dread of the foam of the horse, II.
207 ; power of lengthening them-
selves, II. 75 ; of murdered persons,
I. 234 ; occupying the body during
a dream, I. 232 ; recalling, II. 72 ;
resting-place for, II. 58 ; of trees, II.
77 ; fear of running water, II. 72.
Ghostly Army, the, I. 258.
Ghoul, the, I. 267.
Ghrauka Devi, worship of, I. 133.
GhAl, the, I. 267.
Gideon, fleece of, I. 49.
Gira, the, I. 27a
Glashan, the, II. 77.
Glass, a spirit scarer, II. 35.
Goat, blood of, offered, I. 98 ; dung
used in charming rain and hail, I.
77, 80; offered to Nanda Devi, I.
173; habit of shaking or shivering,
I. 263 ; II. 224 ; connected with
totemism, II. 225.
God, marriage to a, I. 109 ; II. 118.
Goddm, rite, I. 132.
Godiva, legend of. I. 68 ; II. 47.
Godling, identification of, 1. 100 ; local,
I. 94 ; pure and impure, I. 4.
Goea, I. 26.
Goghar ki Dhir, a sacred hill, I. 64.
Gohem, a cholera godling, I. 136.
Gold, house of, I. 39; producing
animals, II. 134; a protective, 11.
Gond tribe, ancestor worship, I. 178;
worship of Bhtmsen, I. 66, 90 ; ex-
pulsion of cholera, I. 144 ; cow-
killing, II. 234 ; respect for the dog,
II. 221 ; worship of Dulha Deo, I.
119; procedure in cases of fascina-
tion, IL 37 ; worship of Gansim, I.
118, 172 ; worship of Gh&garapen,
I. 168 ; horse worship, II. 208 ;
human sacrifice, II. 170, 176 ; their
progenitor Lingo, I. 284; identifi-
cation of local godlings, I. loi ;
marriage rites, I. 239 ; river demons,
worship of, I. 43 ; saturnalia, II.
324 ; tiger worship, I. 268 ; tree
burial, II. 103.
Goose, the, II. 247 ; used in disease
transference, I. 165; vehicle of
Brahma, II. 156.
Gop&la, worship o( II. 229.
Gorakhnith, the saint, I. 91, 212 ; II.
129.
Gor Biba, a godling. I. 84.
Goreswara, a title of Siva, I. 84.
Goril, a godling, I. 156.
Govardhan, Brihmans, birth rites, II.
105 ; ceremony, II. 296; hill of, II.
180.
Govinda, worship of, II. 229.
Grace giving, II. 1 1.
Grahadhira, a name of the Pole
Star, I. 25.
Grain, a protective, II. 26 ; sprinkled
over a bride, II. 26 ; measurement
of IL 311.
Grimade^ata, the village godling, I.
94, 96 ; IL 163.
Grass, a protective, 1. 22 ; II. 29 ; ring
of, II. 43.
Grasshopper, the, IL 256.
Grease, hateful to fairies, 1. 243.
Great Bear, the, I. 24.
Griffin, the, IL 158.
Grindstone, a fetish, II. 166.
Ground, sleeping on the, 1. 237.
Grove, planting of, a religious duty, II.
86 ; sacred, IL 90.
Gudeman's Croft, I. 278 ; IL 92.
Giiga, worship of, 1. 206, 211 ; IL
122; mare of. I. 212; II. 206;
connected with snake worship, I.
212.
Gfijar tribe, use of amulets, IL 40 ;
cow worship, II. 233 ; patron saint
of, I. 210.
Gdlar, a sacred tree, II. 99; wood
used in laying spirits, I. I02.
Gun-firing at childbirth, 1. 169 ; to
scare the cholera demon, I. 141.
Gurang Mipa, a Rdkshasa, I. 250.
Gurda, the sacred chain, 1. 99, 155.
Gurtiitna rite, the, JI. 324.
Gurui festival, the, II. 139,
Gururu, the, II. 42.
Gus&tn sect, disposal cf the dead, I.
i8S-
Index.
343
Gwydion, legend of, I. 26.
Gyges, talc of, II. 43.
Gypsies, notoriows for witchcraft, II.
261 ; descended from the sun and
moon, II. 150; respect for the fir
tree, II. 86.
H.
Hadakai, worship of, I. 113.
Hadal. a Daitya, I. 255.
Hail, I. 78 ; scaring the demon of. I.
79 ; persons who control, I. 80 ;
cutting hailstones, I. 79.
Hair, cutting, II. 66; a deus ex
machind^ II. 67 ; of the elephant's
tail, II. 240 ; growing as a form of
curse, I. 239 ; II. 67 ; bride's hair
parting marked with red, II. 173 ;
respect for, II. 66 ; scraper, a fetish,
II. 186 ; a spirit entiy, I. 107 ; used
in witchcraft ; I. 280 ; II. 277.
Hajar-ul-Aswad, the, II. 180.
Hal&lkhor tribe, burial rites, I. 30.
llalkhyo rite, II. 291.
Hand, of GJory, the, I. 261 j II. 177,
245 ; clapping, I. 168, 241 ; laying
on of hands, I. 242 ; the hidden, I.
214 ; a spirit entry, I. 241 ; spread,
II. 39.
Hangman's rope, the, I. 226.
Hansa, the, II. 247.
Hanuman, invoked in spells, 1. 150; a
village godling, I. 87 ; emblem o\
virile i ower, I. 87 ; fetish worship of,
II. 181 ; worship of, I. 85 ; wor-
shipped by wrestlers, 1. 87.
Harbu, a Pir, I. 206.
Hania \
Hardaul Ula /
Hardaur Lila > worship of, I. 138 sq.
Hardiha V
Hardiya )
Hare, the, II. 243 ; bone of, II. 45 ;
euphemism, II. 54; in the moon,
I. 13; II. 50; omens from, II. 48,
50 ; sites selected by, II. 50.
Hari tribe, marriage rites, II. 46.
Hari Sinh, worship of, II. 132.
Hariyiri PAja, the rite of, I. 32.
Harrow used in charming away rain,
1.77.
Harshu P&nr^, worship of, I. 191.
Hasan, a Ptr. I. 202.
Hat. the wishing, I. 214.
Hatidiva, a sacred bull, II. 235.
Hathlil, worship of, I. 205.
Hatthi, a cholera goddess, I. 146.
Havva, an evil spirit, I. 115 ; II. 82.
Hawthorn tree, respect for, IL 86.
^^"^ ^»«« «<"*l'!P <rf Vishnu,
f horse
.5 "•
Hazrat Dddd, a saint, I. 203.
Hazrat PIr Zari, a saint, I. 217.
Head, of victim, I. 96 ; a spirit entry,
I. I58» 238.
Headache, charm to remove, I. 151.
Headless horseman, the. I. 217, 256.
Headman worshipped, I. 178.
Healer developing into a god, I. 147.
Hearth, respect for, I. 292.
Hedali. a Daitya, I. 255.
Heir identified by a snaJce, II. 142.
Helios, worship of, I. 5.
HemSdpant, a Rikshasa, I. 251.
Hephaestus, I. 280.
Heroic godlings, I. 83 sqq.
Hill demons, I. 263.
Himalaya, worship of, I. 60 ; home of
the sainted dead, I. 60.
Himavat, father of Ganga, I. 36, 6i.
Hind, the, in folk-lore, II. 238.
Hiranya-kasipu, legend of, II. 313.
Hiriya Deva, worship of, I. 168.
Ho tribe, barring the ghost, II. 62 ;
clothes for the dead, II. 68; the
Desauli rite, II. 325 ; objection to
using cow's milk, II. 236 j recalling
the ghost, II. 72 ; tattooing customs,
II. 31 ; oath by the tiger, II. 213.
Hot^, sacrifice of, I. 126, 137, 197, 200 ;
II. 58.
Holl, the feast, orij^nn of, II. 313 ; in
Braj, II. 315 ; in'Jecency at, I. 6S ;
in Mirw4r, II. 318 ; lighting the
fire, II. 316.
Holika, legend of, I. 146 ; II. 313.
Homa, the fire sacrifice, I. 20.
Home for the ghost, II. 61.
Hoopoe, the, II. 249.
Horka Mdi, worship of, I. 146.
Horn, a spirit scarer, II. 36, 225 ; fixed
on shrines, II. 225 ; on trees, I. 23.
Horse, a scarer of demons, II. 207;
flying, II. 206; eating flesh of, II.
207 ; lucky, II. 207 ; protected from
the Evil Eye, II. 17 ; sacrificed to
propitiate floods, I. 46 ; shoe, a pro-
tective, II. 14; winged, II. 207;
worship of, II. 204, 208.
Hot springs, I. 53.
House, empty, ghosts of, I. 291 ;
haunted, I. 291 ; protected from the
Evil Eye. I. 160.
Huika Devi, a ch:)lera goddess, I. 146.
Human, brains, eating of, I. 247 ;
sacrifice among the Indo-Aryans, II.
167 ; at erection of buildings, II.
344
Index.
173 ; connected with small-pox wor-
ship, I. 130 ; modifications of, 1. 146 ;
II. 175 ; survivals of, I. 79, 91, 169;
II. 173- 320.
Humanas, the, II. 82.
Humayun, ghost of, II. 82.
Hnmma, a ghost, II. 82.
Hunting the wren, I. 172.
Huntsmen, ghosts of, 1. 261.
Husain, a Ptr, I. 202.
Husain Bbagat, I. 204.
Hut-burning, a cure for barrenness, I.
226.
Hydra, the, I. 44.
Hydn^hobia, cures for, I. 51, 151,
222.
Hylas, I. 119W
iBLts, I. 266 ; and the ass, II. 209.
Ides, a day of rest for cattk, II. 234.
Ifrlt, the, I. 266.
Ignes &tui, II. 198.
Ikshviku, a legend of, II. 153.
I la, legend of, II. 7.
Ilha, a totem sept. II. 15a
Ilishia, a saint, I. 47.
Ulm Bakhsh, a wonder-working tomb,
I. 222.
Images, witchcraft by means of, II.
278.
Im^ Husain, army of, I. 259.
Imdm Raza, invocation of, I. i6l.
Imli ghotna rite, II. 109.
Implement fetishes, II 185.
Incense, a protective, II. 21.
Incest, I. 36.
Incubi, the, I. 238, 264.
Indecency a scaier of Bhiits, I. 68 j II.
320.
Indigestion, godling of, I. 136.
Indra, ass of. II. 208 ; a weather god-
ling, I. 66, *]^ ; worship of, I. 2, 73 ;
II. 229.
Indradyumna, legend of, I. 286.
Indrini, a Mother, I. 112.
Infanticide, I. 172.
Influenza, caused by a Mother, I. 113 ;
charm to remove, I. 166.
Initiation at puberty, I. 242 ; II. 147..
Insects, folk-lore of, II. 256.
Insult> a form of penance, I. 16.
Iron, the philosopher's stone, II. 15;
pillar at Delhi, II. 132 ; a scarer of
Bh0ts, II. II.
Ismdil Jogi, invocation of, I. 79, 151,
160.
Itch, godling of, I. 125, 136.
Jack of the Beanstalk, II. 8$.
Jackal, the, II. 243 ; horn of, II. 40 ;
of Mal&mat Shih, I. 219 ; weddings
of, I. 292.
Jagadaml»i Devi, worship of, I. 85.
Jagrini, a title of Sttala, I. 126.
Jahnu, a saint, I. 36.
Jaina sect, birth rites, I. 277 ; mourning
customs, I. 29 ; worship of Bhairava,
I. 108 ; worship of saints, I. 183.
Jaisar Ptr, a saint, I. 222.
jaitwa tribe, totemism, II. 153.
jak, a field sprite, II. 79, 91.
jakhii, worship of, I. 269.
Jakni, a field sprite, II. 79.
Jaladurga, worship of, I. 95.
Jimbavat, the bear king, II. 242.
Janamejilya, worship of, II. 139.
J and tree, the, II. loi.
Jandi PCija, the, I. 136.
JaneO, the sacred cord, II. 47>
Jann, the, I. 266.
Janw^ Kijput sept, totemism, II. 153.
Jara. a Rakshasi, II. 248.
Jarasandha, legend of, I. 248, 252.
Jdt tribe, cow worship, II. 233 ; patron
saint, I. 210 ; worship of K&lu Mahar,
I. 107; worship of Farld, I. 215 ;
worship of Tejaji, I. 213 ; weather
incantations, I. 67.
Jata Rohini, a river demon, I. 43.
Jathera, the village godlings, I. 107.
Jaur Sinh, worship of, II. 133.
Javildiya, the mare of G{^, I. 212.
Jawira rite, the, II. 293.
Jay, feathers of, II. 9 ; omens from, II.
48.
Jaya, a Mother, I. 112; a Yogini, I.
129.
Jayi, festival, II. 96, 293.
Jewar Sinh, worship of, II. 133.
Jewelry, use of, II. 15.
Jhdd, the, II. 78.
Jhambaji, worship of, I. 184.
Jhtnwar tribe, worship of Sajchi Sarwar,
I. 210.
Jhunuki, sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Jigar Khor, the liver eater, II. 262,
Jilaiya a birth fiend, I. 264.
Jinn, the, I. 265 sq. ; blood of, II. 172.
Jiraya Bhawdni. worship of, II. 163.
Jtvkhada, the, II. 61.
Jndnav^pi well, the, I. 52.
Job, tomb of, I. 224.
Jogi sect, worship of Bhairon, I. 109 ;
respect for the Nlm tree, II. 105.
Johila river, legend of, I. 39.
Jokhii, I. 269.
Index.
345
Jokhaiya, worship of, I. 199, 206.
Jonah, II. 254.
journey forbidden during small-pox, I.
134.
Juang tribe, neglect of the sainted dead,
I. 178 ; tattooing, 11. 31 ; tiger wor-
ship, II. 213 ; witchcraft, II. 261.
Jumna, worship of, I. 36.
Junctions of rivers, sacred, I. 38.
Jungle Mothers, the, I. 114.
Juno Lucino, I. 115.
Jur Sttal rite, I. 132.
Jus primse noctis, the, II. 162.
Jvaraharlsvara, the godling of malaria,
I. 136.
K.
Kabandha. a R&kshasa, II. 37.
Ksibtr, a saint, I. 183 sq ; II. 90.
Kachiri tribe, worship of the bamboo,
II. 113.
Kichhi tribe, totemism, II. 149.
Kachhwalia Rajput sept, totemism, II.
149.
KadanbaLi tribe, totemism, II. 154.
Kndri, a saint, I. 29.
Kafari, a black ghost, I. 238.
Kahi ka Mela, the, II. 321.
Kailantr Nig, worship of, II. 125.
Kail^ Maura, a bead, I. 1 16.
Kaimur mountains, respect for, I. 63.
Kajari festival, indecent rites, I. 68.
Kakki, the mare of Sakhi Sarwar, I.
209.
K41 Bhairon, worship of, I. 84, 108;
II. 219.
KUla Mahar, worship of, I. 107.
Kalasa. a sacred jar, I. 97, 255 ; II. 75.
Kalauria, a n3miph, I. 36.
Kalejawili, a title of Sttaia, I. 126.
Kalhans RHjput sept, worship of Ratan
Pdnr6, I. 192 ; totemism, II. 149.
Kdli, worship of, I. 3, 73, 85, 143, 283 ;
human sacrifice in honour of, II. 171.
Kdlidlls, worship of, I. 196.
Kdli Devi, worship of, II. 170.
Kilika Bhawini, worship of, I. 129,
205.
K&li Sinh, worship of, II. 132.
Kaliya, a water demon, I. 42.
Kalki, an incarnaiion, II. 156, 205.
Kalmashapada, legend of, II. 168.
Kalpadruma \
Kalpataru l- a sacred tree, II. 87.
Kalpavrikshaj
Kilu Kahir, worship of, II. 82.
Kaluva, worship of, II. 8x.
Kaly&n Bhirati, a saint, I. 220.
Kimadeva, vehicle of, II. 156.
Kamadhenu } a sacred cow, 1. 38 $ II.
Kamaduh ) 232.
Kamilo, a saint, I. 221.
Kimi tribe, funeral rites, II. 71.
Kanchhedan rite. I. 242.
Kinhpuriya Rajput sept, tribal deity of,
1.85.
Kankeswari, worship of, II. 1 76.
Kanphata J ogi sect, I. 242 ; II. 105.
Kansisura, the godling of brass, II. 12.
Kantakasaiyya, the nail bed, I. 92.
Kapilakriya, the rite, I. 239.
Kapila, a saint, 1. 35 j the elephant, II.
239.
Karama, a sacred tree, L 40 ; II. 87,
94 ; the dance, II. 95.
Karamn&sa, an ill-omened river, I. 40.
Karan tribe, marriage rites, II. 46.
Karana, legend of, I. 181.
K^i Gord Deo, worship of, I. 206.
Kirewar, the dragon, II. 129.
Kargas, the, II. 158.
Karha<1a Brahmans, human sacrifice,
II. 170.
Karkotaka, a serpent king, I. 42 ; II.
126.
Karl, the Great, I. 283.
Karpdratilaka, a Yogini, I. 129.
Karttikeya, vehicle of, II. 156.
Kasera caste, respect for brass, II. 12.
Kasi Baha, worship of, I. 145.
Kasyapa, legend of, II. 127.
Kithi tribe, sun worship, I. 9.
Kathkdri tribe, disinterring corpses, II.
65.
Kauf^n'}* g°^^^"g of ravines, I. 62.
Kauamudika, a Y(^ini, I. 129.
Kaumiri, a Mother, I. 112.
Kaur tribe, Sati worship, I. 187.
Kawaj, a water godling, I. 47.
Kavasth tribe, worship of Chitragupta,
I. 196.
Keening, I. 168 ; II. 55.
Ke pie, the, I. 44.
Kerir Btr, worship of, I. 254.
Kerberos, II. 218.
Ke.si, II. 206.
Ketu, the eclipse demon, I. 19.
Kewat caste, use of blood, II. 1 73.
Khabtsh, worship of, I. 260.
KhRha, a totem sept, II. 151.
Khair, a sacred tree, II. 106.
Khaliri Mata, worship of, I. 114.
Khand^ Rio, worship of, II. 219.
Khindh tribe, ancestor worship, I. 179;
barrenness charms, I. 226; god of
boundaries, I. 290; theory ot ois-
346
Index.
ease, L 124 1 godling of ravines, I.
62$ human sacrifice, 11. 169; snake
worship, II. 131 ; totemism, II. 154;
respect for trees, II. 9a
Khandoba, worship of, I. 90 ; II.
219.
Khan/ab, a demon, II. 22.
Khapra BUba, worship of, II. 197.
Khar Pfija, the, I. 32.
Khara, a demon, 11. 209.
Kbarbar Btr, a demon, I. 254.
Kharg Jogini, sacred fire of, II. 196.
Khariya tribe, ancestor worship, I. 178;
sun worship, I. 9; tattooing, II. 31 ;
oath on the tiger, II. 213 ; totemism,
n. 155. 159.
Kharwar tribe, use of amulets, II. 40 ;
theory of disease, I. 124; worship of
Dulha Deo, I. 120; earth worship,
I. 32 ; ghost l^end, II. 76; sacred
groves, II, 90 ; device to scare hail,
I. 79; human sacrifice, II. 169;
worship of the Karam tree, II. 87 ;
marriage of MQchak R^ni, II. 322 ;
rag offerings, I. 163 ; expulsion of
rinderpest, I. 170; snake legend, II.
143 ; sun worship, I. 9 ; prejudice
against cutting trees, II. 87 ; legend
ol the Vetaia, II. 76.
Khasiya tribe, tree burial, II. 85.
Khera, worship of, I. 105.
Kheia Devata, worship of, I. 106.
Kberapat, a village pnest, II. 320.
Kheshgi Pathin tribe, respect for the
pigeon, II. 246.
Khetpil 1 worship of, I. 84, 105 ;
Khetrapala / II. 227.
Khicha Pdja, the, II. 221.
Khodiar, a Mother, I. 113.
Khor, a cause of disease, I. 124.
Khw^ja Habtb, Ajami, a Ptr, I. 203.
Khwija Hasan Basri, a Ptr, I. 203.
Khwaja Khizr, the water godling, I.
47. 74.
Klkar, a sacred tree, II. 1 14.
King held responsible for drought, I.
75.
Kinship of men and animals, II. 201.
Kirani Mdta, worship of, I. 215.
Kiraniya, a royal parasol, I. 8.
Kiratadevi, worship of, I. 94.
Kirni, the, II. 158.
Kisdn tribe, ancestor worship, I. 178 ;
sacred groves, II. 90 ; sun worship,
I. 9 ; tattooing, II. 31 ; tiger wor-
ship, II. 213.
Kite, the, II. 251.
Kliddo, a sprite, II. 92.
Knife, a protection against BhQts, II. 13.
Knockers, the, I. 285.
Knot*, mystic power of, I. 77 ; II. 43,
45.
Kobolds, the, I. 285.
Koboli, the, I. 285.
Kodapcn, worship of, II. 208.
Koi tribe, dog worship, II. 219.
Kul tiibe, the couvade, I. 276 ; disease
godlings, I. 136; mode ot divination,
I. 153 ; respect for eeb, II. 255 ;
ghosts of persons killed by tigers, I.
267 ; sacred groves, II. 90 ; marria|;e
rites, II. 103 ; measuring grain at
marriages, I. 104 ; mountain worship,
I. 61 ; worship of Naga Era, I. 45 ;
appointment 01 priest, II. 189 ; wor-
ship of Raja L&khan, I. 198 ; snake
goddess, II. 131 ; sun worship, I.
10 ; tree deities, II. 103 : tree mar-
riage, II. 116, 119; witch-finding,
II. 275.
Koli tribe, theory of disease, I. 124 ;
theory abuut second marriages, I.
23s ; recalling the ghost, II. 71.
Korwa tribe, use of amulets, II. 40 ;
ancestor wor»hip, I. 177 sq. ; cave
deities, I. 284; dread of caves, I.
284 ; dreams, I. 232 ; belief in the
Churel, I. 271 ; earth worship, I.
32 ; dread of earthquakes, I. 35 ;
theory of ghosts, I. 232 ; mountain
worship, I. 61 ; belief in omens, II.
49 ; ploughing ceremonies, II. 290 ;
rag offerings, I. 161 ; rain charming,
I. 74 ; disease scapegoats, I. 169 ;
storm charming, I. 81 ; sun worship,
I. 9 ; tattooing, II. 31.
Koskinomantis, the, II. 189.
Koti Rini, worship of, I. 62.
Kravyada, a title of the Rakshasa, I.
246.
Krishna, worship of, I. 3, 17, 42, 78,
161 ; II. 229.
Kshetrapala, a warden deity, I. 84.
Kshetrapati, cow sacrifice in honour of,
II. 227.
Kudkhyo, the rite, II. 291.
Kujur,a totem sept, II. 150.
KCikar Deora, the, I. 221.
Kiiki tribe, theory of disease, I. 124 ;
funeral rites, II. 65.
Kuladevata, a mother, I. 112.
Kumbhakarana, a demon, II. 300.
Kumhdr tribe, totemism, II. 149, 154;
worship of the hor.se, II. 2C^ ; wor-
ship of Prajapati, I. 196.
Kumuda, the elephant, II. 239.
Kunbi tribe, ancestor worship, I. 179 ;
birth rites, II. 120; respect for the
cocoanut, II. 106 ; respect for dust,
I. 28 ; horse vtorship, II. 208 ; re-
Index,
347
spect for the Ntm tree, II. io6;
parturition charm^ II. 120 ; use of
rice ac marriages, II. 26 ; sheep wor-
ship, I. 164 ; totemism, II. 149 ;
tree marriage, II. 102, 117.
Kunjara Mam, the, II. 240.
Kunwar Dhtr, worship o^ I. 205.
Kur tribe, mountain worship, I. 61 ;
sun worship, I. 10.
Kur Deo, a guardian godling, I. 137.
Kurku tribe, use of cow's blood, II.
234 ; disease godlings, I. 137 ; bar-
ring the ghost, II. 62 ; identification
of the village godlings, I. 103 ;
mountain worship, I. 61 ; sun wor-
ship, I. 10.
Kurma, an incarnation, II. 156.
Kurmi tribe. Ses Kunbi.
Ku>a grass, sacred, II. 29.
Ku^aputra rite, II. 75.
Ki!Um4nda, worship of, I. 94.
La Bella Marts, invocation of, I.
69.
Label, a protective, II. 36.
Ladder for the ghost, II. 60.
Laghu, worship of, II. 181.
Lakara, a totem sept, II. 151.
Lakes, sacred, I. 54.
Lakhdata, the saint, I. 208.
I^kshmi, worship of, II. 100, 19a
Ldlanwala, a saint, I. 208.
IA\ Beg, a saint, I. 196, 203 ; II. 206.
Lalita, worship of, I. 119.
IJX Plr, a saint, I. 203.
Lamas, control over the weather, I. 67.
Lame demons, I. 280.
Lamia, I. 2.
Lamkariya, sister of Sitala, I. 128.
Lamp, to light the soul, II. 55 ; magic,
I. 219 ; charm to stop rain, I. 76 ;
rock cave, I. 285 ,- worship, I. 93.
Lampblack, a protective, I. 28, 93 ; II.
3. 29.
Landslip, demon of, I. 264.
Langra Tir, worship of, I. 205.
Lankhini, worship of, I. 95.
Last, dead, spirit of, I. 46 ; tree of the
forest, II. 84.
T.ast, shoemaker's, a fetish, II. 186.
L^th Bhairon, worship of, II. 109.
Lacora Btr, worship of, I. 255.
Learning, charm to gain, I. 222.
Leather, a protective, 11. 33.
Lemuri, the, I, 259.
Lengthenini;, ghost's power of, I. 250.
Leper, sacrific^, II. 169.
Leprehaun, the, I. 287 ; II. 77.
Leprosy, caused by Vdsuki, II. 137 ;
caused by telling lies in a grove, I[.
91 ; cured at a shrine, I. 221 ; cured
at a tank, I. 58 sq. ; theory of, I.
125,
Letters, protection o( from the Evil
Eye, II. 10.
Liberalia, festival, the, II. 321.
Lice, produced by a curse, I. 125.
Life Index, the, I. 250 ; II. 7'-
Lighting the departing soul, II. 55.
Lightning scared by nudity, I. 69;
goddess of, I. 224.
Likeness, dislike to having taken, I.
233.
Lilith, I. 128, 279.
Limbu tribe, barring the ghost, II. 57.
Lingam, watered to bring rain, I. 73,
Lingayjt 8oetrl)urial rites, I. 30 ; fla-
gellation, I. 155 ; worship of Cham-
ba.^dpa, I. 183.
Lingo, the progenitor of the Gonds, I.
284.
Lingri Ptr, worship of, I. 161.
Lion, the, II. 210 ; of Ahmad Khin,
I. 219.
Lizard, blood of, II. 20 ; omens from,
II. 50.
Local godlings, worship of, I. 94.
Lockjaw, charm to cure, I. 131.
Locusts, scaring of, II. 302.
Lodhi tribe, use of rice, 11. 27.
Lodi Pathdn tribe, totemism, II. 150.
Loh^ura, the godling of iron, II. 12.
Lohu river, the, I. 248.
Lokap^las. the, II. 239.
Lona Chamarin, the witch, I. 151, 160 ;
IL 285.
Lonisura, a lake demon, I. 54.
Looking back, II. 57.
Lorik, legend of, II. 160.
Lota, the, a protective, II. 16.
Lot's wife, II. 57.
Lotus, a sacred plant, II. 86.
Lough Neagh, legend of, I. 57.
Love knot, the, II. 46.
Lupercalia, the, I. 100, 225; II. 321.
Lycanthropy, II. 211.
M.
Machalinda, a snake king, II. 142.
Machandri Pilja, the, I. 31.
348
Index.
Madaxn, worship of, II. 125.
Madsbi, Faqir, the, L 216.
Magh tribe, fbnend rites, XL 56; pie-
judice against cutting trees, II. 87.
Magic, circle, the, I. 103, 142 } II. 41 ;
sympathetic, I. 66, 70, 146 ; 11. 52,
185, 251 ; trees, II. 87.
M&hlhrahmans, functions of, I. 17 1 ;
II. 70, 191.
Mahid&ni Deo, a demon. I. 284.
Maham&i« worship of, I. 85, 126 s II.
181.
Mahendri, worship of, I. 112.
Maheni, worship of, I. 193.
Maheshwari, a Mother, I. 112.
Mahish&sura, a demon, I. 45 ; II. 237.
Mahishoba, worship of, I. 45 ; II. 237.
Mahua tree, respect for, I. 90 ; II. 102
sq. ; of marriage, I. 163 ; II. 102 sq.,
116.
Mai Aeshan, worship of, I. 209.
Maiden in a tree, II. 88.
Mainp&t, a mountain deity, I. 61.
Majhwdr tribe. See l/L^ihi,
Makan Deo, a demon, I. 216.
Makara, a vehicle, II. 156.
MnkhdQm Sahib, a saint, I. 221.
Mdl tribe, use of necklaces, II. 45 ;
food for the dead, II. 70.
Malah&ri bird, the, II. 248.
Malamat Shih, a saint, I. 219.
Malayagandhini, a Yogini, I. 129.
Maler tribe, use of blood, II. 20 ; tree
burial, II. 85 ; worship of Dwara
Gusitn, I. 104.
Malevolent dead, worship of, I. 230
sqq.
Malik Ambar, a saint, I. 258.
Malinath, a P!r, I. 206.
Mai Pahariya tribe, use of necklaces,
II. 45 ; sacrifice to the dead, II. 70.
Malsara, worship of, II. 220.
Mama Devi, worship of, I. 117.
Mamduh, a ghost, I. 252.
M dna Sarovara, Isike, I. 54.
Manasa, worship of, I. 214.
Mandakarni, legend of, I. 57.
Mand^kini river, legend of, I. 39, 55.
Mandrake, the, I. 226.
Mangar tribe, funeral rites, II. 60.
Mangesar, a hill godlirg, I. 63.
Mango, a sacred tree, II. 109 sq.
Mang tribe, respect for the bamboo, II.
113 ; use of sacred grass, II. 30.
Mdnjhi tribe, cannibalism, II. 168 ;
mode of repelling the Churel, I. 27 1 ;
food for the dead, II. 70 ; earth
worship, I. 32 ; Karama dance, II.
95 ; belief in omens, II. 49 ; theory
of the Rftkshasa, I. 233 ; S^itumalia,
II. 97.
Mano, a bugaboo, II. 82.
Manoratha dayaka, a sacred tree, II.
87.
Mansa Ram, ghost of, I. 253.
Mantikora, the tiger, II. 217.
Mantra, a spell, I. 150.
Manushgandha, I. 246.
Maraki, a cholera Mother, I. 113.
Marang Biira, a mountain deity, 1. 61.
Marathon, ghosts at, I. 259.
Mare, the, in folk-lore, I. 212 ; of
Guga, I. 212.
Mari Bhawani f %^?^^T .t ^l'"
MariMii \ ^^^^^* ^' '37, 142,
Mind, the, I. 266.
Marine products, protectives, II. 16.
Mariya Gond tribe, worship of Bhlm*
sen, I. 90 ; tree burial, II. 85.
Mariyamma, worship of, I. 72.
Marjani, a Yogini, I. 129.
Markandeya, legend of, II. 98.
Marriage, to animals, II. 119; to a
bird, I. 236 ; II. 119; ol brother
and sister, I. 36 ; causing showers,
I. 75 ; to a god, I. 109 ; II. 118; of
Ghizi Miyan, I. 207 ; godling of, I.
119; of powers of vegetation, I. 207 ;
II. 322 ; to a sword, II. 185 ; to
trees, II. 115; tree of, II. 102; of
the Tulasi and Salagrima, I. 49.
Martyrs^ worship of, I. 201.
Marutputra, a title of Hanumin, I. 88.
Maruts, the, I. 2, 78.
Mas&n, worship of, I. 133, 259.
Mas&ni, sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Mdta, the small-pox goddess, I. 103,
126.
Miia Janami 1 the goddess of births,
Mitajanuvi / I. 115.
Mata Piija, the, I. 132.
MMli, a Yogini, I. 129.
M^tangi, worship of, I. 94, 132.
Maternal uncle, position of, I. 155 ;
II. 8, 60.
Matmangara rite, I. 27, 292.
Malri Puja, the, I. 113.
Matronalia Festa, the, II. 321.
Matsva, an incarnation, II. 156.
Matuwih, the, I. 102.
Maun Charaun, rite, II. 233.
May feast, the. II. 322.
Maypole, the, II. 86.
Maya, worship of, I. III.
Measurement, mystic effect of, I. 104 ;
II. 311.
Medha, a Mother, I. 112,
Index,
349
Megha Rija, a rain godling, I. 74.
Mekhisura, worship of, II. 226.
Mela Devi, worship of, I. 133.
Melusina, II. 126.
Menstruation, I. 273 ; II. 20.
Mer tribe, human sacrifice, II. 169.
Merhala, sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Mermaid, the, II. 126.
Mesh&sura, worship of, II. 226.
Metamorphosis into tigers, II. 216.
Meteors, I. 32.
Mhar tribe, respect for the bamboo, II.
113 ; use of bread, II. 26 ; food for
the dead, II. 69 ; nudity rite, I. 68.
Mice, rites to avert, II. 301.
Mihila, sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Milk, drinking of, I. 237 ; drunk by
BhQts, L 237 ; offered to the N^a,
II. 129 sq. ; poured on the ground,
I. 26; prejudice against usint;, II.
236 ; protection of, Irom the Evil Eye,
II. 10 ; a protective, II. 28 ; river
flowing with, I. 39 ; of a tigress, II.
215 ; produced from a well, I. 51.
Milky Way, the, I. 25.
Mimosa tree, respect for, II. 106
Mtna tribe, animal worship, II. 157.
Mine, spirits of, I. 282.
Mtr Abdul Ala, a saint, I. 220.
Mirdn Sihib, a saint, I. 216.
Mtri tribe, respect for the tiger, II.
215.
Mirrors, belief regarding, I. 233 ; II.
35-
Mr. Miacca, II. 82.
Mitthu Bhiikhiya, worship of, I. 197.
Miyltn Ahmad, a saint, I. 219.
Miyan Rajjab, a Plr, I. 205.
Mnevis, worship of, II. 229.
Mock fights, II. 176, 321.
Modh Brihmans, marriage rites, II. 8.
Mohini, worship of, I. 95.
Momi^i, II. 176.
Momiaiwala Sahib, the, II. 177.
Monkey, bones of, I. 89; euphemi<:m,
II. 54 ; feeding of, I. 88 ; hunting,
II. 322; marrying, I. 89; II. 119;
omens from, II. 49 ; respect for, I.
86, 88 ; sacrifice of, II. 322 ; worship
of, I. 86.
Moon, drinking the, I. 14 ; abode of
the dead, I. 18; emblem drawn on
houses as a protective, I. 160 ; con-
nected with the hare, II. 50 ; new, of
Bhidon, I. 17; phases of, I. 13;
spo s, I. 13 ; worship of, I. 12 sq.
Morgi n La Fay, I. 45.
Mo-^rs rod of, II. 178.
Mothers, worship of the, I. Iii ;
Mother Sati, I. 188.
Motir&m, worship of, I. 197.
Mountain deities, I. 62 ; worship of, I.
60.
Mouse, the, II. 241.
Mouth, a spirit entry, I. 24a
Mrigasiras, the constellation, I. 25.
Mulsi tribe, respect for the bamboo, II.
113; dancing, I. 154.
Miichak Rial, worship of, II. 322.
Muhammad, a Ptr, I. 202.
Mutn-ud-dt(i Chishti, a saint, I. 214.
Mukii, a ghost, I. 269.
Mukmum, a sacred tree, I. IQ4.
Mdla, the asterism, I. 24, 277.
Mummy, use of, II. 176.
Munda tribe, barring the ghost, II.
62 ; human sacrifice, II. 170 ; rice-
sowing ceremony, 11. 292.
Mungoose, omens from the, II. 48 ; in
the Bethgelert legend, II. 221.
Milnj grass, sacred, II. 30.
Murmu tribe, totemism, II. 158.
Music, a demon scarer, I. 168.
Mustard, a spirit scarer, I. 80, 273 ; II.
28.
Math, the, II. 266.
Mutilation, I. 280 ; II. 66; of witches,
II. 282.
Mutua Devata, worship of, I. 103, 137.
Mysteries, use of dust in, I. 30.
N.
Nadiya, the bull of Siva, II. 234.
Ndga, the snake, I. 43; II. 152.
N%a race, the, II. 124.
N^a Era, a water godling, I. 45.
Niga Rdja, worship of, II. 152.
Naga tribe, tree burial, II. 85.
NagarDeo, worship of, II. 81.
Nagar Seth, a rain priest, I. 73.
NSgbansi tribe, mountain worship, I.
Nigtswar, a snake godling, II. 131.
Nigiya Btr, worship cf, I. 235.
N^ Kanya. the mermaid, II. 126.
Nllg Kuan, a sacred well, II. 131.
Nllgpanchami festival, the, II. 129,
137.
Nihar Khin, worship of, I. 193.
Ndhar R4o, worship of, I. 95.
Nihar tribe, totemism, II. 150.
Nahiwan, rite of, II. 25.
NaOiuk, legend of, II. 128.
Nahusha, legend of, II. 127.
Ndikrilm, worship of, II. 182.
Nails, of Europeans, II. 9 ; of iron, I.
273 ; II. 14 ; parings of, I. 280 j II.
277; of Rikshasas, I. 249.
350
Index.
Naini Til, lake, I. 55.
Nakshatras, the asterisms, I. 24.
^ala and Damayanti, legend of, I. 64.
Hkm Deo, a saint, I. 184, 204.
Nimdeo tribe, death rites, II. 105.
Names, fixed by astrolc^, I. 24 ; op-
probrious, II. 4 ; taboo o( II. 5.
Ninak, shrine of, I. 209.
Nanda Devi, a mountain goddess, I.
62, 173 ; II. l8a
Nand Ashtami, feast of, I. 173.
Nand Bhairon, worship of, I. 109.
Nandi, the bull of Siva, 11. 234.
Nirada, worship of, I. 196.
Nara Sinha, an incarnation, I. 213;
11. 156.
Narasinhika, a Mother, I. 1 12.
Nirdyanbali rite, the, I. 245.
Niidyana Chakra, a charm, I. 75.
Narmada river, legend of, I. 39.
Nasn&s, the, I. 267.
Nathu Kah&r, worship of, I. 199.
Nathurim, worship of, II. 319.
Nat tribe, barring the ghost, II. 59.
Nature worship, I. i.
Nausaza, the, I. 223, 250 ; II. 75.
Nauldkha, the, II. 17.
Nauratana, the, II. 17.
Nauratri, feast of, II. 267.
Navagraha, the nine constellations, I.
23.
Navalii, worship of, I. 269.
Navami Piija, the, II. 303.
Naya, a village priest, I. 157.
Na>aki, a Yogini, I. 129.
Necklace, magic, II. 17.
Negra, godling of indigestion, I. 136.
Neki BIbi, a bugaboo, II. S2.
Nereids, the, I. 2.
Net. a demon scarer, II. 36.
Neville's Cross, ghosts at, I. 259.
Newir tribe, tree marriage, II. 117.
New moon, rites at, I. 16.
Nhivi tribe, use of rice, II. 26.
Night, personified, I. 257 ; spirits of,
I. 250 ; summons, I. 257.
Nightmare, caused by evil spirits, I.
233 ; charms against, II. 34.
Nikke, I. 44.
Mlgie, omens from, II. 49.
N!m tree, the, II. 104 ; connected with
s>mall-pox, I. 129, 135; a cure for
snake-bite, II. 105.
Nin.birak sect, legend of, I. 6 ; II.
105.
Nine yard tombs, I. 223.
Nirgan Shah, a saint, 1. 185.
Nirriti, I. 247.
Nisi, I. 257.
^:xy, I. 44.
Nizim-ud-dtn Auli3ra, a saint, I. 214.
Noah, zrk ol, I. 26 ; legend of, I. 48,
223.
Noise, a scarer of demons, I. 23, 79,
167.
Nona Cham&rin, the witch, I. 79 ; II.
285.
Norka, the, II. 158.
Nose, a spirit haunt, I. 241 ; ring,
respect for, II. 43.
Nudity, of Bhfits, I. 243 ; a charm in
cattle disease, I. 70 ; in death rites,
I. 173; to cause rain, I. 67 sqq. ;
to stop rain, I. 76; in temple
building, I. 71 ; in the scapegoat
rite, I. 173.
Numbers, mystic, II. 51.
Nyagrodha tree, the, II. 98.
^Oba, a cholera goddess, I. 146.
Odd numbers, II. 51.
Odin, dogs of, II. 223.
Oil, used in ceremonies, I. 93, 148.
Oilman, ghost of, I. 260 ; omens from,
II. 48.
Ointment, magic, I. 228 ; II. 43.
Ojha, an exerciser, I. 129, 147, 156I
Ojhyil tribe, use ot bells, I. 168.
Old Man of the Mountains, the, I. 215.
Old Nick, I. 44.
Old Scratch, II. 82.
Oliya, a hail charmer, I. 80.
Omens, II. 47 ; avoidance of, II. 54 ;
firom crows, II. 245; from doj^s, II.
222 ; from the hoise, II. 207 ; from
wells, I. 52.
One-eyed people, II. 37, 51.
Onion, prejudice against eating, II. 35.
Onvx, a sacred stone, II. 19.
Opniogeneis, the, II. 124.
Ophthalmia, cure of, I. 209.
Opprobrious names, II. 4.
Orion tribe, birth fiends, I. 264; cat
fiend, II. 271 ; disposal of the dead,
I. 237; modes of divination, I. 153 ;
earth marriage, I. 30; plough, re-
spect for, II. 192 ; appointment of
priest, II. 189; respect for eels, II.
255 ; use of rice, II. 27 ; sun worship,
I. 9 sq. ; respect for the tamarini
tree, II. 109 ; totemism^ II. 158.
Ordeal, of magic circle, II. 42 ; for
witches, II. 271 sq.
Ordure, eating of, II. 36.
Oshadhipati, a title of the moon, I. 14.
Index.
351
Osiris, II. 229.
Ovum Auguinum, the, II. 142, 224.
Owls, I. 279 ; eating flesh of, I. 279 ;
omens from, II. 50.
Pabu, a Pir, I. 206.
Pachtsi, game of, II. i8f .
Pachpiriya sect, the, I. 205.
Padam tribe, belief in tree spirits, II.
78.
Padoei, a race of cannibals, II. 168.
Padma, a mother, I. 112.
Pahdr Pando, a hill godling, I. 62.
Pahariya tribe, use of blwod, II. 20,
Palaces under the water, I. 56.
Palisa tree, sacred, II. iii.
Palasvidhi rite, the, 11. 1 14.
Palihdr, worship of, I. 205.
Palliwal Br^hmaus, horse worship, II.
208.
Palm tree, respect for, II. 91.
Palwdr sept, witchcraft, II. 286.
Panchajana, a demon, II. 17.
Pancharatana, the, II. 69.
Panch Pir, the, I. 94, 205.
Panda, a priest, II. 317.
Pdndavas, the, worship of, I. 206 ; II.
128, 237.
Pdnipat, ghosts at, I. 259.
Panj Pir, the, I. 202.
Panka tribe, theory of disease, I. 124 ;
earth worship, I. 32 ; euphemism, II.
54 ; wind charming, I. 82.
Parachhan rite, II. 24.
Parameswar, a title of the sun, I. 10.
Parisara, worship of, I. 196 ; II. 241.
Pardah, custom of, II. 47.
Pardesi Rdjput sept, totemism, II. 156.
Parhaiya tribe, sheep worship, I. 164;
totemism, II. 155.
Pari, the, I. 265.
Parihar Rijput sept, totemism, II. 154.
Parijita, a magic tree, II. 88.
Parisadas, worship of, I. 94.
Parjanya, worship of, I. 33.
Parrot, the, II. 251.
Pirsi tribe, use of earth, I. 29 ; use of
sandal- wood, II. 113.
Partridge, the, II. 251.
Parturition charms, II. 3, 12, 19, 120,
183 ; impurity, I. 273.
Par^ravas, legend of, I. 238.
Parusha, the eternal male, I. 1 1 1 ; II.
227.
Parushamedha rite, the, II. 167.
Pirvatl, spouse of Siva, I. 12, 62.
Pisi tribe, worship of the Ptr, I. 206.
Pasupatinitha, worship of, II. 81, 237.
Pat, a shrine, I. 268.
Pitila, opening of, I. 282.
Pat^ri tribe, ancestor worship, I. 177 ;
use of bells, I. 168; belief in the
Churel, I. 271 ; earth worship, I.
32 ; euphemism, II. 54 ; food for the
dead, II. 70 ; belief in omens, II.
49; rag offerings, L 163; scape
animal, I. 169.
Pathdn tribe, respect for the dove,
II. 246.
Pattiw^h, the, I. 102.
Pauariya tribe, death rite, II. 64.
Pawan kk p(it, a title of Hdnumin, I.
88.
Peacock, the, II. 45, 155, 233, 250.
Pearl, sacred, II. 17.
Pebbles flung at the ghost, II. 57.
Perambulation in the course of the sun,
I. 10.
Perforated shells, II. 17 s stones, I.
227; II. 164.
Pestle producing water, I. 50.
Phalgu river, legend of, I. 39.
Phallicism, in worship of Btitmsen, I.
90 ; in cow worship, II. 229 ; in
serpent worship, II. 124 ; in tree
worship, II. 86 J offerings, I. 90;
stones adapted to, 11. 164; in worship
of the plough, II. 192.
Phapholewili, a title of Sttala, I. 126.
Pharsipen, worship of, I. 120.
Pheasant, the, II. 251.
Pheru, a whirlwind demon, I. 81.
Philosopher's stone, the, II. 15.
Phoenix, the, II. 155, 158.
Phouka, the, II. 77.
Phdlmati, a sister of Sltala, I. 129.
Pigeon, the, I. 209 ; II. 246 ; marriage
of, II. 119.
Pillar worship of Bhtmsen, I. 90.
Pillows, offering of, I. 209.
Pindhiri tribe, worship of Ramasa Pir,
I. 200.
Pingala, the elephant, II. 239.
Pingalika, the lion, II. 210,
Pinnacle shaking, I. 223.
Pins, offered in wells, I. 163,
Ptpa, worship of, II. 133.
Pipal tree, the, I. 163; II. 61, 97;
leaves used as a witch test, II. 273.
Ptrs, the, I. 201, 204.
Pir 'Ali Rangrez, a saint, I. 203.
Pir Badr, a water godling, I. 47.
Pir HathtlS, a saint, I. 203.
Plr.i-'Azam, a saint, I. 216.
Plr-i-Dastglr, a saint, I. 216.
Pir Jahaniyin, a saint, I. 202, 221.
352
Index.
Pir Jalil, a saint, I. 203.
Ptr Muhammad, a samt, I. 203.
Pisicha, the, I. 94, 245 ; BhiUha, I.
238.
Pitri, the sainted dead, residing in the
moon, I. 18 ; worship of, I. 177.
Places, omens from, II. 53.
Planchette, the, II. 189.
Plantain uce, respect for, I. 131 1 II.
108.
Pleiades, the, I. 25.
Plenty, horn of, II. 225.
Piough, a fetish, II. 192 ; Monday, II.
192.
Ploughing, rites in co.inection with, II.
287.
Ploughshare, used in sorcery, I. 160.
Pokhar, a sacred lake, I. 54.
Pokhama Brithmans, feiish worship,
II. 187.
PolamdS, a sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Pole star, the, I. 24.
Pomaliya tribe, practice of the Couvade,
I. 276.
Pomegranate, a sacred tree, II. 108.
Poplar tree, sacred, II. 97,
Pora Mii, worship of, I. 114.
Porcupine quill, used in a charm, I.
165.
Pot, the inexhaustible, I. 215.
Potlinga, worship of, II. 182.
Potter^s wheel, a fetish, II. 186.
Poverty, expulsion of, II. 188.
Powder, thrown at the Holl, 11. 317.
Prabhu tribe, birth fiends, I. 264;
respect for the bamboo, II. 113;
respect for the boar, II. 157 ; respect
for the coGoanut, II. 106.
Prahldda, legend of, II. 313.
Prajapati, worship of, I. 5, 196; II.
241,
Prakriti, worship of, I. III.
Pramantha, the, II. 193.
Pregnant women, II. 2 ; at eclipses, I.
22 ; and snakes, II. 143.
Pret, the, I. 94, 244.
Pretiya.Brihmans, I. 245.
Pretsila, the, I. 245.
Priest, worship of, I. 178.
Prithivi, worship of, I. 26 ; II. 288.
Privy, a haunt of Bhiits, I. 293,
Priyavrata, legend of, L 9.
Prometheus, fl. 193.
Proper names and totemism, II. 152.
Prostitution, religious, II. 118.
Puberty, initiation rite, II. 66 ; flagella-
tion at, I. 100 ; seclusion at, I. 93.
Puck, II. 77.
Pumpkin, substituted for a human
sacrifice, II. 17$,
Pundarika, the elephant, II. 239.
Piira Br&hmans, totemism, II. 149.
Pflran Mai, ghost of, I. 253.
Purse, the inexhaustible, I. 215.
P(!lshan, worship of, I. 2.
Pushkar, a sacred lake, I. 54.
Pushpadanta, the elephant, II. 239.
Pushti, a Mother, I. 112.
Pfitona, a witch, I. 94 ; II. 285, 313.
Qadam-i-Ras6l, the, II. 200.
Quern, the magic, I. 50.
Qutb Sh&h, a saint, I. 218.
Qutb-ud-dtn Bakhtiyir Kiki, a saint, I.
214.
Qutbud'dtn Ushi, a saint, I. 216.
Qutrub, the, I. 267.
R.
Raddbr tribe, birth rites, I. 277.
Ridha, worship of, I. 3, in.
Ra^ Dds, a saint, I. 184.
Rki Sinh, worship of, I. 200.
Raft, launched in honour of Khwija
Khizr, I. 48 ; used to expel demons,
I. 48.
Rag, horses offered, II. 208 ; offerings
of, I. i6i ; tree, II. 319. '
Rahma, a saint, I 81.
R&hu, the eclipse demon, I. 19.
Raikw&r tribe, objection to the Ntm
tree, II. 158.
Railway accident, persons killed at,
I. 259.
Rain, binding up, I. 77 ; charms, I.
67 ; II. 96 ; clouds influenced by the
Evil Eye, I. 78 ; stopped by cutting
trees, II. 90 j devices to prevent,
I. 76.
Rainbow, the, I. 25 ; II. 144.
REja, of Bdndi, the, I. 257 ; Chandol,
worship of, I. 198; Kidir, I. 47;
Ldkhan, worship of, I. 198.
Rajab Slllir, a saint, I. 205.
Rajawa, a snake godling, II. 140.
Rijput tribe, ancestor worship, I. 181 ;
Sati worship, I. 187.
RSka, a moon goddess, I. 15.
Rakhwili, a guardian witch, II. 270.
Rakhshabandhan rite, II. 293.
Rikshasa, the, I. 246 1 a builder, I.
250; a cannibal, II. 168; folly of,
I. 249; Majhw^ belief regarding,
I. 233 ; modem, I. 252.
Index*
353
RIkshasi, the, I. 95. 247, 253.
Raii kk Mela, the, II. 321.
Ram, worship of, II. 226.
R&ma and S!ta, wells of. I. 52.
Rdmanand, footprints of, II. 200.
Rimdnuja sect, rules of eating, I. 293.
Ram&sa Ptr, worship of, I. 200.
Rdmdyana, the epic, I. 85.
Rambha, a fairy, I. 265.
Ram Deo, a P!r, I. 206.
Ramoshi tribe, marriage rites, 11. 47 ;
nudity rite, I. 68.
Rana, a Rakshasa, I. 55.
Rini BSchhal, the, I. 211.
Ransila, a sacred rock, I. 91 ; II. 18 1.
Rantideva Rllja, I. 39.
Rasilu, lejjend of, I. 250 ; II. 136, 241.
Rds Mandala dance, the, I. 155.
Rat, the, II. 241 ; produced by
neglected rite*?, I. 73; euphemism,
II. 241 ; of Sh&h Daula, II. 242 ;
a vehicle, II. 156.
Ratan Hdji, a saint, I. 212.
Ratan Panr^, worship of, I. 192.
Raudri, a Mother, I. 112.,
Rauka Devi, worship of, I. 133.
Rautiya tribe, tree marriage, II. 1 16.
RsLvana, a Rdkshasa, I. 247.
Re-birth through the cow, II. 231.
Recalling the ghost, II. 72.
Red, a protective, II. 28.
Red Nose and Bloody Bones, II. 82.
Regillus, lake of, II. 181.
Relics of saints, I. 75, 202 ; worship of,
II. 38.
Renuka, legend of, I. 58, 94.
Rhoea Sybeli, goddess of ravines, I.
62.
Rice pounder, fetish, II. 191 ; thrown
over the bride, II. 26, 188; rite
during planting, II. 291.
Rikheswara, worship of, II. 137.
Rikbi Panchami feast, the, II. 137.
Riksha, the constellation, I. 24.
Ring, magic, II. 44 ; protective power
of, II. 13, 16, 43.
Rip Van Winkle, I. 270.
River, associated with the Himalaya,
I. 42 ; springing from a corpse, I.
41 ; home of the dead, I. 42 ; ill-
omened, I. 40 ; junction sacred, I.
38 ; of death, II. 55 ; retiring at the
prayer of a saint, I. 218 ; worship,
I- 35 sqq.
Road, a haunt of Bhdts, I. 77 sq., 290 j
II. 3.
Robbers, deified, I. 197.
Robin Goodfellow, II. y6y 198.
Rod used in water finding, I. 5a
Rohi&nw^la, a saint, I. 208.
VOL. lU
Rohini, legend of, I. 13.
Roof, a haunt of Bh^ts, I. 293.
Rosaries, II. 19.
Rowan, a sacred tree, II. 107, iii,
274.
Ruby, a sacred stone, II. 17.
Rudra Siva, worship of, I. 3, Q4.
Ruins, a haunt of Bhuts, I. 28a
Ri^khar Bdba, a saint, I. 220.
Rukh, a mystic bird, II. 158.
Rukmini, worship of, I. 3.
Rumpelstilzchen, tale of, II. 5.
Riiniya, a demon, I. 264.
Rupee, used in a charm, I. 1 16.
Rural festivals, II. 287.
Rush ring, the, II. 43.
Sa, a sacred grove, II. 90.
Sabari, worship of, I. 94.
Sachi, a Mother, I. 112.
Sacrifice, vicarious, I. 74, 76; scape
animal merging into, I. 1 72.
Sadasiva, legend of, II. 237.
Sadhu, the, I. 183.
Sadhua Bhagat, a saint, I. 204.
Sigara, legend of, I. 35.
Sahja Mdi, worship of, I. 205.
Sahu Sdlir, worship of, I. 205.
Siim, a title of Bh^miya, I. 105.
Sain Bhagat, a saint, I. 204.
Sainhikeya, a demon, I. 19.
Saining, rite of, II. 177.
Sainted dead, the, I. 175 sqq.
Sdkamabari Devi, worship of, I. 224.
Sakhi Sarwar, a saint, I. 208.
Sakhiya, the, II. 91.
Sdkhu tree, respect for, II. icx).
Sakhu Bai, worship of, I. 187.
Sdkini, worship of, I. 94.
Sikti, worship of, I. 3, 84, 94.
Sdl tree, respect for, I. 32 ; II. Sy, 100.
Salagr^ma, the, I. 274; II. 165, 183;
married to the Tulasi, I. 49.
Saigirah, the, II. 47.
Salhes, worship of, I. 197.
Saltm Chishti, a saint, I. 190, 285.
Saliva, effects of, I. 262 ; II. 22.
Salono festival, the, II. 36, 293.
Salt, abstinence from, I. 7. ; a protec-
tive, I. 243 ; II. 23.
Salutation, a means of scaring demons,
II. 23.
Sambat, the, II. 314.
Sdmbhar lake, legend of, I. 55.
Sambhun^th, fire worship in honour of,
II. 196.
A a
354
Index.
Sambra, a goddess, I. 55.
Sampson, L 239 ; II. 66, 205,
Simudrika, worship of, I. 95.
Sandal, a sacred tree, II. 113.
Sangal Nfig, worship of, II. 125.
Sani, the planet, I. 1 10, 130; II. 16,
156.
Sankardchirya, a saint, I. 6.
Sankara Devi, worship of, I. 133.
Sankhachdrni, the, II. 77.
Sankhini, worship of, I. 95.
S^p Deota, worship of, II. 122.
Santil tribe, cremation rites, II. 189 ;
fetishes, II. 181 ; harvest home, II.
308 ; oath on the tiger, II. 213 ;
legend of origin, II. 154 ; mountain
worship, I. 61 ; post worship, I.
loi ; religious prostitution, II. 1 18 ;
totemism, II. 158 ; tiger worship,
II. 213; belief about trees, II. 90;
witch ordeals, II. 272.
Santanu, legend o( I. 36.
Sllnti, a mother, I. 112.
Santokh, the, II. 215.
Sinwar, worship of, I. 205.
Sapaha, worship of, I. 267.
Sapinda karana, rite, I. 245.
Sapphire, a sacred stone, II. 17.
Saptasri Devi, worship of, I. 284.
Saratoga, ghosts at, I. 259.
Sarhul, a feast, I. 51.
Sarjan, worship of, II. 133.
Sarju river, legend of, I. 39.
Sarna, a sacred grove, II. 90.
Sarvabhauma, the elephant, II. 239.
Sarvari, II. 219.
Sateswar, legend of, I. 125.
Sathi, a birth fiend, I. 264.
Sati, the, I. 185, 197 ; shrines of, I.
186.
Saturn, the planet. See Sam.
Saturnalia, II. 97, 324.
Satvii, a birth fiend, I. 264; II.
188.
Satyavrata, legend of, I. 38.
Satyr, the, I. 264.
Saubha Devi, worship of, I. 95.
Saukan Maura, the, I. 236.
Saura sect, sun worship, I. 6.
Savala, the sacred cow, II. 232.
Savitri, worship of, I. 112 ; II, 236.
Siyam, a title of Bhdmiya, I. 105.
Sayyid Ahmad, a saint, I. 208.
Sayyid Kablr, a saint, I. 217.
Sa37id MahmM, a saint, I. 223.
Sayyid Saadat Pir, I. 258.
Sayyid SlUir Masaud, I. 207.
Sayyid Yusuf, I. 222.
Sayyids, the, I. 201.
Scalplock, the, I. 107, 239.
Scape animals, I. 1 1 3, 141 sq., 166,
169.
Scapular, the, II. 41.
Scavenger, a priest, I. 95.
Scissors, a fetish, II. i86.
Scorpion, sting, charms, I. 151 ; II.
no ; controlled by a saint, I. 185.
Scott, Michael, I. 252.
Scrofula, cure of, I. 221.
Sculptures, obscene, I. 69.
Second marriage and Bhdts, I. 235.
Secrecy in rites, I. 28, 33, 293 ; II. 95,
312.
Sectarial marks, II. 30.
Sedala, sister of Sttala, I. 128.
Sedhu Lala, worship of, I. 129.
Semal, a sacred tree, II. 103.
Serpent. See Snake.
Sesamum, mystic power of, 1. 102 ; II.
28.
Seshan^, the world serpent, I. 49;
II. 123, 125, 288.
Seth, tomb of, I. 224.
Seven, a mystic number, I. 46, 77, 128,
148; II. 51 ; the sleepers, I, 283.
Seventy-four, a mystic number, II. 39.
Sewanriya, a deity of boundaries, I.
290.
Sex, change of, II. 6.
Shadow, part of the soul, I. 43, 133,
233, 260 ; not cast by Bhdts, I. 237.
Shahdba, the, II. 197.
Sh4h Abdul Ghafiir, a saint, I. 219.
Shdh Daula, a saint, I. 220 ; rais of,
II. 242.
Shibgarh lake, legend of, I. 57.
Shdhpasand, the £iiry, I. 266.
Shdh Q^sim Sulaimani, the saint, I.
184, 202.
Shih Ruqa-i-Alam, a Ptr, I. 203.
Shdh Shams Tabriz, a Plr, I. 203.
Shah Viiayat, a saint, I. 285.
Shdhza, worship of, I. 205.
Shaikh Ahmad Abdul Haqq, I. 223.
Shaikh Bdrhan, a saint, I. 190.
Shaikh Fartd, a saint, I. 203, 214 ; II.
308.
Shaikh Jaldl Makhddm, Jahaniydn
Jahingasht, a Pir, I. 203.
Shaikh Kabtr, a saint, I. 220.
Shaikh Mina Shah, a saint, I. 281.
Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus, a saint, I.
220.
Shaikh Saddu, worship of, I. 204, 217,
219.
Shait^n, the, I. 266.
Shambuka, legend of, II. 223.
Shamsi sect, the, I. 184.
Shiod M^ta, worship of, II. 309.
Shashthi, worship of, I. 131.
Index.
355
Shaving, rite of, I. 47 ; II. 66.
Sheaf, the last, II. 306 ; a protective,
II. 28.
Shears, divmation by, II. 187.
Sheep, respect for, I. 163.
Shell, a protective, II. 16.
Shiqq, the, I. 267.
Shtsbam tree, sacred, II. loi.
Shoe, a scarer of demons, I. 80 ; II.
34 ; flying, II. 206.
Shoebeating, I. 80 ; II. 34.
Shrine, in honour of persons killed by
accident, I. 234 ; which cure barren-
ness, I. 227 ; which cure disease, I.
220 ; of Bh^miya, I. 105 ; direction
of, I. 96, 98 ; with images or relics,
I. 224 ; of Sakhi Sarwar, I. 21a
Siddhua, a kindly ghost, II. 81.
Sidi Maula, a saint, I. 220.
Sieve, a fetish, I. 152.
Sikandar Diwina, a Ptr, I. 205.
Sikh Sayyids, I. 201.
Silat, the, I. 267.
Silence in rites, II. 59, 165, 311 sq.
Silkworms, II. 257.
Silver, touched at the new moon, I.
16 ; a protective, II. 15.
Simurgh,a mystic bird, II. 158.
Sin -eating, I. 170.
Sing Bont^a, a title of the sun, I. 10.
Sinhas, the, II. 132.
Sinhika, a Rikshasi, I. 261.
Siras tree, respect for, II. 109.
Slta, purified by bathing, I. 59 : test of
chastity, I. 52 ; sprung from a lur-
row, II. 287 ; kitchen of, I. 52 ; II.
32 ; pool of, I. 59 ; palanquin of, I.
62 ; well of, I. 52 ; worship of, I. 94
Sttala, the small-pox goddess, I. 125 ;
II. 174 ; connected with the Nlm
tree, II. 104.
Sith Bhruaith mounds, I. 282.
Sithi Jatra feast, II. 176.
Sitting in silence, II. 59.
Siva, vehicle of, II. 156.
Skandhah^ta, the, I. 258.
Skin, a seat, II. 35.
Skull-breaking rite, I. 239.
Sleeping person awakened, I. 232.
Small-pox, and the Nlm tree, II. 104 ;
precautions during epidemics, I. 135 ;
transference of, I. 165 ; worship of
goddess of, I. 125.
Smell, bad, a spirit scarer, II. 21.
Snake, an ancestor, II. 133 ; killing of,
a cause ot barrenness, I. 226 ; bite
cured at a shrine, I. 221 ; charm for
bite of, 1. 151, 239 ; II. 140 ; charm-
inj( of, IL 141 ; connected with
Uiw&li feast, II. 295 ; double-
tongued, II. 137 J feeding, II. 138 ;
euphemism, II. 142 ; heroes deified,
II. 133 ; in folk-lore, II. 136, 141 ;
gods, II. 131 ; household, II. 144;
jewel, the, II. 143 ; connected with
the N!m tree, II. 104; path of, I.
25 ; connected with the rainbow, II.
144 ; connected with the Sati, I.
187 ; shrines, II. 125 ; race, II 124,
151 ; stone, II. 141, 224 ; in tem-
ples, II. 126; treasure guardians, II.
134; tribe, the, II. 151; ruler of
the weather, II. 129 ; women, II.
137 ; worship of, I. 12 1 sqq.
Sneezing, I. 240.
Snow, caused by tree-cutting, II. 91.
Sobarna T!r, worship of, I. 205.
Sokha 1 an exerciser, I. 147 ; II.
Sokha Baba ) 122.
Solar myth, the, I. 56.
Solomon, I. 151, 266 ; II. 19, 39, 75,
82.
Soma, the moon godling, I. 12 ; II.
112.
Somavansi tribe, belief about second
marriage, I. 235.
Son river, legend of, I. 39.
Soral, a snake godling, II. 140.
Sorcerers, I. 156.
Soul, departing in a dream, I. 231 ;
facilitating departure of, II. 55 ;
separable, I. 231 ; II. 23.
South, the abode of the dead, I. 98.
Speech, of Bhftts, I. 238.
Spirits of the dead, hostile, I. 230 ; en-
tries of, 1. 238 ; lovers, 1. 238 ; mortal,
I. 178.
Spitting, I. 5, 79; of gold, II. 134.
SpUrle, a demon scarer, II. 22 ; effects
of, I. 262.
Spleen disease, charm for, II. 224.
Spolviero, a wind sprite, I. 81.
Spread hand, the, II. 39.
Spri:4gans, the, I. 286.
Springs, connected with the Ganges, I.
38 ; hot, I. 53.
Square, magic, I. 159.
Squirrel, the, II. 242.
Sraddha, rites, I. 179, 234 ; II. 30.
bringiri Devi, worship of, I. 1 14.
Stalactite, a fetish, II. 180.
Star, falling, I. 82; II. 22; showing
to, I. 25 ; worship of, I. 23 ; as kiue,
1.25.
Starling and locusts, II. 302.
St. George, I. 48.
Stick, magic, II. 177 sq.
Stocks named from animals, &c., II.
149.
Stone, circle, the, II. 42 ; creature
A a 2
356
Index,
turned into, II. 163 ; receptacle for
the ghost* II. 61 ; endued with life,
II. 164 ; used as fetishes, II. 163 ;
perforated, II. 19, 164 ; precious, II.
17 ; connected with rainfall, I. 75 ;
weapons, II. 12, 164.
String, magic, II. 45.
Strix, the, I. 279.
StOpa, the, II. 199.
Subhich^ra, a Yogini, I. 129.
Subhadanti, the elephant, II. 239.
Substitutes for sacrifice I. 97.
Succubi, the, I. 238, 264.
Sudarsana, legend of, II. 130.
Sudarsan Sah, expulsion of sorcerers,
I. 156.
Sugar, a spirit scarer, II. 36.
Sugar-cane, rite^^ I. 216 ; II. 304, 307.
Sugrtva, a monkey king. I. 63.
Suicide, burial of, I. 269, 290 ; reli-
gious, I. 256; II. 169; worship of,
I. 191 sqq.
Suiri tribe, worship of Hanum^, I. 86.
Sulakshana, a Yogini, I. 129.
Sultan Baytiztd, worship of, I. 220.
Sult^ni sect, the, I. 208.
Sun, emblem of, drawn as a protective,
I. 160 ; eye of, I. 12 ; impregnation
by, I. II, 69 ; power of summoning
friends, I. 11 ; kindred of the, II.
150 ; connected with the Ntm tree,
II. 105; walking in the course of, 1. 10.
Sunanda, a Yo{)ini, I. 129.
Suuasepha, worship of, I. 94.
Sdnga, a water finder, I. 50.
Sung^, worship of, II. 303.
Sunshine, propitiation of. II. 314.
Sunstroke, theory of, I. 125.
Suprattka, the elephant, II. 239.
Surabhandeswari, worship of, I. 95.
Surabhi, the mystic cow, II. 232.
Suraj Deota, worship of, I. 74.
SOrajbansi Rijput sept, totemism, II.
150-
Suraj NMyan ^ worship of, I. 5, 74,
Sdrya, / 77. 283.
Si^ryabhdn, worship of, I. 61.
Sdryapati, worship of, I. 6.
Suthdn, worship of, I. 205.
Svadha, a Mother, I. 112.
Svisva, a title of Bhairon, I. 108.
Swan, the, II. 247 ; maiden, cycle of
tales, I. 36, 45, 68, 238.
Swastika, the, I. ii, 160; II. loi, 125.
Sweeper, burial of, I. 144, 269 ; ghosts
of, II. 60; omens from, II. 48 ; saint
of, I. 203.
Sword, magic, II. 13, 162 ; marriage to,
II. 185 ; a protective, II. 14 ; wor-
ship of, II. 185.
Syama Karana, the horse. II. 204.
Syaniala, worship of, I. 95.
Syamji, worship of, I. 196.
Syana, an exorciser, I. 147.
Taboo, of names, II. 5.
Tadala, a sacred lake, I 56.
Tail, of the tiger, II. 217.
Takshaka, a snake king, I. 17 ; II.
139.
Talio Daitya, a demon, I. 284.
Tamarind tree, respect for, II. I09»
Tank, sacred, I. 58} containing trea-
sure, I. 60.
Tanner, water of, drunk, II. 280.
Ta a Bai, I. 249.
Tira Penu, worship of, II. 131.
Tir Blr, a demon, I. 235.
Taroba, a sacred lake, I. 56.
Tarpana rite, the, I. 180.
Tattooing, II. 30.
Tauz, I. 48.
Teeth, of witches, II. 281.
Tejaji, worship of, I. 213.
Telemachus, dogs ot, II. 222.
Teli, omens from, II. 48.
Tempests, caused by Deos, I. 254.
Temple builoing and nudity, I. 71.
Terminus, I. 290.
Tests, of hero, II. 215 ; of witches, II.
272.
Thags, fetish axe, II. 184 ; belief in
omens, II. 49 ; patron saint, I. 215 ;
worship of Devi, I. 63.
Thakur tribe, birth rites, II. 40.
Thammuz, I. 48.
Thandi, a title of Sttala, I. 130.
Tharu tribe, burial rites, II. 65 ; fetish
worship, II. 184; post worship, I.
loi J use of turmeric, II. 29 ; witch-
craft, II. 261, 284
Thatch-burning to cure barrenness, I.
226.
Theh, a sacred mound, I. 107.
Thorns, a demon scarer, II. 36, 57.
Three, a mystic number, II. 51.
Threshold, respect for, I. 241.
Threshing-floor, protection of, II. 41.
Thumbs, double, II. 36.
Thunder and lightning, I. 33 sq., 135.
Tiga, a totem sept, II. 151.
Tiger, the, II. 210 ; befooled, II. 218;
charming, I. 153 ; II. 214 ; claws,
II. 38 ; euphemism, II. 212 ; laying
of ghost, I. 267 ; magical powers of,
II. 214; man-eating, II. 211 ; pro-
Index.
357
pitiation of, II. 215 ; a vehicle, II.
156.
Tilanjali rite, the, II. 28.
Tippera tribe, recalling the ghost, II.
72-
Tirik, a totem sept, II. 151.
Tiyar tribe, human sacrifice, II. 170.
Toad, fat of, II. 177 ; stone, the, I.
116.
Toda tribe, buffalo worship, II. 237 j
worship of Hiriya Deva, I. 168.
Tula, a demon, I 261.
Tomb, fetish, II. 198 ; haunters, II.
218; miracle-working, I. 184.
Tombstone, the, II. 61, 166.
Tom Tit Tot, II. 5.
Tool fetish, the, II 184. .
Toothache charms, I. 151.
Topaz, a sacred stone, II. 17.
Tortoise, th<', II. 255.
Totem, the, 11. 146 sqq.
Totemism, II. 86, 120, 124 ; II. 146
sqq., 225.
Transmigration, II. 230.
Treasure, buried, I. 282; guarded by
Bhuts, I. 282 ; discovered by human
sacrifice, II. 170; guarded by snakes,
I. 282 ; II. 134; speaking, II. 135 ;
in tanks, I. 60; underground, I.
289.
Tree, growing from bones, II. 88 ;
burial in, II. 85 ; caution in climbing,
II- n ; prejudice against cutting,
II. 90 ; bearing fruit and flowers at
the same time, II. ^\ ghosts, I.
243 ; II. 77 ; connected with places,
II. 92 ; influencing rain, II. 90 ;
marriages, II. 115 ; married to a well,
II. 86 ; abode of Rikshasas, II. 84 ;
serpent worship, II. 83 sq. ; sprites,
II. 92 ; which talks, II. 89 j spirits
giving rain, II 84.
Trinivartta, a tempest demon, 1. 78.
Tripura, worship of, I. 95.
Trisanku, legend of, I. 38, 41, 94.
Tnghlaq, the Emperor, I. 228.
Tukarim, worship of, I. 196.
Tulasi plant, the, I. 21 ; II. Iio;
married to the Sdlagr4ma, I. 49 ; to
a Brdhman, 11. 116.
Tulasi Dds, worship of, I. 85, 196.
Tulja Bhawdni, worship of, I. 155.
Tumour, charm to remove, I. 160.
Turi tribe, respect for the bamboo, II.
"3-
Turkin, a form of Sttala, I. 126.
Turquoise, a sacred stone, IL 18.
Turmeric, a protective, I. 237 ; II.
29.
Toshti, a Mother, I. 112.
U.
UcHCHAisRAVAS, a horse, II. 204.
Uchla tribe, death rites, II. 39.
Uj, legend of, I. 223.
Ujali Mslta, worship of, I. 127.
Uma, legend of, I. 12.
Urebar, a sacred tree, II. 97.
Umbilical cord, the, II. 38.
Umljrella, use of, II. 24.
Uncle, appeal to, I. 249 ; a name for
the moon, I. 14.
Undine, I. 45.
Unsained children, II. 13.
Urad, a sacred grain, I. 77, 80, 147 ;
II. 27.
Urin Khatola, the, II. 206.
Urine, of the cow, II. 28.
Urvasi, legend of, I. 265.
Ushas, worship of, I. 2, 5 ; II. 303.
Uttara Kuru, a paradise, I. 60.
Vaddar tribe, respect for the boar, II.
158; theory of disease, I. 124.
Vdggayya tribe, dog worship, II. 221.
Vdhana, a vehicle, II. 156.
Vaishnavi, a Mother, I. 112.
Vaitarani river, the, I. 40 ; II. 55.
Vajraklta insect, the, II. 165.
Vaka, legend of, I. 250.
Vala, legend of, I. 255.
Vallabh^ch^ya sect, marriage with a
god, II. 118.
Vdlmlki, worship of, I. 195.
Vampire, the, I. 243 ; II. 263.
Vanadurga, worship of, I. 95.
Varaha, the boar incarnation, I. 35 ; II.
156.
Varahi, the Mother, 112.
Varli tribe, recalling the ghost, II. 71.
Varuna, a rain god, I. 2 ; vehicle of, II.
156.
VaiTini, worship of, II. 125.
Vasavas, the, I. 36.
Vasishtha, a sage, I. 38, 196.
Vastra-harana tree, the, I. 161.
Vasudeva, worship of, II. 98.
Vasuki, the snake god, II. 131.
Vasunemi, a snake god, II. 131.
Vata, a sacred tree, IL 98.
Vayda tribe, totemism, II. 154.
Vayu, worship of, I. 2 ; II. 156.
Vehicles, of the gods, II. 156.
Vena Raja, I. 39. 128, 146.
Veni Midhava, worship of, I. 39,
Vermilion, a protective, II. 21.
358
Index.
Vessels, cleaned with earth, I. 29 ; re-
placed after a death, II. 74.
Vct&la, the, I. 94, 148, 149. a43 ; U-
76.
Vijaya, a Mother, I. 112.
Vikramaditya, II. 208.
Village, abandoned, I. loi, 282 ; god-
lings, I. 83, 96 ; ill-omened, II. 53 ;
overturned by a curse, I* 217; shrines,
1.96.
Vinata, legend of, II. 127.
Vindhyablslni Devi, worship of I. 63,
198.
Vindh3ran hills, respect for, I. 63.
Vinjitn, a hill goddess, I. 63.
Vtiabhadia, legend of, I. 12.
Vimn employed in working charms, I.
28,77,79.
Visaladeva, legend of, I- 252.
Vishnu, head of, worshipped, I. 94;
identified with Bhiimiya, I. 107 ;
sleep of, II. 299 ; vehicle of, II.
156 ; worship of, I. 3, 84, 209.
Vishnupada, worship of, II. 199.
Visranti Sriddha, rite, II. 6i.
Visvakanna, legend of, I. 5.
Visvamitra, a sage, I. 38.
Volcanic fire, the, II. 197.
Vomiting caused by Rikshasas, I. 248.
Vrihaspati, legend of, I. 14.
Vrishakdpi, the monkey, I. 85.
Vrishotsarga rite, the, II. 234.
Vritra, the weather dragon, I. 255 5 II.
123.
Vulture, a vehicle, II. 156.
Vydsa, legend of, I. 38 ; worship of, I.
19s.
W.
WAgh Deo, worship of, II. 213.
WagtaU, the, II. 248.
Waking the dead, II. 76.
Wall shaking, I. 223.
Warden deities, I. 84.
Warren Hastings, ghost of, II. 82.
Warts charming of, I. 15.
Wa^hrnnan, ghost of, I. 133 ; omens
from, II. 50.
Watching the corpse, II. 76.
Water, bui^ing of, I. 78 ; demons, I.
42; of t' e Ganges, I. 37; god, I.
47 ; holes, danger of looking into, I.
43 ; horse, I. 44 ; a protective, II.
25 ; of wells curing disease, I. 50.
WaterfeUs, I, 53.
Waving rite, the, I. 239 ; II. 23.
WayJand Smith, I 280.
Weapon fetishes, II. 185.
Wearing the Rose, II. 294.
Weasel, omens from, II. 48.
Weather, demoniacal control o^ I. 67.
Weddings, godling of, I. 119, 139.
Well, otdeath, II. 215 ; digging o^, I.
48 ; folk-lore of, I. 48 ; connected
with the Ganges, I. 51 ; discovery by
goats, I. 51 ; <^life, I. 47 ; magic, I.
210 ; marriage of, I. 49 ; connected
with rainfall, I. 52 ; oniens from, I.
53 ; worship of, I. 11, 51.
Werewolf, the, II. 211, 281.
Whiripools, the haunt of demons, I. 43.
Whirlwind, the, I. 78, 80 sqq. ; god-
ling of, I. 88, 267.
White, a protective colour, II. 28.
Whooping cough, charm to cure, I.
164 ; II. 207.
Whuppity Stoorie, II. 5.
Wild dogs, II. 223.
Wild huntsman, the, I. 261.
Will-o'-the-Wisp, I. 261 ; II. 197.
Wind enclosed in a sack, I. 67,
Winnowing, II. 308 : basket fetish, II.
189.
Witch, the, II. 259 ; charm against, I.
150 ; extracting parts of the body, II.
268 ; in folk-lore, II. 263 ; haunts
of, II. 283 ; ordeals, II. 271 ; pun-
ishment of, II. 280 ; seasons, II. 266;
causing cholera, I. 143 ; or tempests,
I. 80 : tests of, II. 272 ; as tigers, II.
267.
Witchcraft, by mesms of images, II.
278 ; instruction in, II. 264.
Wolf, children, II. 153 ; omens from,
II. 49; totemism, II. 153 ; prejudice
against killing, I. 75.
Woli, a hail charmer, I. 8a
Women, exposed to BhOts, I. 235 ; ex-
cluded from worship, I. 33; II. 257 ;
loved by Bhdts, I. 238 ; rites con-
fined to, I. 69, 92, 204 ; saint of, I.
204.
WoTider- working tombs, I. 225«
Woodpecker, the, II. 250.
Wool used in a charm, I. 163 ; II. 45.
W- rm, charm to remove, I. 160.
Worthies, worship of, I. 183.
Wren hunting, I. 172.
Wrestlers, worship of Hanumlin, I. 87 ;
of Sakhi Sarwar, I. 210.
Wulpurgis night, I. 64.
y.
Yadava, tribe, fetish worship, II. 180.
Yaksha, the, I. 60, 94 ; II. 79.
Index,
359
Yama, the god of death, I. 33, 36, 98,
233 ; II* 156; dogs of, II. 222.
Yamuna, worship of, I. 36.
Yantra, the, II. 38.
Yard measure, a fetish, II. 186.
Yatudhanas, the, II. 205.
Yawning, I, 240.
Year, burning the, II. 314.
Yech, the, II. 80.
Yellow, a protective colour, II. 28.
Yggdrassil, a sacred tree, II. 85, 104.
Yoginis, worship of the, I. 94, 128.
Young men attacked by the Rikshasi,
I. 253.
Youthful deities, I. 207.
Yudishthira, legend of, II. 218.
Yule loir, the, II. 197.;
Yiipa, the sacrificial post, II. 107, iii.
ZaHIR DtWAN "> worship o^ I. 211,
Zahir Plr > 222.
Zain Kh&n, a Jinn, I. 216.
Zalgur, the horse, I. 44.
Zamtndir, a title of Bh{lmiya, I. 105.
Zinda Shdh Madir. a saint, 216.
Zodiac, signs of the, I. 24.
Zu*-1-Qarnain, a title of Alexander of
Macedon, I. 48.
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LD., ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL, LONDON.
RUPERT
PRINCE PALATINE
By EVA SCOTT
Late Scholar of Somerville College, Oxford.
With Photogravure frontispiece.
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addition to our historical biographies. It is strange that no serious
life of the gallant Prince Rupert should have been written till now,
but no one could have written with fuller knowledge or more
genuine enthusiasm than Miss Eva Scott. She has ignored few if
any of the manifold sources of information, printed and manuscript,
from which the chequered history of the great soldier can be
gleaned, and the result of work which must have been both
assiduous and intelligent is a really admirable and complete historical
study." — Guardian,
" A final word as to this book itself. It is well got up, well
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general view of the material used, and a series of careful footnotes
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Post,
"Miss Scott, on the other hand, has not only made herself
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what is seldom to be found — a rare talent for biographical present-
ment. Not only is there no overburdening of the narrative with
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Historical Review,
"Though she properly makes a hero of Rupert, she is never
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ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & Co., Westminster.
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By EDITH SICHEX.
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The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe
Being Sketches of the Domestic and Religious Rites and
Ceremonies of the Siamese
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Fully Illustrated by E. A. NORBURY, R.C.A.
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3
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By SIR WILLIAM MARTIN CONWAY
With a Supplementary Chapter by the
Rev. W, A. B, COOLIDGE.
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4
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5-
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II
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' >A. ?w
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This Atlas will be found of great use, not only to tourists and travellers, but
also to readers of Indian history, as it contains twenty-two plans of the principal
towns of our Indian Empire, based on the most recent surveys and officially
revised to date in India.
The Topographical Section Maps are an accurate reduction of the Survey
of India, and contain all the places described in Sir W. W. Hunter's ** Gazetteer
of India," according to his spelling.
The Military Railway, Telegraph, and Mission Station Maps are designed to
meet the requirements of the Military and Civil Service, also missionaries and
business men who at present have no means of obtaining the information they
require in a handy form.
The Index contains upwards of ten thousand names, and will be found more
complete than any yet attempted on a similar scale.
Further to increase the utility of the work as a reference volume, an abstract
of the 1 89 1 Census has been added.
UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE
Constable's Hand Gazetteer of
India
Compiled under the Direction of
J. G. BARTHOLOMEW, F.R.G.S.
And Edited with Additions by Jas. Burgess, CLE., LL.D.,
etc.
Crown 8vo. Half Morocco, los. 6d.
The Hand Gazetteer of India is based on the Index to Constable's Hand
Atlas of India, which contains nearly 12,000 place-names. To these have been
added very largely from various sources, bringing the number of entries to close
upon 20,000. The populations of districts, towns and villages, and the position
of each place are clearly indicated, thus forming within a small compass a general
reference book to the topography of India, and a companion volume to the
Hand Atlas of India.
17
Bartholomew's Physical Atlas
A Series of Maps illustrating the Natural Phenomena
of the Earth.
Prepared under the direction of
J. G. BARTHOLOMEW, F.RS.E., F.R.G.S.
Revised and edited by
Geology : Sir Archibald Geikie, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S., etc.
Oceanography: Sir John Murray, K.C.B., D.Sc, LL.D., F.RS., etc.
Orography: Prof. Jas. Geikie, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., etc.
Meteorology: Alexander Buchan, LL.D., F.R.S., etc.
Botany : Prof. Bayley Balfour, D.Sc.
Zoology : P. L. Sclater, D.Sc, LL.D., F.Z.S.
Ethnography : Prof. A. H. Keane, F.R.G.S.
. Demography : Prof. Elis£e Reclus.
Cosmography : Prof. Ralph Copeland, F.R.A.S., Astronomer
Royal for Scotland.
Magnetism: Prof. C. G. Knott, D.Sc, F.R.S.E.
Dedicated to Her Majesty the Queen, under the patronage of
the Royal Geographical Society, and published by
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO.
Vol. VI. Ethnography and Demo-
graphy.
„ VII. General Cosmography
and Terrestrial Mag-
netism.
Vol. I. Geology.
„ II. Orography, Hydrography,
and Oceanography.
„ HI. Meteorology.
„ IV. Botany.
„ V. Zoology.
The Volumes may be purchased singly. Price £2 12s. 6d.
net per volume.
Vol. III., containing 400 maps, is now ready ; the other
volumes will follow shortly.
Detailed prospectus on application.
18
The Sportswoman's Library
2 Vols. Edited by Frances E. Slaughter.
Dedicated by permission to the Marchioness of Worcester.
Fully Illustrated, cloth gilt, 12s, 6d. per vol.; half-leather, 155. per
volume.
The volumes may be purchased singly.
Contents of the two volumes : —
Volume I.
1. English Women and Sport. The
Editor.
2. Foxhunting. Mrs. Bum.
3. Hare Hunting. The Editor.
4. Shooting. The Hon. Mrs.
Lancelot Lowther.
5. Fishing for Tarpon. Mrs.
Murphy-Grimshaw.
6. Archery. Mrs. Berens and Miss
Walrond.
7. Skating. Miss May Balfour.
8. Golf Miss Starkie-Bence.
9. Croquet. Miss Spong.
Appendix A. Golf Rules and
Glossary.
Appendix B. Croquet Rules.
Volume II.
I. Cruising and Small Yacht Rac-
ing on the Solent. Miss Bar-
bara Hughes.
2. Punt Racing. Mrs.W. L.Wyllie.
3. In Red Deer Land. Mrs. Penn-
Curzon.
4. Chase of the Carted Deer.
The Editor.
5. Women's Hunters. The Editor.
6. Otter Hunting. Mrs. Wardell.
7. Salmon Fishing, with Notes on
Trout and Coarse Fishing.
Susan, Countess of Malmes-
bury.
8. Fly Fishing. The Editor.
9. Driving. Miss Massey-Main-
waring.
10. Cycling. Miss A. C. Hills.
11. Fancy Figures and Musical
Rides. Miss Van Wart.
12. Tennis. Miss Maud Marshall.
Appendix A. Glossary of Nauti-
cal Terms.
Appendix B. Rules of Lawn Tennis.
'* A book which, so far as my familiar knowledge of some branches of sport
enables me to test it, is eminently practical and valuable." — Country Life Illus-
trated,
The History of the Belvoir Hunt
By T. F. DALE.
With Five Photogravure Plates and numerous other Illustrations.
Also a Hunting Map showing Historic Runs, and a Map of
the Country hunted in the middle of this Century.
Demy 8vo, 21s, net.
" Mr. Dale tells many good stories, and mentions not a few interesting facts."
— 7%4f Times,
** Politics, the manners and customs of early hunting days, the social history
of the owner of Belvoir : all these are deftly interwoven into this history.'* —
Morning Post,
The Game of Polo
By T. F. DALE.
Fully Illustrated. Demy 8vo, 21s, net.
'A book which is likely to rank as the standard work on the subject." —
Standard,
19
Ten Shillings a Head per Week
for House Books
An Indispensable Manual for Housekeepers.
Menus, Recipes, Hints and Advice for the Single-
handed Cook.
By Mrs. C. S. PEEL
Crown 8vo, 3^. 6d.
" In these pages bills of fare for one week, according to the season of the
year, have been carefully arranged for a household of six or eight persons.
After a perusal of these menus, some housekeepers may imagine that it would
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however, shows that with proper care and economy it can be accomplished.
The work is specially suitable to those who have carefully to consider the
question of ways and means." — The Morning Post,
"Should prove a very good guide to young housekeepers beginning their
business. It is an economical little work, and certainly shows how to get the
most out of the sum allowed." — Spectator,
**A most valuable manual, which will rescue many a young housekeeper
from despair." — The Queen.
The New Home
By Mrs. C. S. PEEL
With many Illustrations by Agnes Walker.
Crown 8vo, 3^,, 6d,
** Those who feel unable to cope with the subject of * the house beautiful '
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relief to many a home where a real desire for pretty rooms exists. Its many
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Woman,
"A useful book, treating of the arrangement, decoration, and furnishing of a
house of medium size, to be maintained by a moderate income. It contains many
useful hints ; and by means of illustrations gives good ideas of how best to
arrange a house and to provide useful accessories." — The Weekly Sun,
20
CONSTABLE'S REPRINT OF
The Waverley Novels
The Favourite Edition of Sir Walter Scott
With all the original Plates and Vignettes (re-engraved). In
48 vols. Foolscap 8vo. Cloth, paper label title, is. 6d.
net per Volume ; cloth gilt, gilt top, 2s. net per
Volume ; and half leather gilt, 2s, 6d, net per
Volume.
" A delightful reprint. The price is lower than that of many inferior editions."
— Athemeum,
" The excellence of the print and the convenient size of the volumes and
the association of this edition with Sir Walter Scott himself, should combine
with so moderate a price to secure for this reprint a popularity as great as that
which the original edition long and justly enjoyed." — 7'he Times,
In six volumes
BoswelPs Life of Johnson
Edited by AUGUSTINE BIRRELL
With Frontispieces by Alex. Ansted, a reproduction of
Sir Joshua Reynolds* Portrait. Six Volumes. Fools-
cap 8vo. Cloth, paper label, or gilt extra, 2j. net
per Volume. Also half morocco, 3J. net per
Volume. Sold in Sets only.
* * Far and away the best Boswell, I should say, for the ordinary book-lover
now on the market." — Illustrated London News,
** The volumes, which are light, and so well bound that they open easily
anywhere, are exceedingly pleasant to handle and read." — St. /harness Budget*
In two volumes
UNIFORM WITH "BOSWELUS LIFE OF JOHNSON"
BoswelPs Tour to the Hebrides
with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
With Notes by ScoTT, Croker, Chambers, and others.
In 2 volumes. Foolscap 8vo. Cloth, paper label, or cloth
gilt, gilt top, 2J. net per Volume.
Also bound in half leather, 3^. net per Volume.
The eight volumes, comprising ** The Life " and " The Tour,"
in a box price i6j. net ; or in half leather, £\ 4?. net
*'We have good reason to be thankful for an edition of a very useful and
attractive kind."— T'ii^ Spectator,
21
CONSTABLE'S LIBRARY
OF
Historical Novels and
Romances
Edited by
G. LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A.
3J. 6d. per volume. Cloth. After a design by
A. A. TURBAYNE.
''A good historical novel bears much the same relation to the study of
history that a pleasure trip does to that of geography." — Glasgow Heretld,
LORD LYTTON
Harold, the Last of the Saxons.
CHARLES MACFARLANE
The Camp of Refuge.
CHARLES KINGSLEY
Westward Ho !
CHARLES MACFARLANE
Reading Abbey.
•* It is a noble edition simply given away at 31. 6</." — Th€ Sun,
"A marvel of cheap and excellent book- production." — Literature.
*'This Series deserves to be a success, and is wonderful ' value for the
money." — Dundee Advertiser.
''Prefaced with an interesting and vexy serviceable introduction, which
throws floods of light on the historical period." — Educational Times.
"Make an admirable history prize." — Educational Review,
**May be described as an idition de luxe, ^^ -^Catholic Times,
22
THREE INSTRUCTIVE AND BEAUTIFUL HISTORICAL
BOOKS
The King's Story Book
Edited by G. LAURENCE GOMME
Illustrated by Harrison Miller.
Being Historical Stories collected out of English Romantic
Literature in illustration of the Reigns of English
Monarchs from the Conquest to King William IV.
Bound in red cloth. Gilt. Crown 8vo, 6s.
UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE
The Queen's Story Book
Edited by G. LAURENCE GOMME
Illustrated by W. H. Robinson.
Bound in blue cloth gilt. Crown 8vo, 6^.
"Mr. G. Laurence Gomme has edited as a supplement to *The King's
Story Book 'of last year another Jexcellent budget of stories. The Stories are
as good as the arrangement is ingenious, and the arrangement is a pageant of
historic romance which it would be difficult to equal except in Mr. Gomme's
own previous volume." — Pa/I Mall Ga&etU,
Also
The Prince's Story Book
Edited by G. LAURENCE GOMME
Illustrated by H. S. Banks.
Bound in green cloth gilt. Crown 8vo, ds,
" The book is an ideal prize book for young people, as it is calculated to
encourage in them a love of their country's history." — Daily Chronicle,
Plantation Pageants
By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS (Uncle Remus).
Fully illustrated by E. Boyd Smith 6f.
"A capital book."— 7X* Guardian.
Sister Jane
By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS (Uncle Remus).
Crown 8vo, 6y.
" Of all Mr. Harris's recent stories * Sister Jane' is the best." — Academy,
23
THE CENTENARY EDITION OF
THE STORIES OF SAMUEL
LOVER
A complete uniform Edition of the Stories of Samuel Lover.
Edited, with an Introduction and Notes
By J. T. O'DONOGHUE
Large Crown 8vo, bound in half linen, flat backs,
6s. per Volume. Sold separately or in sets.
Order of Volumes : —
Vol. I. HANDY ANDY.
2. RORY O'MORE.
3. TREASURE TROVE; OR, "HE WOULD
BE A GENTLEMAN."
4. LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND.
(First Series.)
5. LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND.
(Second Series.)
6. FURTHER STORIES OF IRELAND.
The last Volume includes Stories which have never been
previously collected.
" These books of Lover's seem to us to reach almost an ideal for a
library edition, so far as type and form are concerned, and are m the
best traditions of this publishing house.** — Literature,
"Annotated with care and judgment and beautifully printed." — Pall
Mall Gazette.
SPENSER'S FAERIE QUEENE
Now complete in Six Volumes. Cloth in box, gj. net
Edited by KATE M. WARREN
Foolscap 8vo, \s. 6d. net each volume.
Also Art Canvas gilt extra, with Photogravure Frontispiece,
2s. 6d, net per Volume ; complete in case, i$s. net
" The text of the present issue, which has been prepared with great
care, is based on that of the editions of 1590 and 1596. Each volume is
provided with an admirable glossary, and with notes, containing all that
is necessary for an understanding of the text. The introductions are
ably written, and show much critical power." — Spectator^
24
SUNNINGWELL
By F. WARRE CORNISH
Crown 8vo, 6^.
" No more agreeable picture of a clergyman has been
drawn since * The Vicar of Wakefield/ No more sympathetic
or humorous treatment of a provincial society has been pub-
lished since * Cranford.' It is only the form of these two
books which suggests comparison, for * Sunningwell ' stands
by itself and owes nothing to any one model." — Speaker,
" This IS a scholarly, well- written, and interesting book,
not without a good deal both of humour and of pathos." —
Manchester Guardian,
"There can be little doubt that the author presents a
truthful picture of the ecclesiastical life of the last generation ;
the work is one, moreover, that in an age of hurried book-
making deserves recognition by reason of its thoughtful and
scholarly character." — Morning Post
" * Sunningwell ' is a book into the making of which much
shrewd and humorous observation and much cultured and
vigorous thought have gone, and it is a book worth reading —
even worth buying." — Scotsman,
" The views put forward throughout the volume, whether
or not the writer's own, are always worth considering, even
when we dissent from them — certainly they cannot be lightly
put aside. And the book is excellent reading, for it is full of
vigorous and weighty sayings and full of humour too." —
Guardian.
25
The Taming of the Jungle
By C. W. DOYLE
The Cover specially designed by J. T. Nettleship.
" ' The Taming of the Jungle ' is one of the most striking books
of Indian life that we have seen since Mr. Kipling produced his
* Plain Tales from the Hills/ and it does not suffer by comparison
with the work that made Mr. Kipling famous. Indeed, if Dr.
Doyle had been first in the field, we venture to think that Mr.
Kipling's work would have been adjudged less good than this later
effort."— Literature,
" One needs no previous knowledge of this folk of the Terai,
away there under the Himalayas, to appreciate the insight and
observation which characterise every stroke of the charming sketches.
It would be altogether unfair to say that the author owes his inspira-
tion to Mr. Kipling. He speaks from long and close experience \
and, what is better still, his note is his own. ... In a brilliant
illustration by Mr. Nettleship, full of fire and movement, the beasts
of the jungle are seen careering across the back of the book. The
covers, in fact, have been drawn as well as any huntsman could do
\\.:'— Punch,
" The book reflects the romance of the jungle and the thoughts
and customs of an uncultured race, endowed with many admirable
characteristics and some of the qualities of barbarism, in a manner
that deserves appreciative recognition. The author has evidently
lived among the people and closely studied their ways, so that, while
the picture that he presents is engaging, it also conveys a sense of
verisimilitude." — Morning Post,
" I am impelled to say a word in warm praise of the extremely
pleasant little book of Indian stories, without caring a fig for the
purely academic question as to whether they would have been put
forth exactly as they stand had Mr. Kipling never lived. Dr.
Doyle knows the folk of the Terai intimately ; he has the power of
spinning a good story out of the good stuff with which his memory
is stored."— T. P. O'Connor, in M, A, P,
26
.s- <
Janice Meredith
A Story of the American Revolution
By PAUL LEICESTER FORD
Crown 8vo, 6s.
" Mr. Ford, who is already a distinguished American writer, is greatly
to be congratulated on a very delightful novel, which, no less from its
historical than for its literary merit, will considerably add to his reputa-
tion."— 7:^ Daily News.
" The story is an excellent and carefully executed romance of love and
war." — Spectator.
" Janice and her girl friends are delightful." — Literature.
" Mr. Ford has the right feeling for romance ; he knows how to bring
his reader into the thick of the excitement and give him the right thrill of
personal participation in the struggle, and he keeps his grip on the
reader's attention through a long and interesting book." — The Speaker.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
The Story of an Untold Love
Crown 8vo, 6j.
" You must by all means read 'The Story of an Untold Love.'" —
Truth.
** The book may be commended to readers of all classes and tastes."
— Athenceum.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Tattle Tales of Cupid
Crown 8vo, 6j.
" There is not one of them that is not dainty and entertaining."-
Daily Mail.
" A very attractive and highly entertaining book by the clever author
of ' The Story of an Untold \.ow^r— Observer.
Dracula
BY BRAM STOKER
Crown 8vo, 6x.
" In seeking a parallel to this weird, powerful and horriWe story, our
minds revert to such tales as *The Mysteries of Adolpho,' 'Frankenstein,'
* Wuthering Heights,' * The Fall of th^ House of Usher,' and ' Marjery of
Quelher.' But * Dracula' is even more appalling in its gloomy fascination
than any one of these." — Daily Mail.
" It is horrid and creepy to the last degree. It is also excellent, and
one of the best things in the supernatural line that we have been lucky
enough to hit upon." — Pall Mall Gazette.
27
WORKS BY FIONA MACLEOD
The Dominion of Dreams
Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s.
" For the gifts of Miss Fiona Macleod, it is impossible to use the common words of
gratitude. To people who live in a paved city, or a half-paved suburb, dimly con-
scious of sky, and aware of the voice of the wind only when a gale sings in the telegraph
wires, her writings are as the water of life. We know not, neither do we care, whether
Fiona Macleod be man, woman, or spirit, though we suppose her treasure is hidden in
an earthen vessel. Enough for us that she hears, as only poets hear, the old authentic
voices of the vf orld."— Daily Chronicle,
"Of the extreme beauty and subtlety of Miss Fiona Macleod's writing there is no
need now to speak. She has caught the habit of the true Gael, who sees an idea in a
picture, and expresses a thought in a metaphor." — Literature,
Green Fire
A Story of the Western Islands.
Crown 8vo, 6.r.
"There are few in whose hands the pure threads have been so skilfully and deli-
cately woven as they have in Fiona Macleod's." — Pall Mall Gazette.
"The fuller revelation which we looked for from Miss Fiona Macleod's earlier
works has been amply fulfilled in this volume." — Western Mail,
The Laughter of Peterkin
A Re-telling of Old Stories of the Celtic Wonder-world.
Illustrated by Sunderland Rollinson.
Crown 8vo, 6s,
"The writing is full of beauty and passion." — St. James's Gazette.
"To no more skilful hands than those of Fiona Macleod could the re-telling of
these old tales of the Celtic Wonderland have been confided." — Morning Post,
By Order of the Company
By MARY JOHNSTON
Crown 8vo, 6s,
•* Miss Mary Johnston's former novel prepared the reader to welcome her name on
a title-page, and ' By Order of the Company ' will not disappoint such expectations,
for it is quite as good reading as ' The Old Dominion. ' The pictiu-e of the very
earliest days of Virginia is excellently painted, and the personages of the story are
sympathetic and interesting." — Spectator.
* ' * By Order of the Company ' is fascinating ; as a picture of Virginian life about
the year 1621, it is fully as good. And as a record of the deeds of brave men, and
one lady who was passing fair, it is worth a dozen of the novels that are turned out by
the type-writers and phonographs of those writers known above everything else as
•popular."' — Black and White.
The Old Dominion
By MARY JOHNSTON
Crown 8vo, 6s,
"We have had of late an abundance of romance, but not better than this. The
heroine is adorable. The whole book is a masterpiece of romance." — British Weekly.
" It is an exciting narrative of a perilous ad*renture, and of a hate that was con-
verted into love as strong as death. The characters are drawn with a strong hand,
and the interest is sustained to the end." — Punch.
28
Caleb West
By F. HOPKINSON SMITH
(Author of " Tom Grogan," etc.)
Second Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s,
'*It is a long time since we have met with so satisfactory a book as
* Caleb West.' Readers must go to the book for themselves, and enjoy its
pathos, its humour, its rich character-drawing, and its thrilling adventures, as
we must confess that we have done." — Speaker,
" The reader will find enough of all sorts to hold his interest to the end,
Mr. Hopkinson Smith writes well and carefully, and often charms us with
literary workmanship of a really high order." — Westminster Gazette,
'* Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith is to be congratulated on having written a really
fine novel, which is full of admirable character. " — Daily Telegraph,
Dinkinbar
By HERBERT C. MACILWAINE
Crown 8vo, 6j.
** There is good food for thought as well as a right good story in Mr.
Macllwaine's record of * Dinkinbar.* " — Daily Chronicle,
** Have been much interested in a book constructed on very unconventional
lines, entitled * Dinkinbar,' by Herbert Macllwaine. I have read a great many
stories of bush life, but none that seemed to present it with such vivid natural-
ness. "■— Weekly Sun,
**Mr. Herbert Macllwaine's name is new to us, but in ♦ Dinkinbar* he has
written the best story of Australian bush life we ever came across." — Standard,
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Fate the Fiddler
Crown 8vo, 6s,
In the Shadow of the Crown
By M. BIDDER
With an Introduction by Maurice Hewlett
Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s,
" Remembering that as a rule historical novels are somewhat dull, and that
therefore the reading public is inclined to neglect them, we repeat with added
emphasis that in our opinion Mr. Bidder's contribution to this kind of literature
deserves a large audience and close attention." — Litei-ary World,
** A very brightly written and coherent story," — Daily Telegraph,
*♦ The author, while giving free play to a picturesque imagination, has succeeded
in imparting an air of reality to everything, the romantic atmosphere blending
with the truths of history." — Scotsman.
" *In the Shadow of the Crown* is a remarkable book, and one of great
promise." — Pall Mall Gazette,
29
English Contemporary Art
Translated from the French of Robert de la Sizeranne
By H. M. POYNTER
With numerous Illustrations after Lord Leighton, P.R.A., Sir
John Millais, P.R.A., G. F. Watts, R.A., Sir E.
BuRNE-JoNES, Prof. Herkomer, R.A., etc.
Demy 8vo, 12s,
** A most readable and well-written volume of criticism. . . . The book
is well worth reading for the virility and excellence of its author's style." — Pa//
Ma// Gazette,
Portraits
A Series of Portraits of Distinguished Men and Women of the day,
reproduced from Original Drawings.
By THE MARCHIONESS OF GRANBY
£2 2s. net.
"One of the most artistic and spirited of modern collections of portraits of
our contemporaries is the handsome folio published by Messrs. A. Constable
& Co., and entitled * Portraits of Men and Women,^ by the Marchioness of
Granby. " — Athenaum,
National Worthies
A Selection from the National Portrait Gallery.
With Biographical Notes.
About 150 Illustrations. Crown 4to. £,2 2s. net.
Only 750 copies printed, of which 260 have
been reserved for America.
The binding of this Volume in full leather is reproduced in facsimile from
an example by Roger Payne, now exhibited in the King's Library at the British
Museum. The publishers are indebted to Mr. Cyril Davenport, F.S.A., for
advice and assistance in the reproduction of this beautiful example of the cele-
brated eighteenth-century English craftsman.
To Messrs. A. Constable & Co. has come the happy thought of issuing in
a volume entitled * National Worthies * reproductions of 154 of the pictures in
the National Portrait Gallery. A fine paper has been used, and the portraits,
for the most part, come out remarkably well. They have been judiciously
selected. They are followed by notes on each, consisting of concise biographical
sketches, with suitable quoted comments on each." — TAe Globe.
Ornament in European Silks
By ALAN S. COLE
With One Hundred and Sixty-nine Illustrations.
Crown 4to. Bound in half vellum, gilt. 32X. net.
30
A
The Romance of our Ancient
Churches
By SARAH WILSON
With nearly 200 Illustrations by Alexander Ansted.
Crown 8vo, 6s.
"A very interesting book, carefully put together from the best authorities,
and excellently illustrated. The successive styles of architecture, the chief fea-
tures of the church, and the peculiarities found in individual buildings — these and
other things, more varied and numerous than we can describe here, are dealt
with. . . . May be confidently recommended." — Spectator,
London City Churches
By A. E. DANIELL
With numerous Illustrations by Leonard Martin, and a Map.
Imperial i6mo, 6j. Second Edition, with a Map.
** The illustrations to this book*are good, and it deserves to be widely read.'*
— Morning Post. * *«*<||
** The author of this book knows the Citv churches one and all, and has
studied their monuments and archives with the patient reverence of the true
antiquarian, and, armed with the pen instead of the chisel, he has done his best
to give permanent record to their claims on the nation as well as on the man
in the street." — Leeds Mercury,
Uniform with the above.
London Riverside Churches
By A. E. DANIELL
Illustrated by Alexander Ansted.
Imperial i6mo, ds.
Leaves fromjthe Golden Legend
Chosen by H. D. MADGE, LL.M.
With numerous Illustrations by H. M. Watts.
Post 8vo, half linen, gilt top, 3^. 6d, net.
**Oneof the prettiest of current publications is 'Leaves from the Golden
Legend,* a small volume which is a miracle of good taste in the matters of
type, paper, illustrations and binding." — Globe,
Human Immortality
By WILLIAM JAMES
Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University.
Fourth Edition. i6mo, 2s. 6d,
** Professor James is well known as one of the most suggestive and original
writers, and as certainly the most brilliant psychologist living. Whatever, there-
fore, he has to say on this subject is worth listening to ; for he thinks freely, and
he knows all that the scientist knows, and more too." — Spectator,
31
THE WORKS OF
GEORGE MEREDITH
Nev uniform Edition.
Crown 8vo, bound in red cloth.
With a Frontispiece in photogravure to each Volume after
Frederick Sandys, Leslie Brooke, William Hyde,
Rob Sauber, Bernard Partridge, and others.
6s. each.
THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD FEVEREL.
EVAN HARRINGTON.
SANDRA BELLONI.
VITTORIA.
RHODA FLEMING.
THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY RICHMOND.
BEAUCHAMP'S CAREER.
THE EGOIST.
DIANA OF THE CROSSWAYS.
ONE OF OUR CONQUERORS.
LORD ORMONT AND HIS AMINTA.
THE AMAZING MARRIAGE.
THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT.
THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS.
SHORT STORIES— .
The Tale of Chloe — The House on the
Beach— Farina — The Case of General Ople
AND Lady Camper.
POEMS. 2 Volumes.
Uniform with the above, without Frontispiece,
An Essay on Comedy
and the Use of the Comic Spirit
BHtle^£i- Tanner, The Set-wood Printing Works, Frome and London.
JL I
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