THE HEROIC AND VILLAGE GODLINGS.
Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes.
Stant terrâ defixæ hastæ, passimque soluti
Per campum pascuntur equi.
Æneid, vi. 652-654.
The Heroic Godlings.
Next to these deities which have been classed as the godlings of
nature, come those which have a special local worship of their
own. The number of these godlings is immense, and their functions
and attributes so varied, that it is extremely difficult to classify
them on any intelligible principle. Some of them are pure village
godlings, of whom the last Census has unearthed an enormous number
all through Northern India. Some of them, like Hanumân or Bhîmsen,
are survivals in a somewhat debased form of the second-rate deities
or heroes of the older mythology. Some have risen to the rank, or are
gradually being elevated to the status, of national deities. Some
are in all probability the local gods of the degraded races, whom
we may tentatively assume to be autochthonous. Many of these have
almost certainly been absorbed into Brâhmanism at a comparatively
recent period. Some are in process of elevation to the orthodox
pantheon. But it will require a much more detailed analysis of the
national faith than the existing materials permit, before it will
be possible to make a final classification of this mob of deities on
anything approaching a definite principle.
The deities of the heroic class are as a rule benignant, and are
generally worshipped by most Hindus. Those that have been definitely
promoted into the respectable divine cabinet, like Hanumân, have
Brâhmans or members of the ascetic orders as their priests, and
their images, if not exactly admitted into the holy of holies of the
greater shrines, are still allotted a respectable position in the
neighbourhood, and receive a share in the offerings of the faithful.
The local position of the shrine very often defines the status of the
deity. To many godlings of this class is allotted the duty of acting
as warders (dwârapâla) to the temples of the great gods. Thus, at
the Ashthbhuja hill in Mirzapur, the pilgrim to the shrine of the
eight-armed Devî meets first on the road an image of the monkey
god Hanumân, before he comes into the immediate presence of the
goddess. So at Benares, Bhaironnâth is chief police officer (Kotwâl)
or guardian of all the Saiva temples. Similarly at Jageswar beyond
Almora we find Kshetrapâl, at Badarinâth Ghantakaran, at Kedârnâth
Bhairava, and at Tungnâth Kâl Bhairon. [208] In many places, as the
pilgrim ascends to the greater temples, he comes to a place where the
first view of the shrine is obtained. This is known as the Devadekhnî
or spot from which the deity is viewed. This is generally occupied
by some lower-class deity, who is just beginning to be considered
respectable. Then comes the temple dedicated to the warden, and lastly
the real shrine itself. There can be little doubt that this represents
the process by which gods which are now admittedly within the inner
circle of the first class, such as the beast incarnations of Vishnu,
the elephant-headed Ganesa, and the Sâktis or impersonations of the
female energies of nature, underwent a gradual elevation.
This process is actually still going on before our eyes. Thus, the
familiar Gor Bâba, a deified ghost of the aboriginal races, has in many
places become a new manifestation of Siva, as Goreswara. Similarly,
the powerful and malignant goddesses, who were by ruder tribes
propitiated with the sacrifice of a buffalo or a goat, have been
annexed to Brâhmanism as two of the numerous forms of Durgâ Devî,
by the transparent fiction of a Bhainsâsurî or Kâlî Devî. In the
case of the former her origin is clearly proved by the fact that
she is regarded as a sort of tribal deity of the mixed tribe of
Kânhpuriya Râjputs in Oudh. Similarly Mahâmâî, or the "Great Mother,"
a distinctively aboriginal goddess whose shrine consists of a low
flat mound of earth with seven knobs of coloured clay at the head or
west side, has been promoted into the higher pantheon as Jagadambâ
Devî, or "Mother of the World." Her shrine is still a simple flat
mound of earth with seven knobs at the top, and a flag in front to
the east. [209] More extended analysis will probably show that the
obligations of Brâhmanism to the local cultus are much greater than
is commonly supposed.
Hanumân.
First among the heroic godlings is Hanumân, "He of the large
jaws," or, as he is generally called, Mahâbîr, the "great hero,"
the celebrated monkey chief of the Râmâyana, who assisted Râma in
his campaign against the giant Râvana to recover Sîtâ. Hardly any
event in his mythology, thanks to the genius of Tulasî Dâs, the great
Hindi poet of Hindustân, is more familiar to the Hindu peasant than
this. It forms the favourite subject of dramatic representation at
the annual festival of the Dasahra. There Hanumân, in fitting attire,
marches along the stage at the head of his army of bears and monkeys,
and the play ends with the destruction of Râvana, whose great body,
formed of wickerwork and paper, is blown up with fireworks, amid the
delighted enthusiasm of the excited audience.
It is almost certain that the worship of Hanumân does not come down
from the earliest ages of the Hindu faith, though it has been suggested
that he is the legitimate descendant of Vrisha-kapi, the great monkey
of the Veda. [210] Besides being a great warrior he was noted for his
skill in magic, grammar and the art of healing. Many local legends
connect him with sites in Northern India. Hills, like the Vindhya
and that at Govardhan, are, as we have seen, attributed to him or
to his companions. The more extreme school of modern comparative
mythologists would make out that Hanumân is only the impersonation
of the great cloud-monkey which fights the sun. [211]
But the fact of monkey-worship is susceptible of a much simpler
explanation. The ape, from his appearance and human ways, is closely
associated with man. It is a belief common to all folk-lore that
monkeys were once human beings who have suffered degradation, [212]
and according to one common belief stealers of fruit become monkeys
in their next incarnation. But the common theory that the monkey is
venerated in memory of the demigod Hanumân is, as Sir A. Lyall [213]
remarks, "plainly putting the cart before the horse, for the monkey is
evidently at the bottom of the whole story. Hanumân is now generally
supposed to have been adopted into the Hindu heaven from the non-Aryan
or aboriginal idolaters; though, to my mind, any uncivilized Indian
would surely fall down and worship at first sight of an ape. Then there
is the modern idea that the god was really a great chief of some such
aboriginal tribe as those which to this day dwell almost like wild
creatures in the remote forests of India; and this may be the nucleus
of fact in the legend regarding him. It seems as if hero-worship and
animal-worship had got mixed up in the legend of Hanumân."
At the same time, it must be remembered that the so-called Aryans
enjoy no monopoly of his worship. He is sometimes like a tribal
godling of the aboriginal Suiris, and the wild Bhuiyas of Keunjhar
identify him with Borâm, the Sun godling. [214] It is at least a
possible supposition that his worship may have been imported into
Brâhmanism from some such source as these.
Hanumân as a Village Godling.
But whatever may be the origin of the cult, the fact remains that
he is a great village godling, with potent influence to scare evil
spirits from his votaries. His rude image, smeared with oil and red
ochre, meets one somewhere or other in almost every respectable Hindu
village. One of his functions is to act as an embodiment of virile
power. He is a giver of offspring, and in Bombay women sometimes
go to his temple in the early morning, strip themselves naked, and
embrace the god. [215] Mr. Hartland has collected many instances
of similar practices. Thus a cannon at Batavia used to be utilized
in the same way; and at Athens there is a rock near the Callirrhoe,
whereon women who wish to be made fertile rub themselves, calling on
the Moirai to be gracious to them. [216]
On the same principle he is, with Hindu wrestlers, their patron deity,
his place among Musalmâns being taken by 'Ali. Their aid is invoked
at the commencement of all athletic exercises, and at each wrestling
school a platform is erected in their honour. Tuesday is sacred to
Mahâbîr and Friday to 'Ali. Hindu wrestlers on Mahâbîr's day bathe in
a river in the morning, and after bathing dress in clean clothes. Then
taking a jar of water, some incense, sweets, and red or white flowers,
they repair to the wrestling school, bow down before the platform and
smear it with cow-dung or earth. After this the sweets are offered
to Mahâbîr and verses are recited in his honour. Then they do the
exercise five times and bow before the platform. When the service is
over they smear their bodies with the incense, which is supposed to
give them strength and courage. Care is taken that no woman sees the
athletes exercising, lest she should cast the Evil Eye upon them.
One special haunt of the monkey deity is what is known as the
Bandarpûnchh or "monkey tail" peak in the Himâlayas. They say that
every year in the spring a single monkey comes from Hardwâr to
this peak and remains there twelve months, when he makes way for
his successor.
Hanumân is a favourite deity of the semi-Hinduized Drâvidian races
of the Vindhya-Kaimûr plateau. "The most awe-inspiring of their
tremendous rocks are his fanes; the most lovely of their pools are
sacred by virtue of the tradition of his having bathed in them." He
was known as Pawan-kâ-pût, or "son of the wind," which corresponds
to his older title of Marutputra, or "son of the wind god." And the
Bhuiyas of Sinhbhûm, who are, as Colonel Dalton gravely remarks,
"without doubt the apes of the Râmâyana," call themselves Pawan-bans,
or "sons of the wind," to this day. [217] But in the plains his chief
function is as a warden or guardian against demoniacal influence,
and at the Hanumângarhi shrine at Ajudhya he is provided with a
regular priesthood consisting of Khâki ascetics.
The respect paid to the monkey does not need much illustration. The
ordinary monkey of the plains (Macacus Rhesus) is a most troublesome,
mischievous beast, and does enormous mischief to crops, while in
cities he is little short of a pest. But his life is protected by a
most effective sanction, and no one dares to injure him.
General Sleeman [218] tells a story of a Muhammadan Nawâb of Oudh,
who was believed to have died of fever, the result of killing a
monkey. "Mumtâz-ud-daula," said his informant, "might have been
King of Oudh had his father not shot that monkey." In the Panjâb
an appeal to the monkey overcomes the demon of the whirlwind. There
is a Bombay story that in the village of Makargâon, whenever there
is a marriage in a house, the owner puts outside the wedding booth
a turban, a waist-cloth, rice, fruits, turmeric, and betel-nuts for
the village monkeys. The monkeys assemble and sit round their Patel,
or chief. The chief tears the turban and gives a piece to each of
them, and the other things are divided. If the householder does not
present these offerings they ascend the booth and defile the wedding
feast. He has then to come out and apologize, and when he gives them
the usual gifts they retire. [219] The feeding of monkeys is part of
the ritual at the Durgâ Temple at Benares, and there, too, there is
a king of the monkeys who is treated with much respect. Instances of
Râjas carrying out the wedding of a monkey at enormous expense are
not unknown. Where a monkey has been killed it is believed that no
one can live. His bones are also exceedingly unlucky, and a special
class of exorcisers in Bihâr make it their business to ascertain that
his bones do not pollute the ground on which a house is about to be
erected. [220]
The worship of Hanumân appears, if the Census returns are to be
trusted, to be much more popular in the North-West Provinces than
in the Panjâb. In the former his devotees numbered about a million,
and in the latter less than ten thousand persons. But the figures are
probably open to question, as he is often worshipped in association
with other deities.
Worship of Bhîmsen.
Another of these beneficent guardians or wardens is Bhîmsen, "he
who has a terrible army." He has now in popular belief very little
in common with the burly hero of the Mahâbhârata, who was notorious
for his gigantic strength, great animal courage, prodigious appetite
and irascible temper; jovial and jocular when in good humour, but
abusive, truculent and brutal when his passions were roused. [221]
He is now little more than one of the wardens of the house or village.
In parts of the Central Provinces he has become degraded into
a mere fetish, and is represented by a piece of iron fixed in a
stone or in a tree. [222] Under the name of Bhîmsen or Bhîmpen,
his worship extends from Berâr to the extreme east of Bastar,
and not merely among the Hinduized aborigines, who have begun to
honour Khandoba, Hanumân, Ganpati and their brethren, but among the
rudest and most savage tribes. He is generally adored under the form
of an unshapely stone covered with vermilion, or of two pieces of
wood standing from three to four feet out of the ground, which are
possibly connected with the phallic idea, towards which so many
of these deities often diverge. Bhiwâsu, the regular Gond deity,
is identical with him. Mr. Hislop [223] mentions a large idol of
him eight feet high, with a dagger in one hand and a javelin in the
other. He has an aboriginal priest, known as Bhûmak, or "he of the
soil," and the people repair to worship on Tuesdays and Saturdays,
offering he-goats, hogs, hens, cocks and cocoa-nuts. The headman of
the village and the cultivators subscribe for an annual feast, which
takes place at the commencement of the rains, when the priest takes
a cow from the headman by force and offers it to the godling in the
presence of his congregation. The Mâriya Gonds worship him in the
form of two pieces of wood previous to the sowing of the crops. The
Naikudê Gonds adore him in the form of a huge stone daubed with
vermilion. Before it a little rice is cooked. They then besmear the
stone with vermilion and burn resin as incense in its honour, after
which the victims--sheep, hogs and fowls--with the usual oblation of
spirits, are offered. The god is now supposed to inspire the priest,
who rolls his head, leaps frantically round and round, and finally
falls down in a trance, when he announces whether Bhîmsen has accepted
the service or not. At night all join in drinking, dancing and beating
drums. Next morning the congregation disperses. Those who are unable
to attend this tribal gathering perform similar rites at home under
the shade of the Mahua tree (Bassia latifolia). [224]
Pillar-worship of Bhîmsen.
The local worship of Bhîmsen beyond the Drâvidian tract is specially
in the form of pillars, which are called Bhîmlâth or Bhîmgada, "Bhîm's
clubs." Many of these are really the edict pillars which were erected
by the pious Buddhist King Asoka, but they have been appropriated by
Bhîmsen. Such are the pillars in the Bâlaghât District of the Central
Provinces and at Kahâon in Gorakhpur. At Devadhâra, in the Lower
Himâlaya, are two boulders, the uppermost of which is called Ransila,
or "the stone of war." On this rests a smaller boulder, said to be
the same as that used by Bhîmsen to produce the fissures in the rocks;
in proof of which the print of his five fingers is still pointed out,
as they show the hand-mark of the Giant Bolster in Cornwall. [225]
Bhîmsen is one of the special gods of the Bhuiyas of Keunjhar, and they
consider themselves to be descended from him, as he is the brother of
Hanumân, the founder of their race. According to the Hindu ritual he
has his special feast on the Bhaimy Ekâdashî, or eleventh of the bright
fortnight in the month of Mâgh. The Bengal legend tells that Bhîmsen,
the brother of Yudhisthira, when he was sent to the snowy mountains
and lay benumbed with cold, was restored by the Saint Gorakhnâth,
and made king of one hundred and ten thousand hills, stretching from
the source of the Ganges to Bhutân. Among other miracles Bhîmsen and
Gorakhnâth introduced the sacrifice of buffaloes in place of human
beings, and in order to effect this Bhîmsen thrust some of the flesh
down the throat of the holy man. So though they have both lost caste
in consequence, they are both deified. The saint is still the tutelary
deity of the reigning family of Nepâl, and all over that kingdom and
Mithila Bhîmsen is a very common object of worship. That mysterious
personage Gorakhnâth flits through religious legend and folk-lore
from post-Vedic to mediæval times; and little has yet been done to
discover the element of historical truth which underlies an immense
mass of the wildest fiction. [226]
Worship of Bhîshma.
In about the same rank as Bhîmsen is Bhîshma, "the terrible one,"
another hero of the Mahâbhârata. To the Hindu nowadays he is chiefly
known by the tragic circumstances of his death. He was covered all
over by the innumerable arrows discharged at him by Arjuna, and when he
fell from his chariot he was upheld from the ground by the arrows and
lay as on a couch of darts. This Sara-sayya or "arrow-bed" of Bhîshma
is probably the origin of the Kantaka-sayya or "thorn-couch" of some
modern Bairâgis, who lie and sleep on a couch studded with nails. He
wished to marry the maiden Satyavatî, but he gave her up to his father
Sântanu, and Bhîshma elected to live a single life, so that his sons
might not claim the throne from his step-brethren. Hence, as he died
childless and left no descendant to perform his funeral rites, he is
worshipped with libations of water on the Bhîshma Ashtamî, or 23rd
of the month of Mâgh; but this ceremony hardly extends beyond Bengal.
In Upper India five days in the month of Kârttik (November-December)
are sacred to him. This is a woman's festival. They send lamps to a
Brâhman's house, whose wife during these five days must sleep on the
ground, on a spot covered with cow-dung, close to the lamps, which it
is her duty to keep alight. The lamps are filled with sesamum oil,
and red wicks wound round sticks of the sesamum plant rest in the
lamp saucers. A walnut, an âonla (the fruit of the emblic myrobolon),
a lotus-seed, and two copper coins are placed in each lamp. Each
evening the women come and prostrate themselves before the lamps or
walk round them. They bathe on each day of the feast before sunrise,
and are allowed only one meal in the day, consisting of sugar-cane,
sweet potatoes and other roots, with meal made of amarinth seed,
millet and buckwheat cakes, to which the rich add sugar, dry
ginger, and butter. They drink only milk. Of course the Brâhman
gets a share of these good things, to which the rich contribute in
addition a lamp-saucer made of silver, with a golden wick, clothes,
and money. At the early morning bath of the last day five lighted
lamps made of dough are placed, one at the entrance of the town or
village, others at the four cross-roads, under the Pîpal or sacred
fig tree, at a temple of Siva, and at a pond. This last is put in a
small raft made of the leaves of the sugar-cane, and floated on the
water. A little grain is placed beside each lamp. After the lamps
handed over to the Brâhman have burnt away or gone out, the black
from the wicks is rubbed on the eyes and fingers of the worshippers,
and their toe-nails are anointed with the remainder of the oil. All
the articles used in the worship are well-known scarers of demons,
and there can be little doubt that the rite is intended to conciliate
Bhîshma in his character of a guardian deity, and induce him to ward
off evil spirits from the household of the worshipper.
There is a curious legend told to explain the motive of the rite. A
childless Râja once threatened to kill all his queens unless one
of them gave birth to a child. One of the Rânîs who had a cat,
announced that she had been brought to bed of a girl, who was to be
shut up for twelve years, a common incident in the folk-tales. [227]
This was all very well, but the supposed princess had to be married,
and here lay the difficulty. Now this cat had been very attentive
during this rite in honour of Bhîshma, keeping the wicks alight by
raising them from time to time with her paws, and cleaning them on
her body. So the grateful godling turned her into a beautiful girl,
but her tail remained as before. However, the bridegroom's friends
admired her so much that they kept her secret at the wedding, and
so saved the Rânî from destruction, and when the time came for the
bride to go to her husband her tail dropped off too. So Hindu ladies
use the oil and lamp-black of Bhîshma's feast day as valuable aids
to beauty. Such cases of animal transformation constantly appear in
the folk-tales. In one of the Kashmîr stories a cat, by the advice
of Pârvatî, rubs herself with oil and is turned into a girl; but she
does not rub a small patch between her shoulders, and this remained
covered with the cat's fur. [228]
The worship of the heroes of the Mahâbhârata does not prevail widely,
unless we have a survival of it in the worship of the Pânch Pîr. At
the last Census in the North-Western Provinces less than four thousand
persons declared themselves worshippers of the Pândavas. The number
in the Panjâb is even smaller.
Worship of the Local Godlings.
We now come to the local or village godlings, a most nondescript
collection of deities, possessing very various attributes. There
is good reason to believe that most of these deities, if not all,
belong to the races whom it is convenient to call non-Aryan, or at
least outside Brâhmanism, though some of them may have been from time
to time promoted into the official pantheon. But Dr. Oppert, [229]
writing of Southern India, remarks that "if the pure Vedic doctrine
has been altered by the influx of non-Aryan tenets, so have also the
latter undergone a change by coming in contact with Aryan ideas, and
not only have males intruded into the once exclusive female circle of
the Grâmadevatâs, but also a motley of queer figures have crept in,
forming indeed a very strange gathering. The Grâmadevatâ-prathishtha
mentions as Grâmadevatâs the skull of Brahma, the head of Vishnu,
the skull of Renukâ, the figure of Draupadî, the body of Sîtâ,
the harassing followers of Siva (the Pramathas), the attendants
of Vishnu (Pârishadas), demons, Yoginîs, various kinds of Sâktis
made of wood, stone, or clay; persons who were unsuccessful in
their devotional practice, Sunasepha, Trisanku, Ghatotkacha, and
others; Devakî's daughter, multiform Durgâs and Sâktis; Pûtanâ and
others who kill children; Bhûtas, Pretas, and Pisâchas; Kûsmânda,
Sâkinî, Dâkinî, Vetâlas, and others; Yakshas, Kirâtadevî, Sabarî,
Rudra, one hundred millions of forms of Rudra; Mâtangî, Syâmalâ,
unclean Ganapati, unclean Chândalî, the goddess of the liquor pot
(Surabhandeswarî), Mohinî, Râkshasî, Tripurâ, Lankhinî, Saubhadevî,
Sâmudrikâ, Vanadurgâ, Jaladurgâ, Agnidurgâ, suicides, culprits,
faithful wives, the goddesses of matter, goddesses of qualities,
and goddesses of deeds, etc." Through such a maze as this it is no
easy task to find a clue.
The non-Brâhmanic character of the worship is implied by the character
of the priesthood. In the neighbourhood of Delhi, where the worship
of Bhûmiya as a local godling widely prevails, the so-called priest
of the shrine, whose functions are limited to beating a drum during
the service and receiving the offerings, is usually of the sweeper
caste. Sîtalâ, the small-pox goddess, is very often served by a Mâli,
or gardener. Sir John Malcolm notes that the Bhopa of Central India,
who acts as the village priest, is generally drawn from some menial
tribe. [230] In the hill country of South Mirzapur, the Baiga who
manages the worship of Gansâm, Râja Lâkhan, or the aggregate of the
local deities, known as the Dih or Deohâr, is almost invariably a
Bhuiyâr or a Chero, both semi-savage Drâvidian tribes. Even the shrine
erected in honour of Nâhar Râo, the famous King of Mandor, who met
in equal combat the chivalrous Chauhân in the pass of the Aravalli
range, is tended by a barber officiant. [231] Though the votaries of
the meaner godling are looked on with some contempt or pity by their
more respectable neighbours, little active hostility or intolerance is
exhibited. More than this, the higher classes, and particularly their
women, occasionally join in the worship of the older gods. At weddings
and other feasts their aid and protection are invoked. Every woman,
no matter what her caste may be, will bow to the ghosts which haunt
the old banyan or pîpal tree in the village, and in time of trouble,
when the clouds withhold the rain, when the pestilence walketh in
darkness, and the murrain devastates the herds, it is to the patron
deities of the village that they appeal for assistance.
Village Shrines.
The shrine of the regular village godling, the Grâmadevatâ or
Ganwdevatâ, is generally a small square building of brick masonry,
with a bulbous head and perhaps an iron spike as a finial. A red flag
hung on an adjoining tree, often a pîpal, or some other sacred fig,
or a nîm, marks the position of the shrine. In the interior lamps
are occasionally lighted, fire sacrifices (homa) made and petty
offerings presented. If a victim is offered, its head is cut off
outside the shrine and perhaps a few drops of blood allowed to fall on
the inner platform, which is the seat of the godling. These shrines
never contain a special image, such as are found in the temples of
the higher gods. There may be a few carved stones lying about, the
relics of some dismantled temple, but these are seldom identified
with any special deity, and villagers will rub a projecting knob on
one of them with a little vermilion and oil as an act of worship.
Speaking of this class of shrine in the Panjâb, Mr. Ibbetson writes:
[232] "The Hindu shrine must always face east, while the Musalmân
shrine is in the form of a tomb and faces the south. This sometimes
gives rise to delicate questions. In one village a section of the
community had become Muhammadan. The shrine of the common ancestor
needed rebuilding, and there was much dispute as to its shape and
aspect. They solved the difficulty by building a Musalmân grave facing
south, and over it a Hindu shrine facing east. In another village
an Imperial trooper was once burnt alive by the shed in which he was
sleeping catching fire, and it was thought best to propitiate him by
a shrine, or his ghost might become troublesome. He was by religion
a Musalmân, but he had been burnt, not buried, which seemed to make
him a Hindu. After much discussion the latter opinion prevailed,
and a Hindu shrine with an eastern aspect now stands to his memory."
To the east of the North-Western Provinces the village shrines are
much less substantial erections. In the Gangetic valley, where
the population has been completely Hinduized, the shrine of the
collective village deities, known as the Deohâr, consists of a pile
of stones, some of which may be the fragments of a temple of the
olden days, collected under some ancient, sacred tree. The shrine
is the store-house of anything in the way of a curious stone to be
found in the village, water-worn pebbles or boulders, anything with
eccentric veining or marking. Here have been occasionally found celts
and stone hatchets, relics of an age anterior to the general use of
iron. In the same way in some European countries the celt or stone
arrow-head is worn as an amulet.
Little clay images of elephants and horses are often found near these
shrines. Some villagers will say that these represent the equipage
(sawârî) of the deity; others explain them by the fact that a person in
distress vows a horse or an elephant to the god, and when his wishes
are realized, offers as a substitute this trumpery donation. It was
a common practice to offer substitutes of this kind. Thus when an
animal could not be procured for sacrifice, an image of it in dough
or wax was prepared and offered as a substitute. [233] We shall meet
later on other examples of substitution of the same kind. On the
same principle women used to give cakes in the form of a phallus to
a Brâhman. [234] At these shrines are also found curious little clay
bowls with short legs which are known as kalsa. The kalsa or water
jar is always placed near the pole of the marriage shed, and the use
of these beehive-shaped vessels at village shrines is found all along
the hills of Central India. [235] On the neighbouring trees are often
hung miniature cots, which commemorate the recovery of a patient from
small-pox or other infectious disease.
Among the semi-Hinduized Drâvidian races of the Vindhyan range, many
of whom worship Gansâm or Râja Lâkhan, the shrine usually consists of
a rude mud building or a structure made of bamboo and straw, roofed
with a coarse thatch, which is often allowed to fall into disrepair,
until the godling reminds his votaries of his displeasure by an
outbreak of epidemic disease or some other misfortune which attacks
the village. The shrine is in charge of the village Baiga, who is
invariably selected from among some of the ruder forest tribes, such
as the Bhuiya, Bhuiyâr or Chero. Inside is a small platform known as
"the seat of the godling" (Devatâ kâ baithak), on which are usually
placed some of the curious earthen bowls already described, which
are made specially for this worship, and are not used for domestic
purposes. In these water is placed for the refreshment of the godling,
and they thus resemble the funeral vases of the Greeks. In ordinary
cases the offering deposited on the platform consists of a thick
griddle cake, a little milk, and perhaps a few jungle flowers; but
in more serious cases where the deity makes his presence disagreeably
felt, he is propitiated with a goat, pig, or fowl, which is decapitated
outside the shrine, with the national and sacrificial axe. The head
is brought inside dripping with blood, and a few drops of blood are
allowed to fall on the platform. The head of the victim then becomes
the perquisite of the officiating Baiga, and the rest of the meat
is cooked and eaten near the shrine by the adult male worshippers,
married women and children being carefully excluded from a share in the
offering. The special regard paid to the head of the victim is quite in
consonance with traditions of European paganism and folk-lore in many
countries. [236] Lower south, beyond the river Son, the shrine is of
even a simpler type, and is there often represented by a few boulders
near a stream, where the worshippers assemble and make their offerings.
The non-Brâhmanic character of the worship is still further marked by
the fact that no special direction from the homestead is prescribed
in selecting the site for the shrine. No orthodox Hindu temple can be
built south of the village site, as this quarter is regarded as the
realm of Yama, the god of death; here vagrant evil spirits prowl and
consume or defile the offerings made to the greater gods. In the more
Hinduized jungle villages some attempt is occasionally made to conform
to this rule, and sometimes, as in the case of the more respectable
Hindu shrines, the door faces the east. But this rule is not universal,
and the site of the shrine is often selected under some suitable
tree, whatever may be its position as regards the homestead, and it
very often commemorates some half-forgotten tragedy, where a man was
carried off by a tiger or slain or murdered, where he fell from a tree
or was drowned in a watercourse. Here some sort of shrine is generally
erected with the object of appeasing the angry spirit of the dead man.
These shrines have no idol, no bell to scare vagrant ghosts and awake
the godling to partake of the offerings or listen to the prayers
of his votaries. If he is believed to be absent or asleep, a drum
is beaten to awaken or recall him, and this answers the additional
purpose of scaring off intruding spirits, who are always hungry and
on the watch to appropriate the offerings of the faithful. Here are
also none of the sacrificial vessels, brazen lamps and cups, which
are largely used in respectable fanes for waving a light before the
deity as part of the service, or for cooling the idol with libations
of water, and the instrument used for sacrificing the victim is only
the ordinary axe which the dweller in the jungle always carries.
There is one special implement which is very commonly found in the
village shrines of the hill country south of the Ganges. This is an
iron chain with a heavy knob at the end, to which a strap, like a
Scotch tawse, is often attached. The chain is ordinarily three and
a half feet long, the tawse two feet, and the total weight is about
seven pounds. This is known as the Gurda; it hangs from the roof of
the shrine, and is believed to be directly under the influence of
the deity, so that it is very difficult to procure a specimen. The
Baiga priest, when his services are required for the exorcism of a
disease ghost, thrashes himself on the back and loins with his chain,
until he works himself up to the proper degree of religious ecstasy.
Among the more primitive Gonds the chain has become a godling and
is regularly worshipped. In serious cases of epilepsy, hysteria,
and the like, which do not readily yield to ordinary exorcism, the
patient is taken to the shrine and severely beaten with the holy
chain until the demon is expelled. This treatment is, I understand,
considered particularly effective in the case of hysteria and kindred
ailments under which young women are wont to suffer, and like the
use of the thong at the Lupercalia at Rome, a few blows of the chain
are considered advisable as a remedy for barrenness. The custom of
castigating girls when they attain puberty prevails among many races
of savages. [237]
Identification of the Local Godling.
The business of selecting a site for a new village or hamlet is one
which needs infinite care and attention to the local godlings of the
place. No place can be chosen without special regard to the local
omens. There is a story told of one of the Gond Râjas of Garh Mandla,
whose attention was first called to the place by seeing a hare,
when pursued by his dogs, turn and chase them. It struck him that
there must be much virtue in the air of a place where a timid animal
acquired such courage. [238] The site of the settlement of Almora is
said to have been selected by one of the kings before whom in this
place a hare was transformed into a tiger. [239] Similar legends are
told of the foundation of many forts and cities.
But it is with the local godlings that the founder of a new settlement
has most concern. The speciality of this class of godlings is
that they frequent only particular places. Each has his separate
jurisdiction, which includes generally one or sometimes a group of
villages. This idea has doubtless promoted the rooted disinclination
of the Hindu to leave his home and come into the domain of a fresh set
of godlings with whom he has no acquaintance, who have never received
due propitiation from him or his forefathers, and who are hence in
all probability inimical to him. But people to whom the local godling
of their village has shown his hostility by bringing affliction upon
them for their neglect of his service, can usually escape from his
malignity by leaving his district. This habit of emigration to escape
the malignity of the offended godling doubtless accounts for many
of the sites of deserted villages, which are scattered all over the
country. We say that they were abandoned on account of a great famine
or a severe epidemic, but to the native mind these afflictions are
the work of the local deity, who could have warded them off had he
been so disposed. Hence when a settlement is being founded it is a
matter of prime necessity that the local godling or group of godlings
should be brought under proper control and carefully identified,
so as to ensure the safety and prosperity of the settlement. The
next and final stage is the establishment of a suitable shrine and
the appointment of a competent priest.
There are, as might have been expected, many methods of identifying
and establishing the local gods. Thus in North Oudh, when a village
is founded the site is marked off by cross stakes of wood driven into
the ground, which are solemnly worshipped on the day of the completion
of the settlement, and then lapse into neglect unless some indication
of the displeasure of the god again direct attention to them. These
crosses, which are called Daharchandî, are particularly frequent and
well-marked in the villages occupied by the aboriginal Thârus in the
sub-Himâlayan Tarâî, where they may be found in groups of ten or more
on the edge of the cultivated lands. So, among the Santâls, a piece
of split bamboo, about three feet high, is placed in the ground in an
inclined position and is called the Sipâhî or sentinel of the hamlet;
among the Gonds two curved posts, one of which is much smaller than
the other, represent the male and female tutelary gods. [240]
In the Eastern Districts of the North-Western Provinces a more
elaborate process is carried out, which admirably illustrates the
special form of local worship now under consideration. When the site
of a new settlement is selected, an Ojha is called in to identify
and mark down the deities of the place. He begins by beating a drum
round the place for some time, which is intended to scare vagrant,
outsider ghosts and to call together the local deities. All the people
assemble, and two men, known as the Mattiwâh and the Pattiwâh, "the
earth man" and "the leaf man," who represent the gods of the soil and
of the trees, soon become filled with the spirit and are found to be
possessed by the local deities. They dance and shout for some time in
a state of religious frenzy, and their disconnected ejaculations are
interpreted by the Ojha, who suddenly rushes upon them, grasps with
his hands at the spirits which are supposed to be circling round them,
and finally pours through their hands some grains of sesamum, which
is received in a perforated piece of the wood of the Gûlar or sacred
fig-tree. The whole is immediately plastered up with a mixture of clay
and cow-dung, and the wood is carefully buried on the site selected for
the Deohâr or local shrine. By this process the deities are supposed to
be fastened up in the sacred wood and to be unable to do any mischief,
provided that the usual periodical offerings are made in their honour.
This system does not seem to prevail among the Drâvidian races of the
Vindhyan plateau. Some time ago I discussed the matter with Hannu
Baiga, the chief priest of the Bhuiyas beyond the Son, and he was
pleased to express his unqualified approval of the arrangement. Indeed,
he promised to adopt it himself, but unfortunately Hannu, who was a
mine of information on the religion and demonology of his people, died
before he could apply this test to the local deities of his parish. His
wife has died also, and I understand that he is known to be the head
of all the Bhûts or malignant ghosts of the neighbourhood, while his
wife rules all the Churels who infest that part of the country.
At the same time, to an ordinary Baiga the plan would hardly be as
comfortable as the present arrangement. It would not suit him to
have the local ghosts brought under any control, because he makes his
living by doing the periodical services to propitiate them. Nowadays he
believes fully in the influence of the magic circle and of spirituous
liquor as ghost scarers. Both these principles will be discussed
elsewhere. So he is supposed once a year at least, or oftener in case
of pestilence or other trouble, to perambulate all round the village
boundary, sprinkling a line of spirits as he walks. The idea is to
form a magic circle impervious to strange and, in the nature of the
case, necessarily malignant ghosts, who might wish to intrude from
outside; and to control the resident local deities, and prevent them
from contracting evil habits of mischief by wandering beyond their
prescribed domains.
The worst about this ritual is that the Baiga is apt to be very
deliberate in his movements, and to drink the liquor on the
road and to spoil the symmetry of the circle during his fits of
intoxication. I know of one disreputable shepherd who was upwards of
a fortnight getting round an ordinary sized village, and the levy on
his parishioners to pay the wine bill was, as may easily be imagined,
a very serious matter, to say nothing of several calamities, which
occurred to the inhabitants in their unprotected state owing to his
negligence. At present the feeling in his parish is very strong against
him, and his constituents are thinking of removing him, particularly
as he has only one eye. This is a very dangerous deformity in ordinary
people, but in a Baiga, who is invested with religious functions,
it is most objectionable, and likely to detract from his efficiency.
In Hoshangâbâd a different system prevails. When a new village is
formed by the aboriginal Kurkus, there is no difficulty in finding the
abode of the godlings Dûngar Devatâ and Mâtâ, because you have only to
look for and discover them upon their hill and under their tree. But
Mutua Devatâ has generally to be created by taking a heap of stones
from the nearest stream and sacrificing a pig and seven chickens
to him. "There is one ceremony, however, which is worth notice,
not so much as being distinctively Kurku, as illustrating the sense
of mystery and chance which in the native mind seems to be connected
with the idea of measurement, and which arises probably from the fact
that with superficial measures, by heaping lightly or pressing down
tight, very different results can be obtained. A measure is filled
up with grain to the level of the brim, but no head is poured on,
and it is put before Mutua Devatâ. They watch it all night, and in
the morning pour it out, and measure it again. If the grain now fills
up the measure and leaves enough for a head to it, and still more,
if it brims and runs over, this is a sign that the village will be
very prosperous, and that every cultivator's granaries will run over
in the same way. But it is an evil omen if the grain does not fill up
to the level of the rims of the vessel. A similar practice obtains
in the Narmadâ valley when they begin winnowing, and some repeat it
every night while the winnowing goes on." [241]
The same custom prevails among the Kols and kindred races in Mirzapur,
who make the bride and bridegroom carry it out as an omen of their
success or failure in life. By carefully packing and pressing down
the grain, any chance of an evil augury is easily avoided. We shall
see later on that measuring the grain is a favourite device intended
to save it from the depredations of evil-minded ghosts.
Worship of Dwâra Gusâîn.
A typical case of the worship of a local godling is found among the
Malers of Chota Nâgpur. His name is Dwâra Gusâîn, or "Lord of the
house door." "Whenever from some calamity falling upon the household,
it is considered necessary to propitiate him, the head of the family
cleans a place in front of his door, and sets up a branch of the
tree called Mukmum, which is held very sacred; an egg is placed near
the branch, then a hog is killed and friends feasted; and when the
ceremony is over the egg is broken and the branch placed on the
suppliant's house." [242] Dwâra Gusâîn is now called Bârahdvâri,
because he is supposed to live in a temple with twelve doors and is
worshipped by the whole village in the month of Mâgh. [243] The egg is
apparently supposed to hold the deity, and this, it may be remarked,
is not an uncommon folk-lore incident. [244]
Worship of Bhûmiya.
One of the most characteristic of the benevolent village godlings is
Bhûmiya--"the godling of the land or soil" (bhûmi). He is very commonly
known as Khetpâl or Kshetrapâla, "the protector of the fields"; Khera
or "the homestead mound"; Zamîndâr or "the landowner"; and in the hills
Sâim or Sâyam, "the black one" (Sanskrit syâma). In the neighbourhood
of Delhi he is a male godling; in Oudh Bhûmiyâ is a goddess and is
called Bhûmiyâ Rânî or "soil queen." She is worshipped by spreading
flat cakes and sweetmeats on the ground, which having been exposed
some time to the sun, are eventually consumed by the worshipper and
his family. The rite obviously implies the close connection between
the fertility of the soil and sunshine.
To the west of the Province the creation of Bhûmiya's shrine is
"the first formal act by which the proposed site of a village is
consecrated, and when two villages have combined their homesteads
for greater security against the marauders of former days, the people
of the one which moved still worship at the Bhûmiya of the deserted
site. Bhûmiya is worshipped after the harvests, at marriages, and
on the birth of a male child; and Brâhmans are commonly fed in his
name. Women often take their children to the shrine on Sundays, and
the first milk of a cow or buffalo is always offered there." [245]
Young bulls are sometimes released in his honour, and the term Bhûmiya
sând has come to be equivalent to our "parish bull."
In the Hills he is regarded by some as a beneficent deity, who does
not, as a rule, force his worship on anyone by possessing them
or injuring their crops. When seed is sown, a handful of grain
is sprinkled over a stone in the field nearest to his shrine, in
order to protect the crop from hail, blight, and the ravages of wild
animals, and at harvest time he receives the first-fruits to protect
the garnered grain from rats and insects. He punishes the wicked and
rewards the virtuous, and is lord of the village, always interested
in its prosperity, and a partaker in the good things provided on
all occasions of rejoicing, such as marriage, the birth of a son,
or any great good fortune. Unlike the other rural deities, he seldom
receives animal sacrifices, but is satisfied with the humblest offering
of the fruits of the earth. [246]
In Gurgâon, again, he is very generally identified with one of the
founders of the village or with a Brâhman priest of the original
settlers. The special day for making offerings to him is the fourteenth
day of the month. Some of the Bhûmiyas are said to grant the prayers
of their votaries and to punish severely those who offend them. He
visits people who sleep in the vicinity of his shrine with pains in
the chest, and one man who was rash enough to clean his teeth near
his shrine was attacked with sore disease. Those Bhûmiyas who thus
bear the reputation of being revengeful and vicious in temper are
respected, and offerings to them are often made, while those who have
the character of easy good-nature are neglected. [247]
In parts of the Panjâb [248] Khera Devatâ or Chânwand is identified
with Bhûmiya; according to another account she is a lady and the wife
of Bhûmiya, and she sometimes has a special shrine, and is worshipped
on Sunday only. To illustrate the close connection between this worship
of Bhûmiya as the soil godling with that of the sainted dead, it may be
noted that in some places the shrine of Bhûmiya is identified with the
Jathera, which is the ancestral mound, sacred to the common ancestor of
the village or tribe. One of the most celebrated of these Jatheras is
Kâla Mahar, the ancestor of the Sindhu Jâts, who has peculiar influence
over cows, and to whom the first milk of every cow is offered. The
place of the Jathera is, however, often taken by the Theh or mound
which marks the site of the original village of the tribe.
But Bhûmiya, a simple village godling, is already well on his way to
promotion to the higher heaven. In Patna some have already begun to
identify him with Vishnu. In the Hills the same process is going on,
and he is beginning to be known as Sâim, a corruption of Svayambhuva,
the Bauddha form now worshipped in Nepâl. In the plains he is
becoming promoted under the title of Bhûmîsvara Mahâdeva and his
spouse Bhûmîsvarî Devî, both of whom have temples at Bânda. [249]
In the Hills it is believed that he sometimes possesses people, and
the sign of this is that the hair of the scalplock becomes hopelessly
entangled. This reminds us of that very Mab "that plaits the manes
of horses in the night and bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
which once untangled much misfortune bodes."
It was a common English belief that all who have communication with
fairies find their hair all tied in double knots. [250] As we shall see
later on, the hair is universally regarded as an entry for spirits,
perhaps, as Mr. Campbell suggests, because it leads to the opening
in the skull through which the dying spirit makes its exit. Hence
many of the customs connected with letting the hair loose, cutting
it off or shaving.
No less than eighty-five thousand persons declared themselves, at
the last census, to be worshippers of Bhûmiya in the North-Western
Provinces, while in the Panjâb they numbered only one hundred and
sixty-three.
Worship of Bhairon.
Bhûmiya, again, is often confounded with Bhairon, another warden
godling of the land; while, to illustrate the extraordinary jumble
of these mythologies, Bhairon, who is almost certainly the Kâro Bairo
(Kâl Bhairon) of the Bhuiyas of Keunjhar, is identified by them with
Bhîmsen. [251]
Bhairon has a curious history. There is little doubt that he was
originally a simple village deity; but with a slight change of name
he has been adopted into Brâhmanism as Bhairava, "the terrible one,"
one of the most awful forms of Siva, while the female form Bhairavî
is an equivalent for Devî, a worship specially prevalent among Jogis
and Sâktas. On the other hand, the Jainas worship Bhairava as the
protector or agent of the Jaina church and community, and do not
offer him flesh and blood sacrifices, but fruits and sweetmeats. [252]
In his Saiva form he is often called Svâsva, or "he who rides
on a dog," and this vehicle of his marks him down at once as an
offshoot from the village Bhairon, because all through Upper India
the favourite method of conciliating Bhairon is to feed a black dog
until he is surfeited.
One of his distinctive forms is Kâl Bhairon, or Kâla Bhairava, whose
image depicted with his dog is often found as a sort of warden in Saiva
temples. One of his most famous shrines is at Kalinjar, of which Abul
Fazl says "marvellous tales are related." [253] He is depicted with
eighteen arms and is ornamented with the usual garlands of skulls,
with snake earrings and snake armlets and a serpent twined round his
head. In his hands he holds a sword and a bowl of blood. In the Panjâb
he is said to frighten away death, and in Râjputâna Col. Tod calls
him "the blood-stained divinity of war." [254] The same godling is
known in Bombay as Bhairoba, of whom Mr. Campbell [255] writes--"He is
represented as a standing male figure with a trident in the left hand
and a drum (damaru) in the right, and encircled with a serpent. When
thus represented he is called Kâla Bhairava. But generally he is
represented by a rough stone covered over with oil and red lead. He
is said to be very terrible, and, when offended, difficult to be
pleased. By some he is believed to be an incarnation of Siva himself,
and by others as a spirit much in favour with the god Siva. He is
also consulted as an oracle. When anyone is desirous of ascertaining
whether anything he is about to undertake will turn out according to
his wishes, he sticks two unbroken betel-nuts, one on each breast
of the stone image of Bhairava, and tells it, if his wish is to be
accomplished, that the right or left nut is to fall first. It is
said, like other spirits, Bhairava is not a subordinate of Vetâla,
and that when he sets out on his circuit at night, he rides a black
horse and is accompanied by a black dog."
In the Panjâb he [256] is usually represented as an inferior deity,
a stout black figure, with a bottle of wine in his hand; he is an evil
spirit, and his followers drink wine and eat meat. One set of ascetics,
akin to the Jogis, besmear themselves with red powder and oil and go
about begging and singing the praises of Bhairon, with bells or gongs
hung about their loins and striking themselves with whips. They are
found mainly in large towns, and are not celibates. Their chief place
of pilgrimage is the Girnâr Hill in Kâthiawâr. That very old temple,
the Bhairon Kâ Asthân near Lahore, is so named from a quaint legend
regarding Bhairon, connected with its foundation. In the old days the
Dhînwâr girls of Riwâri used to be married to the godling at Bandoda,
but they always died soon after, and the custom has been abandoned. We
shall meet later on other instances of the marriage of girls to a god.
As a village godling Bhairon appears in various forms as Lâth Bhairon
or "Bhairon of the club," which approximates him to Bhîmsen, Battuk
Bhairon or "the child Bhairon," and Nand Bhairon, in which we may
possibly trace a connection with the legend of the divine child
Krishna and his foster-father Nanda. In Benares, again, he is known
as Bhaironnâth or "Lord Bhairon," and Bhût Bhairon, "Ghost Bhairon,"
and he is regarded as the deified magistrate of the city, who guards
all the temples of Siva and saves his votaries from demons. [257]
But in his original character as a simple village godling Bhairon is
worshipped with milk and sweetmeats as the protector of fields, cattle
and homestead. Some worship him by pouring spirits at his shrine and
drinking there; and on a new house being built, he is propitiated to
expel the local ghosts. He is respected even by Muhammadans as the
minister of the great saint Sakhi Sarwar, and in this connection is
usually known as Bhairon Jati or "Bhairon the chaste." [258] But as we
have seen, he is becoming rapidly promoted into the more respectable
cabinet of the gods, and his apotheosis will possibly finally take
place at the great Saiva shrine of Mandhâta on the Narmadâ, with
which a local legend closely connects him. [259] All over Northern
India his stone fetish is found in close connection with the images
of the greater gods, to whom he acts the part of guardian, and this,
as we have already seen, probably marks a stage in his promotion.
He has, according to the last census, only five thousand followers
in the Panjâb, as compared with one hundred and and seventy-five
thousand in the North-Western Provinces.
Worship of Ganesa.
On pretty much the same stage as these warden godlings whom we have
been considering is Ganesa, whose name means "lord of the Ganas"
or inferior deities, especially those in attendance on Siva. He
is represented as a short, fat man, of a yellow colour, with a
protuberant belly, four hands, and the head of an elephant with a
single tusk. Pârvatî is said to have formed him from the scurf of
her body, and so proud was she of her offspring that she showed him
to the ill-omened Sani, who when he looked at him reduced his head
to ashes. Brahma advised her to replace the head with the first she
could find, and the first she found was that of an elephant. Another
story says that Ganesa's head was that of the elephant of Indra, and
that one of his tusks was broken off by the axe of Parasurâma. Ganesa
is the god of learning, the patron of undertakings and the remover of
obstacles. Hence he is worshipped at marriages, and his quaint figure
stands over the house door and the entrance of the greater temples. But
there can be little doubt that he, too, is an importation from the
indigenous mythology. His elephant head and the rat as his vehicle
suggest that his worship arose from the primitive animal cultus.
The Worship of the Great Mothers.
From these generally benevolent village godlings we pass on to a
very obscure form of local worship, that of the Great Mothers. It
prevails both in Aryan and Semetic lands, [260] and there can be very
little doubt that it is founded on some of the very earliest beliefs
of the human race. No great religion is without its deified woman,
the Virgin, Mâyâ, Râdhâ, Fâtimah, and it has been suggested that the
cultus has come down from a time before the present organization of
the family came into existence, and when descent through the mother
was the only recognized form. [261]
We have already met instances of this mother-worship in the case of
Gangâ Mâî, "Mother Ganges," and Dhartî Mâtâ, "the Earth Mother." We
shall meet it again in Sîtalâ Mâtâ, "the small-pox Mother."
In the old mythology Aditî, or infinite space, was regarded as the
Eternal Mother, and Prâkritî was the Eternal Mother, capable of
evolving all created things out of herself, but never so creating
unless united with the eternal spirit principle embodied in the Eternal
Male, Parusha. There appears to have been a tendency on the part of
the Indo-Germanic race to look upon their deities as belonging to
both sexes at once, and hence the dualistic idea in Brâhmanism of
Ardhanari, or the androgynous Siva. [262]
We shall meet later on with the ghost of the unpurified mother,
the Churel, which is based on a different but cognate association of
ideas. Akin to this, again, is the worship of the Satî, or model wife,
to which we shall refer again, and that of the Châran women of Gujarât,
who were obliged to immolate themselves to prevent outrage from the
Kolis and other freebooters.
This worship, probably derived from one of the so-called non-Aryan
races, was subsequently developed into that of the female energies
of the greater gods, a Brâhmânî of Brahma, Indrânî of Indra, and
so on; and thus the simple worship of the mother has developed and
degenerated into the abominations of the Tantras. These mothers
are usually regarded as eight in number, the Ashta Mâtrî, but the
enumeration of them varies. Sometimes there are only seven--Brâhmî or
Brâhmânî, Maheshvarî, Kaumârî, Vaishnavî, Vârâhî, Indrânî or Aindrânî,
or Mahendrî and Châmundâ. Sometimes the number is nine--Brâhmânî,
Vaishnavî, Raudrî, Vârâhî, Narasinhikâ, Kaumârî, Mahendrî, Châmundâ,
Chandikâ. Sometimes sixteen--Gaurî, Padmâ, Sachî, Medhâ, Savitrî,
Vijayâ, Jayâ, Devasenâ, Svadhâ, Svâhâ, Sântî, Pushtî, Dhritî, Tushtî,
Atmadevatâ, Kuladevatâ. [263] They are closely connected with the
worship of Siva and are attendants on his son Skanda, or Kârttikeya,
and rise in the later mythology to a much greater number.
Mother-worship in Gujarât.
But it is in Gujarât that this form of worship prevails most widely
at the present day. Sir Monier-Williams enumerates about one hundred
and forty distinct Mothers, besides numerous varieties of the more
popular forms. They are probably all local deities of the Churel
type, who have been adopted into Brâhmanism. Some are represented
by rudely carved images, others by simple shrines, and others are
remarkable for preferring empty shrines, and the absence of all
visible representations. Each has special functions. Thus one called
Khodiâr, or "mischief," is said to cause trouble unless propitiated;
another called Antâî causes and prevents whooping cough; another named
Berâî prevents cholera; another called Marakî causes cholera; Hadakâî
controls mad dogs and prevents hydrophobia; Asapurâ, represented by
two idols, satisfies the hopes of wives by giving children. Not a few
are worshipped either as causing or preventing demoniacal possession
as a form of disease. The offering of a goat's blood to some of these
Mothers is regarded as very effectual. A story is told of a Hindu
doctor who cured a whole village of an outbreak of violent influenza,
attributed to the malignant influence of an angry Mother goddess, by
simply assembling the inhabitants, muttering some cabalistic texts,
and solemnly letting loose a pair of scapegoats in a neighbouring wood
as an offering to the offended deity. One of these Mothers is connected
with the curious custom of the Couvade, which will be discussed later
on. [264] Another famous Gujarât Mother is Ambâ Bhavânî. On the eighth
night of the Naurâtra the Râna of Danta attends the worship, fans the
goddess with a horsehair fly-flapper, celebrates the fire sacrifice,
and fills with sweetmeats a huge cauldron, which, on the fall of
the garland from the neck of the goddess, the Bhîls empty. Among
the offerings to her are animal sacrifice and spirituous liquor. The
image is a block of stone roughly hewn into the semblance of a human
figure. [265]
Mother-worship in Upper India.
In the Hills what is known as the Mâtrî Pûjâ is very popular. The
celebrant takes a plank and cleans it with rice flour. On it he
draws sixteen figures representing the Mâtrîs, and to the right
of them a representation of Ganesa. Figures of the sun and moon
are also delineated, and a brush made of sacred grass is dipped in
cow-dung and the figures touched with it. After the recital of verses,
a mixture of sugar and butter is let drop on the plank, three, five,
or seven times. The celebrant then marks the forehead of the person for
whose benefit the service is intended with a coin soaked in butter,
and keeps the money as his fee. The service concludes with a waving
of lamps to scare vicious ghosts, singing of hymns and offering of
gifts to Brâhmans. [266]
At Khalârî, in the Râêpur District of the Central Provinces, is a
Satî pillar worshipped under the name of Khalârî Mâtâ. According to
the current legend Khalârî Mâtâ often assumes a female human form and
goes to the adjacent fairs, carrying vegetables for sale. Whoever asks
any gift from her receives it. Once a young man returning from a fair
was overtaken by a strange woman on the road, who said she was going
to see her sister. She asked him to go in front, and said that she
would follow. Not wishing to allow a beautiful young woman to travel
alone at night, he hid himself among some bushes. Presently he heard
a great jingling noise and saw a four-armed woman go up the steep,
bare hill and disappear. It was quite certain that this was Khalârî
Mâtâ herself. [267]
In many parts of the plains, Mâyâ, the mother of Buddha, has been
introduced into the local worship as the Gânwdevî, or village
goddess. Her statues, which are very numerous in some places, are
freely utilized for this purpose. In the same way a figure of the
Buddha Asvaghosha is worshipped at Deoriya in the Allahâbâd District
as Srinagarî Devî. [268]
The Jungle Mothers.
As an instance of another type of Mother-worship we may take Porû Mâî
of Nadiya. She is "represented by a little piece of rough black stone
painted with red ochre, and placed beneath the boughs of an ancient
banyan tree. She is said to have been in the heart of the jungles,
with which Nadiya was originally covered, and to have suffered
from the fire which Râja Kâsi Nâth's men lighted to burn down the
jungle." [269] She is, in fact, a Mother goddess of the jungle, of
whom there are numerous instances. In the North-Western Provinces she
is usually known as Banspatî or Bansapatî Mâî (Vanaspatî, "mistress
of the wood"). Agni, the fire god, is described in the Rig Veda as
"the son of the Vanaspatis," or the deities of the large, old forest
trees. [270] Another name for her in the Western Districts is Âsarorî,
because her shrine is a pile of pebbles (rorî) in which her votaries
have confidence (âsâ) that it will protect them from harm. The shrine
of the jungle mother is usually a pile of stones and branches to which
every passer-by contributes. When she is displeased she allows a tiger
or a leopard to kill her negligent votary. She is the great goddess
of the herdsmen and other dwellers in the forest, and they vow to her
a cock, a goat, or a young pig if she saves them and their cattle
from beasts of prey. Sometimes she is identified with the Churel,
more often with a Havva or Bhût, the spirit, usually malignant, of
some one who has met untimely death in the jungle. Akin to her is
the Ghataut of Mirzapur, who is the deity of dangerous hill passes
(ghât) and is worshipped in the same way, and Baghaut, the ghost of
a man who was killed by a tiger (bâgh). These all, in the villages
along the edge of the jungle, merge in character and function with
the divine council, or Deohâr, of the local gods.
Other Mother Goddesses.
Another of these divine mothers, Mâtâ Januvî or Janamî, the goddess
of births, is a sort of Juno Lucina among the Râjputs, like the Greek
Ilithyia, or the Carmenta of the Romans. Her power rests in a bead,
and all over Northern India midwives carry as a charm to secure
easy delivery a particular sort of bead, known as Kailâs Maura, or
"the crown of the sacred mountain Kailâsa." Difficult parturition is
a disease caused by malignant spirits, and numerous are the devices
to cure it. The ancient Britons, we are told, [271] used to bind a
magic girdle, impressed with numerous mystical figures, round the
waist of the expectant mother, and the jewel named Aetites, found
in the eagle's nest, applied to the thigh of one in labour, eases
pain and quickens delivery. Sir W. Scott [272] had a small stone,
called a toad-stone, which repelled demons from lying-in women.
On the sacred plain of Kurukshetra there once stood a fort, known
as Chakravyûha, and to the moderns as Chakâbu Kâ Qila, from which to
the present day immense ancient bricks are occasionally dug. Popular
belief ascribes great efficacy to these bricks, and in cases of
protracted labour, one of them is soaked in water, which is given to
the patient to drink. Sometimes an image of the fort, which is in the
form of a labyrinth or maze, is drawn on a dish, which is first shown
to the mother and then washed in water, which is administered to the
woman. All through Nepâl and the neighbouring districts, the local
rupee, which is covered with Saiva emblems, is used in the same way,
and Akbar's square rupee, known as the Châryârî, because it bears the
names of the four companions (Châr-Yâr) of the Prophet, is credited
with the same power. There are numerous Mantras or mystic formulæ
which are used for the same purpose.
Dread famine has become a goddess under the title of Bhûkhî Mâtâ,
the "hunger Mother," who, like all the deities of this class, is
of a lean and starved appearance. [273] An interesting ceremony
for the exorcism of the hunger Mother is recorded from Bombay. The
people subscribed to purchase ten sheep, fifty fowls, one hundred
cocoanuts, betel nuts, sugar, clarified butter, frankincense, red
powder, turmeric, and flowers. A day previous to the commencement
of the ceremony, all the inhabitants of the village, taking with
them their clothes, vessels, cattle, and other movable goods, left
their houses and encamped at the gate or boundary of the village. At
the village gate a triumphal arch was erected, and it was adorned
with garlands of flowers and mango leaves covered with red powder
and turmeric. All these things are, as we shall see, well known
as scarers of demons. The villagers bathed, put on new clothes,
and then a procession was formed. On coming to the triumphal arch
the whole procession was stopped. A hole was dug in the ground,
and the village watchman put in it the head of a sheep, a cocoanut,
betel nuts, with leaves and flowers. The arch was then worshipped by
each of the villagers. The village watchman first entered the arch,
and he was followed by the villagers with music, loud cheering, and
clapping of hands. The whole party then went to the village temple,
bowed to the village god, and went to their respective houses. The
blood of the ten sheep and fifty fowls was offered to the village god,
and the flesh was distributed among the people. A dinner was given to
Brâhmans and the rite came to an end. [274] The idea of the sanctity of
the arch is probably based on the same principle as that of perforated
stones, to which reference will be made in another connection.
Greatest of all the mother goddesses of the Râjputs is Mâmâ Devî,
the mother of the gods. She is thus on the same plane as Cybele Rhea
and Demeter, the Corn Mother, who gives the kindly increase of the
fruits of the earth. In one of her temples she is represented in the
midst of her numerous family, including the greater and the minor
divinities. Their statues are all of the purest marble, each about
three feet high and tolerably executed, though evidently since the
decline of the art. [275]
Worship of Gansâm Deo.
We now come to consider some divinities special to the Drâvidian
races, who touch on the North-Western Provinces to the south, across
the Kaimûr and Vindhyan ranges, the physical as well as the ethnical
frontier between the valleys of the Ganges and Jumnâ and the mountain
country of Central India. The chief Gond deity is Gansâm Deo. Some
vague attempt has been made to elevate him into the pantheon of
Brâhmanism, and his name has been corrupted into Ghanasyâma, which
means in Sanskrit, "black like the heavy rain clouds of the rainy
season," and is an epithet of Râma and of Krishna. One legend derives
him from an actual Gond chieftain, just as many of the local godlings
whom we shall consider afterwards have sprung from real living persons
of eminence, or those who have lost their lives in some exceptional
way. It is said that this chieftain was devoured by a tiger soon after
his marriage. As might have been expected, his spirit was restless,
and one year after his death he visited his wife and she conceived
by him. Instances of such miraculous conceptions are common in
folk-lore. [276] "The descendants of this ghostly embrace are, it is
said, living to this day at Amoda, in the Central Provinces. He, about
the same time, appeared to many of his old friends, and persuaded them
that he could save them from the maws of tigers and other calamities,
if his worship were duly inaugurated and regularly performed; and in
consequence of this, two festivals in the year were established in
his honour; but he may be worshipped at any time, and in all sickness
and misfortunes his votaries confidently appeal to him." [277]
In the Hill country of Mirzapur, the shrine of Gansâm is about one
hundred yards from the village site and without any ornamentation. Both
inside and outside is a platform of mud, on which the deity can rest
when so disposed. The only special offerings to him are the curious
water-pots (kalsa) already described, and some rude clay figures of
horses and elephants, which are regarded as the equipage (sawârî) of
the deity. In the Central Provinces, "a bamboo with a red or yellow
flag tied to the end is planted in one corner, an old withered garland
or two is hung up, a few blocks of rough stone, some smeared with
vermilion, are strewn about the place which is specially dedicated
to Gansâm Deo." [278]
Worship of Dântan Deo and Lalitâ.
To the east of the Mirzapur District, there is a projecting mass
of rock, which, looked at from a particular place, bears a rude
resemblance to a hideous, grinning skull, with enormous teeth. This
has come to be known as Dântan Deo or "the deity of the teeth,"
and is carefully propitiated by people when they are sick or in
trouble. Akin to this deity is Lalitâ, who is worshipped to the west
of the Province. She is the sister of Kâlî, and brings bad dreams. Her
speciality is her long teeth, and she has sometimes a curious way
of blowing up or inflating the bodies of people who do not pay her
due respect.
Worship of Dûlha Deo, the Bridegroom Godling.
Another great godling of the Drâvidian races is Dûlha Deo, "the
bridegroom godling." In his worship we have an echo of some great
tragedy, which still exercises a profound influence over the minds
of the people.
The bridegroom on his way to fetch the bride, is, by established
Hindu custom, treated with special reverence, and this unfortunate
bridegroom, whose name is forgotten, is said to have been killed by
lightning in the midst of his marriage rejoicings, and he and his
horse were turned into stone. In fact, like Ganymede or Hylas, he was
carried off by the envy or cruel love of the merciless divine powers.
He is now one of the chief household deities of the Drâvidian
people. Flowers are offered to him on the last day of Phâlgun
(February), and at marriages a goat. Among some of the Gond tribes
he has the first place, and is identified with Pharsipen, the god
of war. In the native States of Rîwa and Sarguja, even Brâhmans
worship him, and his symbol or fetish is the battle-axe, the national
weapon of the Drâvidian races, fastened to a tree. In Mirzapur he
is pre-eminently the marriage godling. In the marriage season he is
worshipped in the family cook-room, and at weddings oil and turmeric
are offered to him. When two or three children in the same hamlet
are being married at the same time, there is a great offering made
of a red goat and cakes; and to mark the benevolent character of the
deity as a household godling, the women, contrary to the usual rule,
are allowed a share of the meat. This purely domestic worship is
not done by the Baiga or devil priest, but by the Tikâit or eldest
son of the family. He is specially the tribal god of the Ghasiyas,
who pour a little spirits in the cook-room in honour of him and of
deceased relatives. The songs in his honour lay special stress on the
delicacies which the house-mother prepares for his entertainment. Among
the Kharwârs, when the newly married pair come home, he is worshipped
near the family hearth. A goat is fed on rice and pulse, and its head
is cut off with an axe, the worshipper folding his hands and saying,
"Take it, Dûlha Deo!"
On the day when this worship is performed, the ashes of the fireplace
are carefully removed with the hands, a broom is not used, and special
precautions are taken that none of the ashes fall on the ground.
General Sleeman gives the legend of Dûlha Deo in another form.
"In descending into the valley of the Narmadâ over the Vindhya range
from Bhopâl, one may see on the side of the road, upon a spur of
the hill, a singular pillar of sandstone rising in two spires, one
turning and rising above the other to the height of some twenty to
thirty feet. On the spur of a hill, half a mile distant, is another
sandstone pillar not quite so high. The tradition is that the smaller
pillar was the affianced bride of the larger one, who was a youth
of a family of great eminence in those parts. Coming with his uncle
to pay his first visit to his bride in the marriage procession, he
grew more and more impatient as he approached nearer and nearer,
and she shared the feeling. At last, unable to restrain himself,
he jumped from his uncle's shoulders, and looked with all his might
towards the place where his bride was said to be seated. Unhappily
she felt no less impatient than he did, and they saw each other at
the same moment. In that moment the bride, bridegroom, and uncle were,
all three, converted into pillars, and there they stand to this day,
a monument to warn mankind against an inclination to indulge in
curiosity. It is a singular fact that in one of the most extensive
tribes of the Gond population, to which this couple is said to have
belonged, the bride always, contrary to the usual Hindu custom,
goes to the bridegroom in procession to prevent a recurrence of this
calamity." [279]
This legend is interesting from various points of view. In the first
place it is an example of a process of thought of which we shall find
instances in dealing with fetishism, whereby a legend is localized in
connection with some curious phenomenon in the scenery, which attracts
general attention. Secondly, we have an instance of the primitive
taboo which appears constantly in folk-lore, where, as in the case
of Lot's wife, the person who shows indiscreet curiosity by a look is
turned into stone or ashes. [280] Thirdly, it may represent a survival
of a custom not uncommon among primitive races, where the marriage
capturing is done, not by the bridegroom, but by the bride. Thus,
among the Gâros, all proposals of marriage must come from the lady's
side, and any infringement of the custom can only be atoned for by
liberal presents of beer given to her relations by the friends of
the bridegroom, who pretends to be unwilling and runs away, but is
caught and subjected to ablution, and then taken, in spite of the
resistance and counterfeited grief and lamentations of the parents,
to the bride's house. [281] It may then reasonably be expected that
this custom of marriage prevailed among some branches of the Gond
tribe, and that as they came more and more under Hindu influence,
an unorthodox ritual prevailing in certain clans was explained by
annexing the familiar legend of Dûlha Deo.