WORSHIP OF THE MALEVOLENT DEAD.
Prôtê de psychê Elpênoros êlthen etairou,
Ou gar pô etethapto hypo chthonos euryodeiês.
Odyssey, xi. 51, 52.
These deified ghosts and saints whom we have been discussing, though
occasionally touchy and sensitive to insult or disrespect, are, as
a rule, benevolent. But there is another class of beings at whose
feet the rustic lies in grievous and perpetual bondage. These are
the malevolent dead.
Spirits of the Dead Hostile.
It is not difficult to understand why the spirits of the dead should
be regarded as hostile. A stranger is, in the belief of all primitive
people, synonymous with an enemy; and the spirit of the departed
having abandoned his own and joined some other and invisible tribe,
whose domains lie outside the world of sense, is sure to be considered
inimical to the survivors left on earth. As we have already seen, even
the usually kindly spirit of the departed household dead requires
propitiation and resents neglect; much more those of a different
tribe or family.
Again, those disembodied souls in particular whose departure from the
earth occurred under unexpected or specially tragical circumstances
are naturally considered to have been ejected against their will
from their tenement of clay, and as for many of them the proper
funeral rites have not been performed, they carry with them to the
next world an angry longing for revenge. As Brand, writing of British
ghosts, says, "The ghosts of murdered persons, whose bodies have been
secretly buried, are restless until their bones have been taken up
and deposited in consecrated ground with the due rites of Christian
burial; this idea being the survival of the old heathen superstition
that Charon was not allowed to ferry over the ghosts of the unburied,
but that they wandered up and down the banks of the river Styx for
a period of a hundred years, at the expiration of which they were
admitted to a passage." [469]
This conception of the state of the soul after death may be illustrated
by the savage theory of dreams.
Savage Theory of Dreams.
Many savages believe that the evidence of dreams is sufficient to
prove that the soul moves about during sleep, and that the dream is
the record of its experiences in hunting, dancing, visiting friends,
and so on.
The Separable Soul.
Hence arises the possibility that in the temporary absence of a man's
soul his body may be occupied by some other person's spirit, or even by
a malignant ghost or demon. In the Panchatantra there is a story of a
king who lost his own soul, but afterwards recovered it. A Panjâb tale
tells how a Hindu was once asleep and his soul went on its travels as
usual. During its wanderings it felt thirsty and went into a pitcher of
water to drink. While it was in the pitcher some one shut the lid, and
it was imprisoned. His friends took the corpse to the cremation ground,
but some one happened fortunately to open the pitcher just in time,
and the spirit flew into its own body, which awoke on the bier. [470]
In the same way, according to Apollonius, the soul of Hermotimos of
Klazomenoe left his body frequently, resided in different places,
uttered all sorts of predictions, and used to come back to his body,
which remained in his house. At last some spiteful persons burnt
his body in the absence of his soul. In another tale of Somadeva the
soul of Chandraprabha abandons his own body and enters that of a hero
under the influence of Mâyâ or delusion. [471]
On this principle Hindus are very cautious about awaking a sleeping
friend, lest his soul may happen to be absent at the time, and in
Bombay it is considered most reprehensible to play jokes on a sleeping
person, such as painting the face in fantastic colours, or giving
moustaches to a sleeping woman. The absent soul may not be able to
find its own body, the appearance of which has been thus changed,
and may depart altogether, leaving the body a corpse.
It is a common incident of the folk-tales that the soul departs
in a dream and falls in love with a girl. We have it in the common
tale of the Rival Queens, where the king sees in a dream the most
lovely woman in the world, and imposes on his courtiers the task of
finding her. The same idea is found more or less in Somadeva, and
constantly recurs in European folk-lore. [472] In the same way we have
the well-known tale of the instantaneous lapse of time in dreams,
as that of the king who plunges his head into water, goes through
wondrous adventures, and when he takes his head out of the vessel,
finds himself surrounded by his courtiers as before.
The rustic Hindu firmly believes that in the absence of a man's proper
soul in a dream his body is occupied by some strange and consequently
malignant ghost. Hence come the nightmare and evil dreams. Thus the
Korwas of Mirzapur believe that a Bhûtin or dangerous female ghost
named Reiyâ besets them at night under the orders of some witch, and
attacks people's joints with the rheumatism. The Majhwârs believe that
the Râkshasa attacks them in dreams. He comes in the shape of an old
man with enormous teeth, brown of colour, with black, entangled hair,
and sometimes swallows his victims. It is fear of him that brings the
fever, and he can be exorcised only by the Baiga with an offering
of rice and pulse. The Dâno also comes in dreams, squeezes a man's
throat, and stops his breath. The Bhuiyârs have adopted from the
Hindu mythology Jam or Yama as one of their dream ghosts. He sits
on his victim's breast in sleep, and it is impossible to shake him
off or make an alarm. Sometimes these night ghosts come as tigers,
wolves, or bears, and hunt a man down in his sleep.
On the same principle the shadow of a man is believed to be part of
a man's soul, and may be separated from him, injured or wounded by
an enemy. Hence it is considered dangerous to tread on the shadow of
a man in the sunshine. Buddha is said to have left his shadow in the
cave at Pabhosa, where he killed the Nâga. [473]
The same is the case with looking into other people's mirrors, because
you may chance leave behind your reflection, which is part of your
soul. As we have seen, this is the basis of much of the theory of water
spirits, which lurk in water holes and seize the reflection of anyone
who looks into them. The Sunni Muhammadans in Bombay cover up all the
looking-glasses in a house when a person is sick, as the soul, which is
just then on the prowl, may be absorbed, and leave its owner a corpse.
Lastly, the same theory accounts for the disinclination which rustics
have to being painted or photographed. Some of the soul goes out in
the image and does not return. There is a rest-house on the Asthbhuja
Hill at Mirzapur which was many years ago presented to the Europeans
of the station by a wealthy banker. He was overpersuaded to allow
his picture to be painted, and fell into a lingering consumption,
of which he soon after died.
The Bhût.
The general term for these spirits is Bhût, in Sanskrit Bhûta, which
means "formed" or "created." In the earlier Hindu writings the word
is applied to the powers of Nature, and even to deities. Siva himself
is called Bhûtîsvara, or "Lord of spirits," and, under the name of
Bhûtîsvara Mahâdeva, has a shrine at Mathura. But as the Greek Dæmon
acquired a less respectable meaning in the later ages of the history
of the nation, so Bhût has now come to imply a malignant evil spirit.
But Bhût is a general term which includes many grades of evil spirits
which it is necessary to distinguish. We shall first, however, deal
with certain characters common to Bhûts in general.
The proper Bhût is the spirit emanating from a man who has died a
violent death, either by accident, suicide, or capital punishment. Such
a soul reaches an additional grade of malignancy if he has been
denied proper funeral ceremonies after death. This is one of his
special wants which deprive the spirit of his longed-for rest. Thus,
we read in Childe Harold, "Unsepulchred they roamed and shrieked,
each wandering ghost." The shade of Patroclus appeared to Achilles
in his sleep and demanded the performance of his funeral, and the
younger Pliny tells of a haunted house in Athens, in which a ghost
played all kinds of pranks owing to his funeral rites having been
neglected. This idea is at the base of the Hindu funeral ceremonies,
and of the periodical Srâddha. Hence arose the conception of the Gayâl,
or sonless ghost. He is the spirit of a man who has died without any
issue competent to perform the customary rites; hence he is spiteful,
and he is especially obnoxious to the lives of the young sons of
other people. Accordingly in every Panjâb village will be seen small
platforms, with rows of little hemispherical depressions into which
milk and Ganges water are poured, and by which lamps are lit and
Brâhmans fed to conciliate the Gayâl; "while the careful mother will
always dedicate a rupee to him, and hang it round her child's neck
till he grows up." Mr. Ibbetson [474] suggests that this may have
been the origin of the mysterious so-called "cup-marks," described
by Mr. Rivett-Carnac. But this is far from certain; they may equally
well have been used for sacrifices to Mother Earth, or in any other
primeval form of worship.
Shrines to Persons Accidentally Killed.
Many of these shrines to persons who have died by an untimely death
are known by special names, which indicate the character of the
accident. We shall meet again with the Baghaut, or shrine, to a man
killed by a tiger. We have also Bijaliya Bîr, the man who was killed
by lightning, Târ Bîr, a man who fell from a Târ or toddy tree, and
Nâgiya Bîr, a person killed by a snake. General Cunningham mentions
shrines of this kind; one to an elephant driver who was killed by
a fall from a tree, another to a Brâhman who was killed by a cow, a
third to a Kashmîri lady who had only one leg and died in her flight
from Delhi to Oudh of exhaustion on the journey.
Bhûts are most to be feared by women and children, and by people at any
serious crisis of their lives, such as marriage or child-birth. They
also attack people after eating sweets, "so that if you treat a
school to sweetmeats, the sweetmeat seller will also bring salt, of
which he will give a pinch to each boy to take the sweet taste out
of his mouth." [475] Salt is, as we shall see later on, particularly
offensive to evil spirits. [476]
Second Marriage and Bhûts.
Women who have married a second time are specially liable to the
envious attacks of the first husband. If in Bombay "a Mahâdeo
Koli widow bride or her husband sicken, it is considered the work
of the former husband. Among the Somavansi Kshatriyas, there is a
strong belief that when a woman marries another husband, her first
husband becomes a ghost and troubles her. This fear is so strongly
rooted in their minds, that whenever a woman of this caste sickens,
she attributes her sickness to the ghost of her former husband, and
consults an exorcist as to how she can get rid of him. The exorcist
gives her some charmed rice, flowers, and basil leaves, and tells
her to enclose them in a small copper box and wear it round her
neck. Sometimes the exorcist gives her a charmed cocoanut, which he
tells her to worship daily, and in some cases he advises the woman
to make a copper or silver image of the dead and worship it every
day." [477]
So in Northern India, people who marry again after the death of the
first wife wear what is known as the Saukan Maura, or second wife's
crown. This is a little silver amulet, generally with an image of Devî
engraved on it. This is hung round the husband's neck, and all presents
made to the second wife are first dedicated to it. The idea is that
the new wife recognizes the superiority of her predecessor, and thus
appeases her malignity. The illness or death of the second wife or
of her husband soon after marriage is attributed to the jealousy of
the ghost of the first wife, which has not been suitably propitiated.
In the Panjâb, on the same principle, if a man has lost two or three
wives in succession, he gets a woman to catch a bird and adopt it
as her daughter. He then pays the dower, marries his bird bride,
and immediately divorces her. By this means the malignant influence
is diverted to the bird, and the real wife is safe. [478] We shall
meet again with the same principle in dealing with the curious custom
of tree marriage.
Food of Bhûts.
Like evil spirits all the world over, Bhûts will eat filthy food,
and as they are always thirsty, they are glad to secure even a drop
of water, no matter how impure the purpose may have been for which
it has been used. On the other hand, they are very fond of milk, and
no Panjâbi woman likes her child to leave the house after drinking
fresh milk. If she cannot prevent it from going, she puts some salt
or ashes into its mouth to scare the Bhût. [479]
Posture of Bhûts.
Bhûts can never sit on the ground, apparently, because, as has been
shown already, the earth, personified as a goddess, scares away all
evil influence. Hence, near the low-caste shrines a couple of pegs
or bricks are set up for the Bhût to rest on, or a bamboo is hung
over it, on which the Bhût perches when he visits the place. [480]
On the same principle the Orâons hang up the cinerary urn containing
the bones of a dead man on a post in front of the house, [481] and
the person who is going on a pilgrimage, or conveying the bones of a
relative to the Ganges, sleeps on the ground; but the bones must not
rest on the ground; they are hung on the branch of a tree, so that
their late owner may revisit them if so disposed. Near shrines where
Bhûts are always about on the chance of appropriating the offerings,
it is expedient to sleep on the ground. So the bride and bridegroom
rest, and the dying man is laid at the moment of dissolution.
Tests of Bhûts.
There are at least three infallible tests by which you may
recognize a Bhût. In the first place he casts no shadow. In the
third Canto of the Purgatorio, Dante is much distressed because
Virgil, being a disembodied spirit, casts no shadow. In the second
place a Bhût can stand almost anything in his neighbourhood but the
scent of burning turmeric, which, as we shall see, is a well-known
demon-scarer. Thirdly, a genuine Bhût always speaks with a nasal twang,
and it is possibly for this last reason that the term for the gibberish
in the mediæval plays and for modern English is Pisâcha Bhâsha, or
the language of goblins. [482] Some of them have throats as narrow
as a needle, but they can drink gallons of water at a time. Some,
like the Churel, whom we shall meet later on, have their feet turned
backwards. Some, like Brâhman ghosts, are wheat-coloured or white;
others, like the Kâfari, the ghost of a murdered negro, are black,
and particularly dreaded. A famous ghost of this class haunts a lane
in Calcutta, which takes its name from him.
Spirit Lovers.
Many denizens of the spirit land have connection with mortals. We
have the cycle of folk-tales known as that of the Swan maidens.
Urvasî came and lived with Parûravas until he broke the curiosity
taboo. We shall see instances where Indra gives one of his fairies to
a mortal lover, and spirits like the Incubi and Succubi of European
folk-lore can be brought down by incantation.
Spirit Entries: The Head.
Spirits enter and leave the body in various ways. They often use the
head in this way, and in particular the tenth aperture of the body,
one of the skull sutures, known as Brahma-randhra. This is the reason
why the skull is broken at cremation to open the "crevice of Brahma,"
as this orifice is called.
In the case of one of the ascetic orders, who are buried and not
cremated, a blow is given on the head with a cocoanut or a conch
shell. Thus, when the chief teacher of the Brâhmans in Bombay dies,
his successor breaks a cocoanut on his skull and makes an opening,
in which the sacred Sâlagrâma stone is laid. [483] This rite of
skull-breaking, which is done by the next relation, is a recognized
part of the Hindu cremation rite, and is known as Kapâlakriya.
The same theory that the head is an entry for spirits accounts for
numerous strange practices. Thus, when in Kumaun a man is bitten
by a snake they pull three hairs from his scalp-lock and strike
him three times on the top of the head with the first joint of the
middle finger, a kind of blow which in ordinary cases is regarded
with the utmost terror. So when a person has fever, they take a bone
and fill it with grain, and, making the patient stand in the sun, dig
a hole where the shadow of his head falls, and there bury the bone,
saying, "Fever! Begone with the bone!" [484] At a Gond wedding, the
old man who officiates knocks the heads of the bride and bridegroom
together to scare the evil spirits, [485] and at a Hindu marriage
in Northern India the mother of the youth, as he leaves to fetch
his bride, and as he returns with her, waves lamps, a brass tray,
grain, and a rice pounder, to drive off the Bhûts fluttering round
his head. It is on the same principle that the bridegroom wears a
marriage crown, and this also accounts for many of the customs of
blessing by the laying on of hands and anointing which prevail all
over the world. In the same way the hair has always been regarded
as a spirit entry. Magistrates in Northern India are often troubled
by people who announce their intention of "letting their hair grow"
at some one whom they desire to injure. This, if one can judge by
the manifest terror exhibited by the person against whom this rite
is directed, must be a very stringent form of coercion. For the same
reason ascetics wear the hair loose and keep it uncut, as Sampson
did, and the same idea probably accounts for the rites of ceremonial
shaving of youths, and of the mourners after death.
The Mouth.
As might have been expected, Bhûts are very fond of entering by the
mouth. Hence arise much of the mouth-washing which is part of the
daily ritual of the Hindu, and many of the elaborate precautions which
he takes at meals. This will be referred to again in connection with
the Evil Eye.
Yawning.
Hence it is very dangerous to yawn, as two kinds of danger are to
be apprehended--either a Bhût may go down your throat, or part of
your soul may escape, and you will be hard set to recover it. So if
you chance to yawn, you should put your hand to your mouth and say
Nârâyan--"Great God!" afterwards, or you should crack your fingers,
which scares the evil spirit. This idea is the common property of
folk-lore. [486]
Sneezing.
So, sneezing is due to demoniacal influence, but opinions differ as
to whether it is caused by a Bhût entering or leaving the nose. The
latter view is generally taken by Musalmâns, because it is one of the
traditions of the Prophet that the nose should be washed out with
water, as the devil resides in it during the night. The sneezing
superstition in India is at least as old as the Buddhist Jâtakas,
where we have a remarkable tale about it, which describes how the
future Buddha and his father Gagga went to pass the night in a place
haunted by a Yakkha, or Yaksha, and were very near being devoured by
him because they did not say the spell "Live!" when they sneezed. [487]
So, in Somadeva's tale of Sulochana and Sushena, the spirit of the
air says, "When he enters into his private apartments, he shall sneeze
a hundred times; and if some one there does not say to him a hundred
times, 'God bless you,' he shall fall into the grasp of death." [488]
It is needless to say that the same belief prevails in Europe. As
Dr. Tylor says, "Even the Emperor Tiberius, that saddest of men,
exacted this observance." According to the Muhammadan rule, if a
person sneezes and then says immediately afterwards, Al-hamdu li'llah,
"God be praised," it is incumbent upon at least one of the party to
reply, Yarhamu-ka 'llah, just as among the Jews the sneezing formula
was Tobkin Khayim, "Good life!"
On the whole, sneezing is considered auspicious, because it implies
the expulsion of a Bhût. As a general rule, if a person sneezes
when another is beginning some work, the latter stops for a while,
and then begins afresh; if there be two sneezes in succession, there
is no necessity for interruption. If a man sneezes behind the back
of another, the back of the latter is slightly pinched. In Bombay,
if a man sneezes during a meal, one of the party calls on him to
name his birthplace. [489] The threshold in the folk-lore of all
nations is regarded as a sacred place. It is here, according to the
Scotch and Irish belief, that the house fairies reside. Sitting
on the threshold is believed by Indian matrons likely to produce
boils in children in that part of the body which touches it, and it
is thought most unlucky to sneeze on the threshold. On the whole,
one sneeze is ominous, while after two work may be commenced with
safety. So it was in the days of Homer--"Even so she spoke, and
Telemachus sneezed loudly, and around the roof rang wondrously,
and Penelope laughed, and straightway spoke Eumoeus winged words,
'Go! call me the stranger, even so into my presence. Dost thou not
mark how my son has sneezed a blessing on all my words?'" [490]
The Hands and Feet.
The hands and feet are also means by which Bhûts enter the body. Hence
much of the ablution at prayers and meals; the hand-clapping which
accompanies so many religious and mystical rites; the passing of the
hand over the head; the laying of the hands on the eyes to restore
sight, of which we have many examples in the Indian folk-tales;
the hand-pledging at marriages; the drinking of the Charan-amrita,
or water, in which the feet of a holy man have been washed; the
ceremonial washing of the feet of the bridegroom at a wedding by
the father of the bride. The stock case of the danger of the not
washing the feet at night is that of Adilî, whose impurity allowed
Indra to form the Maruts out of her embryo. A man with flat feet is
considered most unlucky, as in North England, where if you meet a
flat-soled man on Monday you are advised to go home, eat and drink,
or evil will befall you. [491] The chief basis of feet-washing is the
idea that a person coming from abroad and not immediately carrying
out the required ablution runs the risk of bringing some foreign,
and presumably dangerous, spirit with him.
The Ears.
And so with the ears, which are believed to communicate direct with
the brain, and are kept by the rustic carefully muffled up on chilly
mornings. Hence the custom of Kanchhedan, or ear-piercing, which is
in Northern India about the only survival of the world-wide rite of
mutilation when males attain puberty, and of wearing ear-rings and
similar ornaments, which is habitual with all classes of Hindus,
and specialized among the Kanphata Jogis, who take their name from
this practice.
Varieties of Bhûts.
In Bengal the ordinary Bhût is a member of the Kshatriya, Vaisya,
or Sûdra class. The Brâhman Bhût, or Brahmadaitya, is quite another
variety. The ordinary Bhûts are as tall as palmyra trees, generally
thin and very black. They usually live on trees, except those which
the Brahmadaitya frequent. At night, and especially at the hour of
midnight, they wander about the fields frightening travellers. They
prefer dirty places to those which are clean; so when a person goes
to worship a Bhût, he does so in some dirty, retired place, and gives
him only half-cooked food, so that he may not have time to gobble
it up, and perchance rend his worshipper. They are never seen in
the temples of the gods, though they often, as we have seen, lurk
about in the vicinity in the hope of getting some of the offerings
if the priest be not on the alert and scare them with his bell or
shell-trumpet. They are always stark naked, and are fond of women,
whom they sometimes abduct. They eat rice, and all sorts of human
food, but their favourite diet is fish. Hence no Bengâli, except for
a considerable bribe, will talk about fish at night. Here they agree
with the fairies of Manxland. Professor Rhys [492] tells a story of a
Manx fisherman, who was taking a fresh fish home, and was pursued by a
pack of fairy dogs, so that it was only with great trouble he reached
his own door. He drove the dogs away with a stone, but he was shot by
the fairies, and had a narrow escape of his life. On the other hand,
the Small People in Cornwall hate the smell of fish as much as the
savour of salt or grease. [493] The best chance of escape from these
Bengal Bhûts is when they begin to quarrel among themselves. A person
beset by them should invoke the gods and goddesses, especially Kâlî,
Durgâ, and Siva, the last of whom is, as already noted, the Lord of
Bhûts. [494]
Bhûts are of many varieties. Vetâla, or Baitâl, their leader, is
familiar to everyone in the tales of the Baitâl Pachîsi. He is not,
as a rule, particularly offensive. More usually he is a vagrant Bhût
which enters the body of a man when the real spirit is absent. But
he often approximates to the Vampire as we meet him in Western
folk-lore. "It is as a vitalized corpse that the visitor from
the other world comes to trouble mankind, often subject to human
appetites, constantly endowed with more than human strength and
malignity." [495] Thus in one of Somadeva's stories the hero goes at
night to a cemetery and summons at the foot of a tree a Vetâla into
the body of a man, and after worshipping him, makes an oblation of
human flesh to him. In another there is a Vetâla with a body made up
of the limbs of many animals, who hurls the king to the earth, and
when he sits on the Vetâla's back the demon flies with him through
the air like a bird and flings him into the sea. [496] The spirit
entering the body of the dead man forms the leading incident in the
tale of Fadlallah in the Arabian Nights, and there are many instances
of it in Indian folk-lore. This disposes of the assertion which has
been sometimes made that among races which bury their dead little
is known of regular corpse spectres, or that they are special to
lands tenanted or influenced by the Slavonians. [497] Most usually
the Vetâla appears as the spirit of some living person dissatisfied
with his lodgings on earth, which leaves his own body and occupies a
corpse in preference. He, in company with the Vasus, Yakshas, Bhûtas,
and Gandharvas, has passed into the degraded Tantrika worship. [498]
The Pret.
The Hindu notion of the state of the soul between death and the
performance of the prescribed funeral rites agrees exactly with that
of the older European races. They wandered about in a state of unhappy
restlessness, and were not suffered to mix with the other dead. The
term Pret or Preta, which simply means "deceased" or "departed,"
represents the soul during this time. It wanders round its original
home, and, like the Bâlakhilyas, who surround the chariot of the
sun, is no larger than a man's thumb. The stages of his progress,
according to the best authorities, are that up to the performance of
the ten Pindas the dead man remains a Preta, through the Nârâyanabali
rite he becomes a Pisâcha, and by the Sapindikarana he reaches the
dignity of the Pitri or sainted dead. The term Preta is, however,
sometimes applied to the spirit of a deformed or crippled person,
or one defective in some limb or organ, or of a child who dies
prematurely owing to the omission of the prescribed ceremonies during
the formation of the embryo. Here it may be noted that there are
indications in India of the belief which is common among savages,
that young children, apparently in consequence of their incomplete
protection from the birth impurity, are under a taboo. Thus in India a
child is regarded as a Bhût until the birth hair is cut. Some of the
jungle tribes believe that it is unnecessary to protect a child from
evil spirits until it begins to eat grain, because up to that time
it is nothing more than a Bhût itself. Under the old ritual a child
under two years of age was not burnt, but buried, and no offering of
water was made to it. We are familiar with the same idea in England
regarding unbaptized children, whose spirits are supposed to be
responsible for the noise of Gabriel's Hounds in the sky, really
caused by the bean geese in their southern flight.
The Pret is occasionally under provocation malignant, but as it
partakes to some degree of the functions of the benign ancestral
household spirit, it is not necessarily malicious or evil-disposed
towards living persons. The Pret is specially worshipped at Gaya
on the Hill, known as Pretsila, or "the rock of the Pret," and a
special class of Brâhmans at Patna call themselves Pretiya, because
they worship the ghost of some hero or saint. [499]
The Pisâcha.
Next comes the Pisâcha, which, as we have seen, is by one account
only a stage in the progress of the soul to its final rest. But more
properly speaking it is an evil spirit produced by a man's vices,
the ghost of a liar, adulterer, or criminal of any kind, or of one who
has died insane. But his attributes and functions are not very clearly
defined, and he merges into the general class of Bhûts. In some cases
he seems to have the power to cure disease. Thus we read in Somadeva,
"Rise up in the last watch of the night, and with dishevelled hair,
and naked, and without rinsing your mouth, take two handfuls of rice
as large as you can grasp with the two hands, and, uttering a form
of words, go to a place where four roads meet and there place the
two handfuls of rice, and return in silence without looking behind
you. Do so always until that Pisâcha appears and says, 'I will put
an end to your ailment.' Then receive his aid gladly, and he will
remove your complaint." [500]
The Râkshasa.
The Râkshasa again, a word that means "the harmer" or "the destroyer,"
is of the ogre-vampire type. He goes about at night, haunts cemeteries,
disturbs sacrifices and devout men, animates dead bodies, even
devouring human beings, in which capacity he is known as Kravyâda,
or carnivorous, and is generally hostile to the human race. He is
emphatically a devourer of human flesh, and eats carrion. He is
often represented in the folk-tales as having a pretty daughter, who
protects the hero when he ventures perchance into the abode of the
monster. Her father comes in, and with the cry of "Manush gandha,"
which is equivalent to the "Fee! fo! fum! I smell the blood of an
Englishman!" of the Western tale, searches about, but fails to find
him. When Hanumân entered the city of Lanka in the form of a cat, to
reconnoitre, he saw that the Râkshasas who slept in the house "were
of every shape and form. Some of them disgusted the eye, while some
were beautiful to look on. Some had long arms and frightful shapes;
some were very fat and some were very lean; some were dwarf and some
were prodigiously tall. Some had only one eye, and others had only
one ear. Some had monstrous bellies, hanging breasts, long projecting
teeth, and crooked thighs; whilst others were exceedingly beautiful to
behold and clothed in great splendour. Some had the heads of serpents,
some the heads of asses, some of horses, and some of elephants." The
leader of them was Râvana, who is said to have been once a Brâhman and
to have been turned into a Râkshasa, "with twenty arms, copper-coloured
eyes, and bright teeth like the young moon. His form was as a thick
cloud or as a mountain, or the god of death with open mouth."
The Râkshasa is the great Deus ex machinâ of folk-lore. He can change
into almost any form he pleases, his breath is a roaring wind; he can
lengthen his arms to eighty miles; he can smell out human beings like
Giant Blunderbore. He can carry a man leagues through the air; if his
head be cut off, it grows again. He is the Eastern type of the monster
dragon which is subdued by St. George, Siegmund, Siegfried, or Beowulf.
His spouse, the Râkshasî, is a creature of much the same kind. In the
folk-tales she often takes the form of the ogress queen who marries
the king and gets up at night and devours an elephant, or two or
three horses, or some sheep or a camel, and then puts the blood and
scraps of meat at the doors of her rivals, and gets them banished,
until the clever lad discovers her wiles and brings her to condign
punishment. [501] Often she besets a city and demands the daily
tribute of a human victim. The king takes the place of the victim,
and the Râkshasî is so affected by his generosity that she abandons
eating the flesh of men. In a case in the folk-tales a boy becomes
a Râkshasa by eating the brains of a corpse. [502] Like all other
demons, Râkshasas are scared by light, and one of the names of the
lamp is Râkshogna, or "the destroyer of the Râkshasas."
The idea of the Râkshasa comes from the earliest times. Some have
thought them to be types of the early Drâvidian opponents of the
Hindus. Nirritî, the female personification of death, is a Râkshasa
deity in the Vedas, and Dr. Muir has traced the various stages
by which the Râkshasa was developed into a godling. [503] Thus,
in the Mahâbhârata, Jarâ is called a household goddess; the great
King Jarasandha was born in two halves, and Jarâ united them; she
is always represented as seeking to requite by benefits the worship
which is paid to her. Manu prescribes a special oblation for "the
spirits which walk in darkness." The blood in the sacrifice is,
according to the old ritual, offered to them, though even here we
notice the transition from animal to corn offerings. [504]
Nowadays Râkshasas live in trees and cause vomiting and indigestion
to those who trespass on their domains at night. They mislead night
travellers like Will-o'-the-Wisp, and they are always greedy and in
quest of food. So, if a man is eating by lamp-light and the light
goes out, he will cover the dish with his hands, which are, as we
have already seen, scarers of demons, to preserve the food from the
Râkshasa, and Bengal women go at night with a lamp into every room
to expel the evil spirits. [505]
The Râkshasas are said to be always fighting with the gods and
their blood remains on many of these ghostly battlefields. In the
Hills this is believed to be the cause of the red ferruginous clay
which is occasionally observed, and the Lohû or "blood-red" river
has a similar origin. [506] The same idea appears in the folk-lore of
Europe. In a Swabian legend the red colour of shoots of rye when they
first appear above the surface is attributed to Cain having killed Abel
in a rye-field, which thus became reddened with innocent blood. [507]
One species of feathered pink has a dark purple spot in it which people
in Germany say is a drop of the blood of the Redeemer which fell from
the Cross. [508] In one of the Irish Sagas the blood of a murdered man
fell on a white stone and formed the red veins which are still shown
to the traveller. [509] In Cornwall a red stain on the rocks marks
where giant Bolster died, and the red lichen in a brook commemorates a
murder. [510] Every English child knows the legend of Robin Redbreast.
In folk-lore Râkshasas have kingdoms, and possess enormous riches,
which they bestow on those whom they favour, like Târâ Bâî in the story
of Seventee Bâî. In this they resemble the Irish fairies, who hide away
much treasure in their palaces underneath the hills and in the lakes
and sea. "All the treasure of wrecked ships is theirs; and all the gold
that men have hidden or buried in the earth when danger was on them,
and then died and left no sign to their descendants. And all the gold
of the mine and the jewels of the rocks belong to them, and in the
Sifra or fairy house the walls are silver and the pavement is gold,
and the banquet hall is lit by the diamonds that stud the rocks." [511]
The finger nails of the Râkshasas, as those of Europeans in
popular belief, are a deadly poison, and the touch of them produces
insensibility, or even death. They often take the disguise of old women
and have very long hair, which is a potent charm. Their malignity is
so great that it would be difficult to avoid them, but fortunately,
like the Devil in the European tales, and evil spirits all the world
over, they are usually fools, and readily disclose the secrets of
their enchantment to the distressed heroine who is unlucky enough to
fall into their power, and the victim has generally only to address
the monster as "Uncle!" to escape from his clutches. [512]
They are, as has been said already, usually cannibals. One of these
was Vaka in the Mahâbhârata, who lived at Ekachakra and levied a
daily toll of food and human victims on the Râja till he was torn
to pieces by Bhîma. Bhîma also contrived to kill another monster of
the same kind named Hidimba. In the great Panjâb legend of Rasâlu,
he conquers the seven Râkshasas, who used to eat a human being every
day, and there is a Nepâl story of the Râkshasa Gurung Mâpa, who used
to eat corpses. He was propitiated with a grant of land to live on
and an annual offering of a buffalo and some rice. [513]
Power of Lengthening Themselves.
All ghosts, as we shall see later on, have the power of lengthening
themselves like the Naugaza, whom we have already mentioned. For
this reason demons, as a rule, are of gigantic form, and many of the
enormous fossil bones found in the Siwâlik Hills were confidently
attributed to the Râkshasas, which reminds us of the story of the
smith in Herodotus who found the gigantic coffin seven cubits long
containing the bones of Orestes. [514]
Night Spirits.
Like the ghost in Hamlet, the angel that visited Jacob, and the
destroying angels of Sodom, the Râkshasas always fly before the
dawn. They invariably travel through the air and keep their souls in
birds or trees--a fertile element in folk-lore which has been called
by Major Temple "The Life Index." [515]
Râkshasas as Builders.
The tales of Western lands abound with instances of buildings, bridges,
etc., constructed by the Devil. So the Indian Râkshasa is commonly
regarded as an architect. Thus, at Râmtek in the Central Provinces
there is a curious old temple built of hewn stones, well fitted
together without mortar. From its shape and structure it is probably
of Jaina origin, though local tradition connects it with the name of
Hemâdpant, the Râkshasa. He is an example of Râkshasas developed in
comparatively recent times from a historical personage. He was probably
the Minister of Mahâdeva (1260-1271 A.D.), the fourth of the Yâdava
Kings of Deogiri. According to the common story, he was a giant or a
physician, who brought the current Marâthi character from Ceylon. The
Dakkhin swarms with ancient buildings attributed to him. [516]
Such is also the case with another class of demons, the Asuras,
a word which means "spiritual" or "superhuman," who were the rivals
of the gods. In Mirzapur the ancient embankment at the Karsota tank
is considered to be their work. Once upon a time two of these demons
vowed that whoever first succeeded in building a fort should be the
conqueror, and that his defeated rival should lose his life. So
they set to work in the evening, one on the Bijaygarh Hill, and
the other on the opposite peak of Kundakot, about twelve miles
distant. The demon of Bijaygarh, having lost his tools in the dark,
struck a light to search for them. His adversary seeing the light,
and imagining that the sun was rising and his rival's work completed,
fled precipitously. The Bijaygarh fort was completed during the night
and stands to the present day, while on Kundakot you see only a few
enormous blocks of stone which was all the vanquished Asura had time
to collect. The tales of demons interfering with the construction of
buildings are common in European folk-lore.
Many other buildings are said to have been built in the same way. The
Bârahkhamba at Shikârpur in the Bulandshahr District was built by
demons; Baliya in Pilibhît was the work of Bali, the Daitya; the
demon Loha or Lohajangha built Lohâban in Mathura. [517] In the same
way the Cornish giants built chiefly in granite, and the Hack and
Cast embankment was constructed by them. [518] In Patna the Asura
Jarâsandha is the reputed builder of an enormous embankment which is
called Asuren after him, and another demon of the same class is said
to be the architect of an ancient fortification in Puraniya. [519]
Many buildings, again, are attributed to personages who succeeded in
getting an Asura under their influence, and being obliged to find
work for him, compelled him to occupy his time in architecture. In
the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" Michael Scott got out of the dilemma
by making the demons twist ropes of sand, and the same tale is told
of Tregeagle in Cornwall. [520]
Modern Râkshasas.
Râkshasas are developed even in these prosaic days of ours. In the
folk-tales many human beings lie under the well-founded suspicion
of being Asuras or Râkshasas. [521] The ghost of some Musalmâns is
believed by some Hindus to become a most malignant Râkshasa. Such a
ghost is conciliated by being addressed by the euphemistic title of
Mamduh, "the praised one." Visaladeva, the famous King of Ajmer, was
turned into a Râkshasa on account of his oppression of his subjects,
in which condition he resumed the evil work of his earthly existence,
"devouring his subjects," until one of his grandchildren offered
himself as a victim to appease his hitherto insatiable appetite. "The
language of innocent affection," says Col. Tod, "made its way to the
heart of the Râkshasa, who recognized his offspring, and winged his
flight to the Jumnâ." [522]
Young men who are obliged to travel at night have reason to be
cautious of the Râkshasî, as well as of the Churel, with whom she
is occasionally identified. She takes the form of a lovely woman and
lures her victims to destruction.
Brâhman Ghosts.
We have already mentioned the Brahm or malignant Brâhman ghost. These
often develop into Râkshasas, and are a particularly dangerous
species. Thus the sept of Gaur Râjputs are haunted by the Râkshasa
or ghost of the Brâhman Mansa Râm, who, on account of the tyranny
of the Râja Tej Sinh, committed suicide. He lives in a tree in a
fort in the Sîtapur District, and no marriage or any other important
business in the family of the Râja is undertaken until he has been duly
propitiated. [523] So, at the mound of Bilsar in the Etah District,
there lived a Râja whose house overlooked that of a Brâhman named
Pûran Mall. The Brâhman asked the Râja to change the position of his
sitting-room, as it was inconvenient to the ladies of his family,
and when the request was refused, poisoned himself with a dose
of opium. His body turned blue like indigo, and he became a most
malignant demon or Bîr, known as the Brahm Râkshasa, which caused
the death of the Râja and his family, and forced his successors to
remove to a distance from their original family residence.
The Deo.
Closely connected with the Râkshasas are various classes of demons,
known as Deo, Dâno, or Bîr. The Deo is a survival of the Devas or
"shining ones" of the old mythology. It is another of the terms
which have suffered grievous degradation. It was originally applied
to the thirty-three great divinities, eleven of which inhabited each
of the three worlds. Now the term represents a vague class of the
demon-ogre family. The Deo is a cannibal, and were he not exceedingly
stupid could do much harm, but in the folk-tales he is always being
deceived in the most silly way. He has long lips, one of which sticks
up in the air, while the other hangs down pendant. Like many of his
kinsfolk all over the world, he is a potent cause of tempests. [524]
The Bîr.
The Bîr, who takes his name from the Sanskrit Vîra, "hero," is a
very malignant village demon. In one of the Mirzapur villages is
the shrine of Kharbar Bîr, or "the noisy hero." No one can give any
satisfactory account of him, but it is quite certain that if he is not
propitiated by the Baiga, he brings disease on men and cattle. Gendâ
Bîr, a woman who was tired of life, and, instead of burning herself,
threw herself down from a tree, is worshipped at Nâgpur. [525] Kerâr
Bîr has, according to the last census returns, thirty-one thousand
worshippers in the eastern districts of the North-West Provinces. He
is said to have been a demon who resided on the spot where the present
fort of Jaunpur now stands. He became such a pest to the country about,
that the great Râma Chandra warred against him and overcame him. His
head and limbs he flung to the four corners of heaven, and his trunk
in the form of a shapeless mass of stone remains as a memorial and is
worshipped. Some allege that he was really some hero of the aboriginal
Bhar race who fell in battle with the Aryan. It is also alleged that
when the British engineers attempted to blow down the fort their
mines failed to disturb the shrine of Kerâr, whose importance has
been much increased by this example of his prowess. [526] In Bombay
there are seven Bîrs who go about together and scour the fields and
gardens at night. [527]
The Dâno.
The Dâno represents the Dânava of the early mythology. Of these
there are seven also, and the leader of them is Vritra, who is
the ancestor of the dragons and keeps back and steals the heavenly
waters, on which account Indra slays him with his thunderbolt. Vala,
the cave in which the rain cows are hidden, is called the brother of
Vritra. No trace remains now of this beautiful weather myth. The Dâno
nowadays is hardly to be distinguished from the Bîr and his brethren,
and at Hazâribâgh he is worshipped in the form of a stone daubed with
five streaks of red lead and set up outside the house. [528]
The Daitya.
So with the Dait or Daitya, who is connected in nothing but name with
the demons of the olden world who warred with the gods. In Mirzapur he
lives in a tree; in front he looks like a man, but seen from behind
he is quite hollow, only a mere husk without a backbone. In this
he resembles the Ellekone of Denmark, who is beautiful in front, but
hollow in the back like a kneading trough. [529] So the Hadal or Hedali
of Bombay is said to be plump in front and a skeleton behind. [530]
At midnight the Daitya shows himself in his tree in a flash of fire and
smoke, and sometimes flies off to another tree a short distance off.
In Mirzapur he is sometimes known as Daitra Bîr and is associated
with two others named Akata Bîr and Latora Bîr, all of whom live
in trees and go out at night and dance for a while with torches
in their hands. They are worshipped with an offering consisting of
the Kalsa or holy water-pots and some greens. [531] In one village
the Daitya is known as Beohâr Bâba or the "father of merchandise,"
as he is supposed in some way to guard merchants. Col. Tod describes
a place in the table-land of Central India known as Daitya kâ har or
"the demon's bone," on which those who are in search of ease jump from
above. Although most of the leapers perish, some instances of escape
are recorded. The hope of obtaining offspring is said to be the most
usual motive for the act. [532] Instances of religious suicides are
common. One of the most famous places for this is behind the peak
of Kedâr, where the Pândavas devoted themselves and were carried off
to heaven. The practice seems to have almost completely ceased under
British rule.
The Headless Horseman.
At the present time the most dreaded of these creatures is, perhaps,
the Headless Horseman, who is popularly known as Dûnd, or "truncated."
He has many of his kindred in other lands. Sir Francis Drake used
to drive a hearse into Plymouth with headless horses and followed
by yelling hounds. Coluinn gun Cheann of the Highlands goes about
a headless trunk. A coach without horses used to career about the
neighbourhood of Listowel when any misfortune was about to take
place. A monster in one of the German tales carries about his head
under his arm. [533]
By one account the Dûnd took his origin from the wars of the
Mahâbhârata. However this may be, he appears periodically in the form
of a headless trunk seated on horseback, with his head tied before him
on the pommel of the saddle. He makes his rounds at night and calls
to the householder from outside; but woe to any one who answers him,
for this means death. The belief in these visionary death summonses is
very common. The Irish Banshee howls at night and announces death. In
Mirzapur, Bâghesar, or the tiger demon, lives on the Churni Hill. He
sometimes comes down at night in human form, and calls people by name
at their doors. If any one answers him he becomes sick. The Bengâli
personifies Nisi or Night as the Homeric Greeks did. [534] She often
comes at midnight, calls the house-master, who when he opens the door
falls senseless and follows her where she will. Sometimes she takes
him into a tank and drowns him, or leads him into a dense forest and
drops him among thorns or on the top of some high tree. In fact it is
always very dangerous to speak to these spirits or ghosts. Falstaff
knew this well when he said, "They are fairies; he that speaks to
them shall die."
The Dûnd makes occasional incursions throughout the country. He was
in the neighbourhood of Agra in 1882, and some twelve years after
appeared in Mirzapur. On both occasions the news of his arrival caused
considerable alarm. Every one shut up their houses at sunset, and
no one on any consideration would answer a call from outside after
nightfall. It was shrewdly suspected at the time that this rumour
was spread by some professional burglar who made a harvest while the
scare lasted.
Somewhat akin to the Dûnd is the spectral Râja of Bûndi who
occasionally appears in the neighbourhood of Sahâranpur. Some years
ago a Brâhman astrologer heard some one calling him from outside
one night. When he answered the summons he was told that the Râja
of Bûndi wanted to have his horoscope examined and was then encamped
near the town. The Pandit proceeded to the place with the guide and
saw a splendid encampment, and the Râja in his royal robes sitting
in a tent ornamented with pearls. When he saw him the unfortunate
astrologer knew that he was a Râkshasa, and he was the more convinced
of this when he examined his horoscope and found that he was fated
to live for ever. He told the Râja that his life would be long and
prosperous, and after receiving three gold coins as his fee went home
more dead than alive. Next morning he went to the place, but could
find no sign of the camp, and when he looked in his box the coins
were found to have disappeared.
There are numerous other versions of the Headless Horseman story
in Northern India. In a fight at Khândesh the Gâoli prince engaged
in personal conflict with the saint Sayyid Saadat Pîr, and struck
off his head. The headless body continued to fight, and the Hindu
army fled in panic. The trunk then snatched up the head and led the
victorious troops to a neighbouring hill, where the earth opened
and swallowed it. [535] So, in Oudh, Malik Ambar, the companion of
Sâlâr Masaud, was, it is said, killed with his master at Bahrâich,
but wandering back from Bijnor, a headless trunk on horseback, he at
length reached the place where his tomb now stands, when the earth
opened and received him and his horse. [536]
The Dûnd is apparently a close relation of the Skandhahâta of Bengal,
who goes about with his head cut off from the shoulders. He dwells in
low moist lands outside a village, in bogs and fens, and goes about
in the dark, rolling about on the ground, with his long arms stretched
out. Woe betide the belated peasant who falls within his grasp. [537]
The Ghostly Army.
Closely connected with this are the numerous legends of the Ghostly
Army. Thus, at Faizâbâd, the country people point out a portion of
the Queen's highway along which they will not pass at night. They say
that after dark the road is thronged with troops of headless horsemen,
the dead of the army of Prince Sayyid Sâlâr. The great host moves on
with a noiseless tread; the ghostly horses make no sound; and no words
of command are shouted to the headless squadrons. Another version
comes from Ajmer. There for some time past a troop of four or five
hundred horsemen, armed and dressed in green, issue from a valley in
the neighbourhood of the city, and after riding about for some time,
mysteriously disappear. They are believed to be the escort of the
Imâm Husain, whose tragical fate is commemorated at the Muharram.
The same idea prevails all through India, and indeed all the world
over. The persons killed at a recent disastrous railway accident haunt
the locality, and have caused the breakdown of other trains at the same
place. [538] The ghosts of the battle of Chiliânwâla began to appear
very shortly after the battle, and Abul Fazl mentions the ghosts of
Pânipat in the days of Akbar. [539] In America the anniversaries of the
battles of Bunker's Hill, Concord, Saratoga, and even as late as that
of Gettysburg, are celebrated by spectral armies, who fight by night
the conflict o'er again. [540] If you walk nine times round Neville's
Cross, you will hear the noise of the battle and the clash of armour,
and the same tale is told of the battle of Marathon, which a recent
prosaic authority attributes to the beating of the waves on the shore,
while others say that these spectral armies of the sky are nothing more
than wild geese or other migratory birds calling in the darkness. [541]
Masân.
Masân, the modern form of the Sanskrit Smasâna, "a place of cremation,"
is the general term for those evil spirits which haunt the place
where they were forced to abandon their tenements of clay. So the
modern Italian Lemuri are the spirits of the churchyard and represent
the Lemures or Larvæ, the unhappy ghosts of those who have died evil
deaths or under a ban, to which there are innumerable allusions in
the Latin writers. [542] In India Masân is very generally regarded
as the ghost of a child, and we have already seen that some tribes
regard an infant as a Bhût. He is occasionally the ghost of a low-caste
man, very often that of an oilman, who, possibly from the dirt which
accompanies his trade, is considered ill-omened. By another account
such ghosts prowl about in villages in the Hills in the form of
bears and other wild animals. [543] Others say that Masân is of black
and hideous appearance, comes from the ashes of a funeral pyre, and
chases people as they pass by. Some die of fright from his attacks,
others linger for a few days, and some even go mad. "When a person
becomes possessed of Masân, the people invoke the beneficent spirit of
the house to come and take possession of some member of the family,
and all begin to dance. At length some one works himself up into a
state of frenzy, and commences to torture and belabour the body of the
person possessed by Masân, until at length a cure is effected, or the
patient perishes under this drastic treatment." Khabish resembles Masân
in his malignant nature and his fondness for burial grounds. He is
also met with in dark glens and forests in various shapes. Sometimes
he imitates the bellow of a buffalo, or the cry of a goatherd or
neatherd, and sometimes he grunts like a pig. At other times he
assumes the disguise of a religious mendicant and joins travellers
on their way; but his conversation is, like that of ordinary Bhûts,
always unintelligible. Like Masân, he often frightens people and
makes them ill, and sometimes possesses unfortunate travellers who
get benighted. [544]
Children afflicted by Masân are said to be "under his shadow" (chhâya),
and waste away by a sort of consumption. Here we have another instance
of the principle already referred to, that the shadow represents the
actual soul. [545] This malady is believed to be due to some enemy
flinging the ashes from a funeral pyre over the child. The remedy in
such cases is to weigh the child in salt, a well-known demon scarer,
and give it away in charity. The cremation ground and the bones
and ashes which it contains are constantly used in various kinds
of magical rites. It is believed when thieves enter a house, that
they throw over the inmates some Masân or ashes from a pyre and make
them unconscious while the robbery is going on. This resembles the
English "Hand of Glory," to which reference will be made in another
connection. As to the influence by means of the shadow, it may be
noted that a Nepâl legend describes how a Lâma arrested the flight
of a Brâhman by piercing his shadow with a spear, and the Râkshasî
Sinhikâ used to seize the shadow of the object she desired to devour
and so drag the prey into her jaws. [546]
Tola.
Tola is a sort of "Will-o'-the-Wisp" in the Hills. According to one
account, he is, like the Gayâl, of whom we have spoken already, the
ghost of a bachelor, and other ghosts refuse to associate with him;
so he is seen only in wild and solitary places. Others say that he
belongs to the class of children ghosts, who have died too young
to undergo the rites of tonsure or cremation. They are, as a rule,
harmless, and are not much dreaded. After a child undergoes the
specified religious ceremonies, its soul is matured, and fitted
either to join the spirits of the sainted dead or to assume a new
existence by transmigration. The estate of the Tola is only temporary,
and after a time, it, too, enters another form of existence. [547]
Airi.
Another famous Hill Bhût is Airi. He is the ghost of some one who
was killed in hunting. We have many instances of these huntsmen
ghosts, of which the most familiar example is the European legend of
the Wild Huntsman, who haunts the forest in which he used to hunt,
and is sometimes heard hallooing to his dogs. So in Cornwall Dando
rides about accompanied with his hounds. [548] The British fairies
ride at night on horses which they steal from the stables, and in the
morning the poor beasts are found covered with sweat and foam. [549]
In Southern India Aiyanâr rides about the land at night on a wild
elephant, sword in hand, and surrounded by torch-bearers, to clear
the country from all obnoxious spirits. [550]
The companions of Airi are fairies, who, like the Churel, have their
feet turned backwards. He is accompanied by two litter-bearers
and a pack of hounds with bells round their necks. Whoever hears
their bark is certain to meet with calamity. Airi is much given to
expectoration, and his saliva is so venomous that it wounds those on
whom it falls. Incantations must be used and the affected part rubbed
with the branch of a tree. If this be not done at once, the injured
man dies, and in any case he must abstain from rich food for several
days. We shall meet again with the magical power of spittle. Here
it may be noted that in Western folk-lore it confers the power of
seeing spirits.
"Those who see Airi face to face are burnt up by the flash of his eye,
or are torn to pieces by his dogs, or have their livers extracted
and eaten by the fairies who accompany him. But should any one be
fortunate enough to survive, the Bhût discloses hidden treasures to
him. The treasure-trove thus disclosed varies in value from gold
coins to old bones. His temples are always in deserted places. A
trident represents the god, and a number of surrounding stones
his followers. He is worshipped once a year by lighting a bonfire,
round which all the people sit. A kettle-drum is played, and one after
another they become possessed, and leap and shout round the fire. Some
brand themselves with heated iron spoons, and sit in the flames. Those
who escape burning are believed to be truly possessed, while those
who are burned are considered mere pretenders to divine frenzy." [551]
This closely resembles the worship of Râhu already described.
"The revels usually last for about ten nights, and until they are
ended, a lamp is kept burning at the shrine of the god. Those possessed
dye a yard of cloth in red ochre and bind it round their heads, and
carry a wallet in which they place the alms they receive. While in this
state they bathe twice, and eat but once in the twenty-four hours. They
allow no one to touch them, as they consider other men unclean, and
no one but themselves is permitted to touch the trident and stones in
Airi's temple, at least as long as the festival lasts. The offerings,
goats, milk, etc., are consumed by the worshippers. The kid is marked
on the forehead with red, and rice and water are thrown over him. If he
shakes himself to get rid of it, the god has accepted the offering,
whereupon his head is severed with a knife. If he does not shake
himself, or bleats, it is a sign that the offering is not accepted,
and the victim escapes."
The same rule of testing the suitability of the sacrifice prevailed
among the Greeks. The same practice prevails among other tribes. Thus,
the Bâwariyas, when they sacrifice a goat, take a little water in the
palm of the hand and pour it on the nose of the victim. If it shiver,
its head is cut off with a single blow of a sword. The rule has
elsewhere received a further development. Thus when the Râo of Cutch
sacrifices a buffalo, "as it stoops to eat, a few drops of water are
scattered between its horns. If it shake its head it is led away as
displeasing to the goddess; if it nods its head a glittering scimitar
descends on its neck." [552]
Hill Demons.
Other Bhûts in the Hills are Acheri, the ghosts of little girls,
who live on the tops of mountains, but descend at night to hold their
revels in more convenient places. To fall in with their train is fatal,
and they have a particular antipathy to red colour. When little girls
fall suddenly ill, the Acheri is supposed to have cast her shadow
over them. The Deo are the regular demons already described; some are
obnoxious to men, some to cattle. The Rûniya moves about at night and
uses a huge rock as his steed, the clattering of which announces his
approach. He is the demon of the avalanche and landslip. Should he
take a fancy to a woman, she is haunted by his spirit in her dreams,
and gradually wasting away, finally falls a victim to her passion. He
thus resembles the Faun and the Satyr, the Incubus and Succubus,
against whose wiles and fascination the Roman maiden was warned. [553]
Birth Fiends.
Another of these night fiends is the Jilaiya of Bihâr, which takes the
shape of a night bird, and is able to suck the blood of any person
whose name it hears. Hence women are very careful not to call their
children at night. It is believed that if this bird fly over the head
of a pregnant woman her child will be born a weakling. [554]
Hence it closely approximates to the birth fiends which beset the
mother and child during the period of impurity after parturition. Thus
the Orâons of Chota Nâgpur believe that the fiend Chordevan comes
in the form of a cat and tears the mother's womb. [555] The Brâhman,
Prabhu, and other high-caste women of Bombay believe that on the fifth
and sixth night after birth the mother and child are liable to be
attacked by the birth spirit Satvâî, who comes in the shape of a cat
or a hen. Consequently they keep a watch in the lying-in room during
the whole night, passing the time in playing, singing and talking
to scare the fiend. The Marâthas of Nâsik believe that on the fifth
night, at about twelve o'clock, the spirit Sathî, accompanied by a
male fiend, called Burmiya, comes to the lying-in room, and making
the mother insensible, either kills or disfigures the child. The
Vadâls of Thâna think that on the fifth night the birth spirit Sathî
comes in the form of a cat, hen, or dog, and devours the heart and
skull of the child. They therefore surround the bed with strands of
a creeper, place an iron knife or scythe on the mother's cot, fire
in an iron bickern at the entrance of the lying-in room, and keep a
watch for the night. The customs all through Northern India are very
much of the same type. It is essential that the fire should be kept
constantly burning, lest the spirit of evil, stepping over the cold
ashes, should enter and make its fatal mark on the forehead of the
child. The whole belief turns on the fear of infantile lockjaw, which
is caused by the use of foul implements in cutting the umbilical cord
and the neglect of all sanitary precautions. It usually comes between
the fifth and twelfth day, and as Satvâî, or the Chhathî of Northern
India, has been raised to the dignity of a goddess. All this is akin
to the belief in fairy changelings and the malignant influences which
surround the European mother and her child. [556]
The Parî and Jinn.
Little reference has yet been made to the Parî or fairies, or the
Jinn or genii, because they are, in their present state at least, of
exotic origin, though their original basis was possibly laid on Indian
soil. Thus we have the Apsaras, who in name at least, "moving in the
water," is akin to Aphrodite. They appear only faintly in the Veda
as the nymphs of Indra's heaven, and the chief of them is Urvasî, to
whom reference has been already made. Two of them, Rambhâ and Menakâ,
are shown as luring austere sages from their devotions, as in the
Irish legend of Glendalough. They are the wives or mistresses of the
Gandharvas, the singers and musicians who attend the banquets of the
gods. Indra in the Rig Veda is the giver of women, and he provides
one of his aged friends with a young wife. [557] Rambhâ, one of the
fairies of his court, appears constantly in the tales of Somadeva, and
descends in human form to the arms of her earthly lovers, as Titania
with Bottom in the "Midsummer Night's Dream." Their successor in the
modern tales is Shâhpasand, "The beloved of the king," who takes the
shape of a pigeon and kisses the beautiful hero. In one of the stories
which appears in many forms, the youth with the help of a Faqîr finds
his way to the dance of Râja Indra, takes the place of his drummer,
and wins the fairy, whom he identifies in spite of the many schemes
which the jovial god invents to deceive him. These ladies are all of
surpassing beauty, skilled in music and the dance, with white skins,
and always dressed in red.
With the Jinn we reach a chapter of folk-lore of great extent and
complexity. They are probably in origin closely allied to the Râkshasa,
Deo and his kindred. [558] They are usually divided into the Jann,
who are the least powerful of all the Jinn, the Shaitân or Satan
of the Hebrews, the Ifrît and the Mârid, the last of whom rules
the rest. The Jann, according to the Prophet, were created out of a
smokeless fire. The Jann is sometimes identified with the serpent,
and sometimes with Iblîs, who has been imported direct from the Greek
Diabolos. The Jinn were the pre-Adamite rulers of the world, and for
their sins were overcome by the angels, taken prisoners and driven to
distant islands. They appear as serpents, lions, wolves or jackals. One
kind rules the land, another the air, a third the sea. There are forty
troops of them, each consisting of six hundred thousand. Some have
wings and fly, others move like snakes and dogs, others go about like
men. They are of gigantic stature, sometimes resplendently handsome,
sometimes horridly hideous. They can become invisible and move on
earth when they please. Sometimes one of them is shut up in a jar
under the seal of the Lord Solomon who rules them. They ride the
whirlwind like Indian demons, and direct the storm. Their chief home
is the mountains of Qâf, which encompass the earth.
The Ghoul.
Besides these there is a host of minor demons, such as the Ghûl, the
English Ghoul, who is a kind of Shaitân, eats men, and is variously
described as a Jinn or as an enchanter. By one tradition, when the
Shaitân attempt by stealth to hear the words of men, they are struck
by shooting stars, some are burnt, some fall into the sea and become
crocodiles, and some fall upon the land and become Ghûls. The Ghûl is
properly a female, and the male is Qutrub. They are the offspring
of Iblîs and his wife. The Silât or Silâ lives in forests, and
when it captures a man makes him dance and plays with him, as the
cat plays with the mouse. Similar to this creature is the Ghaddâr,
who tortures and terrifies men, the Dalhâm, who is in the form of
a man and rides upon an ostrich, and the Shiqq or Nasnâs, who are
ogres and vampires. But these are little known in Indian folk-lore,
except that directly imported from Arabic sources. [559]
The Baghaut.
As an instance of the respect paid to the ghosts of those who have
perished by an untimely death, we may mention the Baghaut. According
to the last census returns some eight thousand persons recorded
themselves as worshippers in the North-Western Provinces of Bagahu or
Sapaha, the ghosts of people killed by tigers or snakes. The Baghaut
is usually erected on the place where a man was killed by a tiger,
but it sometimes merges into the common form of shrine, as in a
case given by Dr. Buchanan, where a person received the same honour
because he had been killed by the aboriginal Kols. [560] The shrine
is generally a heap of stones or branches near some pathway in the
jungle. Every passer-by adds to the pile, which is in charge of the
Baiga or aboriginal priest, who offers upon it a pig, or a cock,
or some spirits, and lights a little lamp there occasionally. Many
such shrines are to be found in the Mirzapur jungles. In the Central
Provinces they are known as Pât, a term applied in Chota Nâgpur to
holy heights dedicated to various divinities. [561] They are usually
erected in a place where a man has been killed by a tiger or by a
snake; sometimes no reason whatever is given for their selection. "In
connection with these shrines they have a special ceremony for laying
the ghost of a tiger. Until it is gone through, neither Gond nor
Baiga will go into the jungles if he can help it, as they say not
only does the spirit of the dead man walk, but the tiger is also
possessed, for the nonce, with an additional spirit of evil (by the
soul of the dead man entering into him) which increases his power of
intelligence and ferocity, rendering him more formidable than usual,
and more eager to pursue his natural enemy, man. Some of the Baigas
are supposed to be gifted with great powers of witchcraft, and it
is common for a Baiga medicine man to be called in to bewitch the
tigers and prevent them carrying off the village cattle. The Gonds
thoroughly believe in the powers of these men." [562]
I myself came across a singular instance of this some time ago. I
was asking a Baiga of the Chero tribe what he could do in this way,
but I found him singularly reticent on the subject. I asked the
Superintendent of the Dudhi Estate, who was with me, to explain the
reason. "Well," he answered, "when I came here first many years ago,
a noted Baiga came to me and proposed to do some witchcraft to protect
me from tigers, which were very numerous in the neighbourhood at the
time. I told him that I could look after myself, and advised him to
do the same. That night a tiger seized the wretched Baiga while he
was on his way home, and all that was found of him were some scraps
of cloth and pieces of bone. Since then I notice that the Baigas of
these parts do not talk so loudly of their power of managing tigers
when I am present."
The Churel.
More dreaded even than the ghost of a man who has been killed by
a tiger is the Churel, a name which has been connected with that
of the Chûhra or sweeper caste. The ghosts of all low-caste people
are notoriously malignant, an idea which possibly arises from their
connection with the aboriginal faith, which was treated half with fear
and half with contempt by their conquerors. The corpses of such people
are either cremated or buried face downwards, in order to prevent the
evil spirit from escaping and troubling its neighbours. So, it was
the old custom in Great Britain in order to prevent the spirit of a
suicide from "walking" and becoming a terror to the neighbourhood,
to turn the coffin upside down and thrust a spear through it and the
body which it contained so as to fix it to the ground. [563] Riots
have taken place and the authority of the magistrates has been invoked
to prevent a sweeper from being buried in the ordinary way. [564]
The Churel, who corresponds to the Jakhâî, Jokhâî, Mukâî, or Navalâî
of Bombay, [565] is the ghost of a woman dying while pregnant, or
on the day of the child's birth, or within the prescribed period
of impurity. The superstition is based on the horror felt by all
savages at the blood, or even touch of a woman who is ceremonially
impure. [566] The idea is, it is needless to say, common in India. The
woman in her menses is kept carefully apart, and is not allowed to do
cooking or any domestic work until she has undergone the purification
by bathing and changing her garments. Some of the Drâvidian tribes
refuse to allow a woman in this condition to touch the house-thatch,
and she is obliged to creep through a narrow hole in the back wall
whenever she has to leave the house. Hence, too, the objection felt
by men to walk under walls or balconies where women may be seated and
thus convey the pollution. From Kulu, on the slopes of the Himâlayas,
a custom is reported which is probably connected with this principle
and with the rules of the Couvade, to which reference will be made
later on. When a woman who is pregnant dies, her husband is supposed
to have committed some sin, and he is deemed unclean for a time. He
turns a Faqîr and goes on pilgrimage for a month or so, and, having
bathed in some sacred place, is re-admitted into caste. The woman is
buried, the child having been first removed from her body by one of
the Dâgi caste, and her death is not considered a natural one under
any circumstances. [567]
The Churel is particularly malignant to her own family. She appears
in various forms. Sometimes she is fair in front and black behind,
but she invariably has her feet turned round, heels in front and
toes behind. The same idea prevails in many other places. The Gira,
a water-spirit of the Konkan, has his feet turned backwards. [568]
In the Teignmouth story of the Devil he leaves his backward footsteps
in the snow. Pliny so describes Anthropophagi of Mount Imoeus, and
Megasthenes speaks of a similar race on Mount Nilo. [569]
She generally, however, assumes the form of a beautiful young woman and
seduces youths at night, especially those who are good-looking. She
carries them off to some kingdom of her own, and if they venture to
eat the food offered to them there, she keeps them till they lose their
manly beauty and then sends them back to the world grey-haired old men,
who, like Rip Van Winkle, find all their friends dead long ago.
So the Lady of the Lake won Merlin to her arms. [570] The same idea
prevails in Italy, but there the absence is only temporary. "Among the
wizards and witches are even princes and princesses, who to conceal
their debauchery and dishonour take the goat form and carry away
partners for the dance, bearing them upon their backs, and so they
fly many miles in a few minutes, and go with them to distant cities
and other places, where they feast, dance, drink, and make love. But
when day approaches they carry their partners home again, and when
they wake they think they have had pleasant dreams. But indeed their
diversion was more real than they supposed." [571] So, the Manxmen tell
of a man who was absent from his people for four years, which he spent
with the fairies. He could not tell how he returned, but it seemed as
if, having been unconscious, he woke up at last in this world. [572]
I had a smart young butler at Etah, who once described to me vividly
the narrow escape he had from the fascinations of a Churel, who lived
on a Pîpal tree near the cemetery. He saw her sitting on the wall in
the dusk and entered into conversation with her; but he fortunately
observed her tell-tale feet and escaped. He would never go again by
that road without an escort. So, the fairies of England and Ireland
look with envy on the beautiful boys and girls, and carry them off
to fairyland, where they keep them till youth and beauty have departed.
Eating Food in Spirit Land.
The consequences of rashly eating the food of the underworld are well
known. The reason is that eating together implies kinship with the
dwellers in the land of spirits, and he who does so never returns to
the land of men. [573]
The Churel superstition appears in other forms. Thus, the Korwas of
Mirzapur say that if a woman dies in the delivery-room, she becomes
a Churel, but they do not know, or do not care to say, what finally
becomes of her. The Patâris and Majhwârs think that if a woman
dies within the period of pregnancy or uncleanness, she becomes a
Churel. She appears in the form of a pretty little girl in white
clothes, and seduces them away to the mountains, until the Baiga is
called in to sacrifice a goat and release her victim. The Bhuiyârs
go further and say that little baby girls who die before they are
twenty days old become Churels. They live in stones in the mountains
and cause pain to men. The remedy is for the afflicted one to put
some rice and barley on his head, turn round two or three times,
and shake off the grain in the direction of the jungle, when she
releases her victim. The idea seems to be that with these holy grains,
which are scarers of demons, the evil influence is dispersed. But
she continues to visit him, and requires propitiation. Among these
people the Churel has been very generally enrolled among the regular
village godlings and resides with them in the common village shrine,
where she receives her share of the periodical offerings. Any one
who sees a Churel is liable to be attacked by a wasting disease, and,
as in the case of the Dûnd, to answer her night summons brings death.
Modes of Repelling the Churel.
There are fortunately various remedies which are effective in
preventing a woman who dies under these circumstances from becoming
a Churel. One way is that practised by the Majhwârs of Mirzapur,
which resembles that for laying the evil spirit of a sweeper, to
which reference has been made already. They do not cremate the body,
but bury it, fill the grave with thorns and pile heavy stones above
to keep down the ghost.
Among the Bhandâris of Bengal, when a pregnant woman dies before
delivery, her body is cut open and the child taken out, both corpses
being buried in the same grave. [574] In Bombay, when a woman dies
in pregnancy, her corpse, after being bathed and decked with flowers
and ornaments, is carried to the burning ground. There her husband
sprinkles water on her body from the points of a wisp of the sacred
Darbha grass and repeats holy verses. Then he cuts her right side
with a sharp weapon and takes out the child. Should it be alive,
it is taken home and cared for; should it be dead, it is then and
there buried. The hole in the side of the corpse is filled with curds
and butter, covered with cotton threads, and then the usual rite
of cremation is carried out. [575] In one of the tales of Somadeva,
Saktideva cuts the child out of his pregnant wife. [576]
In the Hills, if a woman dies during the menstrual period or
in childbirth, the corpse is anointed with the five products of
the cow, and special texts are recited. A small quantity of fire
is then placed on the chest of the corpse, which is either buried
or thrown into flowing water. [577] Here we have the three great
demon-scarers,--fire, earth and water, combined. In another device,
iron, which has similar virtue, is used. Small round-headed iron
spikes, specially made for the purpose, are driven into the nails
of the four fingers of the corpse, while the thumbs and great toes
are securely fastened together with iron rings. Most Hindus, it may
be remarked, tie the corpse to the bier, whatever may have been the
cause of death, and in parts of Ireland a thread is tied round the
toe of the corpse, the object apparently being to secure the body
and prevent an evil spirit from entering it. [578]
In the Hills the place where a pregnant woman died is carefully
scraped and the earth removed. The spot is then sown with mustard,
which is sprinkled along the road traversed by the corpse on its way
to the burial ground. The reason given for this is twofold. First,
the mustard blossoms in the world of the dead, and its sweet smell
pleases the spirit and keeps her content, so that she does not long to
revisit her earthly home; secondly, the Churel rises from her grave
at nightfall and seeks to return to her friends; she sees the minute
grains of the mustard scattered abroad and stoops to pick it up, and
while so engaged cock-crow comes, she is unable to visit her home,
and must return to her grave. This is another instance of the rule
that evil spirits move about only at night.
Counting.
This counting of the grains of mustard illustrates another principle
which is thus explained by Mr. Leland: [579] "A traveller in Persia
has observed that the patterns of carpets are made intricate,
so that the Evil Eye, resting upon them and following the design,
loses its power. This was the motive of all the interlaces of the
Celtic and Norse designs. When the witch sees the Sâlagrâma, her
glance is at once bewildered with its holes and veins. As I have
elsewhere remarked, the herb Rosaloaccio, not the corn poppy, but
a kind of small house leek, otherwise called 'Rice of the Goddess
of the four Winds,' derives its name from looking, ere it unfolds,
like confused grains of rice, and when a witch sees it she cannot
enter till she has counted them, which is impossible; therefore it
is used to protect rooms from witchcraft." Sarson or mustard is,
it may be noted, used as a scarer of demons. In all the principal
Hindu ceremonies in Western India, grains of Sarshapa or Sarson
(Sinapts dichotoma) and parched rice are scattered about to scare
fiends. Akbar used to have Sipand or Sarson burnt on a hot plate to
keep off the Evil Eye--Nazar-i-bad--from his valuable horses. [580]
Though the Churel is regarded with disgust and terror, curiously
enough a family of Chauhân Râjputs in Oudh claim one as their
ancestress. [581]
The Couvade.
In connection with this subject of parturition impurity, the very
remarkable custom of the Couvade may be referred to here. This is
the rule by which at the birth of a child the father is treated as
an invalid, instead of or in addition to the mother:--
When Chineses go to bed,
And lie in in their ladies' stead.
Marco Polo, writing of Zardandan, gives a good example:--"When one
of their wives has been delivered of a child, the infant is washed
and swathed, and then the woman gets up and goes about her household
affairs, whilst the husband takes to bed with the child by his side,
and so keeps his bed for forty days; and all the kith and kin come to
visit her, and keep up a great festivity. They do this because they
say the woman has had a bad time of it, and it is but fair that the
man should have a share of suffering." [582] Professor Rhys remarks
that the gods of Celtic Ireland used to practise the Couvade. [583]
Professor Max Müller thinks that it is clear that the poor husband
was at first tyrannized over by his female relations and afterwards
frightened into superstition. He then began to make a martyr
of himself, till he made himself really ill, or took to bed in
self-defence. The custom appears, however, to rest on a much more
primitive set of ideas. It partly implies, perhaps, the transition
from that social state in which, owing to the laxity of the connection
between the sexes, the only recognized form of descent was through
the mother, and partly, the kindred conception that the father has
more to do with the production of the child than the mother, and
that the father must, at the critical period of the baby's existence,
exercise particular caution that through his negligence no demoniacal
influence may assail the infant, [584]
It is curious that in India itself so few actual instances of the
Couvade have been discovered. This, however, as Mr. Hartland shows,
is not unusual, and the Couvade is not found in the lowest stage
of savagery. But that the custom once generally prevailed is quite
certain, and in Northern India, at least, it seems to have been masked
by special birth ceremonies of great stringency and elaborate detail,
but of distinctly later date than the very primitive usage with which
we are now concerned.
One instance of the actual Couvade is given by Professor Sir
Monier-Williams. [585] Among a very low caste of basket-makers in
Gujarât, it is the usual practice for a wife to go about her work
immediately after delivery, as if nothing had occurred. "The presiding
Mother (Mâtâ) of the tribe is supposed to transfer the weakness to her
husband, who takes to his bed and has to be supported for several days
with good nourishing food." Again, among the Kols of Chota Nâgpur,
father and mother are considered impure for eight days, during
which period the members of the family are sent out of the house,
and the husband has to cook for his wife. If it be a difficult case
of parturition, the malignancy of some spirit of evil is supposed to
be at work, and after divination to ascertain his name, a sacrifice
is made to appease him. [586] Among many of the Drâvidian tribes of
Mirzapur, when the posset or spiced drink is prepared for the mother
after her confinement, the father is obliged to drink the first sup
of it. Among all these people, the father does not work or leave the
house during the period of parturition impurity, and cooks for his
wife. When asked why he refrains from work, they simply say that he
is so pleased with the safety of his wife and the birth of his child,
that he takes a holiday; but some survival of the Couvade is probably
at the root of the custom. The same idea prevails in a modified form in
Bombay. The Pomaliyas, gold-washers of South Gujarât, after a birth,
take great care of the husband, give him food, and do not allow him
to go out; and "when a child is born to a Deshasth Brâhman, he throws
himself into a well with all his clothes on, and, in the presence of
his wife's relations, lets a couple of drops of honey and butter fall
into the mouth of the child." [587]
Various Birth Ceremonies.
The same idea that the infant is likely to receive demoniacal
influences through its father appears to be the explanation of another
class of birth ceremonies. In Northern India, in respectable families,
the father does not look on the child until the astrologer selects a
favourable moment. If the birth occur in the unlucky lunar asterism
of Mûl, the father is often not allowed to see his child for years,
and has in addition to undergo an elaborate rite of purification,
known as Mûla-sânti. So, in Bombay, "the Belgaum Chitpavans do not
allow the father to look on the new-born child, but at its reflection
in butter. The Dharwâr Radders do not allow the father to see the
lamp being waved round the image of Satvâî, the birth goddess. If
the father sees it, it is believed that the mother and child will
sicken. The Karnâtak Jainas allow anyone to feed the new-born babe
with honey and castor oil, except the father. Among the Beni Isrâels,
when the boy is being circumcised, the father sits apart covered
with a veil. Among the Pûna Musalmâns, friends are called to eat
the goat offered as a sacrifice on the birth of a child. All join in
the feast except the parents, who may not eat the sacrifice." [588]
Probably on the same principle, among most of the lower castes, the
father and mother do not eat on the wedding day of their children
until the ceremony is over.
Places Infested by Bhûts: Burial Places.
There are, of course, certain places which are particularly infested
by Bhûts. To begin with, they naturally infest the neighbourhood of
burial places and cremation grounds. This idea is found all over the
world. Virgil says:--
Moerim, saepe animas imis excire sepulcris,
Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes;
and Shakespeare in the "Midsummer Night's Dream,"--
Now it is the time of night
That graves all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth its sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide.
Deserts.
All deserts, also, are a resort of Bhûts, as the great desert of Lop,
where Marco Polo assures us they are constantly seen at night. In the
Western Panjâb deserts, during the prairie fires and in the dead of
night, the lonely herdsmen used to hear cries arising from the ground,
and shouts of Mâr! Mâr! "Strike! Strike!" which were ascribed to the
spirits of men who had been killed in former frontier raids. Such
supernatural sounds were heard by the early settlers within the last
fifty years, and, until quite recently, the people were afraid to
travel without forming large parties for fear of encountering the
supernatural enemies who frequented these uninhabited tracts. [589]
So, among the Mirzapur jungle tribes, the wild forests of Sarguja
are supposed to be infested with Bhûts, and if any one goes there
rashly he is attacked through their influence with diarrhoea and
vomiting. The site of the present British Residency at Kathmându in
Nepâl was specially selected by the Nepâlese as it was a barren patch,
supposed to be the abode of demons. So, in Scotland, the local spirit
lives in a patch of untilled ground, known as the "Gudeman's field"
or "Cloutie's Croft." [590]
Owls and Bats.
The goblins of the churchyard type very often take the form of owls
and bats, which haunt the abodes of the dead. "Screech owls are held
unlucky in our days," says Aubrey. [591]
Sedit in adverso nocturnus culmine bubo,
Funereosque graves edidit ore sonos.
The Strix, or screech owl, in Roman folk-lore was supposed to suck the
blood of young children. Another form of the word in Latin is Striga,
meaning a hag or witch. The Lilith of the Jews, the "night monster"
of our latest version of the Old Testament, becomes in the Rabbinical
stories Adam's first wife, "the Queen of demons" and murderess of
young children, who is the "night hag" of Milton. [592]
The Kumaun owl legend is that they had originally no plumes of their
own, and were forced to borrow those of their neighbours, who pursue
them if they find them abroad at daylight. Owl's flesh is a powerful
love philter, and the eating of it causes a man to become a fool and
to lose his memory; hence, women give it to their husbands, that as
a result of the mental weakness which it produces they may be able
to carry on their flirtations with impunity. On the other hand, the
owl is the type of wisdom, and eating the eyeballs of an owl gives
the power of seeing in the dark, an excellent example of sympathetic
magic. If you put an owl in a room, go in naked, shut the door and
feed the bird with meat all night, you acquire magical powers. I once
had a native clerk who was supposed to have gone through this ordeal,
and was much feared accordingly. Here we have another instance of
the nudity charm. In the same way in Gujarât, if a man takes seven
cotton threads, goes to a place where an owl is hooting, strips naked,
ties a knot at each hoot, and fastens the thread round the right arm
of a fever patient, the fever goes away. [593]
Ghosts and Burial Grounds.
To return to the connection of ghosts with burial grounds. At Bishesar
in the Hills, the Hindu dead from Almora are burnt. The spirits
of the departed are supposed to lurk there and are occasionally
seen. Sometimes, under the guidance of their leader Bholanâth, whom
we have mentioned already, they come, some in palanquins and some
on foot, at night, to the Almora Bâzâr and visit the merchants'
shops. Death is supposed to follow soon on a meeting with their
processions. These ghosts are supposed to be deficient in some of
their members. One has no head, another no feet, and so on; but they
can all talk and dance. [594]
Mutilation.
This illustrates another principle about ghosts, that mutilation
during life is avoided, as being likely to turn the spirit into a
malignant ghost after death. This is the reason that many savages
keep the cuttings of their hair and nails, not only to put them out
of the way of witches, who might work evil charms by their means,
but also that the body when it rises at the Last Day may not be
deficient in any part. [595] This also explains the strong feeling
among Hindus against decapitation as a form of execution, and the
dread which Musalmâns exhibit towards cremation. It also, in all
probability, explains the lame demons, which abound all the world
over, like Hephaistos, Wayland Smith, the Persian Æshma, the Asmodeus
of the book of Tobit, and the Club-footed Devil of Christianity. The
prejudice against amputation, based on this idea, is one of the many
difficulties which meet our surgeons in India.
Ghosts of Old Ruins.
Another place where ghosts, as might have been expected, resort is in
old ruins. Many old buildings are, as we have seen, attributed to the
agency of demons, and in any case interference with them is resented
by the Deus loci who occupies them. This explains the number of old
ruined houses which one sees in an Indian town, and with which no
one cares to meddle, as they are occupied by the spirits of their
former owners. The same idea extends to the large bricks of the
ancient buildings which are occasionally disinterred. Dr. Buchanan
describes how on one occasion no one would assist him in digging out
an ancient stone image. The people told him that a man who had made
an attempt to do so some time before had met with sudden death. [596]
The landlord of the village stated that he would gladly use the bricks
from these ruins, but that he was afraid of the consequences. So,
in Bombay, interference with the bricks of an ancient dam brought
Guinea worm and dysentery into a village, and some labourers were
cut off who meddled with some ancient tombs at Ahmadnagar. [597]
General Cunningham, in one of his Reports, describes how on one
occasion, when carrying on some excavations, his elephant escaped,
and was recovered with difficulty; the people unanimously attributed
the disaster to the vengeance of the local ghosts, who resented his
proceedings. The people who live in the neighbourhood of the old city
of Sahet Mahet are, for the same reason, very unwilling to meddle with
its ruins, or even to enter it at night. When Mr. Benett was there,
a storm which occurred was generally believed to be a token of the
displeasure of the spirits at his intrusion on their domains. [598]
The tomb of Shaikh Mîna Shâh at Lucknow was demolished during the
Mutiny, and the workmen suffered so much trouble from the wrath of
the saint, that when the disturbances were over they collected and
rebuilt it at their own expense.
The same theory exists in other countries. Thus, in the Isle of Man,
"a good Manx scholar told me how a relative of his had carted the
earth from an old burial ground on his farm and used it as manure
for his fields, and how his beasts died afterwards. It is possible
for a similar reason that a house in ruins is seldom pulled down
and the materials used for other buildings; where that has been done
misfortunes have ensued." [599]
In the Konkan it is believed that all treasures buried underground,
all the mines of gold, silver, and precious stones, all old caves and
all ruined fortresses, are guarded by underground spirits in the shape
of a hairy serpent or frog. These spirits never leave their places,
and they attack and injure only those persons who come to remove the
things which they are guarding. [600] In short, these places are like
the Sith Bhruaith mounds in Scotland, which were respected, and it
was deemed unlawful and dangerous to cut wood, dig earth there, or
otherwise disturb them. In the same way the sites of ancient villages
which abound in Northern India are more or less respected. They were
abandoned on account of the ravages of war, famine, or pestilence, and
are guarded by the spirits of the original owners, these calamities
being self-evident proofs of the malignity and displeasure of the
local deities.
Mine and Cave Spirits.
We have already mentioned incidentally the mine spirits. It is not
difficult to see why the spirits of mine and cave should be malignant
and resent trespass on their territories, because by the nature of
the case they are directly in communication with the under-world. In
the folk-tales of Somadeva we have more than one reference to a
cave which leads to Pâtâla, "the rifted rock whose entrance leads to
hell." Others are the entrance to fairy palaces, where dwell the Asura
maidens beneath the earth. [601] Of a mine at Patna, Dr. Buchanan
writes: "A stone-cutter who was in my service was going into one of
the shafts to break a specimen, when the guide, a Muhammadan trader,
acquainted with the fears of the workmen, pulled him back in alarm,
and said, 'Pull off your shoes! Will you profane the abode of the
gods?'" Under the same belief, the Cornish miners will allow no
whistling underground. [602]
Mr. Spencer suggests that the respect for caves is based on the early
practice of burial in such places. [603] At any rate, the belief is
very general that spirits and deities live in caves. There is a whole
cycle of fairy legend centering round the belief that some of the
heroes of old live in caves surrounded by their faithful followers,
and will arise some day to win back their kingdom. Thus, Bruce and
his enchanted warriors lie in a cave in Rathlin Island, and one day
they will arise and win back the island for Scotland. [604] The same
tale is told of Arthur, Karl the Great, Barbarossa, and many other
heroes. The same tale appears in Oriental folk-lore in the shape of
the Ashâbu-'l-Kahf, "the companions of the cave," the seven sleepers
of Ephesus. So the famous Alha of the Bundelkhand epic is said to be
still alive. He makes regular visits on the last day of the moon to
Devî Sârad's temple on the Mahiyâr Hill, where he has been repeatedly
seen and followed. But he sternly warns any one from approaching him,
and the main proof of his presence is that some unknown hand puts a
fresh garland on the statue of the goddess every day. [605]
Cave Deities.