RELIGIOUS TRAITS OF THE WILD TRIBES.
Besides the phases of pure Aryan and modified Aryan religions which
have already been examined, there are represented in India several
other aspects of civilized religion; for, apart from Brahmanic and
sectarian worships, and apart from Tamil (southern) imitations of
these, there are at present in the country believers of the Jewish
religion to the number of seventeen thousand; of Zoroastrianism,
eighty-seven thousand; of Christianity, two and a quarter millions; of
Mohammedanism, more than fifty-seven millions. But none of these
faiths, however popular, comes into an historical account of India's
religions in a greater extent than we have brought them into it
already, that is, as factors of minor influence in the development of
native faiths till, within the last few centuries, Mohammedanism,
which has been the most important of them all in transfiguring the
native theistic sects, draws a broad line across the progress of
India's religious thought.
All these religions, however, whether aboriginal or imported, must
again be separated from the more general phenomena of superstition
which are preserved in the beliefs of the native wild tribes. One
descends here to that lowest of rank undergrowth which represents a
type of religious life so base that its undifferentiated form can be
mated with like growths from all over the world. These secondary
religions are, therefore, important from two points of view, that of
their universal aspect, and, again, that of their historical
connection with the upper Indic growth above them;[1] for it is almost
certain that some
of their features have conditioned the development of the latter.
The native wild tribes of India (excluding the extreme Northern
Tibeto-Burman group) fall into two great classes, that of the
Kolarians and that of the Dravidians, sometimes distinguished as the
Yellow and the Black races respectively. The former, again, are called
Indo-Chinese by some writers, and the geographical location of this
class seems, indeed, to show that they have generally displaced the
earlier blacks, and represent historically a yellow wave of
immigration from the Northeast (through Tibet) prior to the Aryan
white wave (from the Northwest), which latter eventually treated them
just as they had treated the aboriginal black Dravidians.[2] Of the
Kolarians the foremost representatives are the Koles, the Koches, the
Sunth[=a]ls, and the Sav[=a]ras (Sauras), who are all regarded by
Johnston as the yellow Dasyus, barbarians, of the earliest period;
while he sees in the V[=a]içyas, or third caste of the Hindu political
divisions, the result of a union of the Northwest and Northeast
conquerors. But, although the V[=a]içyas are called 'yellow,' yet,
since they make the most important numerical factor of the Aryans,
this suggestion can scarcely be accepted, for there is no evidence to
show that the yellow Mongoloid barbarians were amalgamated so early
with the body politic of the Aryans. The chief representatives of the
Dravidians,
on the other hand, are the Khonds and Gonds of the middle of
the peninsula, together with the Or[=a]ons and the Todas of the
extreme South.[3] All of these tribes are of course sub-divided, and
in some degree their religious practices have followed the bent of
their political inclinations. We shall examine first the religions of
the older tribes, the Dravidians, selecting the chief features or such
traits as have peculiar interest.
THE DRAVIDIANS.
Gonds: These savages, mentioned in early literature, are the most
numerous and powerful of the wild tribes, and appear to have been less
affected by outside belief than were any other, except the related
Khonds. Their religion used to consist in adoring a representation of
the sun, to which were offered human sacrifices.[4] As among the
Or[=a]ons, a man of straw (literally) is at the present day
substituted for the human victim. Besides the sun, the moon and stars
are worshipped by them. They have stones for idols, but no temples.[5]
Devils, witchcraft, and the evil eye also are feared. They sacrifice
animals,
and, with the exception of the R[=a]j Gonds,[6] have been so little
affected by Hindu respect for that holiest of animals, that they
slaughter cows at their wedding-feasts, on which occasion the
bacchanalian revels in which they indulge are accompanied with such
excess as quite to put them upon the level of Çivaite bestiality. The
pure Gonds are junglemen, and have the virtues usually found among the
lowest savages, truth, honesty, and courage. Murder is no crime, but
lying and stealing are sinful; for cowardice is the greatest crime,
and lying and stealing (instead of straightforward and courageous
robbery and murder) are regarded as indications of lack of courage.
But the 'impure,' that is the mixed Gonds that have been corrupted by
mingling with Hindus and other tribes, lie and steal like civilized
people. In fact, the mixed Gonds are particularly noted for servility
and dishonesty. The uncivilized Gonds of the table-lands are said
still to cut up and eat their aged relatives and friends, not to speak
of strangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. Among the
pure Gonds is found the practice of carrying an axe, which is the sign
of their religious devotion to the sacrifice-god.[7] The favorite
religious practice used to be to take a prisoner alive, force him to
bow before the god-stone, and at the moment when he bent his head, to
cut it off. To this and to self-defence against other gods (wild
beasts) the hatchet is devoted, while for war are used the bow and
knife. One particular celebration of the Gonds deserves special
notice. They have an annual feast and worship of the snake. The
service is entirely secret, and all that is known
of it is that it is of esoteric, perhaps phallic character. Both at
the sun-feast and snake-feast[8] licentious and bacchanalian worship
are combined, and the latter trait is also the chief feature of
wedding and funeral sports. In the former case (the natives of the
same tribe intermarry, but with the same pretence of running off with
the bride that is found in the Hindu ritual)[9] there is given a
wedding feast by the bridegroom's father, and the feast ends with a
_causerie de lundi_ (the favorite drink of the Gonds is called
_lundi_); while on the latter occasion there is a mourning feast, or
wake, which also ends in general drunkenness.
The Khonds: Even more striking is the religion of the Khonds. Their
chief rite is human sacrifice to the earth-goddess,[10] Tari; but,
like the Gonds, they worship the sun as chief divinity. Other gods
among them are the river-god, rain-god, spring, wealth, hill-god, and
smallpox-god. All their religious feasts are excuses for excess both
in drinking and otherwise. One of their beliefs is that there is a
river of hell, which flows around a slippery rock, up which climbs the
one that would escape torment. Their method of sacrificing a human
victim is to put him into the cleft of a tree, where he is squashed,
or into fire. They seem to have an odd objection to shedding blood for
this purpose, and in this respect may be compared with the Thugs.
Another very interesting trait is the religion which is intertwined
with business, and its peculiar features. Victims offered either to
the sun or to the war-god serve to mark boundary lines. Great is the
patience with which
these victims, called _merias_, are waited for. The sacrificer
captures fit specimens when they are young, and treats them with
particular kindness till they are almost grown up. Indeed, they are
treated thus by the whole village. At the appointed time they are
slowly crushed to death or smothered in a mud bath, and bits of their
flesh are then cut out and strewn along the boundary lines. Boys are
preferred, but either boys or girls may be used. This sacrifice is
sometimes made directly to the 'Boundary-god,'[11] an abstraction
which is not unique; for, besides the divinities recorded above,
mention is made also of a 'Judgment-god.' Over each village and house
preside the Manes of good men gone; while the 'father is god on earth'
to every one. They used to destroy all their female children, and
this, together with their national custom of offering human
sacrifices, has been put down with the greatest difficulty by the
British, who confess that there is every probability that in reality
the crime still *obtains among the remoter clans. These Khonds are
situate in the Madras presidency, and are aborigines of the Eastern
Gh[=a]ts. The most extraordinary views about them have been published.
Despite their acknowledged barbarity, savageness, and polytheism, they
have been soberly credited with a belief in One Supreme God, 'a theism
embracing polytheism,' and other notions which have been abstracted
from their worship of the sun as 'great god.'
Since these are by far the most original savages of India, a completer
sketch than will be necessary in the case of others may not be
unwelcome. The chief god is the light-or sun-god. "In the beginning
the god of light created a wife, the goddess of earth, the source of
evil." On the other hand, the
sun-god is a good god. Tari, the earth-divinity, tried to prevent
Bella[12] Pennu (sun-god) from creating man. But he cast behind him a
handful of earth, which became man. The first creation was free of
evil; earth gave fruit without labor (the Golden Age); but the dark
goddess sowed in man the seed of sin. A few were sinless still, and
these became gods, but the corrupt no longer found favor in Bella (or
Boora) Pennu's eyes. He guarded them no more. So death came to man.
Meanwhile Bella and Tari contended for superiority, with comets,
whirlwinds, and mountains, as weapons. According to one belief, Bella
won; but others hold that Tari still maintains the struggle. The
sun-god created all inferior deities, of rain, fruit, *hunt,
boundaries, etc., as well as all tutelary local divinities.[13] Men
have four kinds of fates. The soul goes to the sun, or remains in the
tribe (each child is declared by the priest to be N.N. deceased and
returned), or is re-born and suffers punishments, or is
annihilated.[14] The god of judgment lives on Grippa Valli, the
'leaping rock,' round which flows a black river, and up the rock climb
the souls with great effort. The Judgment-god
decides the fate of the soul); sending it to the sun (the
sun-soul), or annihilating it, etc. The chief sins are, to be
inhospitable, to break an oath, to lie except to save a guest, to
break an old custom, to commit incest, to contract debts (for which
the tribe has to pay), to be a coward, to betray council. The chief
virtues are, to kill in battle, to die in battle, to be a priest, to
be the victim of a sacrifice. Some of the Khonds worship the sun-god;
some the earth-goddess, and ascribe to her all success and power,
while they hold particularly to human sacrifice in her honor. They
admit (theoretically) that Bella is superior, but they make Tari the
chief object of devotion, and in her honor are held great village
festivals. They that do not worship Tari do not practice human
sacrifice. Thus the Çivaite sacrifice of man to the god's consort is
very well paralleled by the usage that obtains among them. The Khond
priests may indulge in any occupation except war; but some exercise
only their priestcraft and do nothing else. The chief feast to the
sun-god is Salo Kallo (the former word means 'cow-pen'; the latter, a
liquor), somewhat like a _soma_-feast. It is celebrated at harvest
time with dancing, and drinking, "and every kind of licentious
enjoyment." Other festivals of less importance celebrate the
substitution of a buffalo for human sacrifice (not celebrated, of
course, by the Tari worshippers). The invocation at the harvest is
quite Brahmanic: "O gods, remember that our increase of rice is your
increase of worship; if we get little Rice we worship little." Among
lesser gods the 'Fountain-god' is especially worshipped, with a sheep
or a hog as sacrifice. Female infanticide springs from a feeling that
intermarriage in the same tribe is incest (this is the meaning of the
incest-law above; it might be rendered 'to marry in the tribe').
Of the Or[=a]ons, or Dhangars,[15] we shall mention but one or
two good parallels to what is found in other religions. These
Dravidians live in Bengal, and have two annual festivals, a harvest
feast and one celebrating the marriage of heaven and earth. Like the
Khonds, they recognize a supreme god in the sun, but, just as we
showed was the case with the Hindus, who ignore Brahm[=a] because they
do not fear him, so here, the Or[=a]ons do not pray to the sun, on the
ground that he does them no harm; but they sacrifice to evil spirits
because the latter are evil-doers. These savages, like the Burmese
Mishmis, have no idea of a future life in heaven; but in the case of
people killed in a certain way they believe in a sort of
metempsychosis; thus, for instance, a man eaten by a tiger becomes a
tiger. In the case of unfortunates they believe that they will live as
unhappy ghosts; in the case of other men they assume only annihilation
as their fate.[16] It is among this tribe that the mouse-totem is
found, which is Çiva's beast and the sign of Ganeça.[17]
THE KOLARIANS.
The Sunth[=a]ls: These are immigrants into the West Bengal jungles,
and have descended from the North to their present site. They are
called the finest specimens of the native savage. The guardian of the
tribe is its deceased ancestor, and his ghost is consulted as an
oracle. Their race-god is the 'Great Mountain,' but the sun represents
the highest spirit; though they
worship spirits of every sort, and regard beasts as divine; the men
revering the tiger, and the women, elephants. The particularly nasty
festival called the _bandana_, which is celebrated annually by this
tribe, is exactly like the 'left-hand' cult of the Çaktas, only that
in this case it is a preliminary to marriage. All unmarried men and
women indulge together in an indescribable orgie, at the end of which
each man selects the woman he prefers.[18]
The Koles ('pig-stickers'): Like the last, this tribe worship the sun,
but with the moon as his wife, and the stars as their children.
Besides these they revere Manes, and countless local and sylvan
deities. Like Druids, they sacrifice only in a grove, but without
images.[19]
All these tribes worship snakes and trees,[25]] and often the only
oath binding upon them is taken under a tree.[21] The
sun-worship, which is found alike in Kolarian and Dravidian tribes,
may be traced through all the ramifications of either. In most of the
tribes the only form of worship is sacrifice, but oaths are taken on
rice, beasts, ants, water, earth, etc. (among some P[=a]h[=a]riahs on
the arrow). Some have a sort of belief in the divinity of the chief,
and among the Lurka Koles this dignity is of so much importance that
at a chief's death the divine dignity goes to his eldest son, while
the youngest son gets the property. In regard to funeral rites, the
Koles first burn and then bury the remains, placing a stone over the
grave.
Besides the Or[=a]ons' totem of the mouse, the Sunth[=a]ls have a
goose-totem, and the Garos and Kassos (perhaps not to be included in
either of the two groups), together with many other tribes, have
totems, some of them _avatars_, as in the case of the tortoise. The
Garos, a tribe between Assam and Bengal, are in many respects
noteworthy. They believe that their vessels are immortal; and, like
the Bh[=a]rs, set up the bamboo pole, a religious rite which has crept
into Hinduism (above, p. 378). They eat everything but their totem,
immolate human victims, and are divided into 'motherhoods,'
M[=a]h[=a]ris, particular M[=a]h[=a]ris intermarrying. A man's sister
marries into the family from which comes his wife, and that sister's
daughter may marry his son, and, as male heirs do not inherit, the
son-in-law succeeds his father-in-law in right of his wife, and gets
his wife's mother (that is, his father's sister) as an additional
wife.[22] The advances are always made by the girl. She and her party
select the groom, go to his house, and carry him off, though he
modestly pretends to run away. The sacrifice for the
wedding is that of a cock and hen, offered to the sun. The god they
worship most is a monster (very much like Çiva), but he has no local
habitation.
Of the Sav[=a]ras or Sauras of the Dekhan the most interesting deity
is the malevolent female called Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], wife of Th[=a]kur.
She was doubtless the first patroness of the throttling Thugs (_thags_
are _[t.]haks_, assassins), and the prototype of their Hindu
K[=a]l[=i]. Human sacrifices are offered to Th[=a]kur[=a]n[=i], while
her votaries, as in the case of the Thugs, are noted for the secrecy
of their crimes.
Birth-rites, marriage-rites, funeral rites (all of blood), human
sacrifice, _tab[=u]_ (especially among the Burmese), witchcraft,
worship of ancestors, divination, and demonology are almost universal
throughout the wild tribes. In most of the rites the holy stone[23]
plays an important part, and in many of the tribes dances are a
religious exercise.
Descendants of the great Serpent-race that once ruled M[=a]gadha
(Beh[=a]r), the Bh[=a]rs, and Ch[=i]rus (Cheeroos) are historically of
the greatest importance, though now but minor tribes of Bengal. The
Bh[=a]rs, and Koles, and Ch[=i]rus may once have formed one body, and,
at any rate, like the last, the Bh[=a]rs are Kolarian and not
Dravidian. This is not the place to argue a thesis which might well be
supported at length, but in view of the sudden admixture of foreign
elements with the Brahmanism that begins to expand at the end of the
Vedic period it is almost imperative to raise the question whether the
Bh[=a]rs, of all the northern wild tribes the most cultivated, whose
habitat
extended from Oude (Gorakhpur) on both sides of the Ganges over all
the district between Benares and Allah[=a]b[=a]d, and whose name is
found in the form Bh[=a]rats as well as Bh[=a]rs, is not one with that
great tribe the history of whose war has been handed down to us in a
distorted form under the name of Bh[=a]rata (Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata). The
Bh[=a]ratas, indeed, claim to be Aryans. But is it likely that a race
would have come from the Northeast and another from the Northwest, and
both have the same name? Carnegy believed, so striking was the
coincidence, that the Bh[=a]rats were a R[=a]jput (Hindu) tribe that
had become barbaric. But against this speaks the type, which is not
Aryan but Kolarian.[24] Some influence one may suppose to have come
from the more intelligent tribes, and to have worked on Hindu belief.
We believe traces of it may still be found in the classics. For
instance, the famous Frog-maiden, whose tale is told in the
Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata, reminds one rather forcibly of the fact that in
Oude and Nep[=a]l frog-worship (not as totem) was an established cult.
The time for this worship to Begin is October; it is different to
thunder-worship (July, the _n[=a]ga_-feast), and the frog is
subordinate to the snake. And, again, the snake-worship that grows so
rapidly into the Hindu cult can scarcely have been uninfluenced by the
fact that there are no less than thirty snake-tribes.[2]
But despite some interesting points of view besides those
touched upon here, details are of little added value, since it is
manifest that, whether Kolarian or Dravidian, or, for the matter of
that, American or African, the same rites will obtain with the same
superstition, for they belong to every land, to the Aryan ancestor of
the Hindu as well as to the Hindu himself. Even totemism as a survival
may be suspected in the 'fish' and 'dog' people of the Rig Veda, as
has recently been suggested by Oldenberg. In the Northeast of India
many tribes worship only mountains, rivers, and Manes, again a trait
both Vedic and Hinduistic, but not necessarily borrowed. Some of these
tribes, like the Kh[=a]s[=i]as of Oude, may be of R[=a]jput descent
(the Khasas of Manu, X. 22), but it is more likely that more tribes
claim this descent than possess it. We omit many of the tribal customs
lest one think they are not original; for example, the symbol of the
cross among the [=A]bors, who worship only diseases, and whose symbol
is also found among the American Indians; the sun-worship of the
Katties, who may have been influenced by Hinduism; together with the
cult of Burmese tribes too overspread with Buddhism. But often there
is a parallel so surprising as to make it certain that there has been
influence. The Niadis (of the South), for example, worship only the
female principle. Many other tribes worship _çakti_ almost
exclusively. The Todas worship stone images, buffaloes, and even
cow-bells, but they have a celibate priesthood! We do not hesitate to
express our own belief that the _çakti_-worship is native and drawn
from similar cults, and that the celibate priesthood, on the other
hand, is taken from civilization.
Such a fate appears to have happened in modern times to several
deities, now half Brahmanized. For example, Vet[=a]la (worshipped in
many places) is said in the Dekhan to be an _avatar_, or, properly
speaking, a manifestation of Çiva. What is he in reality? A native
wild god, without a temple, worshipped in the open air under the shade
of a tree, and in an
enclosure of stones. Just such a deity, in other words, as we have
shown is worshipped in just such a way by the wild tribes. A
monolith[26] in the middle of twelve stones represents this primitive
Druidic deity. The stones are painted red in flame-shape for a certain
distance from the ground, with the upper portion painted white.
Apparently there is here a sun-god of the aborigines. He is worshipped
in sickness, as is Çiva, and propitiated with the sacrifice of a cock,
without the intervention of any priest. The cock to Aesculapius
("_huic gallinae immolabantur_") may have had the same function
originally, for the cock is always the sun-bird. Seldom is Vet[=a]la
personified. When he has an image (and in the North he sometimes has
temples) it is that of an armless and legless man; but again he is
occasionally represented as a giant 'perfect in all his parts.'[27] To
the Brahman, Vet[=a]la is still a mere fiend, and presides over
fiends; nor will they admit that the red on his stones means aught but
blood. In such a god, one has a clue to the gradual intrusion of Çiva
himself into Brahmanic worship. At first a mountain lightning fiend,
then identified with Rudra, a recognized deity, then made
anthropomorphic. There are, especially in the South, a host of minor
Hindu deities, half-acknowledged, all more or less of a fiendish
nature in the eyes of the orthodox or even of the Çivaite. Seen
through such eyes they are no longer recognizable, but doubtless in
many instances they represent a crude form of nature-worship or
demonology, which has been taken from the cult of the wild
tribes, and is now more or less thoroughly engrafted upon that of
their civilized neighbors.[28]
One of the most interesting, though not remarkable, cases of
similarity between savage and civilized religions is found in the
worship of snakes and trees.[29] In the N[=a]ga or dragon form the
latter cult may have been aided by the dragon-worshipping barbarians
in the period of the northern conquest. But in essentials not only is
the snake and dragon worship of the wild tribes one with that of
Hinduism, but, as has been seen, the tatter has a root in the cult of
Brahmanism also, and this in that of the Rig Veda itself. The
poisonous snake is feared, but his beautiful wave-like motion and the
water-habitat of many of the species cause him to be associated as a
divinity with Varuna, the water-god. Thus in early Hinduism one finds
snake-sacrifices of two sorts. One is to cause the extirpation of
snakes, one is to propitiate them, Apart from the real snake, there is
revered also the N[=a]ga, a beautiful chimerical creature, human,
divine, and snake-like all in one. These are worshipped by sectaries
and by many wild tribes alike. The N[=a]ga tribe of Chota N[=a]gpur,
for instance, not only had three snakes as its battle-ensign, but
built a serpent-temple.[30]
Tree and plant worship is quite as antique as is snake-worship. For
not only is _soma_ a divine plant, and not only does Yama sit in
heaven under his 'fair tree' (above, p. 129), but 'trees and plants'
are the direct object of invocation in the Rig Veda (V. 41. 8); and
the Brahmanic law enjoins upon the faithful to fling an offering,
_bali_, to the great gods, to the waters, and 'to the trees';[31] as
is the case in the house-ritual. We shall seek, therefore, for the
origin of tree-worship not in the character of the tree, but in that
of the primitive mind which deifies mountains, waters, and trees,
irrespective of their nature. It is true, however, that the greater
veneration due to some trees and plants has a special reason. Thus
_soma_ intoxicates: and the _tulas[=i]_, 'holy basil,' has medicinal
properties, which make it sacred not only in the Krishna-cult, but in
Sicily.[32] This plant is a goddess, and is wed annually to the
Ç[=a]lagr[=a]ma stone with a great feast.[33] So the _çam[=i]_ plant
is herself divine, the goddess Çam[=i]. Again, the mysterious rustle
of the _bo_ tree, _pipal_ may be the reason for its especial
veneration; as its seeming immortality is certainly the cause of the
reverence given to the banian. It is not necessary, however, that any
mystery should hang about a tree. The palm is tall, (Çiva's) _açoka_
is beautiful, and no trees are more revered. But trees are holy _per
se_. Every 'village-tree' (above, p. 374, and Mbh[=a]. ii. 5. 100) is
sacred to the Hindu. And this is just what is found among the wild
tribes, who revere their hut-trees and village-trees as divine,
without demanding a special show of divinity. The birth-tree (as in
Grecian mythology) is also known, both to Hindu sect and to wild
tribe. But here also
there is no basis of Aryan ideas, but of common human experience. The
ancestor-tree (totem) has been noticed above in the case of the Gonds,
who claim descent from trees. The Bh[=a]rs revere the (Çivaite!)
_bilva_ or _bel_, but this is a medicinal tree. The marriage-tree is
universal in the South (the tree is the male or female ancestor), and
even the Brahmanic wedding, among its secondary after-rites, is not
without the tree, which is adorned as part of the ceremony.
Two points of view remain to be taken before the wild tribes are
dismissed. The first is that Hindu law is primitive. Maine and Leist
both cite laws as if any Hindu law were an oracle of primitive Aryan
belief. This method is ripe in wrong conclusions. Most of the matter
is legal, but enough grazes religion to make the point important. Even
with the sketch we have given it becomes evident that Hindu law cannot
be unreservedly taken as an exponent of early Brahmanic law, still
less of Aryan law. For instance, Maine regards matriarchy as a late
Brahmanic intrusion on patriarchy, an inner growth.[34] To prove this,
he cites two late books, one being Vishnu, the Hindu law-giver of the
South. But it is from the Southern wild tribes that matriarchy has
crept into Hinduism, and thence into Brahmanism. Here prevails the
matriarchal marriage*rite, with the first espousal to the
snake-guarded tree that represents the mother's family. In many cases
geographical limitations of this sort preclude the idea that the
custom or law of a law-book is Aryan.[35]
The second point of view is that of the Akkadists. It is claimed by
the late Lacouperie, by Hewitt, and by other well-known writers that a
primitive race overran India, China, and the rest of the world,
leaving behind it traces of advanced religious ideas and other marks
of a higher civilization. Such a cult may have existed, but in so far
as this theory rests, as in a marked degree it does rest, on
etymology, the results are worthless. These scholars identify
Gandharva with Gan-Eden, K[=a]çi (Benares) with the land of the sons
of Kush; Gautama with Chinese ('Akkadian') _gut_, 'a bull,' etc. All
this is as fruitful of unwisdom as was the guess-work of European
savants two centuries ago. We know that the Dasyus had some religion
and some civilization. Of what sort was their barbaric cult, whether
Finnish (also 'Akkadian')[36] or aboriginal with themselves, really
makes but little difference, so far as the interpretation of Aryanism
is concerned; for what the Aryans got from the wild tribes of that day
is insignificant if established as existent at all. A few legends, the
Deluge and the Cosmic Tree, are claimed as Akkadian, but it is
remarkable that one may grant all that the Akkadian scholars claim,
and still deny that Aryan belief has been essentially affected by
it.[37] The Akkadian theory will please them that cannot reconcile the
Rig Veda with their theory of Brahmanic influence, but the fault lies
with the theory.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: The Dasyus, heathen, or pagans, are by no means
a wholly uncivilized mass to the poets of the Rig Veda. They
have wealth, build forts, and are recognized as living in
towns or forts. We learn little about them in Brahmanic
literature, except that they bury their dead and with them
their trinkets. Their graves and dolmen gray-stones are
still found.]
[Footnote 2: Some scholars think that the Dravidians entered
from the Northwest later than the Kolarians, and, pushing
them to either side of the peninsula, descended through them
to the South. The fact that some Kolarian tribes closely
related by language are separated (to East and West) by
hundreds of miles, and have lost all remembrance of their
former union, favors this view of a Dravidian wedge
splitting and passing through the Kolarian mass. But all
here is guess-work. The Dravidians may have been pushed on
by Kolarians that entered later, while the latter may have
been split by the Aryan invasion; and this seems to us more
probable because the other theory does not explain why the
Kolarians did not go South instead of taking to the hills of
the East and West.]
[Footnote 3: The whole list of these tribes as given by
Cust, _Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies_,
is as follows: The Kolarians include the Sunth[=a]ls,
Mund[=a]ri Koles (Koches), Kh[=a]rians, Juangs, Korwas,
Kurs, Sav[=a]ras, Mehtos, Gadabas, P[=a]h[=a]rias; the
Dravidians include the tribes called Tamil, Telugu,
Kanarese, Malay[=a]lim, Tulu, Kudagu, Toda, Kota, Khond,
Gond, Or[=a]on, R[=a]jmah[=a]li, Keik[=a]di, Yeruk[=a]la.]
[Footnote 4: The sacrifices of the wild tribes all appear to
have the object of pleasing or placating the god with food,
animal or vegetable; just as the Brahmanic sacrifice is made
to please, with the secondary thought that the god will
return the favor with interest; then that he is bound to do
so. Sin is carried away by the sacrifice, but this seems to
be merely an extension of the simpler idea; the god condones
a fault after an expression of repentance and good-will.
What lies further back is not revealed in the early texts,
though it is easy to make them fruitful in "theories of
sacrifice."]
[Footnote 5: Of course no tribe has what civilization would
call a temple, but some have what answer to it, namely, a
filthy hut where live the god and his priest. Yet the Gonds
used to build roads and irrigate very well.]
[Footnote 6: The (R[=a]j) Gonds were first subdued by the
R[=a]jputs, and where the Hindus and Gonds have intermarried
they are known as R[=a]j Gonds. Others have become the
'Mohammedan Gonds.' Otherwise, in the case of the pure or
'[=A]ssul' (the greater number), neither Hindu nor
Mohammedan has had much influence over them, either socially
or religiously. The Gonds whipped the British in 1818; but
since then they have become 'pacified.']
[Footnote 7: It is often no more than a small hatchet stuck
in the belt, if they wear the latter, which in the jungle is
more raiment than they are wont to put on.]
[Footnote 8: The snake in the tree is common to many tribes,
both being tutelary. The Gonds are 'sons of the forest
Trees,' and of the northern bull.]
[Footnote 9: It seems to us that this feature need not be
reckoned as a sign of exogamy. It is often, so far as we
have observed, only a stereotyped form to express
bashfulness.]
[Footnote 10: Some say earth-_god._ Thus the account given
in JRAS. 1842, p. 172, says 'male earth-god as ancestor,'
but most modern writers describe the divinity as a female.
Some of the Khonds worship only earth (as a peacock). This
is the peacock revered at the Pongol.]
[Footnote 11: The Gonds also have a boundary-god. Graves as
boundaries are known among the Anglo-Saxons. Possibly Hermes
as boundary-god may be connected with the Hermes that
conducts souls; or is it simply as thief-god that he guards
from theft? The Khond practice would indicate that the
corpse (as something sacred) made the boundary, not that the
boundary was made by running a line to a barrow, as is the
case in the Anglo-Saxon connection between barrow and
bound.]
[Footnote 12: Some may compare Bellerophon !]
[Footnote 13: Tutelary deities are of house, village,
groves, etc. The 'House-god' is, of course, older than this
or than Hinduism. The Rig Veda recognizes V[=a]stoshpati,
the 'Lord of the House,' to whom the law (Manu, III. 89,
etc.) orders oblations to be made. But Hinduism prefers a
female house-goddess (see above, p. 374). Windisch connects
this Vedic divinity, V[=a]stos-pati, with Vesta and Hestia.
The same scholar compares Keltic _vassus, vassallus_,
originally 'house-man'; and very ingeniously equates
Vassorix with Vedic _vas[=a][.m] r[=a]j[=a]--viç[=a][.m]
r[=a]j[=a]_, 'king of the house-men' (clan), like
_h[.u]skarlar_,'house-fellows,' in Scandinavian (domesticus,
*_ouk(tes)_). Windisch, _Vassus und Vassallus_, in the
_Bericht. d. k. Sächs. Gesell_. 1892, p. 174.]
[Footnote 14: That is to say, a dead man's spirit goes to
heaven, or is re-born whole in the tribe, or is re-born
diseased (anywhere, this is penal discipline), or finally is
annihilated. Justly may one compare the Brahmanic division
of the Manes into several classes, according to their
destination as conditioned by their manner of living and
exit from life. It is the same idea ramifying a little
differently; not a case of borrowing, but the growth of two
similar seeds. On the other hand, the un-Aryan doctrine of
transmigration may be due to the belief of native wild
tribes. It appears first in the Çatapatha, but is hinted at
in the 'plant-souls' of the RV. (above, pp. 145,204,432),
possibly in RV. I. 164. 30,38; Bötlingk, _loc. cit_., 1893,
p. 88.]
[Footnote 15: This tribe now divides with the Lurka Koles
the possession of Chota Nagpur, which the latter tribe used
to command entire. The Or[=a]ons regard the Lurka Koles as
inferiors. Compare JRAS. 1861, p. 370 ff. They are sometimes
erroneously grouped with the Koles, ethnographically as well
as geographically. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, p.
XXXII.]
[Footnote 16: Something like this is recorded by Brinton,
_Myths of the New World_, p. 243, as the belief of an
American tribe, which holds that the fate of the dead
depends on the manner of death, the funeral rites, or "some
such arbitrary circumstance" (as in Greece).]
[Footnote 17: Compare the epic 'Mouse-people,' M[=u]shikas,
as well as Apollo's mouse. Possibly another Hindu mark of
sectarianism may be traced to the wild tribes, the use of
vermilion markings. This is the most important element in
the Bengal wedding rite (Risley).]
[Footnote 18: Above the Sunth[=a]ls, who inhabit the jungle
and lower slopes of the R[=a]jmah[=a]l hills, live the
P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as, who never tell a lie (it is said), and
whose religion in some aspects is worth noticing. They
believe in one god (over each village god), who created
seven brothers to rule earth. The P[=a]h[=a]r[=i]as descend
from the eldest of these brothers. They believe in
transmigration, a future state, and oracles. But it is
questionable whether they have not been exposed to
Buddhistic influence, as 'Budo Gosain' is the name of the
supreme (sun-)god.]
[Footnote 19: In the ninth century Orissa was formed of the
territories of Khonds, Koles, and Sav[=a]ras. In the old
grouping of tribes these, together with the Gonds and Bhils,
were the "five children of the soil" between the Vindhya
mountains, the east chain of the Gh[=a]ts, and the mouth of
the God[=a]var[=i] to the centre of the valley of the
Nerbudda. The last mentioned tribe of Bhils (Bheels) is
almost devoid of native religion, but is particularly noted
for truth, honesty, and fidelity. JRAS. 1844, pp. 181, 189,
192; 1852, p. 216 ff. It is an ancient race, but its origin
is not certain.]
[Footnote 20: Trees are revered by the Brahmans also, as by
the American Indians. Schoolcraft, i. 368. The tree-spirit
is an advance on this (Brahmanic and Hinduistic).]
[Footnote 21: Thus the Bhils' wedding is simply a mutual
promise under the _sing[=a]_ tree. These savages, however,
live together only so long as they choose. When the family
separates, the father takes the elder children, and the
mother takes the younger ones. They are polygamous. It is
from this tribe that the worship of Aghor[=i], the Vindhya
fiend, accepted as a form of K[=a]l[=i], was introduced into
Çivaite worship. At present their religion is a mixture of
Hindu and native superstition. Thus, like the Gonds, they
worship stone images of gods placed in a circle, but they
recognize among these gods several of the Hindu divinities.]
[Footnote 22: Rowney, _Wild Tribes_, p. 194. The goose-totem
of the Sunth[=a]ls is also Brahm[=a]'s sign. As Vishnu is
carried on an eagle, and Çiva on a bull, so Brahm[=a] rides
a goose (or flamingo). The 'ten ancestors' demanded of the
Brahman priest were originally on the mother's side as well
as on the father's. Weber, _R[=a]jas[=u]ya_, p. 78. The
matriarchal theory is, however, southern. (Compare the
oblations to the ancestresses in Vishnu's law-book, 74.)]
[Footnote 23: The marriage-stone, as in the Hindu rite is
quite common. Of lesser superstitions the _tab[=u]_,
analogous to the avoidance of unlucky names among the
Hindus, may be mentioned. Friendship among girls is cemented
by a religious ceremony. After this, among the Or[=a]ons,
the two avoid each other's name, calling each other only 'my
flower' or 'my meet-to-smile' (Rowney). In this tribe
exogamy is 'more respectable,' but not necessary. The girls
are generally bought, and have fixed prices, but we have
seen the customary price (twenty-five pigs) cited only for
Assam among the Meeris. If one man cannot pay so much,
several unite, for polyandry prevails all through the
northern tribes (JRAS. XI. 38), and even in the Punj[=a]b.]
[Footnote 24: Sherring (JRAS. V. 376) says decidedly that
Bh[=a]rs, or Bh[=a]rats, and Ch[=i]rus cannot be Aryans.
This article is one full of interesting details in regard to
the high cultivation of the Bh[=a]rat tribe. They built
large stone forts, immense subterranean caverns, and made
enormous bricks for tanks and fortifications (19 X 11 X
2-1/2 inches), the former being built regularly to east and
west (_surajbedi_). One of their chief cities lay five miles
west of Mirz[=a]pur, and covered several miles, entirely
surrounding the Puranic city of Vindhyacal, built in the
midst of it. Six or seven hundred years ago the Bh[=a]rs
held Oude and Benares. Carnegy's opinion is given in his
_Races, Tribes, and Castes of the Province of Oude_ (Oudh).
The Bh[=a]rs, says Elliot, _Chronicles of Oonayo_, built all
the towns not ending in _pur_, _mow_, or _[=a]b[=a]d_
(Hindu, Mongol, Mohammedan). Their sacra (totems?) are the
bamboo, _bel_-tree, tortoise, and peacock.]
[Footnote 25: JRAS. XII. 229; IA. XXII. 293.]
[Footnote 26: Among the southern Koders the dolmen form
grave-stones; perhaps the religious employment of them in
this wise led to the idea of the god-stone in many cases;
but it is difficult to say in monolith-worship whether the
stone itself be not a god; not a fetish, for (as has been
said by others) a fetish is a god only so long as he is
regarded as being useful, and when shown to be useless he is
flung away; but a god-stone is always divine, whether it
grants prayers or not.]
[Footnote 27: Wilson's note to Stevenson's description,
JRAS. 1838, p. 197. The epic disease-gods are not unique.
The only god known to the Andaman Islanders (Bay of Bengal)
was a disease-devil, and this is found as a subordinate
deity in many of the wild tribes.]
[Footnote 28: In the current _Indian Antiquary_ there is an
exceedingly interesting series of papers by the late Judge
Burnell on Devil-worship, with illustrations that show well
the character of these lower objects of worship.]
[Footnote 29: The standard work on this subject is
Fergusson's _Tree and Serpent Worship_, which abounds in
interesting facts and dangerously captivating fancies.]
[Footnote 30: JRAS. 1846, p. 407. The ensign here may be
totemistic. In Hinduism the epic shows that the standards of
battle were often surmounted with signa and effigies of
various animals, as was the case, for example, in ancient
Germany. We have collected the material on this point in a
paper in JAOS. XIII. 244. It appears that on top of the
flag-staff images were placed. One of these is the
Ape-standard; another, the Bull standard; another, the
Hoar-standard. Arjuna's sign was the Ape (with a lion's
tail); other heroes had peacocks, elephants, and fabulous
monsters like the _çarabha_. The Ape is of course the god
Hanuman; the Boar, Vishnu; the Bull, Çiva; so that they have
a religious bearing for the most part, and are not
totemistic. Some are purely fanciful, a bow, a swan with
bells, a lily; or, again, they are significant of the
heroe's origin (Drona's 'pot'). Trees and flowers are used
as standards just like beasts. Especially is the palm a
favorite emblem. These signa are in addition to the
battle-flags (one of which is blue, carried with an ensign
of five stars). On the plants compare Williams, _Brahmanism
and Hinduism_, p. 338.]
[Footnote 31: [=A]pastambo, 2. 2. 3. 22; Manu, III. 88.]
[Footnote 32: Vule _apud_ Williams.]
[Footnote 33: _ib_. The Rig Veda, X. 81. 4, knows also a
'tree of creation.']
[Footnote 34: _Early Law and Custom_, p. 73 ff.]
[Footnote 35: Thus it is common Aryan law that, on the birth
of a child, the mother becomes impure for ten days, either
alone or with the father. But the latter's impurity is only
nominal, and is removed by bathing (Manu, V. 62, and
others). B[=a]udh[=a]yana alone states that "according to
some" only the father becomes impure (1. 5. 11. 21). This is
the custom of a land described by Apollonius Rhodius (II.
1010}, "where, when women bear children, the men groan, go
to bed, and tie up the head; but the women care for them."
Yet B[=a]udh[=a]yana is a Southerner and a late writer. The
custom is legalized only in this writer's laws. Hence it
cannot be cited as Brahmanic or even as Aryan law. It was
probably the custom of the Southern half-Hinduized
environment.]
[Footnote 36: American Indians are also Dravidian, because
both have totems![* unknown symbol]]
[Footnote 37: For the Akkadist theory may be consulted
Lacouperie in the _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, i. 1,
25, 58; iii. 62 ff.; v. 44, 97; vi. 1 ff.; Hewitt, in
reviewing Risley's _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, JRAS.
1893, p. 238 ff. See also Sayce's _Hibbert Lectures_. On the
Deluge and Tree of Life, compare the _Babylonian and
Oriental Record_, iv. 15 and 217.]
* * * * *