SUPERSTITION OF THE HINDOOS.
My dear Children--In my Sermon to Children, before alluded to, I
mentioned a few particulars to prove that the people of India are very
superstitious. Let me mention a few more. It is said that no act,
however good it may be, if performed on Sunday, will succeed. Some will
not eat at all on Sunday, until they have seen a certain bird--the bird
on which the god Vrishnoo rides. If a man rubs oil on his head on
Monday, and bathes, he will commit a sin equal to the sin of destroying
a temple of Siva. If he has his hair out on Tuesday, he will become
poor. Even to worship the gods on Wednesday, is bad. If a person takes
medicine on Thursday, his sickness will be increased. Should he lend any
thing on Friday, he will lose his property. If he should buy a new cloth
on Saturday, take it home, and keep it there, death may be the
consequence. Should he die on this day, some other member of the family
will die on the following week.
If the foundation of a house is laid in June, the destruction of that
house will follow. Should a family enter a new house in March, some
member of the family will die. If a marriage is celebrated in September,
the husband and wife will fight with each other.
Should a thunderbolt fall on a house, or a vulture alight on it, some
evil will befall the people living in it. If a crow should strike any
person on the head with its wings, some of his relations will die.
Should a cat or a snake cross his path, it would be an indication of
evil. In the latter case, one of his relations will die. If, when
returning home, a person should meet him bearing a light, a quarrel will
be the result.
After a person has left his house, should he meet a single Brahmin, or a
woman who has had her head shaved, or a dumb or a blind man, or a
washerman or a barber, the object for which he left would not succeed.
Or, when going out, should he hit his head against the top of the
door-frame, or should any one ask him where he was going, or should he
happen to sneeze, he would consider these things as hinderances to his
going, and reënter the house.
Should a son or a daughter be born on the new moon in April, they will
become thieves. If a person is born under the planet Saturn, he will be
slandered, his riches will be dissipated, and his wife, son, and friends
will be destroyed. He will also be at variance with others, and endure
many sufferings. Should he be born under the planet Mars, he will be
full of anxious thoughts, be imprisoned, and oppressed with fear from
robbers, fire, etc. He also will lose his lands, trees, and good name.
If a person dreams that a monkey has bitten him, he will die in six
months; or if he dreams that bedbugs, in large numbers, are creeping
over his body to bite him, he will die in eight days. Should he dream
that a dog has bitten him, he will die in three years; or should he
dream that a dead person has appeared to him and spoken to him, he will
die immediately.
If a man has a little head, he will become rich. If he has a large head,
he will be poor. If his forehead is wide, he will live a hundred years.
If he has a small neck, he will be a murderer. If the second toe is
long, he will be a bad man. If a woman has curly hair, she will not
prosper. If her nose is long, she will have a good disposition. If her
ear is wide, she will tell falsehoods. If she has a mole on her nose,
she will be subject to anger; if on her lips, she will be learned; if on
the eyebrows she will be cunning.
I could continue to fill a number of pages with things of the same
description, but it will be unnecessary. I will merely mention one
instance more. On a certain night in the month of November, the people
will not look at the moon. The reason assigned for this, is as follows.
Once, when the elephant-faced god Pulliar was dancing before the gods,
the moon happening to see him, laughed at him, and told him that he had
a large stomach, an ear like a winnowing-fan, etc. This so enraged him,
that he cursed her. This curse was inflicted on the night above
mentioned.
How does the wretchedness of a people, both in reference to the things
of this world and of the world to come, show itself where the Bible is
unknown. If this blessed book was not an inspired book--if it did no
more than remove the temporal miseries of men, how invaluable would it
be! Of how much more value then, is it, in reference to the removal of
their spiritual miseries?
O, why is it that Christians have not long since sent this Bible to
them? Why is it that they do not send it to them _now_? This is a
mystery, which we must leave to be unravelled at the judgment-seat of
the last day. My dear children, you are to stand before that
judgment-seat. Shall any of these heathen among whom I dwell, rise up at
that awful season--stretch out their hands towards you, and say, There
stand the children who might have sent us the Bible, but they did not
send it; and now we must be lost--_lost for ever!_