ANALYSIS OF THE BRITISH CULTS.
Commencing with the Teutonic centres of England, Sir Laurence Gomme shows
that the middle and south-eastern counties almost fix the boundary of
one form of well-worship, a form which has lost all local colour, all
distinct ritual, and remains only in the dedication of the well or spring
to a saint of the Christian Church, in the tradition of its name as a
“holy well,” or else in the memory of some sort of reverence formerly
paid to the waters, which in many cases are nameless. Proceeding from
small beginnings where the survival of the ancient cult is represented by
the simple idea of reverence for wells mostly dedicated to a Christian
saint, he takes us through stages where a ceremonial is faintly traced in
the well-dressing with garlands decked with flowers and ribbons, where
shrubs and trees growing near the well are the recipients of offerings
by devotees to the spirit of the well, where disease and sickness of
all kinds are ministered to, where aid is sought against enemies, where
the gift of rain is obtained, where the spirits appear in general forms
as fairies and in specific form as animal or fish, and finally, it
may be in anthropomorphic form as Christian saints, where priestesses
attend the well to preside over the ceremonies. With the several
variants overlapping at every stage and thus keeping the whole group of
superstition and custom in touch, one section with another, he shows that
there is every reason to identify this cult as the most widespread and
the most lasting in connection with local natural objects. He points out,
moreover, that it is in the Celtic-speaking districts where the rudest
and most uncivilised ceremonial is extant, and further, that it is in the
country of the Goidelic or earliest branch of the Celts, where this finds
its most pronounced types.
To show how this may be translated into terms of ethnology he has given
us the following table showing where the survivals of the cult are the
most perfect, that is to say, less touched by the incoming civilisations
which have swept over them:—
=============+========================+==============+==============+====
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
-------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
England: | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Eastern and | | | | | | | | | | | |
South-eastern| + | | | | | | | | + | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Isle of Wight| + | | | | | + | | | + | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Western | | | | | | | | | | | |
(middle) | + | | | | | + | | | + | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Western | | + | + | | | + | + | | + | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Northern (a) | | + | + | | | + | + | | + | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Do. (b) | | + | + | | | | + | + | | + | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Wales | | + | + | | + | | + | | | | + | +
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Cornwall | | + | + | | + | | | | | | + | +
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Ireland | | + | + | + | + | | | + | | | + |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Scotland | | + | + | + | + | | | + | | | + | +
=============+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====
Form of worship.
1. Simple reverence.
2. Cure of disease.
3. Wishing and divination.
4. Rain producing.
5. Sun-worship influences.
Offerings.
6. Garland-dressing.
7. Pins.
8. Rag-bushes.
Deity or spirit.
9. Saint.
10. Fairy.
11. Animal genius.
12. Human priest or priestess.
It may be gathered from this table that the acts of simple reverence,
garland-dressing, and dedication to a Christian saint are to be taken
as the late expressions in popular tradition of the earlier and more
primitive acts and practices tabulated above. Taking the more primitive
elements as the basis, the author shows that the lowest point is obtained
from English ground, which only rises into the primitive stages in
the northern counties where rag-bushes are found. On Welsh ground
the highest point of primitive culture is the tradition of an animal
guardian-spirit. On Irish ground the highest point is the identification
of the well deity with the rain-god, while on Scottish ground the highest
points recognisable elsewhere are accentuated in degree.
The author also shows that garland-dressing, pins and rag-bushes, the
three forms in which offerings to the well-deities are made, are but
variants of one primitive form—namely, the offerings of rags or parts
of clothing upon bushes sacred to the well. This species of offerings,
according to a summary given by General Pitt-Rivers, extends throughout
Northern Africa from west to east. Mungo Park mentions it in Western
Africa; Sir Samuel Baker speaks of it on the confines of Abyssinia, and
says that the people who practised it were unable to assign a reason
for doing so; Burton also found the same custom in Arabia during his
pilgrimage to Mecca; in Persia Sir William Ouseley saw a tree close to a
large monolith covered with these rags, and he describes it as a practice
appertaining to a religion long since proscribed in that country; Colonel
Leslie says that in the Dekkan and Ceylon the trees in the neighbourhood
of wells may be seen covered with similar scraps of cotton; Dr. A.
Campbell speaks of it as being practised by the Limboos near Darjeeling
in the Himalayas, where it is associated, as in Ireland, with large heaps
of stones; and Huc in his travels mentions it among the Tartars. We shall
examine the ideas underlying the practice of rag-offering in different
countries in a separate chapter. Meanwhile, the conclusion that Sir
Laurence Gomme draws from this summary may be noted in his own words:—
“Here not only do we get evidence of the cult in an Aryan country like
Persia being proscribed, but, as General Pitt-Rivers observes, ‘it is
impossible to believe that so singular a custom as this, invariably
associated with cairns, megalithic monuments, holy wells, or some such
early Pagan institutions, could have arisen independently in all these
countries.’ That the area over which it is found is coterminous with
the area of the megalithic monuments, that these monuments take us back
to pre-Aryan people and suggest the spread of this people over the area
covered by their remains, are arguments in favour of a megalithic date
for well-worship and rag-offerings.”
This ramble of ours through many ages and many lands in search of
evidence of water-worship may now be brought to a close. Let us now
witness the ceremonies connected with the digging of wells and the
different customs of decorating wells and the varied offerings proffered
to the nymphs and spirits residing in the waters. With the picture that
will be thus presented of Indian wells decked with _jalis_ (trellis work)
of flowers and illumined with _ghee_-lamps, their pavements strewn with
cocoanuts, sugar and sweets and milk and _ghee_, and smeared with red
lead in lieu of blood, but daubed also in some places with the blood
of animal-sacrifice, it will be interesting to contrast the picture
of English wells fantastically tapestried about with old rags and
practically unlit and unembellished, save for a little garland-dressing
here and there, and filled with pins and needles, buttons and coins.
PART III.
VARIED RITUALS AND OFFERINGS.
CHAPTER XV.
WATER-DIVINING AND WELL-OPENING CEREMONIES.
“Spring up, O well,
Sing ye to it:
Thou well dug by princes,
Sunk by the nobles of the people,
With the sceptre, with their staves
Out of the desert a gift.”
This beautiful song of the well is taken from the Jewish scriptures.
Budde believes that the song alludes to a custom by which when a well or
spring was found, it was lightly covered over, and then opened by the
Sheikhs in the presence of the clan and to the accompaniment of a song.
In this way, by the fiction of having dug it, the well was regarded as
the property of the clan. He thinks that a passage in Nilus (Migne,
“Patrologia Graeca”), to which Goldziber has called attention, confirms
this view. Nilus says that when the nomadic Arabs found a well they
danced by it and sang songs to it. According to Kazivini when the water
of the wells of Ilabistan failed, a feast was held at the source, with
music and dancing, to induce it to flow again.
In India when a well is to be dug, an expert is first called to select a
favourable site. To some experts such sites are revealed in dreams. Some
possess the faculty of hearing the sound of water running underneath,
others point out the sites by smelling out sweet water underground.
The _Bombay Gazetteer_ bears testimony to the wonderful faculties of
these experts. “Sites for wells,” says the writer,[52] “are chosen with
great success by water-diviners, or _pánikals_, whose services can be
engaged at the rate of Re. 1-4 a well. Their judgment is unerring and
many instances are on record of their practical ability. They can also
generally tell at what depth the spring will be tapped.”
The sniffers are known as Bhonyesunghna in Gujarat and Cutch, and as
Sunga in the Punjab, and they generally belong to a class of _Faqirs_
gifted with this faculty. The Luniyas, a caste of navvies, are also
endowed with these powers. In the Punjab a herd of goats is driven about
in search of sites of deserted wells. When these goats arrive at the
right spot, they lie down and that is a signal for a search.
Water-diviners are not unknown in the West. One of the extraordinary
incidents of the recent Gallipoli campaign was the discovery of water
by a Kentish water-diviner at Suvla Bay. During the critical hours
which followed the landing at the place in August 1915, the great
problem for the officers was to find water on that parched land. The
experts had examined the district and reported that there was no water
to be got there, but Sapper Stephen Kelly, of the 3rd Australian Light
Horse Brigade, a hydraulic engineer of Melbourne, possessed the gift
for water-divining. While he was standing with Captain Shearen, a New
Zealand Officer, in the line of communications, he cried out, “There’s
water here where we’re standing.” News of his reputation had reached
Brigadier-General Hughes, who sent for him immediately and asked him
if he could find water. The Sapper was confident of finding it. The
Brigadier gave him a sporting chance and put a thousand men under his
direction. Within a few hours he opened up a well which had been sunk.
In a little more time he had thirty wells going with sufficient water to
supply every man with a gallon a day and every mule with its six gallons,
and this of pure cold spring water “instead of the lukewarm liquor from
kerosene tins off the transport.”
The army’s engineers were astonished by Sapper Kelly’s success,
especially as he was without paper plans. When they asked him about it,
he replied that it would take him about half the time to get the wells
going that it would to draw up the plans. Sapper Kelly was a Kent man,
born in Maidstone. He went out to Queensland when a small boy. At that
time an old water-diviner arrived in the neighbourhood and tried his art
in that locality. The boy trotted after the old man in his twistings and
turnings about the paddock with a divining twig in his hand and when the
old man found water, the boy “felt his nerves twitch and a thrill go
through him that wasn’t just excitement.” He thought he would try too,
and he did. From that moment he had practised his powers. At Suvla, he
said, he got better results with a copper rod instead of the divining
twig.
We are not aware of any ceremonies connected with the digging of wells
in the West, but in India it is regarded as a very important function
requiring care and caution and, above all, propitiation of the deities.
A Brahmin is consulted as to the auspicious hour when the work of
digging should commence. The auspicious days vary in different places.
In Gujarat, Tuesdays and the days on which the earth sleeps are avoided;
and the earth is supposed to be asleep on the 1st, the 7th, the 9th, the
10th, the 14th and the 24th days following a _Sankranti_, _i.e._, the
day on which the sun crosses from one constellation to another. With
the exception of these days, a date is generally selected on which the
_chandra-graha_, or the moon, is favourable to the constructor of the
well.
On the appointed day, the water diviner, the constructor of the well,
the Brahmin priest, and the labourers go to the place where the well
is to be dug, and an image of the god _Ganpati_, the protector of all
auspicious ceremonies, is first installed on the spot and worshipped with
_panchamrit_, a punch or mixture of milk, curds, ghee, honey and sugar.
A green-coloured piece of _atlas_ (silk cloth), about two feet long, is
then spread on the spot, and a pound and a quarter of wheat, a cocoanut,
betels, dates and copper coins are placed on it. A copper bowl filled
with water and containing some silver or gold coins is also placed there.
The mouth of the bowl is covered with the leaves of the mango tree and a
cocoanut is placed over the leaves. After this the priest chants sacred
hymns and asks his host to perform the _Khat_ ceremonies.
These Khat-muhurt or Khat-puja must be performed before commencing the
construction not only of wells, reservoirs and tanks, but also of all
works above or under the ground, such as setting the _nankestambha_,
or the first pillar of a marriage bower, or a bower for a thread
ceremony, or laying the foundation-stone of a house or temple, or a
sacrificial pit, or of a street, or fortress, or a city or a village.
The earth-mother is then worshipped in the manner prescribed in the
_shashtras_ to propitiate her against interruptions in the completion of
the work undertaken. The owner or the person interested in the new work
pours a little water on the earth where the foundation-pit is to be dug,
sprinkles red lead and _gulal_ (red powder), places a betel-nut and a
few precious coins, and digs out the first clod of earth himself. Rich
persons use silver or golden spades and hoes when turning up the first
clod. Among the usual offerings to _Ganpati_ and to the earth on the
occasion are curd, milk, honey, molasses, cocoanuts, dhana (a kind of
spices), leaves of nagarval (a kind of creeper) and red lead. The expert
who is called to choose a proper site for the well offers frankincense
and a cocoanut to the spot, and lights a lamp thereon. After the _Khat_
ceremonies are over, the host distributes sugar or molasses among those
present and offers money to the expert who generally refuses to accept
it and asks the host to dispose of it in charity. Even those who accept
money give away a part of it in alms to the poor.
Occasionally, with a view to securing unobstructed completion of the
work, the god _Ganpati_ and the goddess _Jaladevi_ are installed and
worshipped daily, until water appears in the well. Some people, however,
install the goddess _Jaladevi_ after the appearance of water, when a
stone is taken out from the bottom of the well and is plastered with
red lead to represent the goddess and is ceremoniously worshipped. When
the construction of the well is complete, a ceremony called _Vastu_ or
_jalostsana_ or water-festival is celebrated, Brahmins are entertained at
a feast and _dakshina_ is given.[53]
In the Punjab, the work of digging a well should begin on Sunday. On
the previous Saturday night little bowls of water are placed round the
proposed site, and the one which dries up the least marks the best site
for the well. The circumference is then marked and the work of digging
commenced, the central lump of earth being left intact. This clod of
earth is cut out last and it is called _Khwajaji_, after Khwaja Khizr,
the water-saint, and is worshipped. If it breaks, it is a bad omen, and a
new site is selected a week later.
In the north-east a Pandit fixes the auspicious moment for sinking
a well. The owner then worships Gauri, Ganesha, Shesha Naga, the
world-serpent, the earth, the spade and the nine planets. Then facing in
the direction in which, according to the directions of the Pandit, Shesha
Naga is supposed to be lying at the time, he cuts five clods with the
spade. When the workmen reach the point at which the wooden well-cush has
to be fixed, the owner smears the cush in five places with red powder
and tying dub-grass and a sacred thread to it, lowers it into its place.
A fire sacrifice is then offered, and Brahmins are fed. When the well
is ready, cow-dung, cow urine, milk, butter and Ganges water, leaves of
sacred Tulsi and honey are thrown into the water before it is used. In
the Konkan a golden cow is thrown into a newly built well as an offering
to the water deities.[54]
But, according to Crookes, no well is considered lucky until the
Salagrama, or the spiral ammonite sacred to Vishnu, is solemnly wedded to
the Tulsi or basil plant, representing the garden or field which the well
is intended to water. The rite is performed according to the standard
marriage formula: the relations are assembled; the owner of the garden
represents the bridegroom, while a kinsman or his wife stands for the
bride. Gifts are given to Brahmins, a feast is held in the garden, and
both the garden and the well may then be used without any danger.
CHAPTER XVI.
DECORATIONS AND OFFERINGS.
We have seen that the Indian method of venerating a well was to crown
it with flowers, to cover it with _jalis_ or trellis work of flowers,
to illumine it with ghee-lamps placed in niches specially made for the
purpose and to strew the pavement with cocoanuts, betel-nuts, sugar and
sweets and milk and ghee and to smear it with red lead. We have also
noticed that floral decoration and garland-dressing is an act of simple
reverence, being a survival of the earlier and more primitive practices
and ceremonials. The other offerings, however, particularly cocoanut,
and the practice of smearing the pavement with red lead point to beliefs
associating spirits with water, and these are survivals of the ancient
cult of human and animal sacrifices offered to the water-spirit. The
cocoanut, resembling a human head, is accepted by the spirits, in lieu
of a human being, similarly red lead does duty for the blood of animal
victims. The Germans hoodwink the water-spirit with another curious
substitute and that is a loaf of bread. It is the practice to throw a
loaf into the water at Rotenburg on the Neckar. If this offering is not
given, the river-spirit would take away a man. The practice of placing
lamps inside the well also points to spirit-beliefs. The lights, it is
hoped, would scare away evil spirits from the water.
There is enough anthropological evidence to show that at one time human
sacrifices were offered in east and west alike to the spirits of fire,
earth and water. Numerous authorities may be cited. The Indian practices
are well known. For continental examples we may select only one from Sir
James Frazer’s _Golden Bough_ concerning the practice of burning humans
beings in the fires. The most unequivocal traces of human sacrifices
offered on these occasions are those which, about a hundred years ago,
still lingered at the Beltane fires in the Highlands of Scotland, that
is, among a Celtic people who, situated in a remote corner of Europe
and almost completely isolated from foreign influence, had till then
conserved their old heathenism better than any other people in the west
of Europe. “It is significant,” says Sir James Frazer, “that human
sacrifices by fire are known, on unquestionable evidence, to have been
systematically practised by the Celts. The earliest description of these
sacrifices has been bequeathed to us by Julius Cæsar. As conqueror of
the hitherto independent Celts of Gaul, Cæsar had ample opportunity of
observing the national Celtic religion and manners, while these were
still fresh and crisp from the native mint and had not yet been fused in
the melting-pot of Roman civilization.... The following seem to have been
the main outlines of the custom. Condemned criminals were reserved by the
Celts in order to be sacrificed to the gods at a great festival which
took place once in every five years. The more there were of such victims,
the greater was believed to be the fertility of the land. If there were
not enough criminals to furnish victims, captives taken in war were
immolated to supply the deficiency. When the time came, the victims were
sacrificed by the Druids or priests, some they shot down with arrows,
some they impaled, and some they burned alive in the following manner.
Colossal images of wicker-work or of wood and grass were constructed;
these were filled with live men, cattle and animals of other kinds; fire
was then applied to the images, and they were burned with their living
contents. Such were the great festivals held once every five years. But
besides these quinquennial festivals, celebrated on so grand a scale
and with, apparently, so large an expenditure of human life, it seems
reasonable to suppose that festivals of the same sort, only on a lesser
scale, were held annually, and that from these annual festivals are
lineally descended some at least of the fire-festivals which, with their
traces of human sacrifices, are still celebrated year by year in many
parts of Europe.”
Similarly, in pagan Europe water claimed its human victims on Midsummer
Day. We have already seen that in England the spirits of the River Tees,
the Skerne and the Ribble, the Spey and the Dee demand human victims. We
have also seen how the river sprites in Germany transcend the rest of the
spirits in Europe in their blood-thirstiness. We also learn from Tacitus
that the ancient Germans offered human sacrifices. He tells us that the
image of the goddess Nerthus, her vestments and chariot were washed in a
certain lake, and that immediately afterwards the slaves who ministered
to the goddess were swallowed by the lake. The statement may perhaps be
understood to mean that the slaves were drowned as a sacrifice to the
deity.
The next stage was that of animal sacrifices. It is well known that just
as goats and buffaloes were sacrificed in India, so were bulls and calves
offered to the deities in Europe. In Bombay cocks and goats are still
offered to water. The wells on the continent, however, seldom receive
animal offerings in these days. Only in one case, namely in the case
of St. Tegla’s Well, which is resorted to for the cure of epilepsy, we
find the patient offering a cock or a hen. The usual offerings at other
wells are rags and ribbons, pins and needles, nails and shells, buttons
and coins, and sometimes bread and cheese. It will, therefore, be news
to many that in Great Britain the lamb was the votive offering for
water. Sir Laurence Gomme refers to this offering in a chapter on ethnic
elements in custom and ritual, in which he compares certain ceremonies
prevalent in India and Greece and other parts of Europe and argues from
the strong line of parallel between the Indian ceremonies and those
still observed in Europe as survivals of a forgotten and unrecognised
cult that ceremonies which are demonstrably non-Aryan in India, even in
the presence of Aryan people, must in original have been non-Aryan in
Europe, though the race from whom they have descended is not at present
identified by ethnologists. One of the customs selected by him for
comparison is the Whitsuntide custom in the parish of King’s Teignton,
Devonshire. Here is a description of that custom:—
“A lamb is drawn about the parish on Whitsun Monday in a cart covered
with garlands of lilac, laburnum, and other flowers, when persons are
requested to give something towards the animal and attendant expenses; on
Tuesday it is then killed and roasted whole in the middle of the village.
The lamb is then sold in slices to the poor at a cheap rate.”
The origin of the custom is forgotten, but a tradition, supposed to trace
back to heathen days, is to this effect: The village suffered from a
dearth of water, when the inhabitants were advised by their priests to
pray to the gods for water; whereupon the water sprang up spontaneously
in a meadow about a third of a mile above the river, in an estate now
called Rydon, amply sufficient to supply the wants of the place, and
at present adequate, even in a dry summer, to work three mills. A
lamb, it is said, has ever since that time been sacrificed as a votive
thank-offering at Whitsuntide in the manner above mentioned.
The same ceremony, in a more primitive form, was observed at the village
of Holne. On May-morning, before daybreak, the young men of the village
used to assemble at a granite pillar in the centre of a field called the
Ploy Field. They then proceeded to the moor, where they selected a ram
lamb, and after running it down brought it in triumph to the Ploy Field,
fastened it to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roasted it whole,
skin, wool, etc. At Midday a struggle took place, at the risk of cut
hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year
on the fortunate devourer. As an act of gallantry the young men sometimes
fought their way through the crowd to get a slice for the chosen amongst
the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attended the Ram
Feast as it was called.
In one of his odes Horace made a solemn promise that he would make a
present of a very fine kid, some sweet wine and flowers to a noble
fountain in his own Sabine Villa. We have seen that even to-day the
Parsis offer goats and fowl to the spirits of the well. The process of
reasoning is the same. The Gujarati Hindu, however, shrinks from such
slaughter. Nevertheless, the gods have to be propitiated. He therefore
offers acceptable substitutes for animal victims, such as cocoanuts and
red lead. Betelnuts, sugar and milk and ghee likewise keep the spirits in
good humour.
Offerings of coins to the well-spirits are common in the East as in the
West. What can be the explanation? Is the coin offered as a price for the
boon that one expects to derive from the healing powers of the wells?
That at any rate is the idea prompting the man bitten by a rabid dog when
he goes to a well inhabited by a Vâchharo, with two earthen cups filled
with milk and with a pice in each, which he empties into the water. But
quite a different and curious explanation of the offering is found in
the _Folklore Notes of Gujarat_. “It is a belief among Hindus,” says
one of the informants of the late Mr. Jackson, “that to give alms in
secret confers a great boon on the donor. Some of the orthodox people,
therefore, throw pice into wells, considering it to be a kind of secret
charity.”
CHAPTER XVII.
RAG WELLS AND PIN WELLS.
The most singular feature of well-worship in Europe is the fantastic
custom of offering rags at sacred wells, also pins and buttons, rusty
nails and needles, and even shells and pebbles. Rag wells and pin wells
abound in Great Britain and Ireland. Many references to these are found
in the works of European folklorists. Sir Laurence Gomme has skilfully
distributed them geographically and we may adopt his analysis.[55] In
the middle and southern countries of England these practices have not
survived, but in northern England one comes across several pin-wells.
At Sefton in Lancashire it was customary for passers-by to drop into
St. Helen’s well a new pin for good luck or to secure the fulfilment
of an expressed wish and by the turning of the pin-point to the north
or to any other point of the compass conclusions were drawn as to the
fidelity of lovers, date of marriage and other love matters. At Brindle
is a well dedicated to St. Ellin, where on Patron day pins are thrown
into the water. Such pin-wells also existed at Jarrow and Wooler in
Northumberland, at Breyton Minchmore, Koyingham, and Mount Grace in
Yorkshire.
At Great Cotes and Winterton in Lincolnshire, Newcastle and Benton in
Northumberland, Newton Kyme, Thorp Arch, and Gargrave in Yorkshire,
pieces of rag, cloth, or ribbon take the place of the pins, and are
tied to bushes adjoining the wells, while near Newton, at the foot of
Roseberry Topping, the shirt or shift of the devotee was thrown into the
well, and according as it floated or sank so would the sickness leave or
be fatal, while as an offering to the saint a rag of the shirt is torn
off and left hanging on the briars thereabouts.
Pin wells in Wales are met with at Rhosgoch in Montgomeryshire, St.
Cynhafal’s Well in Denbighshire, St. Barruc’s Well on Barry Island, near
Cardiff, Ffynon Gwynwy spring in Carnarvonshire, and a well near Penrhos.
Reference has already been made to the cursing well of St. Aelian. Anyone
who wished to inflict a curse upon an enemy resorted to the priestess of
the well and got the name of the person proposed to be cursed registered
in a book kept for the purpose. A pin was then dropped into the well
in the name of the victim, and the curse was complete. Pin-wells and
rag-wells are both represented in Cornwall as, for instance, at Pelynt,
St. Austel and St. Roche, where pins are offered, and at Madron Well,
where both pins and rags are offered.
In Ireland the offering of rags is a universal custom. Among examples of
rag-wells may be mentioned Ardclinis, County Antrim; Errigall-Keroge,
County Tyrone; Dungiven, St. Bartholomew’s Well at Pilltown, County
Waterford; and St. Brigid’s Well at Cliffony, County Sligo.
About fifty years after the Reformation it was noted that the wells of
Scotland were all “tapestried about with old rags.” The best examples
lasting to within modern times are to be found in the islands round the
coast and in the northern shires, particularly in Banff, Aberdeen, Perth,
Ross, and Caithness. At Kilmuir, in the Isle of Skye, at Loch Hiant, or
Siant, there was “a shelf made in the wall of a contiguous enclosure” for
placing thereon “the offerings of small rags, pins, and coloured threads
to the divinity of the place.” At St. Mourie’s Well, on Malruba Isle, a
rag was left on the bushes, nails stuck into an oak tree, or sometimes
a copper coin driven in. At Toubirmore Well, in Gigha Isle, devotees
were accustomed to leave “a piece of money, a needle, pin, or one of the
prettiest variegated stones they could find,” and at Tonbir Well, in
Jura, they left “an offering of some small token, such as a pin, needle,
farthing or the like.”
In Banffshire, at Montblairie, “many still alive remember to have seen
the impending boughs adorned with rags of linen and woollen garments,
and the well enriched with farthings and bodles, the offerings of
those who came from afar to the fountain.” At Keith the well is near
a stone circle, and some offering was always left by the devotees. In
Aberdeenshire, at Frazerburgh, “the superstitious practice of leaving
some small trifle” existed. In Perthshire at St. Fillan’s Well, Comrie,
the patients leave behind “some rags of linen or woollen cloth.” In
Caithness, at Dunnat, they throw a piece of money into the water, and
at Wick they leave a piece of bread and cheese and a silver coin, which
they alleged disappeared in some mysterious way. In Ross and Cromarty, at
Alness, “pieces of coloured cloth were left as offerings”; at Cragnick an
offering of a rag was suspended from a bramble bush overhanging the well;
at Fodderty the devotees “always left on a neighbouring bush or tree
a bit of coloured cloth or thread as a relic”; and at Kiltearn shreds
of clothing were hung on the surrounding trees. In Sutherlandshire, at
Farr and at Loth, a coin was thrown into the well. In Dumfriesshire, at
Penpont, a part of the dress was left as an offering, and many pieces
have been seen “floating on the lake or scattered round the banks.” In
Kirkcudbrightshire at Buittle, “either money or clothes” was left, and
in Renfrewshire, at Houston, “pieces of cloth were left as a present or
offering to the saint on the bushes.”
Macaulay in his History of St. Kilda, speaking of a consecrated well in
that island called Tobirnimbuadh, or the spring of divers virtues, says:
“Near the fountain stood an altar, on which the distressed votaries
laid down their oblations. Before they could touch sacred water with
any prospect of success, it was their constant practice to address the
Genius of the place with supplication and prayers. No one approached him
with empty hands. But the devotees were abundantly frugal. The offerings
presented by them were the poorest acknowledgments that could be made to
a superior being, from whom they had either hopes or fears, shells and
pebbles, rags of linen or stuffs worn out, pins, needles, or rusty nails,
were generally all the tribute that was paid; and sometimes, though
rarely enough, copper coins of the smallest value.”[56]
What may be the ideas underlying these singular gifts?
Henderson explains in _Folklore_ that “the country girls imagine that the
well is in charge of a fairy or spirit who must be propitiated by some
offering, and the pin presents itself as the most ready or convenient,
besides having a special suitableness as being made of metal.” Miss
Marian Cox in her _Introduction to Folklore_ says that the pins, coins,
buttons and other objects found in wells, and generally considered to be
offerings, may formerly have been vehicles of the diseases which patients
have thought thus to throw off. This suggestion is probably based on
the theory put forward by Sir John Rhys in regard to the rag-offerings
at sacred wells. He believed that the object of placing these scraps of
clothing at the wells was for transferring the disease from the sick
person to some one else. The same explanation is vouchsafed in regard to
the Indian custom of hoisting flags on trees. But whether or not this
explanation is partially true in regard to the rag offerings, it is
evidently untenable in regard to the presents of pins and buttons which
are unquestionably offerings intended to please the well spirits.
In combating the opinion of Sir John Rhys, Sir Laurence Gomme gives in
_Folklore as an Historical Science_ a very significant example. “Among
other items,” says he, “I have come across an account of an Irish
station, as it is called, at a sacred well, the details of which fully
bear out my view as to the nature of the rags deposited at the shrine
being offerings to the local deity. One of the devotees, in true Irish
fashion, made his offering accompanied by the following words:—‘To St.
Columbkill—I offer up this button, a bit o’ the waistband o’ my own
breeches, an’ a taste o’ my wife’s petticoat, in remimbrance of us havin’
made this holy station; an’ may they rise up in glory to prove it for us
in the last day.’”
“I shall not attempt,” says the author, “to account for the presence of
the usual Irish humour in this, to the devotee, most solemn offering; but
I point out the undoubted nature of the offerings and their service in
the identification of their owners—a service which implies their power to
bear witness in spirit-land to the pilgrimage of those who deposited them
during lifetime at the sacred well.” Mr. Eden Phillpots in one of his
Cornish stories, _Lying Prophets_, confirms this view. In that story rags
are offered. “Just a rag tored off a petticoat or some such thing. They
hanged ’em up round about on the thorn bushes, to show as they’d a’done
more for the good saint if they’d had the power.”
A few more authorities may be cited. These have been referred to in
Knowlson’s _Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs_. Grose explains
the custom in the following extract:—
“Between the towns of Alten and Newton, near the foot of the
Rosberrye Toppinge, there is a well dedicated to St. Oswald.
The neighbours have an opinion that a shirt or shift, taken off
a sick person and thrown into that well, will show whether the
person will recover or die; for if it floated, it denoted the
recovery of the party; if it sunk, there remained no hope of
their life; and to reward the saint for his intelligence, _they
tear off a rag of the shirt, and leave it hanging on the briers
thereabouts_ where, ‘I have seen such numbers as might have
made a fayre rheme in a paper-myll’.”
There is an echo of this theory in the _Statistical Account of Scotland_:
“A spring in the Moss of Melshach, of the chalybeats kind, is still in
reputation among the common people. Its sanative qualities extend even
to brutes. As this spring probably obtained vogue at first in days of
ignorance and superstition, it would appear that it became customary
to leave at the well _part of the clothes of the sick and diseased_
and harness of the cattle as an offering of gratitude to the divinity
who bestowed healing virtues on its waters. And now, even though the
superstitious principle no longer exists, the accustomed offerings are
still presented.”
Here is one more extract from the Statistical Account of Scotland:—
“There is at Balmano a fine spring well, called St. John’s
Well, which in ancient times was held in great estimation.
Numbers, who thought its waters of a sanative quality, brought
their rickety children to be washed in its stream. Its water
was likewise thought a sovereign remedy for sore eyes, which,
by frequent washing, was supposed to cure them. To show their
gratitude to the saint, and that he might be propitious to
continue the virtues of the waters, they put into the well
presents, not indeed of any great value, or such as would
have been of the least service to him if he had stood in need
of money, but such as they conceived the good and merciful
apostle, who did not delight in costly oblations, could not
fail to accept. The presents generally given were pins,
needles, and rags taken from their clothes.”
Professor Rhys himself suggests that a distinction is to be drawn between
the rags hung on trees or near a well and the pins, which are so commonly
thrown into the water itself. In his opinion only the rags were meant to
be vehicles of disease. “If this opinion were correct”, says Hartland,
“one would expect to find both ceremonies performed by the same patient
at the same well; he would throw in the pin and also place the rag on
the bush, or wherever its proper place might be. The performance of both
ceremonies, is, however, I think, exceptional. Where the pin or button
is dropped into the well, the patient does not trouble about the rag,
and _vice versa_.” Hartland is therefore inclined to think that the rags
stand for entire articles of clothing which used to be deposited at an
earlier time and he thinks that on the analogy of the part representing
the whole the rags were intended to connect the worshipper with the
deity. The reasoning underlying the rag-offerings, then, resolves itself
into the following simple syllogism: My shirt or stocking, or a rag to
represent it, stands for me; being placed upon a sacred bush or thrust
into a sacred well it is in constant contact with divinity; the effluence
of divinity, reaching and involving it therefore reaches and involves me.
A curious detail in regard to these rag-offerings is given by Mrs. Evans
in reference to the rags tied on the bushes at St. Elian’s well. These
rags must be tied with wool. This detail is not mentioned by the various
authorities whom we have referred to, and the reason for using wool
remains to be explained. We know that with the Hindus as well as with
the Parsis the sheep is a sacred animal. The use of woollen clothes is
prescribed in certain Hindu rituals and the sacred thread of the Parsis,
which he carries round his waist day and night, is made of sheep’s wool.
Probably the same idea led to the use of wool in the English custom
of hanging up rags. If so, it affords a further ground for concluding
that the rag was not a mere vehicle of disease but a grateful offering
devoutly presented to the deity of the well or the tree.
Macedonian folklore furnishes further evidence in this behalf. Travellers
in Macedonia often see newly-built fountains decorated with cotton or
wool threads of many colours. These threads are torn by wayfarers from
their dress on beholding the fountain for the first time. “They alight
and after having slaked their thirst in the waters of the fountain, leave
these offerings as tokens of gratitude to the presiding nymph.”[57]
CHAPTER XVIII.
A MISUNDERSTOOD INDIAN CUSTOM.
In India no one would think of offering to the water-spirits such impure
articles as pins and needles and nails, much less “rags tored off shirts
and petticoats.” It would be positive defilement of water. Sometimes,
however, flags are seen hoisted near holy wells, and European travellers
represent them as rag wells corresponding to those with which they are
familiar in the west. There is, however, a good deal of difference
between the two customs. In the first place these flags are not rags.
They are made of new, unused cloth. It is a universal custom in India to
put up _dhajas_ or standards near shrines, sepulchres and sacred trees
believed to harbour spirits. When there is such a shrine or tree near a
well, a flag is hoisted at the spot. But it is done in honour, not of the
water-spirit, but of the god or goddess installed in the shrine or of
the spirit dwelling in the tree or of the saint buried in the vicinity.
I have made personal enquiries and consulted authorities in search of
evidence for rag wells in India, but have not come across any single
instance. True, Crooke in his _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern
India_, makes the rather sweeping assertion that India supplies numerous
examples of the custom of hanging up rags on trees or near sacred wells.
Mention is also made in the _Folklore Notes of Gujarat_ of flags that
are sometimes hoisted near holy wells “in honour of the water-goddess
Jaldevki.” European folklorists are thereby led to docket these as
illustrations of the prevalence of the cult of rag wells in India. But
there is no evidence to show that rags are offered to wells. These
authors are often misled by the incomplete data that they receive from
their informants and in the absence of full particulars any such incident
as a flag hoisted near a well is put forward as an example indicating the
prevalence of a custom altogether foreign to the conceptions and even
repugnant to the sentiments of the Indian population.
No one mentions flags, all the folklorists talk of rags. Perhaps, there
is an excuse for it, as the new flags, no doubt, get soiled in course of
time. But, as pointed out above, it should not have been overlooked that
a regular standard is invariably put up in honour of the presiding deity.
It has no suggestion for disease-transference. All deities, whatever
their specific virtues, get this honour without exception. The question,
then, for consideration is, does the same idea of reverence account for
the flags hoisted on trees? There is no doubt that the primary idea was
the same, although in process of time superstitious people came to think
that that was an offering demanded by the spirits living in the trees and
that if the offering was not given, calamities would befall, particularly
illness. For instance, one of these spirits is known by the name of
_Chitharia_ or _Ragged Pir_. He is supposed to dwell in such trees as the
Khijado, _i.e._, Shami (Prosopis Spicigera) and Bawal, _i.e._, Babhul
(Acacia Arabica). It is a common belief that if a mother fails to offer a
flag to such a holy tree while passing by it, her children’s health and
life are jeopardised. According to another belief, travellers, in order
to accomplish their journey safely, offer flags to the trees reputed to
be the dwelling-places of spirits, if they happen to come across them
during the journey.
In the _Folklore Notes of Gujarat_ several interesting examples of these
beliefs and practices have been given and these may be transcribed here
in the compiler’s own words:—
“Some believe that both male and female spirits reside in the _Khijado_,
_Bāval_ and _Kerado_ trees and throw rags over them with the object of
preventing passers-by from cutting or removing the trees. Some pile
stones round their stems and draw tridents over them with red lead and
oil. If superstitious people come across such trees, they throw pieces of
stones on the piles, believing them to be holy places, and think that by
doing so they attain the merit of building a temple or shrine. A belief
runs that this pile should grow larger and larger day by day, and not be
diminished. If the base of such a tree is not marked by a pile of stones,
rags only are offered; and if rags are not available, the devotee tears
off a piece of his garment, however costly it may be, and dedicates it to
the tree.
“Once a child saw its mother offering a rag to such a tree, and asked her
the reason of the offering. The mother replied that her brother, that is
the child’s maternal uncle, dwelt in the tree. Hence a belief arose that
a _chithario_ (ragged) uncle dwells in such trees. Others assert that the
_chithario pir_ dwells in such trees, and they propitiate him by offering
cocoanuts and burning frankincense before it.
“There is a _Khijado_ tree near Sultanpur which is believed to be the
residence of a demon _māmo_. This demon is propitiated by the offerings
of rags.
“Some declare that travellers fix rags of worn-out clothes to the trees
mentioned above in order that they may not be attacked by the evil
spirits residing in them. Another belief is that the spirits of deceased
ancestors residing in such trees get absolution through this form of
devotion. It is also believed that a goddess called _chitharia devi_
resides in such trees, and being pleased with these offerings, blesses
childless females with children, and cures persons suffering from itch
of their disease. There is a further belief that ragged travellers, by
offering pieces of their clothes to the _Khijado_, _Bāval_ or _Kerado_
trees, are blessed in return with good clothes.
“Some believe that Hanumān, the lord of spirits, resides in certain
trees. They call him _chithario_ or ragged Hanumān. All passers-by
offer rags to the trees inhabited by him. There is such a tree near the
station of Shirei. There is a tamarind tree on the road from Tamnagar to
Khantalia which is believed to be the residence of _chithario_ Hanumān
and receives similar offerings. Another tamarind tree of this description
is near Marad and there is a _Khijado_ tree on the road between Kalavad
and Vavadi which is similarly treated.
“It is related by some people that in deserts trees are rare and the
summer heat is oppressive. To the travellers passing through such deserts
the only place of rest is in the shadow of a solitary tree that is to
be met occasionally. In order that no harm be done to such trees, some
people have given currency to the belief that a spirit called _māmo_
dwells in such trees and expects the offering of a rag and a pice at the
hands of every passer-by.
“In some places, the _Borādi_ (jujube,) _Pipal_, _Vad_ (banyan) and the
sweet basil receive offerings of a pice and a betel-nut from travellers,
while the _Khijado_ and _Bāval_ are given rags.”
In all these instances we notice the confusion of rags with flags, but
they unmistakably establish the point that the idea underlying the
offering is that of propitiating the spirit. A few more instances may be
cited from Crooke’s _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_.
“Among the Mirzapur Korwas the Baiga hangs rags on the trees which shade
the village shrine, as a charm to bring health and good luck. These rag
shrines are to be found all over the country, and are generally known as
_Chithariya_ or _Chithraiya Bhavani_, ‘Our Lady of Tatters.’ So in the
Punjab the trees on which rags are hung are named after Lingri Pir or the
rag saint. The same custom prevails at various Himalayan shrines and at
the Vastra Harana or sacred tree at Bindraban near Mathura which is now
invested with a special legend, as commemorating the place where Krishna
carried off the clothes of the milkmaids when they were bathing, an
incident which constantly appears in both European and Indian folklore.
In Berar a heap of stones daubed with red and placed under a tree
fluttering with rag represents Chindiya Deo or ‘the Lord of Tatters,’
where, if you present a rag in due season, you may chance to get new
clothes.”
Crooke’s authority for this last instance is the _Gazetteer_, but as
indicated above these authorities have all missed the point that the
original conception was to honour the tree-spirit and that these flags
are hoisted either as a mark of reverence or as a thank-offering for
cures from diseases and other boons and further that these are regular
flags and not scraps of shirts and petticoats fixed on bushes or hung on
trees, as in Europe. During my recent journey from Rawalpindi to Kashmir
I saw several trees the boughs of which were decked with flags of white
and red cloth. In Baluchistan also I saw a good many trees similarly
decked with flags. In each case I found that there was a grave of a saint
underneath or close by the tree and that the flags were hoisted in honour
of the saint. There was no suggestion of disease-transference, although
the villagers admitted that it was customary to offer these flags if,
in response to a prayer to the saint or a vow, any ailment was cured.
Everywhere the explanation given was the same. The flag was presented to
the saint only and solely as a thank-offering for a wish fulfilled.
The cult of rag offering is believed to extend throughout Africa from
west to east. Park in his _Travels in the Interior of Africa_ says: “The
company advanced as far as a large tree called by the natives Neema Toba.
It had a very singular appearance, being covered with innumerable rags or
scraps of cloth, which persons travelling across the wilderness had at
different times tied to its branches, a custom so generally followed that
no one passes it without hanging up something.” Park adds that he also
followed the example, and suspended a handsome piece of cloth on one of
the boughs. Burton found the custom prevailing in Arabia and Sir William
Ouseley saw a tree close to a large monolith covered with rags. Ferrier
in his _Caravan Journeys_ says that these rags are fixed on bushes in
Persia in the name of Imam Raza. It is believed that the eye of the Imam
being always on the top of the mountain, the shreds which are left there
by those who hold him in reverence remind him of what he ought to do in
their behalf with Muhammad, Ali and the other holy personages, who are
able to propitiate the Almighty in their favour. Hannay regarded these
rags as charms for disease-transference. In his _Travels in Persia_ he
says: “After ten days’ journey we arrived at a caravanserai, where we
found nothing but water. I observed a tree with a number of rags tied
to the branches: these were so many charms which passengers coming from
Ghilan, a province remarkable for agues, had left there, in a fond
expectation of leaving their disease also on the same spot.”
This evidence, however, needs corroboration. Meanwhile, considering how
dangerous it is to generalise on the strength of stray statements and
observations of foreigners, considering how these statements reveal only
half-truths in the case of many Indian customs, we may take this evidence
with caution. If, however, what Hannay says is based on the actual
practices and beliefs of the Persian Mahomedans, we are led to infer
that not only in several places in Europe but also in many parts of Asia
the rag came to be regarded as a vehicle of disease, whatever may have
been the original ideas underlying the offering. When we have evidence
to show that in Europe pins and rags were used at wells for purposes of
divination, it is not difficult to conceive the process of reasoning by
which these articles came to be regarded as appropriate offerings to the
indwelling spirits, no matter how insignificant their intrinsic value.
These instruments of divination, having done their duty, must have been
consigned to the waters as being the best place for depositing them.
Then, probably, they were looked upon as indispensable offerings to the
water goblins and then, although the practice of divination disappeared,
these articles still came to be regarded as appropriate offerings for
the well-spirits, and the rustic mind, ignorant of the genealogy of
the custom, interpreted the survival of the ancient usages according
to its own conception of sympathetic magic and either looked upon the
rag-offering as a charm for disease-transference, or as a connecting link
with the deity. This theory of the origin of the custom, which is here
put forward with some diffidence, also explains the growth of the two
conflicting theories (1) that the rags are vehicles of disease or charms
for disease-transference, and (2) that they are simple offerings to
propitiate the deity.
We have rambled far in our survey of the cult of rag offerings, because
it represents a peculiarly interesting phase of water-worship. Of the
rituals practised in the worship of water divinities it is the most
rude and primitive. While the ceremonies of well-worship in the west
correspond in several details, notably the offerings of flowers and
coins, to the rituals with which we are familiar in this country, they
contain some distinctive elements, the most remarkable of which is this
practice of rag-offerings. We have cited numerous instances to show
how common the practice was in Great Britain and Ireland and how it
survives even to this day in certain parts, but while it was and still
is a general feature of water-worship in those parts, it was and is
unknown in India, although some folklorists have erroneously identified
it with the entirely different, though seemingly analogous, practice
of hoisting flags or _dhajas_ at shrines and sacred trees. Perhaps the
best explanation for the practice of rag-offering is that it may be a
degenerate form of flag-offering.
CHAPTER XIX.
ANIMAL DEITIES OF WATER.
The western practices and customs we have noticed show that the cult of
water-worship prevailed and survived throughout the west in a primitive
form, evidently in a coarser form than in the east. The most remarkable
feature of this rude worship is the belief in the presence of animals
or fish as the presiding spirits or tutelary deities of the wells and
it affords a very curious illustration of the savagery of those days in
Europe. Originally, the worship was established for one great divinity of
water. Later, however, both in the east and in the west, the inhabitants
of different places came to believe in different spirits of water. Thus
did the wells and rivers and pools and tanks of India come to be peopled
by fairies and genii, goblins and witches, sayyids and saints. All these
are represented in the guardian spirits of the wells and rivers and pools
and tanks on the Continent. But our western friends go a step further and
fill these wells with numerous animal gods which are very imperfectly
represented in the waters of the east.
We find a general belief amongst the Hindus that the nether regions
are inhabited by water snakes called Nags. Such were the Kaliya Nag,
who resided at the bottom of the Jumna and attacked the infant Krishna
by whom he was driven from that place, also the Serpent King of Nepal,
Karkotaka, who dwelt in the lake Nagarasa when the divine lotus of Adi
Buddha floated on its surface. It is believed that a pool at the temple
or Treyugi Narayana in Garhwal is full of snakes of a yellow colour which
emerge from water to be worshipped on the Nagpanchami day. Another belief
equates the Nags with a species of semi-divine beings, half men and half
serpents, who possess magnificent palaces under water. The Puranas are
full of traditions relating to princes who visited these palaces in
watery regions and brought back beautiful Nagkanyas, or daughters of
Nags, therefrom. For instance, Arjuna married a Nagkanya named Ulupi when
he was living in exile with his brothers.
No other animal water-gods are found in Hindu mythology. In the west,
however, the guardian spirits of pools and wells are frogs and trouts and
worms and flies. At the well on the Devil’s Causeway, between Ruckley
and the Acton, the devil and his imps appear in the form of frogs; three
frogs are always seen together, and these are the imps; the largest frog,
representing the devil, appearing but seldom. The Fount of Tober Kieran,
near Kells, County Meath, in Ireland, rises in a diminutive rough-sided
basin of limestone of natural formation and evidently untouched by a
tool. In the water are a brace of miraculous trout “which, according to
tradition, have occupied their narrow prison from time immemorial. They
are said never in the memory of man to have altered in size, and it is
said of them that their appearance is ever the same.”
In Galway there is a deep depression in the limestone called “Pigeon
Hole,” and the sacred rivulet running at the base of the chasm is
believed to contain a pair of enchanted trout, one of which is said to
have been captured some time ago by a trooper and cooked, but upon the
approach of cold steel “the creature at once changed into a beautiful
woman,” and was returned to the stream. The well at Tullaghan, County
Sligo, also harbours a brace of miraculous trout, not always visible to
ordinary eyes. Similarly, at Bally Morereigh, in Dingle, County Kerry,
is a sacred well called Tober Monachan, where a salmon and eel appear to
those devotees whom the guardian spirits of the well wish to favour. In
Scotland at Kilbride in Skye was a well with one trout. “The natives are
very tender of it,” says Martin, “and though they often chance to catch
it in their wooden pails, they are very careful to preserve it from being
destroyed.” In the well at Kilmore, in Lorn, were two fishes, black in
colour, never augmenting in size or number nor exhibiting any alteration
of colour, and the inhabitants of the place “doe call the saide fishes
Easg Saint, that is to say, holie fishes.”
Sir Laurence Gomme records other examples of a still more interesting
nature. If, says Dalyell, a certain worm in a medicinal spring on the
top of the hill in the parish of Strathdon were found alive, it augured
the recovery of a patient, and in a well of Ardnacloich, in Appin, the
patient, “if he bee to dye shall find a dead worme therein or a quick
one, if health bee to follow.” These, there can be little doubt, are the
former deities of the spring thus reduced in status.
Mention has already been made of the presiding genius of the well of St.
Michael near the Church of Kirkmichael, in Banffshire, who assumes the
semblance of a fly, and who is immortal and always present in the water.
“To the eye of ignorance,” says the local account, “he might sometimes
appear dead, but it was only a transmigration into a similar form, which
made little alteration to the real identity.” “It seems impossible,”
remarks Sir Laurence Gomme, “to mistake this as an almost perfect example
where the guardian deity of the sacred spring is represented in animal
form. More perfect than any other example to be met with in Britain and
its isles is this singular description of the traditional peasant belief,
it lifts the whole evidence as to the identification of wells in Britain
as the shrine of ancient local deities into close parallel with savage
ideas and thought.” Professor Robertson Smith points out that the divine
life of the waters is believed to reside in the sacred fish that inhabits
them, and he gives numerous examples analogous to the Scottish and Irish,
but whether represented by fish, or frog, or worm, or fly, in all their
various forms, the point of the legends is that the sacred source is
either inhabited by a demoniac being or imbued with demoniac life.
Here we may bring to a close our analysis of water-worship in East
and West. Enough evidence has been adduced to establish the identity
of ideas and usages connected with the worship of water in India with
those prevailing in Europe, particularly in the British Isles. Of all
the great objects of nature water impressed people the most. It came
to be worshipped everywhere. The foundation of the cult everywhere was
the same. The forms and rituals were, therefore, part and parcel of
the same common cult. There is, however, a difference in the degree in
which they have survived in different places according to the stage
of culture attained by the inhabitants of the place. These variations
enable us to compare the stages of culture of different communities at
different intervals, stages of culture which are practically lost to
history, but to which folklore affords many a clue. In the legendary
lore and traditional materials known as folklore there are precious
fragments of information from which can be reared enduring monuments of
history if these are carefully handled and scientifically sifted. The
value, therefore, of these seemingly unmeaning beliefs and customs to the
student of ethnology and folklore cannot be over-estimated, and this, if
nothing else, may be pleaded in justification of the author’s attempt
to revive the dying fame of the miraculous pools and rivers and their
wonder-working denizens.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Even to this day people in rural England scare away the spirit of
ague by saying “Ague! farewell till we meet in hell.” Similarly, they
appease the spirit of cramp by saying “Cramp, be thou faultless, as our
Lady was when she bore Jesus.”
[2] Folklore Notes, Vol. I.—Gujarat.
[3] Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay. Paper on the Cult
of the Bath by Mr. K. M. Jhaveri, Vol. IX.
[4] With this incident may be compared the English traditions concerning
the preservation of the holy wells of England, _vide_ page 75.
[5] The Athenæum, August 26th 1893.
[6] Evans Wentz: The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries.
[7] Latham: Descriptive Ethnology.
[8] The Zoroastrian month _Aban_ named after _Ardevi Sura Anahita_
coincided for the most part with February, which is named after Juno,
derived from the Sabine word _Februs_, to purify. Juno also presided over
the ceremony of purification of women.
[9] _Vide_ part II, chapter XIII.
[10] _The Religion of the Semites._
[11] Tylor: Primitive Culture, Vol. II.
[12] Jewish Encyclopædia.
[13] Max Müller: History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.
[14] The Vicissitudes of Aryan Civilization in India.
[15] Primitive Culture, Vol. II.
[16] Primitive Culture, Vol. II.
[17] Miss Hamilton: Greek Saints and their Festivals.
[18] Gomme: _Folklore as an Historical Science_.
[19] Since this chapter was written Russia has been in the throes of a
revolution and it is not known who will preside at the ceremony in future
in lieu of the Czar.
[20] W. Crooke: Folklore of Northern India.
[21] Crooke: Folklore of Northern India.
[22] Faiths of Man.
[23] Dr. Felman: The Jewish Child.
[24] Bombay Gazetteer, xix.
[25] Crooke: Folklore of Northern India, vol. I.
[26] _Ibid._
[27] Hunt: Popular Romances.
[28] Major-General Forlong: Faiths of Man, vol. III.
[29] G. F. Abbott: Macedonian Folklore.
[30] Ethnographic Survey of Baluchistan, Vol II.
[31] Census of India, 1901, Vol. XVII.
[32] The Jewish Child.
[33] Clifford: In Court and Campong.
[34] Statistical Account of Scotland.
[35] Faiths of Man.
[36] _The Athenæum_, August 26, 1893.
[37] G. L. Gomme: Ethnology in Folklore.
[38] Good Words Magazine, 1905.
[39] Mr. Sarat Chandra Mitra in the _Journal_ of the Anthropological
Society of Bombay, Vol. III.
[40] Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, Vol. III., No. 5.
[41] Codrington: The Melanesians.
[42] The Pirate.
[43] W. Crooke: Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India. In this
work the name of the river is given as _Vaitaranî_. It must not, however,
be mistaken for the Vaitarana, the largest of the Thana rivers, which
is mentioned in the _Mahabharat_ as one of the four sacred streams.
The sacredness of its source, so near the spring of the holy Godaveri,
attracted to the banks of the Vaitarana some of the first Aryan settlers.
Seers like Narad, Vashistha and Indra betook themselves to the spring
and the superhuman Yakshas, Gandharvas and Kinnars were attracted to its
waters for bathing and sacrifice.
[44] Ethnology in Folklore.
[45] The Golden Bough, Vol. II.
[46] Primitive Culture, Vol. II.
[47] Primitive Semitic Religion.
[48] We may contrast with these examples the following illustration of
punishing the gods and demi-gods for tolerating a tempest. It is quoted
by Herbert Spencer in his “Study of Sociology,” from Captain Burton’s
account of Goa to show how awe of power sways men’s religious beliefs:—
“A pot of oil with a lighted wick was placed every night by the half-bred
Portuguese Indians, before the painted doll, the patron saint of the
boat in which we sailed from Goa. One evening, as the weather appeared
likely to be squally, we observed that the usual compliment was not
offered to the patron, and had the curiosity to inquire why. ‘Why,’
vociferated the tindal (captain), indignantly, ‘if that chap can’t keep
the sky clear, he shall have neither oil nor wick from me, d—n him!’ ‘But
I should have supposed that in the hour of danger you would have paid
him more than usual attention?’ ‘The fact is, Sahib, I have found out
that the fellow is not worth his salt: the last time we had an infernal
squall with him on board, and if he does not keep this one off, I’ll just
throw him overboard, and take to Santa Caterina; hang me if I don’t—the
brother-in-law!’” [Brother-in-law, a common term of insult.]
[49] Primitive Semitic Religion.
[50] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, Vol. IV.
[51] W. Crooke: Natives of Northern India.
[52] _Bombay Gazetteer_ (Kathiawar), Vol. VIII.
[53] Folklore Notes, Vol. I—Gujarat.
[54] _Ibid._, Vol. II—Konkan.
[55] Ethnology in Folklore.
[56] Knowlson: The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs.
[57] G. F. Abbott: Macedonian Folklore.