Chapter II: The Heroic and Village Godlings (1)

Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes.
Stant terrâ defixæ hastæ, passimque soluti
Per campum pascuntur equi.

Æneid, vi. 652-654.

The Heroic Godlings.

Next to these deities which have been classed as the godlings of nature, come those which have a special local worship of their own. The number of these godlings is immense, and their functions and attributes so varied, that it is extremely difficult to classify them on any intelligible principle. Some of them are pure village godlings, of whom the last Census has unearthed an enormous number all through Northern India. Some of them, like Hanumân or Bhîmsen, are survivals in a somewhat debased form of the second-rate deities or heroes of the older mythology. Some have risen to the rank, or are gradually being elevated to the status, of national deities. Some are in all probability the local gods of the degraded races, whom we may tentatively assume to be autochthonous. Many of these have almost certainly been absorbed into Brâhmanism at a comparatively recent period. Some are in process of elevation to the orthodox pantheon. But it will require a much more detailed analysis of the national faith than the existing materials permit, before it will be possible to make a final classification of this mob of deities on anything approaching a definite principle.

The deities of the heroic class are as a rule benignant, and are generally worshipped by most Hindus. Those that have been definitely promoted into the respectable divine cabinet, like Hanumân, have Brâhmans or members of the ascetic orders as their priests, and their images, if not exactly admitted into the holy of holies of the greater shrines, are still allotted a respectable position in the neighbourhood, and receive a share in the offerings of the faithful.

The local position of the shrine very often defines the status of the deity. To many godlings of this class is allotted the duty of acting as warders (dwârapâla) to the temples of the great gods. Thus, at the Ashthbhuja hill in Mirzapur, the pilgrim to the shrine of the eight-armed Devî meets first on the road an image of the monkey god Hanumân, before he comes into the immediate presence of the goddess. So at Benares, Bhaironnâth is chief police officer (Kotwâl) or guardian of all the Saiva temples. Similarly at Jageswar beyond Almora we find Kshetrapâl, at Badarinâth Ghantakaran, at Kedârnâth Bhairava, and at Tungnâth Kâl Bhairon. [208] In many places, as the pilgrim ascends to the greater temples, he comes to a place where the first view of the shrine is obtained. This is known as the Devadekhnî or spot from which the deity is viewed. This is generally occupied by some lower-class deity, who is just beginning to be considered respectable. Then comes the temple dedicated to the warden, and lastly the real shrine itself. There can be little doubt that this represents the process by which gods which are now admittedly within the inner circle of the first class, such as the beast incarnations of Vishnu, the elephant-headed Ganesa, and the Sâktis or impersonations of the female energies of nature, underwent a gradual elevation.

This process is actually still going on before our eyes. Thus, the familiar Gor Bâba, a deified ghost of the aboriginal races, has in many places become a new manifestation of Siva, as Goreswara. Similarly, the powerful and malignant goddesses, who were by ruder tribes propitiated with the sacrifice of a buffalo or a goat, have been annexed to Brâhmanism as two of the numerous forms of Durgâ Devî, by the transparent fiction of a Bhainsâsurî or Kâlî Devî. In the case of the former her origin is clearly proved by the fact that she is regarded as a sort of tribal deity of the mixed tribe of Kânhpuriya Râjputs in Oudh. Similarly Mahâmâî, or the "Great Mother," a distinctively aboriginal goddess whose shrine consists of a low flat mound of earth with seven knobs of coloured clay at the head or west side, has been promoted into the higher pantheon as Jagadambâ Devî, or "Mother of the World." Her shrine is still a simple flat mound of earth with seven knobs at the top, and a flag in front to the east. [209] More extended analysis will probably show that the obligations of Brâhmanism to the local cultus are much greater than is commonly supposed.

Hanumân.

First among the heroic godlings is Hanumân, "He of the large jaws," or, as he is generally called, Mahâbîr, the "great hero," the celebrated monkey chief of the Râmâyana, who assisted Râma in his campaign against the giant Râvana to recover Sîtâ. Hardly any event in his mythology, thanks to the genius of Tulasî Dâs, the great Hindi poet of Hindustân, is more familiar to the Hindu peasant than this. It forms the favourite subject of dramatic representation at the annual festival of the Dasahra. There Hanumân, in fitting attire, marches along the stage at the head of his army of bears and monkeys, and the play ends with the destruction of Râvana, whose great body, formed of wickerwork and paper, is blown up with fireworks, amid the delighted enthusiasm of the excited audience.

It is almost certain that the worship of Hanumân does not come down from the earliest ages of the Hindu faith, though it has been suggested that he is the legitimate descendant of Vrisha-kapi, the great monkey of the Veda. [210] Besides being a great warrior he was noted for his skill in magic, grammar and the art of healing. Many local legends connect him with sites in Northern India. Hills, like the Vindhya and that at Govardhan, are, as we have seen, attributed to him or to his companions. The more extreme school of modern comparative mythologists would make out that Hanumân is only the impersonation of the great cloud-monkey which fights the sun. [211]

But the fact of monkey-worship is susceptible of a much simpler explanation. The ape, from his appearance and human ways, is closely associated with man. It is a belief common to all folk-lore that monkeys were once human beings who have suffered degradation, [212] and according to one common belief stealers of fruit become monkeys in their next incarnation. But the common theory that the monkey is venerated in memory of the demigod Hanumân is, as Sir A. Lyall [213] remarks, "plainly putting the cart before the horse, for the monkey is evidently at the bottom of the whole story. Hanumân is now generally supposed to have been adopted into the Hindu heaven from the non-Aryan or aboriginal idolaters; though, to my mind, any uncivilized Indian would surely fall down and worship at first sight of an ape. Then there is the modern idea that the god was really a great chief of some such aboriginal tribe as those which to this day dwell almost like wild creatures in the remote forests of India; and this may be the nucleus of fact in the legend regarding him. It seems as if hero-worship and animal-worship had got mixed up in the legend of Hanumân."

At the same time, it must be remembered that the so-called Aryans enjoy no monopoly of his worship. He is sometimes like a tribal godling of the aboriginal Suiris, and the wild Bhuiyas of Keunjhar identify him with Borâm, the Sun godling. [214] It is at least a possible supposition that his worship may have been imported into Brâhmanism from some such source as these.

Hanumân as a Village Godling.

But whatever may be the origin of the cult, the fact remains that he is a great village godling, with potent influence to scare evil spirits from his votaries. His rude image, smeared with oil and red ochre, meets one somewhere or other in almost every respectable Hindu village. One of his functions is to act as an embodiment of virile power. He is a giver of offspring, and in Bombay women sometimes go to his temple in the early morning, strip themselves naked, and embrace the god. [215] Mr. Hartland has collected many instances of similar practices. Thus a cannon at Batavia used to be utilized in the same way; and at Athens there is a rock near the Callirrhoe, whereon women who wish to be made fertile rub themselves, calling on the Moirai to be gracious to them. [216]

On the same principle he is, with Hindu wrestlers, their patron deity, his place among Musalmâns being taken by 'Ali. Their aid is invoked at the commencement of all athletic exercises, and at each wrestling school a platform is erected in their honour. Tuesday is sacred to Mahâbîr and Friday to 'Ali. Hindu wrestlers on Mahâbîr's day bathe in a river in the morning, and after bathing dress in clean clothes. Then taking a jar of water, some incense, sweets, and red or white flowers, they repair to the wrestling school, bow down before the platform and smear it with cow-dung or earth. After this the sweets are offered to Mahâbîr and verses are recited in his honour. Then they do the exercise five times and bow before the platform. When the service is over they smear their bodies with the incense, which is supposed to give them strength and courage. Care is taken that no woman sees the athletes exercising, lest she should cast the Evil Eye upon them.

One special haunt of the monkey deity is what is known as the Bandarpûnchh or "monkey tail" peak in the Himâlayas. They say that every year in the spring a single monkey comes from Hardwâr to this peak and remains there twelve months, when he makes way for his successor.

Hanumân is a favourite deity of the semi-Hinduized Drâvidian races of the Vindhya-Kaimûr plateau. "The most awe-inspiring of their tremendous rocks are his fanes; the most lovely of their pools are sacred by virtue of the tradition of his having bathed in them." He was known as Pawan-kâ-pût, or "son of the wind," which corresponds to his older title of Marutputra, or "son of the wind god." And the Bhuiyas of Sinhbhûm, who are, as Colonel Dalton gravely remarks, "without doubt the apes of the Râmâyana," call themselves Pawan-bans, or "sons of the wind," to this day. [217] But in the plains his chief function is as a warden or guardian against demoniacal influence, and at the Hanumângarhi shrine at Ajudhya he is provided with a regular priesthood consisting of Khâki ascetics.

The respect paid to the monkey does not need much illustration. The ordinary monkey of the plains (Macacus Rhesus) is a most troublesome, mischievous beast, and does enormous mischief to crops, while in cities he is little short of a pest. But his life is protected by a most effective sanction, and no one dares to injure him.

General Sleeman [218] tells a story of a Muhammadan Nawâb of Oudh, who was believed to have died of fever, the result of killing a monkey. "Mumtâz-ud-daula," said his informant, "might have been King of Oudh had his father not shot that monkey." In the Panjâb an appeal to the monkey overcomes the demon of the whirlwind. There is a Bombay story that in the village of Makargâon, whenever there is a marriage in a house, the owner puts outside the wedding booth a turban, a waist-cloth, rice, fruits, turmeric, and betel-nuts for the village monkeys. The monkeys assemble and sit round their Patel, or chief. The chief tears the turban and gives a piece to each of them, and the other things are divided. If the householder does not present these offerings they ascend the booth and defile the wedding feast. He has then to come out and apologize, and when he gives them the usual gifts they retire. [219] The feeding of monkeys is part of the ritual at the Durgâ Temple at Benares, and there, too, there is a king of the monkeys who is treated with much respect. Instances of Râjas carrying out the wedding of a monkey at enormous expense are not unknown. Where a monkey has been killed it is believed that no one can live. His bones are also exceedingly unlucky, and a special class of exorcisers in Bihâr make it their business to ascertain that his bones do not pollute the ground on which a house is about to be erected. [220]

The worship of Hanumân appears, if the Census returns are to be trusted, to be much more popular in the North-West Provinces than in the Panjâb. In the former his devotees numbered about a million, and in the latter less than ten thousand persons. But the figures are probably open to question, as he is often worshipped in association with other deities.

Worship of Bhîmsen.

Another of these beneficent guardians or wardens is Bhîmsen, "he who has a terrible army." He has now in popular belief very little in common with the burly hero of the Mahâbhârata, who was notorious for his gigantic strength, great animal courage, prodigious appetite and irascible temper; jovial and jocular when in good humour, but abusive, truculent and brutal when his passions were roused. [221] He is now little more than one of the wardens of the house or village.

In parts of the Central Provinces he has become degraded into a mere fetish, and is represented by a piece of iron fixed in a stone or in a tree. [222] Under the name of Bhîmsen or Bhîmpen, his worship extends from Berâr to the extreme east of Bastar, and not merely among the Hinduized aborigines, who have begun to honour Khandoba, Hanumân, Ganpati and their brethren, but among the rudest and most savage tribes. He is generally adored under the form of an unshapely stone covered with vermilion, or of two pieces of wood standing from three to four feet out of the ground, which are possibly connected with the phallic idea, towards which so many of these deities often diverge. Bhiwâsu, the regular Gond deity, is identical with him. Mr. Hislop [223] mentions a large idol of him eight feet high, with a dagger in one hand and a javelin in the other. He has an aboriginal priest, known as Bhûmak, or "he of the soil," and the people repair to worship on Tuesdays and Saturdays, offering he-goats, hogs, hens, cocks and cocoa-nuts. The headman of the village and the cultivators subscribe for an annual feast, which takes place at the commencement of the rains, when the priest takes a cow from the headman by force and offers it to the godling in the presence of his congregation. The Mâriya Gonds worship him in the form of two pieces of wood previous to the sowing of the crops. The Naikudê Gonds adore him in the form of a huge stone daubed with vermilion. Before it a little rice is cooked. They then besmear the stone with vermilion and burn resin as incense in its honour, after which the victims--sheep, hogs and fowls--with the usual oblation of spirits, are offered. The god is now supposed to inspire the priest, who rolls his head, leaps frantically round and round, and finally falls down in a trance, when he announces whether Bhîmsen has accepted the service or not. At night all join in drinking, dancing and beating drums. Next morning the congregation disperses. Those who are unable to attend this tribal gathering perform similar rites at home under the shade of the Mahua tree (Bassia latifolia). [224]

Pillar-worship of Bhîmsen.

The local worship of Bhîmsen beyond the Drâvidian tract is specially in the form of pillars, which are called Bhîmlâth or Bhîmgada, "Bhîm's clubs." Many of these are really the edict pillars which were erected by the pious Buddhist King Asoka, but they have been appropriated by Bhîmsen. Such are the pillars in the Bâlaghât District of the Central Provinces and at Kahâon in Gorakhpur. At Devadhâra, in the Lower Himâlaya, are two boulders, the uppermost of which is called Ransila, or "the stone of war." On this rests a smaller boulder, said to be the same as that used by Bhîmsen to produce the fissures in the rocks; in proof of which the print of his five fingers is still pointed out, as they show the hand-mark of the Giant Bolster in Cornwall. [225]

Bhîmsen is one of the special gods of the Bhuiyas of Keunjhar, and they consider themselves to be descended from him, as he is the brother of Hanumân, the founder of their race. According to the Hindu ritual he has his special feast on the Bhaimy Ekâdashî, or eleventh of the bright fortnight in the month of Mâgh. The Bengal legend tells that Bhîmsen, the brother of Yudhisthira, when he was sent to the snowy mountains and lay benumbed with cold, was restored by the Saint Gorakhnâth, and made king of one hundred and ten thousand hills, stretching from the source of the Ganges to Bhutân. Among other miracles Bhîmsen and Gorakhnâth introduced the sacrifice of buffaloes in place of human beings, and in order to effect this Bhîmsen thrust some of the flesh down the throat of the holy man. So though they have both lost caste in consequence, they are both deified. The saint is still the tutelary deity of the reigning family of Nepâl, and all over that kingdom and Mithila Bhîmsen is a very common object of worship. That mysterious personage Gorakhnâth flits through religious legend and folk-lore from post-Vedic to mediæval times; and little has yet been done to discover the element of historical truth which underlies an immense mass of the wildest fiction. [226]

Worship of Bhîshma.

In about the same rank as Bhîmsen is Bhîshma, "the terrible one," another hero of the Mahâbhârata. To the Hindu nowadays he is chiefly known by the tragic circumstances of his death. He was covered all over by the innumerable arrows discharged at him by Arjuna, and when he fell from his chariot he was upheld from the ground by the arrows and lay as on a couch of darts. This Sara-sayya or "arrow-bed" of Bhîshma is probably the origin of the Kantaka-sayya or "thorn-couch" of some modern Bairâgis, who lie and sleep on a couch studded with nails. He wished to marry the maiden Satyavatî, but he gave her up to his father Sântanu, and Bhîshma elected to live a single life, so that his sons might not claim the throne from his step-brethren. Hence, as he died childless and left no descendant to perform his funeral rites, he is worshipped with libations of water on the Bhîshma Ashtamî, or 23rd of the month of Mâgh; but this ceremony hardly extends beyond Bengal.

In Upper India five days in the month of Kârttik (November-December) are sacred to him. This is a woman's festival. They send lamps to a Brâhman's house, whose wife during these five days must sleep on the ground, on a spot covered with cow-dung, close to the lamps, which it is her duty to keep alight. The lamps are filled with sesamum oil, and red wicks wound round sticks of the sesamum plant rest in the lamp saucers. A walnut, an âonla (the fruit of the emblic myrobolon), a lotus-seed, and two copper coins are placed in each lamp. Each evening the women come and prostrate themselves before the lamps or walk round them. They bathe on each day of the feast before sunrise, and are allowed only one meal in the day, consisting of sugar-cane, sweet potatoes and other roots, with meal made of amarinth seed, millet and buckwheat cakes, to which the rich add sugar, dry ginger, and butter. They drink only milk. Of course the Brâhman gets a share of these good things, to which the rich contribute in addition a lamp-saucer made of silver, with a golden wick, clothes, and money. At the early morning bath of the last day five lighted lamps made of dough are placed, one at the entrance of the town or village, others at the four cross-roads, under the Pîpal or sacred fig tree, at a temple of Siva, and at a pond. This last is put in a small raft made of the leaves of the sugar-cane, and floated on the water. A little grain is placed beside each lamp. After the lamps handed over to the Brâhman have burnt away or gone out, the black from the wicks is rubbed on the eyes and fingers of the worshippers, and their toe-nails are anointed with the remainder of the oil. All the articles used in the worship are well-known scarers of demons, and there can be little doubt that the rite is intended to conciliate Bhîshma in his character of a guardian deity, and induce him to ward off evil spirits from the household of the worshipper.

There is a curious legend told to explain the motive of the rite. A childless Râja once threatened to kill all his queens unless one of them gave birth to a child. One of the Rânîs who had a cat, announced that she had been brought to bed of a girl, who was to be shut up for twelve years, a common incident in the folk-tales. [227] This was all very well, but the supposed princess had to be married, and here lay the difficulty. Now this cat had been very attentive during this rite in honour of Bhîshma, keeping the wicks alight by raising them from time to time with her paws, and cleaning them on her body. So the grateful godling turned her into a beautiful girl, but her tail remained as before. However, the bridegroom's friends admired her so much that they kept her secret at the wedding, and so saved the Rânî from destruction, and when the time came for the bride to go to her husband her tail dropped off too. So Hindu ladies use the oil and lamp-black of Bhîshma's feast day as valuable aids to beauty. Such cases of animal transformation constantly appear in the folk-tales. In one of the Kashmîr stories a cat, by the advice of Pârvatî, rubs herself with oil and is turned into a girl; but she does not rub a small patch between her shoulders, and this remained covered with the cat's fur. [228]

The worship of the heroes of the Mahâbhârata does not prevail widely, unless we have a survival of it in the worship of the Pânch Pîr. At the last Census in the North-Western Provinces less than four thousand persons declared themselves worshippers of the Pândavas. The number in the Panjâb is even smaller.

Worship of the Local Godlings.

We now come to the local or village godlings, a most nondescript collection of deities, possessing very various attributes. There is good reason to believe that most of these deities, if not all, belong to the races whom it is convenient to call non-Aryan, or at least outside Brâhmanism, though some of them may have been from time to time promoted into the official pantheon. But Dr. Oppert, [229] writing of Southern India, remarks that "if the pure Vedic doctrine has been altered by the influx of non-Aryan tenets, so have also the latter undergone a change by coming in contact with Aryan ideas, and not only have males intruded into the once exclusive female circle of the Grâmadevatâs, but also a motley of queer figures have crept in, forming indeed a very strange gathering. The Grâmadevatâ-prathishtha mentions as Grâmadevatâs the skull of Brahma, the head of Vishnu, the skull of Renukâ, the figure of Draupadî, the body of Sîtâ, the harassing followers of Siva (the Pramathas), the attendants of Vishnu (Pârishadas), demons, Yoginîs, various kinds of Sâktis made of wood, stone, or clay; persons who were unsuccessful in their devotional practice, Sunasepha, Trisanku, Ghatotkacha, and others; Devakî's daughter, multiform Durgâs and Sâktis; Pûtanâ and others who kill children; Bhûtas, Pretas, and Pisâchas; Kûsmânda, Sâkinî, Dâkinî, Vetâlas, and others; Yakshas, Kirâtadevî, Sabarî, Rudra, one hundred millions of forms of Rudra; Mâtangî, Syâmalâ, unclean Ganapati, unclean Chândalî, the goddess of the liquor pot (Surabhandeswarî), Mohinî, Râkshasî, Tripurâ, Lankhinî, Saubhadevî, Sâmudrikâ, Vanadurgâ, Jaladurgâ, Agnidurgâ, suicides, culprits, faithful wives, the goddesses of matter, goddesses of qualities, and goddesses of deeds, etc." Through such a maze as this it is no easy task to find a clue.

The non-Brâhmanic character of the worship is implied by the character of the priesthood. In the neighbourhood of Delhi, where the worship of Bhûmiya as a local godling widely prevails, the so-called priest of the shrine, whose functions are limited to beating a drum during the service and receiving the offerings, is usually of the sweeper caste. Sîtalâ, the small-pox goddess, is very often served by a Mâli, or gardener. Sir John Malcolm notes that the Bhopa of Central India, who acts as the village priest, is generally drawn from some menial tribe. [230] In the hill country of South Mirzapur, the Baiga who manages the worship of Gansâm, Râja Lâkhan, or the aggregate of the local deities, known as the Dih or Deohâr, is almost invariably a Bhuiyâr or a Chero, both semi-savage Drâvidian tribes. Even the shrine erected in honour of Nâhar Râo, the famous King of Mandor, who met in equal combat the chivalrous Chauhân in the pass of the Aravalli range, is tended by a barber officiant. [231] Though the votaries of the meaner godling are looked on with some contempt or pity by their more respectable neighbours, little active hostility or intolerance is exhibited. More than this, the higher classes, and particularly their women, occasionally join in the worship of the older gods. At weddings and other feasts their aid and protection are invoked. Every woman, no matter what her caste may be, will bow to the ghosts which haunt the old banyan or pîpal tree in the village, and in time of trouble, when the clouds withhold the rain, when the pestilence walketh in darkness, and the murrain devastates the herds, it is to the patron deities of the village that they appeal for assistance.

Village Shrines.

The shrine of the regular village godling, the Grâmadevatâ or Ganwdevatâ, is generally a small square building of brick masonry, with a bulbous head and perhaps an iron spike as a finial. A red flag hung on an adjoining tree, often a pîpal, or some other sacred fig, or a nîm, marks the position of the shrine. In the interior lamps are occasionally lighted, fire sacrifices (homa) made and petty offerings presented. If a victim is offered, its head is cut off outside the shrine and perhaps a few drops of blood allowed to fall on the inner platform, which is the seat of the godling. These shrines never contain a special image, such as are found in the temples of the higher gods. There may be a few carved stones lying about, the relics of some dismantled temple, but these are seldom identified with any special deity, and villagers will rub a projecting knob on one of them with a little vermilion and oil as an act of worship.

Speaking of this class of shrine in the Panjâb, Mr. Ibbetson writes: [232] "The Hindu shrine must always face east, while the Musalmân shrine is in the form of a tomb and faces the south. This sometimes gives rise to delicate questions. In one village a section of the community had become Muhammadan. The shrine of the common ancestor needed rebuilding, and there was much dispute as to its shape and aspect. They solved the difficulty by building a Musalmân grave facing south, and over it a Hindu shrine facing east. In another village an Imperial trooper was once burnt alive by the shed in which he was sleeping catching fire, and it was thought best to propitiate him by a shrine, or his ghost might become troublesome. He was by religion a Musalmân, but he had been burnt, not buried, which seemed to make him a Hindu. After much discussion the latter opinion prevailed, and a Hindu shrine with an eastern aspect now stands to his memory."

To the east of the North-Western Provinces the village shrines are much less substantial erections. In the Gangetic valley, where the population has been completely Hinduized, the shrine of the collective village deities, known as the Deohâr, consists of a pile of stones, some of which may be the fragments of a temple of the olden days, collected under some ancient, sacred tree. The shrine is the store-house of anything in the way of a curious stone to be found in the village, water-worn pebbles or boulders, anything with eccentric veining or marking. Here have been occasionally found celts and stone hatchets, relics of an age anterior to the general use of iron. In the same way in some European countries the celt or stone arrow-head is worn as an amulet.

Little clay images of elephants and horses are often found near these shrines. Some villagers will say that these represent the equipage (sawârî) of the deity; others explain them by the fact that a person in distress vows a horse or an elephant to the god, and when his wishes are realized, offers as a substitute this trumpery donation. It was a common practice to offer substitutes of this kind. Thus when an animal could not be procured for sacrifice, an image of it in dough or wax was prepared and offered as a substitute. [233] We shall meet later on other examples of substitution of the same kind. On the same principle women used to give cakes in the form of a phallus to a Brâhman. [234] At these shrines are also found curious little clay bowls with short legs which are known as kalsa. The kalsa or water jar is always placed near the pole of the marriage shed, and the use of these beehive-shaped vessels at village shrines is found all along the hills of Central India. [235] On the neighbouring trees are often hung miniature cots, which commemorate the recovery of a patient from small-pox or other infectious disease.

Among the semi-Hinduized Drâvidian races of the Vindhyan range, many of whom worship Gansâm or Râja Lâkhan, the shrine usually consists of a rude mud building or a structure made of bamboo and straw, roofed with a coarse thatch, which is often allowed to fall into disrepair, until the godling reminds his votaries of his displeasure by an outbreak of epidemic disease or some other misfortune which attacks the village. The shrine is in charge of the village Baiga, who is invariably selected from among some of the ruder forest tribes, such as the Bhuiya, Bhuiyâr or Chero. Inside is a small platform known as "the seat of the godling" (Devatâ kâ baithak), on which are usually placed some of the curious earthen bowls already described, which are made specially for this worship, and are not used for domestic purposes. In these water is placed for the refreshment of the godling, and they thus resemble the funeral vases of the Greeks. In ordinary cases the offering deposited on the platform consists of a thick griddle cake, a little milk, and perhaps a few jungle flowers; but in more serious cases where the deity makes his presence disagreeably felt, he is propitiated with a goat, pig, or fowl, which is decapitated outside the shrine, with the national and sacrificial axe. The head is brought inside dripping with blood, and a few drops of blood are allowed to fall on the platform. The head of the victim then becomes the perquisite of the officiating Baiga, and the rest of the meat is cooked and eaten near the shrine by the adult male worshippers, married women and children being carefully excluded from a share in the offering. The special regard paid to the head of the victim is quite in consonance with traditions of European paganism and folk-lore in many countries. [236] Lower south, beyond the river Son, the shrine is of even a simpler type, and is there often represented by a few boulders near a stream, where the worshippers assemble and make their offerings.

The non-Brâhmanic character of the worship is still further marked by the fact that no special direction from the homestead is prescribed in selecting the site for the shrine. No orthodox Hindu temple can be built south of the village site, as this quarter is regarded as the realm of Yama, the god of death; here vagrant evil spirits prowl and consume or defile the offerings made to the greater gods. In the more Hinduized jungle villages some attempt is occasionally made to conform to this rule, and sometimes, as in the case of the more respectable Hindu shrines, the door faces the east. But this rule is not universal, and the site of the shrine is often selected under some suitable tree, whatever may be its position as regards the homestead, and it very often commemorates some half-forgotten tragedy, where a man was carried off by a tiger or slain or murdered, where he fell from a tree or was drowned in a watercourse. Here some sort of shrine is generally erected with the object of appeasing the angry spirit of the dead man.

These shrines have no idol, no bell to scare vagrant ghosts and awake the godling to partake of the offerings or listen to the prayers of his votaries. If he is believed to be absent or asleep, a drum is beaten to awaken or recall him, and this answers the additional purpose of scaring off intruding spirits, who are always hungry and on the watch to appropriate the offerings of the faithful. Here are also none of the sacrificial vessels, brazen lamps and cups, which are largely used in respectable fanes for waving a light before the deity as part of the service, or for cooling the idol with libations of water, and the instrument used for sacrificing the victim is only the ordinary axe which the dweller in the jungle always carries.

There is one special implement which is very commonly found in the village shrines of the hill country south of the Ganges. This is an iron chain with a heavy knob at the end, to which a strap, like a Scotch tawse, is often attached. The chain is ordinarily three and a half feet long, the tawse two feet, and the total weight is about seven pounds. This is known as the Gurda; it hangs from the roof of the shrine, and is believed to be directly under the influence of the deity, so that it is very difficult to procure a specimen. The Baiga priest, when his services are required for the exorcism of a disease ghost, thrashes himself on the back and loins with his chain, until he works himself up to the proper degree of religious ecstasy.

Among the more primitive Gonds the chain has become a godling and is regularly worshipped. In serious cases of epilepsy, hysteria, and the like, which do not readily yield to ordinary exorcism, the patient is taken to the shrine and severely beaten with the holy chain until the demon is expelled. This treatment is, I understand, considered particularly effective in the case of hysteria and kindred ailments under which young women are wont to suffer, and like the use of the thong at the Lupercalia at Rome, a few blows of the chain are considered advisable as a remedy for barrenness. The custom of castigating girls when they attain puberty prevails among many races of savages. [237]

Identification of the Local Godling.

The business of selecting a site for a new village or hamlet is one which needs infinite care and attention to the local godlings of the place. No place can be chosen without special regard to the local omens. There is a story told of one of the Gond Râjas of Garh Mandla, whose attention was first called to the place by seeing a hare, when pursued by his dogs, turn and chase them. It struck him that there must be much virtue in the air of a place where a timid animal acquired such courage. [238] The site of the settlement of Almora is said to have been selected by one of the kings before whom in this place a hare was transformed into a tiger. [239] Similar legends are told of the foundation of many forts and cities.

But it is with the local godlings that the founder of a new settlement has most concern. The speciality of this class of godlings is that they frequent only particular places. Each has his separate jurisdiction, which includes generally one or sometimes a group of villages. This idea has doubtless promoted the rooted disinclination of the Hindu to leave his home and come into the domain of a fresh set of godlings with whom he has no acquaintance, who have never received due propitiation from him or his forefathers, and who are hence in all probability inimical to him. But people to whom the local godling of their village has shown his hostility by bringing affliction upon them for their neglect of his service, can usually escape from his malignity by leaving his district. This habit of emigration to escape the malignity of the offended godling doubtless accounts for many of the sites of deserted villages, which are scattered all over the country. We say that they were abandoned on account of a great famine or a severe epidemic, but to the native mind these afflictions are the work of the local deity, who could have warded them off had he been so disposed. Hence when a settlement is being founded it is a matter of prime necessity that the local godling or group of godlings should be brought under proper control and carefully identified, so as to ensure the safety and prosperity of the settlement. The next and final stage is the establishment of a suitable shrine and the appointment of a competent priest.

There are, as might have been expected, many methods of identifying and establishing the local gods. Thus in North Oudh, when a village is founded the site is marked off by cross stakes of wood driven into the ground, which are solemnly worshipped on the day of the completion of the settlement, and then lapse into neglect unless some indication of the displeasure of the god again direct attention to them. These crosses, which are called Daharchandî, are particularly frequent and well-marked in the villages occupied by the aboriginal Thârus in the sub-Himâlayan Tarâî, where they may be found in groups of ten or more on the edge of the cultivated lands. So, among the Santâls, a piece of split bamboo, about three feet high, is placed in the ground in an inclined position and is called the Sipâhî or sentinel of the hamlet; among the Gonds two curved posts, one of which is much smaller than the other, represent the male and female tutelary gods. [240]

In the Eastern Districts of the North-Western Provinces a more elaborate process is carried out, which admirably illustrates the special form of local worship now under consideration. When the site of a new settlement is selected, an Ojha is called in to identify and mark down the deities of the place. He begins by beating a drum round the place for some time, which is intended to scare vagrant, outsider ghosts and to call together the local deities. All the people assemble, and two men, known as the Mattiwâh and the Pattiwâh, "the earth man" and "the leaf man," who represent the gods of the soil and of the trees, soon become filled with the spirit and are found to be possessed by the local deities. They dance and shout for some time in a state of religious frenzy, and their disconnected ejaculations are interpreted by the Ojha, who suddenly rushes upon them, grasps with his hands at the spirits which are supposed to be circling round them, and finally pours through their hands some grains of sesamum, which is received in a perforated piece of the wood of the Gûlar or sacred fig-tree. The whole is immediately plastered up with a mixture of clay and cow-dung, and the wood is carefully buried on the site selected for the Deohâr or local shrine. By this process the deities are supposed to be fastened up in the sacred wood and to be unable to do any mischief, provided that the usual periodical offerings are made in their honour.

This system does not seem to prevail among the Drâvidian races of the Vindhyan plateau. Some time ago I discussed the matter with Hannu Baiga, the chief priest of the Bhuiyas beyond the Son, and he was pleased to express his unqualified approval of the arrangement. Indeed, he promised to adopt it himself, but unfortunately Hannu, who was a mine of information on the religion and demonology of his people, died before he could apply this test to the local deities of his parish. His wife has died also, and I understand that he is known to be the head of all the Bhûts or malignant ghosts of the neighbourhood, while his wife rules all the Churels who infest that part of the country.

At the same time, to an ordinary Baiga the plan would hardly be as comfortable as the present arrangement. It would not suit him to have the local ghosts brought under any control, because he makes his living by doing the periodical services to propitiate them. Nowadays he believes fully in the influence of the magic circle and of spirituous liquor as ghost scarers. Both these principles will be discussed elsewhere. So he is supposed once a year at least, or oftener in case of pestilence or other trouble, to perambulate all round the village boundary, sprinkling a line of spirits as he walks. The idea is to form a magic circle impervious to strange and, in the nature of the case, necessarily malignant ghosts, who might wish to intrude from outside; and to control the resident local deities, and prevent them from contracting evil habits of mischief by wandering beyond their prescribed domains.

The worst about this ritual is that the Baiga is apt to be very deliberate in his movements, and to drink the liquor on the road and to spoil the symmetry of the circle during his fits of intoxication. I know of one disreputable shepherd who was upwards of a fortnight getting round an ordinary sized village, and the levy on his parishioners to pay the wine bill was, as may easily be imagined, a very serious matter, to say nothing of several calamities, which occurred to the inhabitants in their unprotected state owing to his negligence. At present the feeling in his parish is very strong against him, and his constituents are thinking of removing him, particularly as he has only one eye. This is a very dangerous deformity in ordinary people, but in a Baiga, who is invested with religious functions, it is most objectionable, and likely to detract from his efficiency.

In Hoshangâbâd a different system prevails. When a new village is formed by the aboriginal Kurkus, there is no difficulty in finding the abode of the godlings Dûngar Devatâ and Mâtâ, because you have only to look for and discover them upon their hill and under their tree. But Mutua Devatâ has generally to be created by taking a heap of stones from the nearest stream and sacrificing a pig and seven chickens to him. "There is one ceremony, however, which is worth notice, not so much as being distinctively Kurku, as illustrating the sense of mystery and chance which in the native mind seems to be connected with the idea of measurement, and which arises probably from the fact that with superficial measures, by heaping lightly or pressing down tight, very different results can be obtained. A measure is filled up with grain to the level of the brim, but no head is poured on, and it is put before Mutua Devatâ. They watch it all night, and in the morning pour it out, and measure it again. If the grain now fills up the measure and leaves enough for a head to it, and still more, if it brims and runs over, this is a sign that the village will be very prosperous, and that every cultivator's granaries will run over in the same way. But it is an evil omen if the grain does not fill up to the level of the rims of the vessel. A similar practice obtains in the Narmadâ valley when they begin winnowing, and some repeat it every night while the winnowing goes on." [241]

The same custom prevails among the Kols and kindred races in Mirzapur, who make the bride and bridegroom carry it out as an omen of their success or failure in life. By carefully packing and pressing down the grain, any chance of an evil augury is easily avoided. We shall see later on that measuring the grain is a favourite device intended to save it from the depredations of evil-minded ghosts.

Worship of Dwâra Gusâîn.

A typical case of the worship of a local godling is found among the Malers of Chota Nâgpur. His name is Dwâra Gusâîn, or "Lord of the house door." "Whenever from some calamity falling upon the household, it is considered necessary to propitiate him, the head of the family cleans a place in front of his door, and sets up a branch of the tree called Mukmum, which is held very sacred; an egg is placed near the branch, then a hog is killed and friends feasted; and when the ceremony is over the egg is broken and the branch placed on the suppliant's house." [242] Dwâra Gusâîn is now called Bârahdvâri, because he is supposed to live in a temple with twelve doors and is worshipped by the whole village in the month of Mâgh. [243] The egg is apparently supposed to hold the deity, and this, it may be remarked, is not an uncommon folk-lore incident. [244]

Worship of Bhûmiya.

One of the most characteristic of the benevolent village godlings is Bhûmiya--"the godling of the land or soil" (bhûmi). He is very commonly known as Khetpâl or Kshetrapâla, "the protector of the fields"; Khera or "the homestead mound"; Zamîndâr or "the landowner"; and in the hills Sâim or Sâyam, "the black one" (Sanskrit syâma). In the neighbourhood of Delhi he is a male godling; in Oudh Bhûmiyâ is a goddess and is called Bhûmiyâ Rânî or "soil queen." She is worshipped by spreading flat cakes and sweetmeats on the ground, which having been exposed some time to the sun, are eventually consumed by the worshipper and his family. The rite obviously implies the close connection between the fertility of the soil and sunshine.

To the west of the Province the creation of Bhûmiya's shrine is "the first formal act by which the proposed site of a village is consecrated, and when two villages have combined their homesteads for greater security against the marauders of former days, the people of the one which moved still worship at the Bhûmiya of the deserted site. Bhûmiya is worshipped after the harvests, at marriages, and on the birth of a male child; and Brâhmans are commonly fed in his name. Women often take their children to the shrine on Sundays, and the first milk of a cow or buffalo is always offered there." [245] Young bulls are sometimes released in his honour, and the term Bhûmiya sând has come to be equivalent to our "parish bull."

In the Hills he is regarded by some as a beneficent deity, who does not, as a rule, force his worship on anyone by possessing them or injuring their crops. When seed is sown, a handful of grain is sprinkled over a stone in the field nearest to his shrine, in order to protect the crop from hail, blight, and the ravages of wild animals, and at harvest time he receives the first-fruits to protect the garnered grain from rats and insects. He punishes the wicked and rewards the virtuous, and is lord of the village, always interested in its prosperity, and a partaker in the good things provided on all occasions of rejoicing, such as marriage, the birth of a son, or any great good fortune. Unlike the other rural deities, he seldom receives animal sacrifices, but is satisfied with the humblest offering of the fruits of the earth. [246]

In Gurgâon, again, he is very generally identified with one of the founders of the village or with a Brâhman priest of the original settlers. The special day for making offerings to him is the fourteenth day of the month. Some of the Bhûmiyas are said to grant the prayers of their votaries and to punish severely those who offend them. He visits people who sleep in the vicinity of his shrine with pains in the chest, and one man who was rash enough to clean his teeth near his shrine was attacked with sore disease. Those Bhûmiyas who thus bear the reputation of being revengeful and vicious in temper are respected, and offerings to them are often made, while those who have the character of easy good-nature are neglected. [247]

In parts of the Panjâb [248] Khera Devatâ or Chânwand is identified with Bhûmiya; according to another account she is a lady and the wife of Bhûmiya, and she sometimes has a special shrine, and is worshipped on Sunday only. To illustrate the close connection between this worship of Bhûmiya as the soil godling with that of the sainted dead, it may be noted that in some places the shrine of Bhûmiya is identified with the Jathera, which is the ancestral mound, sacred to the common ancestor of the village or tribe. One of the most celebrated of these Jatheras is Kâla Mahar, the ancestor of the Sindhu Jâts, who has peculiar influence over cows, and to whom the first milk of every cow is offered. The place of the Jathera is, however, often taken by the Theh or mound which marks the site of the original village of the tribe.

But Bhûmiya, a simple village godling, is already well on his way to promotion to the higher heaven. In Patna some have already begun to identify him with Vishnu. In the Hills the same process is going on, and he is beginning to be known as Sâim, a corruption of Svayambhuva, the Bauddha form now worshipped in Nepâl. In the plains he is becoming promoted under the title of Bhûmîsvara Mahâdeva and his spouse Bhûmîsvarî Devî, both of whom have temples at Bânda. [249] In the Hills it is believed that he sometimes possesses people, and the sign of this is that the hair of the scalplock becomes hopelessly entangled. This reminds us of that very Mab "that plaits the manes of horses in the night and bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs, which once untangled much misfortune bodes."

It was a common English belief that all who have communication with fairies find their hair all tied in double knots. [250] As we shall see later on, the hair is universally regarded as an entry for spirits, perhaps, as Mr. Campbell suggests, because it leads to the opening in the skull through which the dying spirit makes its exit. Hence many of the customs connected with letting the hair loose, cutting it off or shaving.

No less than eighty-five thousand persons declared themselves, at the last census, to be worshippers of Bhûmiya in the North-Western Provinces, while in the Panjâb they numbered only one hundred and sixty-three.

Worship of Bhairon.

Bhûmiya, again, is often confounded with Bhairon, another warden godling of the land; while, to illustrate the extraordinary jumble of these mythologies, Bhairon, who is almost certainly the Kâro Bairo (Kâl Bhairon) of the Bhuiyas of Keunjhar, is identified by them with Bhîmsen. [251]

Bhairon has a curious history. There is little doubt that he was originally a simple village deity; but with a slight change of name he has been adopted into Brâhmanism as Bhairava, "the terrible one," one of the most awful forms of Siva, while the female form Bhairavî is an equivalent for Devî, a worship specially prevalent among Jogis and Sâktas. On the other hand, the Jainas worship Bhairava as the protector or agent of the Jaina church and community, and do not offer him flesh and blood sacrifices, but fruits and sweetmeats. [252]

In his Saiva form he is often called Svâsva, or "he who rides on a dog," and this vehicle of his marks him down at once as an offshoot from the village Bhairon, because all through Upper India the favourite method of conciliating Bhairon is to feed a black dog until he is surfeited.