Chapter IV: Animal-Worship (3)

The fish constantly appears in the folk-tales. We have in Somadeva the fish that laughed when it was dead; the fish that swallows the hero or heroine or a boat. [694] In one of the Kashmîr tales we have the fish swallowing the ring, which is like the tale which Herodotus tells of Polycrates. In another we have the Oriental version of the story of Jonah, where the merchant is found by the potter in the belly of the fish. [695] So, Pradyumna, son of Krishna and Rukminî, was thrown into the ocean by the demon Sambara, and recovered from the belly of a fish by his wife Mâyâ Devî. In many of the modern tales the fish takes the form of the Life Index. The king Bhartari, the brother of the celebrated Râja Vikramaditya, who is now a godling and spends part of the day at Benares and part at the Chunâr Fort, had a fish, "the digestion of which gave him knowledge of all that occurred in the three worlds." By a divine curse the nymph Adrikâ was transformed into a fish which lived in the Jumnâ. Here she conceived by the king Uparichara, was caught by a fisherman, taken to the king and opened, when she regained her heavenly form, and from her were produced Matsya, the male, and Matsyâ, the female fish, the progenitors of the finny race. The fish often plays a part in the miraculous conception myths, as in the Mahâbhârata we read of a fish which devours the seed, and a girl having eaten it brings forth a child. The fish incarnation of Vishnu possibly represents the adoption of a fish totem into Brâhmanism. It is needless to say that the legendary fish has been identified with the sun by the school of comparative mythologists. [696]

The Eel.

The eel is a totem of the Mundâri Kols of Bengal and of the Orâons, neither of whom will eat it. In Northern England an eel skin tied round the leg is a cure for cramp. Eel fat, in the European tales, is used as a magic ointment, and gives the power of seeing the fairies. [697]

The Tortoise.

The tortoise, again, is sacred. Vishnu appeared as a tortoise in the Satya Yuga or first age to recover some things of value which had been lost in the deluge. In the form of a tortoise he placed himself at the bottom of the sea of milk, and made his back the basis on which the gods and demons, using the serpent Vâsuki as a rope, churned the ocean by means of the mount Mandara. The Ganrâr, a tribe of Bengal fishermen, make sacrifices of the river tortoise to the goddess Kolokumârî, the daughter of the deep; this is the only sacrifice she will accept, and she brings sickness on those who fail to make this offering. [698] The tortoise is a totem of the Mundâri Kols, and the Kharwârs and Mânjhis of Mirzapur worship clay images of it, which they keep in their house, because on one occasion it conveyed their first ancestor across a river in flood.

The Gonds have a similar tradition that the tortoise saved their ancestor Lingo from the clutches of the alligator. The tortoise is also a helper in one of the German tales. [699] In one of Somadeva's stories, the tortoise is sacrificed by a Brâhman to the Manes of his father. [700]

The Frog.

The frog, again, is invested with mystical powers. The monstrous toad of Berkeley Castle is said to be really a seal. [701]

In English folk-lore it is associated with witches, and wears a precious jewel in its head. Hindus believe that the female frog is the spirit of Mandodarî, the wife of Râvana. It is a common belief that the fat of the frog forms a magic ointment which enables witches to fly through the air. [702] According to a Scotch Saga, the middle piece of a white snake roasted by the fire gives a knowledge of supernatural things to anyone who shall put his finger in the fat which drops from it. According to one of the Indian legends, Agni, the fire god, took refuge in the water to escape the gods, but the frogs, suffering from the heat, informed the gods, and the angry deity cursed them that their speech should henceforth be inarticulate. The frog by his voice announces the coming of rain; hence when rain holds off it is a common charm to pour water over a frog, another instance of sympathetic magic.

Insects.

Even insects are in some cases regarded with veneration. In Cornwall, the ants are "the small people" in their state of decay from off the earth; it is deemed most unlucky to destroy a colony of ants. [703]

The ant-hill is, as we have seen, used as an altar by some of the Drâvidian tribes, and on it they take their oaths. Hence ants are carefully fed on certain days by both Hindus and Jainas, and are regarded as in some way connected with the souls of the sainted dead. We have in many of the folk-tales the ant as a helper.

So, in many parts of the Panjâb, the many-coloured grasshopper, which feeds on the leaves of the Madâr or great swallow wort, is called Râmjî-kî-gâê or "Râma's cow," which reminds us of the respect paid by English children to the ladybird insect. [704] So, the Greeks and Romans called the Cicada Mantis or "the soothsayer," and it is often delineated on their tombs as a charm against evil. Mystic powers of the same kind are attributed to the spider, and to Daddy Longlegs in our nurseries.

The souls of the dead are believed to enter into flies and bees. Hence in parts of Great Britain news of a death in a family is whispered into the beehive. [705] In one of Somadeva's tales we find the monkeys trying to warm themselves over a firefly, which is gifted with various miraculous powers. [706] A fly falling into an inkstand is a lucky omen. In the Râmâyana Hanumân metamorphoses himself into a fly to reach Sîtâ, and there are many instances of this in the tales.

Lastly, comes the Tassar silkworm. In Mirzapur, when the seed of the silkworm is brought to the house, the Kol or Bhuiyâr puts it in a place which has been carefully plastered with cowdung to bring good luck. From that time the owner must be careful to avoid ceremonial impurity; he must give up cohabitation with his wife, he must not sleep on a bed, he must not shave nor have his nails cut, nor anoint himself with oil, nor eat food cooked with butter, nor tell lies, nor do anything opposed to his simple code of morality. He vows to Singârmatî Devî that if the worms are duly born he will make her an offering. When the cocoons open and the worms appear, he collects the women of his house and they sing the usual song as at the birth of a baby into the family, and some red lead is smeared on the parting of the hair of all the married women of the neighbourhood. He feeds his clansmen, and duly makes the promised offering to Singârmatî Devî. When the worms pair, the rejoicings are made as at a marriage.

In Bengal, in addition to these precautions, the women, apparently through fear of sexual pollution, are carefully excluded from the silkworm shed. [707] We have the same idea in the Western Isles of Scotland, where they send a man very early on the morning of the first of May to prevent any woman from crossing, for that, they say, would prevent the salmon from coming into the river all the year round. [708]