Demons Scared by Noise.
This incidentally leads to the consideration of the principle that evil spirits are scared by noise. In the first place this appears largely to account for the use of bells in religious worship. The tolling of the bells keeps off the evil spirits which throng round any place where the worship of the regular gods is being performed. Milton speaks of—
“The bellman’s drowsy charm;
To bless the doors from nightly harm.”[68]
So, the passing bell protects the departing soul as it flies through the air from demoniacal influence. As Grose writes[69]—“The passing bell was anciently rung for two purposes; one to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul just departing; the other, to drive away the evil spirits who stood at the bed’s foot, and about the house, ready to seize their prey, or at least to molest and terrify the soul in its passage; but by the ringing of that bell (for Durandus informs us evil spirits are much afraid of bells), they were kept aloof, and the soul, like a hunted hare, gained the start, or had what is by sportsmen called ‘law.’” The keening at an Irish wake is probably a survival of the same custom. But Panjâbi Musalmâns have a prejudice against beating a brass tray, as it is believed to disturb the dead, who wake, supposing the Day of Judgment has arrived.[70]
Another fact which adds to the efficacy of bells for this purpose, is that they are made of metal, which, as we shall see elsewhere, is a well-known scarer of demons.
Hence in Indian temples the use of the bell, or resounding shell trumpet, is universal. The intention is to call the divinity and wake him from his sleep, so that he may consume the offerings prepared for him by his votaries, and to scare vagrant ghosts, who would otherwise partake of the meal. On the same principle the drum is, as we have seen, a sacred instrument. The same is the case with bells. The Todas of Madras worship Hiriya Deva, whose representative is the sacred buffalo bell, which hangs from the neck of the finest buffalo in the sacred herd.[71] The Gonds have also elevated the bell into a deity in the form of Ghâgarapen, and one special class of their devil priests, the Ojhyâls, always wear bells.[72] So, the Patâri priest in Mirzapur and many classes of ascetics throughout the country carry bells and rattles made of iron, which they move as they walk to scare demons. Iron, it need hardly be said, is most efficacious for this purpose. This also accounts for the music played at weddings, when the young pair are in special danger from the attacks of evil spirits. At many rites it is the rule to clap the hands at a special part of the ritual with the same purpose. The Râêdâsi Chamârs and many other people shout or sing loudly as they remove a corpse for burial or cremation, and there are few magistrates in India who have not been asked for leave by some happy father to allow guns to be fired from his house-top to drive evil spirits from the mother and her child. Mr. Campbell records that they fire a gun over the back of a sick cow in Scotland with the same intention.[73]