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.[163]
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.[164] 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.[165] In one of Somadeva’s tales we find the monkeys trying to warm themselves over a firefly, which is gifted with various miraculous powers.[166] 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.[167] 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.[168]
[1] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 342; ii. 135, 230, 302, 363; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 13; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” i. 448.
[2] Lâl Bihâri Dê, “Folk-tales,” 139.
[3] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 499; ii. 276; Grimm, “Household Tales,” No. 33; i. 357; Knowles, “Folk-tales of Kashmîr,” 432; Campbell, “Santâl Folk-tales,” 22; Miss Cox, “Cinderella,” 496; Campbell, “Popular Tales,” i. 283.
[4] Temple, “Wideawake Stories,” 74, 412; Lâl Bihâri Dê, loc. cit., 40, 106, 134, 138, 155, 210, 223; “Cinderella,” 526; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 13; Clouston, loc. cit., i. 223.
[5] Campbell, “Notes,” 259.
[6] “Rig Veda,” iv. 33; Datt, “History of Civilization,” i. 72 sq., 79; Monier-Williams, “Brâhmanism and Hinduism,” 329.
[7] Wright, “History,” 165; “Iliad,” v. 265 sqq.; Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 593.
[8] Tawney, ibid., i. 130, 574, quoting Grimm, “Teutonic Mythology,” i. 392.
[9] Campbell, “Popular Tales,” Introduction, lxxviii.
[10] Miss Cox, “Cinderella,” 476; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” i. 373.
[11] Clouston, loc. cit., i. 417; Grimm, “Household Tales,” ii. 479; Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 261; Clouston, ibid., 110, 218; Tawney, ibid., i. 13.
[12] Rousselet, “India and its Native Princes,” 116.
[13] “Indian Antiquary,” xi. 325 sq.; “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” ii. 2.
[14] Campbell, “Notes,” 392.
[15] “Germania,” 10.
[16] Henderson, “Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,” 142.
[17] Gubernatis, “Zoological Mythology,” i. 332.
[18] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” i. 113.
[19] “Annals,” ii. 319.
[20] Lubbock, “Origin of Civilization,” 275.
[21] Campbell, “Notes,” 292.
[22] Hislop, “Papers,” Appendix, i. iii.
[23] Burton, “Arabian Nights,” ii. 340.
[24] Knowles, “Folk-tales,” 90; Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 168; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” i. 97; Grimm, “Household Tales,” ii. 419.
[25] Tawney, loc. cit., i. 37, 78; ii. 28, 32; Grimm, loc. cit., ii. 404; Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 107.
[26] Gubernatis, loc. cit., ii. 160.
[27] Forsyth, “Highlands of Central Indian,” 278; Tod, “Annals,” ii. 660; Rowney, “Wild Tribes,” 139; Dalton, “Descriptive Ethnology,” 214; Frazer, “Golden Bough,” ii. 110.
[28] Trumbull, “Blood Covenant,” 312; Tylor, “Primitive Culture,” i. 309; Sleeman, “Rambles,” i. 153 sqq.
[29] “Folk-lore,” i. 169; Lyall, “Asiatic Studies,” 13; Spencer, “Principles of Sociology,” i. 323; Conway, “Demonology,” i. 313 sq.; Scott, “Letters on Demonology,” 174.
[30] “Berâr Gazetteer,” 62; Wright, “History of Nepâl,” 38; Frazer, “Golden Bough,” ii. 101.
[31] Dalton, loc. cit., 132, 133, 158, 214.
[32] “Berâr Gazetteer,” 191 sq.; “Hoshangâbâd Settlement Report,” 255 sq.
[33] See for example Knowles, “Kashmîr Folk-tales,” 3, 45, 46.
[34] Dalton, loc. cit., 33.
[35] Knowles, loc. cit., 47; Campbell, “Santâl Tales,” 18.
[36] Wright, “History,” 169.
[37] “Annals,” ii. 669.
[38] Dalton, “Descriptive Ethnology,” 280.
[39] “Rambles and Recollections,” i. 154 sqq.
[40] “Zoological Mythology,” i. 160 sq.
[41] Wright, “History,” 161; Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 348 sq.
[42] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 65.
[43] Temple, “Wideawake Stories,” 116; Campbell, “Santâl Folk-tales,” 40; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” i. 146.
[44] Sherring, “Sacred City,” 63, 65.
[45] “Notes,” 276.
[46] Cox, “Mythology of the Aryan Nations,” ii. 336.
[47] “Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,” lix. 212. The horror with which the Homeric Greeks regarded the eating of a corpse by dogs comes out very strongly in the Iliad.
[48] “Indian Antiquary,” v. 358 sq.
[49] “Original Inhabitants,” 157 sq.
[50] “Archæological Reports,” xxiii. 26.
[51] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 118.
[52] Campbell, “Notes,” 276 sq.
[53] Wright, “History,” 39 sq.
[54] Hislop, “Papers,” 6.
[55] “Folk-lore,” iii. 127; “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iii. 94, 148; iv. 46, 150, 173; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 18, 67; Knowles, “Folk-tales of Kashmîr,” 36, 429; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” ii. 166; Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 90; “Gesta Romanorum,” Introd. xlii.
[56] Conway, “Demonology,” i. 134; Gregor, “Folk-lore of North-East Scotland,” 126 sq.
[57] “Remaines,” 53.
[58] Risley, “Tribes and Castes,” i. 79 sq.
[59] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” i. 88.
[60] “Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal,” 1847, p. 234.
[61] “Household Tales,” ii. 444.
[62] Atkinson, “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” ii. 329.
[63] “Folk-lore,” iv. 351; “Gesta Romanorum,” 25.
[64] Brand, “Observations,” 583.
[65] Robertson-Smith, “Kinship,” 194.
[66] “Demonology,” i. 122.
[67] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 15.
[68] Brand, “Observations,” 785.
[69] “Epigrams,” i. 6.
[70] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iv. 131; Moorcroft, “Travels,” i. 22; “Journal Asiatic Society Bengal,” 1840, p. 572; “Aîn-i-Akbari,” i. 289.
[71] Miss Cox, “Cinderella,” 473.
[72] Muir, “Ancient Sanskrit Texts,” i. 24 sq.; iii. 166, 310 sq.; McLennan, “Fortnightly Review,” 1870, 198 sq.
[73] Cox, “Mythology of the Aryan Nations,” i. 107, 437 sq.; ii. 49 sq.
[74] Romesh Chandra Datt, “History of Indian Civilization,” i. 253 sq.
[75] Bühler, “Sacred Laws,” Part i. 64, 119, note.
[76] Rajendra Lâla Mitra, “Indo-Aryans,” ii. 134; Muir, “Ancient Sanskrit Texts,” i. 24 sqq.
[77] Schliemann, “Ilios,” 112; Rawlinson, “Herodotus,” ii. 27 sq., 41; Ewald, “History of Israel,” ii. 4; Robertson-Smith, “Kinship,” 196; Frazer, “Golden Bough,” ii. 40.
[78] Campbell, “Notes,” 285.
[79] Gubernatis, “Zoological Mythology,” i. 3 sqq.; Cox, “Introduction,” 151 sqq.; Kuenen, “Religion of Israel,” i. 236 sq.; Goldziher, “Mythology among the Hebrews,” 226, 343; Wake, “Serpent-worship,” 35; Spencer, “Principles of Sociology,” i. 340; McLennan, “Fortnightly Review,” 1870, p. 199.
[80] “Golden Bough,” ii. 60.
[81] Hartland, “Legend of Perseus,” i. 158.
[82] Sellon, “Memoirs Anthropological Society of London,” i. 328.
[83] “Institutes,” xi. 60, 80.
[84] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 227.
[85] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 215.
[86] Atkinson, “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” ii. 914; “Râjputâna Gazetteer,” ii. 67.
[87] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 39.
[88] Miss Gordon-Cumming, “From the Hebrides to the Himâlaya,” i. 141.
[89] Atkinson, loc. cit., ii. 771; Wright, “History of Nepâl,” 82.
[90] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iii. 109.
[91] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 154.
[92] Dyer, “Popular Customs,” 18.
[93] Yule, “Marco Polo,” ii. 341.
[94] Dalton, “Descriptive Ethnology,” 283.
[95] “Indian Antiquary,” i. 348 sq.
[96] Atkinson, “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” ii. 913.
[97] Jarrett, “Aîn-i-Akbari,” ii. 348, quoting Erskine; “Babar,” Introduction, 47.
[98] “Rambles,” i. 199 sqq.
[99] “Central India,” i. 329, note; ii. 164.
[100] Balfour, “Journal Asiatic Society Bengal,” xiii. N.S.; Gunthorpe, “Notes on Criminal Tribes of Berâr,” 36.
[101] Ball, “Jungle Life,” 165; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 60; “Calcutta Review,” lxxx. 53, 58.
[102] Gubernatis, “Zoological Mythology,” i. 75.
[103] “Notes,” 287.
[104] Dalton, “Descriptive Ethnology,” 131.
[105] “Golden Bough,” ii. 93.
[106] Manu, “Institutes,” ii. 41.
[107] Burton, “Arabian Nights,” ii. 508; Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 166; Clouston, “Popular Tales,” i.; “Gesta Romanorum,” Tale xviii.
[108] Wright, “History,” 81.
[109] Blochmann, “Aîn-i-Akbari,” i. 121.
[110] Führer, “Monumental Antiquities,” 8, 73, 105, 188; Cunningham, “Archæological Reports,” i. 225.
[111] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 73, 177, 328 sq.; ii. 102, 215, 500, 540; Knowles, “Kashmîr Folk-tales,” 17.
[112] Black, “Folk Medicine,” 152.
[113] Führer, loc. cit., 161.
[114] Campbell, “Notes,” 267.
[115] Brand, “Observations,” 739.
[116] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iv. 2.
[117] Hunt, “Popular Romances,” 377.
[118] For the crow in English folk-lore, see Henderson, “Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,” 126; Gregor, “Folk-lore of N.E. Scotland,” 135 sq.
[119] Gubernatis, “Zoological Mythology,” ii. 253 sq.; “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” i. 27.
[120] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 64, 73.
[121] Balfour, “Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal,” N.S. xiii.
[122] Monier-Williams, “Brâhmanism and Hinduism,” 301; Atkinson, “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” ii. 329.
[123] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 15.
[124] Lady Wilde, “Legends,” 81 sq., 172; “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iii. 24; Brand, “Observations,” 732; Henderson, “Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,” 239 sq.; Aubrey, “Remaines,” 197; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” ii. 215.
[125] “Mythology of the Aryan Nations,” ii. 219 sq.
[126] “Notes,” 264.
[127] “Folk-lore,” iv. 350.
[128] Grimm, “Teutonic Mythology,” iii. 977.
[129] Leland, “Etruscan Roman Remains,” 354.
[130] Robertson-Smith, “Kinship,” 196 sq.
[131] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 12, 42, 60; ii. 29; iii. 161; Grimm, “Household Tales,” i. 367; ii. 428, 573.
[132] McLennan, “Fortnightly Review,” vi. 582.
[133] Knowles, “Kashmîr Folk-tales,” 449.
[134] Brand, “Observations,” 699.
[135] Rhys, “Lectures,” 175.
[136] Ferguson, “History of Indian Architecture,” 54; Tennent, “Ceylon,” i. 484.
[137] Gubernatis, “Zoological Mythology,” ii. 307 sqq.
[138] Lady Wilde, “Legends,” 177.
[139] Hislop, “Papers,” 6.
[140] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 178.
[141] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 105.
[142] Brand, “Observations,” 701.
[143] Leland, “Etruscan Roman Remains,” 272.
[144] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iii. 81; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” iii. 162.
[145] “Zoological Mythology,” i. 375.
[146] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 18.
[147] Temple, “Wideawake Stories,” 139, 205, 255 sqq.
[148] “Folk-lore,” iii. 342.
[149] “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 4, 38.
[150] Rhys, “Lectures,” 553.
[151] Lady Wilde, “Legends,” 238 sq.
[152] Rousselet, “India and its Native Princes,” 402; “North Indian Notes and Queries,” i. 76; ii. 57, 93; iii. 130.
[153] Atkinson, “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” ii. 380, 775.
[154] Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” i. 24, 207; ii. 599.
[155] Knowles, “Folk-tales,” 27, 158.
[156] Cox, “Mythology of the Aryan Nations,” i. 292, note; ii. 25 sq.
[157] Hartland, “Science of Fairy Tales,” 65.
[158] Buchanan, “Eastern India,” iii. 532.
[159] Grimm, “Household Tales,” ii. 407.
[160] Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 271.
[161] “Gloucestershire Folk-lore,” 9.
[162] Tawney, loc. cit., ii. 594; Grimm, loc. cit., i. 357.
[163] Hunt, “Popular Romances,” 130.
[164] “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” iii. 8.
[165] Brand, “Observations,” 685.
[166] “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 39.
[167] Buchanan, “Eastern India,” ii. 157.
[168] Dyer, “Popular Customs,” 270.
CHAPTER V.
THE BLACK ART.
Simulacraque cerea figit
Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus.
Ovid, Heroides, vi. 91, 92.
From the Baiga or Ojha, who by means of his grain sieve fetish identifies the particular evil spirit by which his patient is afflicted, we come to the regular witch or wizard. He works in India by means and appliances which can be readily paralleled by the procedure of his brethren in Western countries.[1]