[86] Man, ‘Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,’ in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xii. 112, 157, 158, 161 sq.
[87] Ibid. p. 156.
Among the Karens of Burma the belief is held that Hades has a king or judge who stands at the door to admit or reject those who apply for admission into his kingdom. He decides the future of each. Those who have performed meritorious works are sent to the regions of happiness above; those who have done wickedness, such as striking father or mother, are delivered over to the king of hell who is in waiting; whilst those who have neither performed deeds of merit nor are guilty of great crimes are allotted a place in Hades.[88] At the same time the Karens’ ideas of a future state are described as confused, indefinite, and contradictory. Mr. Mason writes:—“They seem to be a melee of different systems. That which appears to me indigenous Karen … represents the future world as a counterpart of this, located under the earth, where the inhabitants are employed precisely as they are here.”[89] The Pahárias of the Rájmahal Hills believe that the souls of those who have been disobedient to the commands of Bedo Gosain will be condemned either to inhabit some portion of the vegetable kingdom for a certain number of years, or to be cast into a pit of fire, where the offender will suffer eternal punishment or be regenerated in the shape of a dog or a cat. Those who have led a good life, on the other hand, will be rewarded, first by enjoying a short but happy residence with Bedo Gosain in heaven, and subsequently by being born a second time on earth of women and being exalted to posts of great honour, as also by possessing an abundance of worldly goods.[90] In these notions our chief informant, Lieutenant Shaw, sees traces of Hinduism.[91] Lack of detailed information makes it impossible to decide whether the belief in a creator and heavenly judge which has been found in some other uncivilised tribes in India might be traced to a similar influence. The Munda Kols in Central Bengal maintain that the good and almighty Singbonga, who lives in the sky and is connected with the sun, has made everything. Being so far away he occupies himself very little with earthly matters, and is only in exceptional cases an object of worship; but he sees everything which happens, and is said to punish theft and insincerity.[92] So also the Kukis recognise a benevolent and all-powerful god and creator, called Puthén, who is the judge of all mortals and awards punishments to the wicked both in this world and in the next.[93]
[88] Mason, in Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xxxiv. 196.
[89] Ibid. p. 195.
[90] Shaw, ‘Inhabitants of the Hills near Rájamahall,’ in Asiatick Researches, iv. 48 sqq. Sherwill, ‘Tour through the Rájmahal Hills,’ in Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xx. 556.
[91] Shaw, in Asiatick Researches, iv. 46.
[92] Jellinghaus, ‘Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche der Munda-Kolhs in Chota Nagpore,’ in Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie, iii. 330 sq.
[93] Stewart, ‘Northern Cachar,’ in Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xxiv. 628.
The Ainu of Japan believe in a great god or creator who bestows blessings upon the good and visits the bad with disease, unless they repent. They also say that good people go after death to the “island of the Great Spirit,” or to the “kingdom of God,” to lead a happy life; whereas bad people go to the “bad island,” or to the “wet underground world,” in which they suffer discomfort or, according to some, are burned in everlasting fires.[94] Of the pagan Samoyedes we are told that they regard the great Num as the creator of the universe, as an all-powerful and omniscient being, who protects the innocent, rewards the virtuous, and punishes the wicked.[95] But the primitive Num, who was simply the sky, was too far removed from the nomads who wandered across the frozen plain, to interfere to prevent catastrophe or accomplish their well-being; and in the provident actions and overseeing which some of the Samoyedes now ascribe to him, “we can clearly enough trace the influence of the missionary and the suggestion of the Christian faith.”[96]