“Some declare that travellers fix rags of worn-out clothes to the trees mentioned above in order that they may not be attacked by the evil spirits residing in them. Another belief is that the spirits of deceased ancestors residing in such trees get absolution through this form of devotion. It is also believed that a goddess called chitharia devi resides in such trees, and being pleased with these offerings, blesses childless females with children, and cures persons suffering from itch of their disease. There is a further belief that ragged travellers, by offering pieces of their clothes to the Khijado, Bāval or Kerado trees, are blessed in return with good clothes.
“Some believe that Hanumān, the lord of spirits, resides in certain trees. They call him chithario or ragged Hanumān. All passers-by offer rags to the trees inhabited by him. There is such a tree near the station of Shirei. There is a tamarind tree on the road from Tamnagar to Khantalia which is believed to be the residence of chithario Hanumān and receives similar offerings. Another tamarind tree of this description is near Marad and there is a Khijado tree on the road between Kalavad and Vavadi which is similarly treated.
“It is related by some people that in deserts trees are rare and the summer heat is oppressive. To the travellers passing through such deserts the only place of rest is in the shadow of a solitary tree that is to be met occasionally. In order that no harm be done to such trees, some people have given currency to the belief that a spirit called māmo dwells in such trees and expects the offering of a rag and a pice at the hands of every passer-by.
“In some places, the Borādi (jujube,) Pipal, Vad (banyan) and the sweet basil receive offerings of a pice and a betel-nut from travellers, while the Khijado and Bāval are given rags.”
In all these instances we notice the confusion of rags with flags, but they unmistakably establish the point that the idea underlying the offering is that of propitiating the spirit. A few more instances may be cited from Crooke’s Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India. “Among the Mirzapur Korwas the Baiga hangs rags on the trees which shade the village shrine, as a charm to bring health and good luck. These rag shrines are to be found all over the country, and are generally known as Chithariya or Chithraiya Bhavani, ‘Our Lady of Tatters.’ So in the Punjab the trees on which rags are hung are named after Lingri Pir or the rag saint. The same custom prevails at various Himalayan shrines and at the Vastra Harana or sacred tree at Bindraban near Mathura which is now invested with a special legend, as commemorating the place where Krishna carried off the clothes of the milkmaids when they were bathing, an incident which constantly appears in both European and Indian folklore. In Berar a heap of stones daubed with red and placed under a tree fluttering with rag represents Chindiya Deo or ‘the Lord of Tatters,’ where, if you present a rag in due season, you may chance to get new clothes.”
Crooke’s authority for this last instance is the Gazetteer, but as indicated above these authorities have all missed the point that the original conception was to honour the tree-spirit and that these flags are hoisted either as a mark of reverence or as a thank-offering for cures from diseases and other boons and further that these are regular flags and not scraps of shirts and petticoats fixed on bushes or hung on trees, as in Europe. During my recent journey from Rawalpindi to Kashmir I saw several trees the boughs of which were decked with flags of white and red cloth. In Baluchistan also I saw a good many trees similarly decked with flags. In each case I found that there was a grave of a saint underneath or close by the tree and that the flags were hoisted in honour of the saint. There was no suggestion of disease-transference, although the villagers admitted that it was customary to offer these flags if, in response to a prayer to the saint or a vow, any ailment was cured. Everywhere the explanation given was the same. The flag was presented to the saint only and solely as a thank-offering for a wish fulfilled.
The cult of rag offering is believed to extend throughout Africa from west to east. Park in his Travels in the Interior of Africa says: “The company advanced as far as a large tree called by the natives Neema Toba. It had a very singular appearance, being covered with innumerable rags or scraps of cloth, which persons travelling across the wilderness had at different times tied to its branches, a custom so generally followed that no one passes it without hanging up something.” Park adds that he also followed the example, and suspended a handsome piece of cloth on one of the boughs. Burton found the custom prevailing in Arabia and Sir William Ouseley saw a tree close to a large monolith covered with rags. Ferrier in his Caravan Journeys says that these rags are fixed on bushes in Persia in the name of Imam Raza. It is believed that the eye of the Imam being always on the top of the mountain, the shreds which are left there by those who hold him in reverence remind him of what he ought to do in their behalf with Muhammad, Ali and the other holy personages, who are able to propitiate the Almighty in their favour. Hannay regarded these rags as charms for disease-transference. In his Travels in Persia he says: “After ten days’ journey we arrived at a caravanserai, where we found nothing but water. I observed a tree with a number of rags tied to the branches: these were so many charms which passengers coming from Ghilan, a province remarkable for agues, had left there, in a fond expectation of leaving their disease also on the same spot.”
This evidence, however, needs corroboration. Meanwhile, considering how dangerous it is to generalise on the strength of stray statements and observations of foreigners, considering how these statements reveal only half-truths in the case of many Indian customs, we may take this evidence with caution. If, however, what Hannay says is based on the actual practices and beliefs of the Persian Mahomedans, we are led to infer that not only in several places in Europe but also in many parts of Asia the rag came to be regarded as a vehicle of disease, whatever may have been the original ideas underlying the offering. When we have evidence to show that in Europe pins and rags were used at wells for purposes of divination, it is not difficult to conceive the process of reasoning by which these articles came to be regarded as appropriate offerings to the indwelling spirits, no matter how insignificant their intrinsic value. These instruments of divination, having done their duty, must have been consigned to the waters as being the best place for depositing them. Then, probably, they were looked upon as indispensable offerings to the water goblins and then, although the practice of divination disappeared, these articles still came to be regarded as appropriate offerings for the well-spirits, and the rustic mind, ignorant of the genealogy of the custom, interpreted the survival of the ancient usages according to its own conception of sympathetic magic and either looked upon the rag-offering as a charm for disease-transference, or as a connecting link with the deity. This theory of the origin of the custom, which is here put forward with some diffidence, also explains the growth of the two conflicting theories (1) that the rags are vehicles of disease or charms for disease-transference, and (2) that they are simple offerings to propitiate the deity.