In the same work, pp. 401–403, there is an account of two Princes who went in search of a wonderful bird, and were changed into stone when they turned back in alarm. Their younger brother was more successful, and got a pot of magic water, which when sprinkled on his brothers and on many other stones lying on the ground, caused them to resume their human state.
In Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (W. Skeat), p. 67, it is remarked that the Malays believe that there were once numerous gigantic spirits who could transform people whom they addressed by name into wood or stone.
In the Preface to The Kathākoça, p. xiii, Mr. Tawney quoted Dr. Bühler’s words regarding the Jain belief in animism,—that souls are to be found “in apparently lifeless masses, in stone, in clods of earth, in drops of water, in fire and in wind”—and mentions that as far as he knew, the Jains stand alone in this belief. Nevertheless, in the cases of Ahalyā and Rambhā, and the Apsaras of the Kathā Sarit Sāgara,—who, while she was in the form of an image or relief, shed tears on seeing her husband,—as well as in the examples in the other folk-tales,[11] the notion appears to be that the soul or spirit continued to exist in the petrified body, which was ready to return to its original state as soon as some necessary occurrence took place, whether a sprinkling of charmed water which neutralised the former spell, or the termination of a period fixed by a curse, or otherwise. We can perhaps see further evidence of the existence of the same belief in India and Ceylon in the stone statues of guardian deities, such as Bhairava, Nāgas, Yakshas, and Rākshasas, carved at religious edifices; they, as well as the figures in the Euphrates Valley and Egypt, appear to have been thought to act as protectors because, although formed of stone, a soul existed in them, that is, so far as evil spirits were concerned they were living stones, and not mere scarecrows.
In Cinq Cents Contes et Apologues (Chavannes), vol. iii, p. 219, there is an account of the death and burial of a Prince aged fifteen, whose soul remained in his body afterwards. When a pine tree which had been planted over the grave sent down a root that reached his heart, the soul became alarmed, climbed up the root, and lodged among the leaves of the tree. It had other adventures.
In the Arabian Nights (Lady Burton’s ed., vol. i, p. 145), a lady described her arrival at a city in which the King and Queen and all the inhabitants had been transformed by Allah into black stones, with the sole exception of the King’s only son, a devout Muhammadan.
In vol. vi of the same work, p. 121, a man arrived at a great city in which all the inhabitants, with the exception of the royal Princess, had been changed into stone at the prayer of a Muhammadan Prophet. In both these instances the petrified persons were not revived.
See also the Notes after the last story in vol. iii.
In Kaffir Folk-Lore (Theal), p. 36, a rock opened at a boy’s request, and he and his sister lived in it, leaving and returning at will. At p. 83, some boys when chased by cannibals took refuge in a rock which “a little man” turned into a hut; to the cannibals it was still a rock.
With regard to the remarks on the last page, two Sinhalese histories, the Rājāvaliya and Pūjāvaliya, give a legend which indicates a belief that even the statues of guardian animals possessed souls. It is recorded of King Mitta-Sēna (A.D. 435–436) that on one occasion when the state elephant was not ready for him when he had been worshipping the Tooth-relic of Buddha, “the King became angry and asked whether the great elephant image could not take him on its back. The elephant, made of tile [brick] and mortar, approached the King, made him to sit on his back, took the King to the city, placed him in the palace, and went away” (Rāj., Guṇasēkara’s translation, p. 54).
It is probable that the figures of guardian animals or deities carved only in relief, or even represented in paintings, may have been thought to possess souls of their own—that is, to act protectively as sentient beings.