A STRANGE RELIGIOUS RITE: FUNERAL SACRIFICE OF THE TODAS IN SOUTHERN INDIA
The elaborate and extraordinary funeral rites of the Todas illustrate admirably the older notions of life and death. A funeral endures for several days; the body is cremated; last of all the buffaloes of the deceased are slaughtered at the grave and thought to enter into mystic reunion with their master. In olden times a whole troop would be slaughtered, but under British influence the number has been limited to one for a common person and two for a chief.
Religion is a thing of the emotions, not merely in the sense of having its origin in fear, or in the remembrance of lasting sensations derived from visions or dreams, but emotional in so far that it satisfies the necessity felt by men for a consistent life-conception—not an intellectual but an emotional conception. It is not the matter-of-fact desire for knowledge that finds its expression in religion, but the joy of the heart in a supreme power, the call for help of the needy, and the consciousness of our own insignificance and our mortality. Judgment is not yet abstracted from the other psychic functions; indeed, it really retires behind the emotions.
NOAH’S SACRIFICE
From the painting by Daniel Maclise, R.A.
The Basis of Worship
When men thus believe in divinity, if the belief have an active influence on the emotions, it follows that the individual must establish some connection between himself and the object of his worship. This is brought about through certain actions, or through the creation of circumstances in which special conditions of consecration are perceived, and therewith the possibility of a close relationship with the Supreme Being. The acts through which this relationship may be brought about, taken collectively, are embraced in the word “worship,” and if performed according to a strict system they are called “rites.” Sacrifice has an important place among the ceremonies observed in accordance with ritual. It is based on a conception of the wants and necessities of the higher beings, and, in later times, is refined into a representation of man’s ethical feelings—unselfishness and gratitude, which give pleasure to the Deity and thus contribute to its happiness. But sacrifice does not retain its unselfish character for any great length of time. Man thinks of himself first: he makes offerings to the good spirits, but more particularly to the evil gods, in order to pacify their fury and appease their evil desires. Sacrifices are also offered to the dead, and from such offerings and memorials is developed the idea of a “family” or “clan,” which outlives the individual.