Bhûts are also found at roads, cross-roads, and boundaries. It is so in Russia, where, “at cross-roads, or in the neighbourhood of cemeteries, an animated corpse often lurks watching for some unwary traveller whom it may be able to slay and eat.”[157] Thus, in the Hills, and indeed as far as Madras, an approved charm for getting rid of a disease of demoniacal origin is to plant a stake where four roads meet, and to bury grains underneath, which crows disinter and eat.[158] The custom of laying small-pox scabs on roads has been already noticed. The same idea is probably at the root of the old English plan of burying suicides at cross-roads, with a stake driven through the chest of the corpse. In the eastern parts of the North-West Provinces we have Sewanriya, who, like Terminus, is a special godling of boundaries, and whose function is to keep foreign Bhûts from intruding into the village under his charge. For the same reason the Baiga pours a stream of spirits round the boundary. This is also probably the basis of a long series of customs performed, when the bridegroom, with his procession, reaches the boundary of the bride’s village. Of the Khândh godling of boundaries, we read:—“He is adored by sacrifices human and bestial. Particular points upon the boundaries of districts, fixed by ancient usage, and generally upon the highways, are his altars, and these demand each an annual victim, who is either an unsuspecting traveller struck down by the priests, or a sacrifice provided by purchase.”[159]
Ghosts of Empty Houses.
Bhûts particularly infest ancient empty houses. If a house be unoccupied for any time, a Bhût is sure to take up his quarters there. Such houses abound everywhere. The old Fort of Agori on the Son is said to have been abandoned on account of the malignancy of its Bhûts. Not long ago a merchant built a splendid house in the Mirzapur Bâzâr, and was obliged to abandon it for the same reason. The Collector’s house at Sahâranpur is haunted by a young English lady; there is one in the Jhânsi cantonment, where a Bhût, in the form of a Faqîr, dressed in white clothes, appears at night. Fortunately he is of a kindly disposition.
Ghosts of Flowers.
Bhûts occasionally take up their abode in flowers, and hence it is dangerous to allow children to smell them. In Kumaun the Betaina tree (Melia sempervivens) is supposed to be infested by Bhûts, and its flowers are never used as offerings to the gods.[160] But, on the other hand, as we shall see elsewhere, flowers and fruits are considered scarers of demons. Bhûts, it is believed, do their cooking at noon and evening, so women and children should be cautious about walking at such times, lest they should tread unwittingly upon this ghostly food and incur the resentment of its owners.[161] In the same way the Scotch fairies are supposed to be at their meals when rain and sunshine come together. In England, at such times the devil is said to be beating his wife, and in India they call it the “Jackal’s wedding.”[162]
The Hearth.
Among the many places where Bhûts resort comes the house hearth. This probably in a large measure accounts for the precautions taken by Hindus in preparing and protecting the family cooking-place, and smearing it with fresh cowdung, which is a scarer of demons. The idea was common among all the Aryan races,[163] but it is found also among the Drâvidian tribes, who perform much of the worship of Dulha Deo and similar family guardians at the family hearth. In Northern India, when a bride first goes to the house of her husband she is not permitted to cook. On an auspicious day, selected by the family priest, she commences her duties, and receives presents of money and jewellery from her relations. Among the low castes, at marriages a special rite, that of Matmangara, or “lucky earth,” is performed, when the earth intended for the preparation of the marriage cooking-place is brought home. The women go in procession to the village clay-pit, accompanied by a Chamâr beating a drum, which is decorated with streaks of red lead. The earth is dug by the village Baiga, who passes five shovelfuls into the breast-cloth of a veiled virgin, who stands behind him. So, in Bihâr, after bathing the bride and bridegroom, the mother or female guardian brings home a clod of earth, out of which a rude fireplace is prepared. On this butter is burnt, and paddy parched on the threshold of the kitchen, where the spirit is supposed to dwell. A goat is sacrificed at the same time, and some of this parched paddy is reserved, to be flung over the pair as they make the marriage revolutions.[164]