As an instance of this belief, “A very black servant of a friend of mine states that he had a very narrow escape from this Sâhib at the Nauchandi fair at Meerut, where Government allows him to walk about for one day and make as many suitable victims as he can by means of his stick. The Sâhib had just put his hand in his pocket and taken out the stick, which was dry and shrivelled and about a span long, when the servant with great presence of mind held out his hands and said, ‘Bas! Bas!’ ‘Enough! enough!’ Thus intimidated, the Sâhib went away into the crowd. In connection with Momiâî, a lady here narrowly escaped a very uncanny reputation. Some of her servants gave out that she possessed a Momiâî stick, for which she had paid a hundred rupees. On hearing this an inquiry was made which brought out that the lady had missed a pod of vanilla about seven inches long, of a very special quality, that she kept rolled up in a piece of paper among some of her trinkets. The ayah who mislaid it was scolded for her carelessness, and told that it was worth more than she thought. She promptly put two and two together. The shrivelled appearance which is supposed to be peculiar to mysterious sticks, such as snake charmers produce, the fuss made about it, and the value attached to it convinced her that her mistress owned a Momiâî stick.”[90]
These mystic sticks appear constantly in folk-lore. We have the caduceus of Hermes, the rod of Moses, the staff of Elisha, the wand of Circe, or of Gwydion or Skirni. In one of Somadeva’s tales the Kapâlika ascetic has a magic stick which dances. In one of the Kashmîr tales the magic wand placed under the feet of the prince makes him insensible, when laid under his head he revives. Many people in England still believe in the divining rod which points out concealed springs underground.[91]
Every native boy, particularly those who are black and fat, believes himself a possible victim to the wiles of the dreaded Momiâî Sâhib, who frequents hill stations because he is thus enabled to carry on his villainous practices with comparative impunity and less danger of detection. Even to whisper the word Momiâî is enough to make the crowd of urchins who dog the steps of a district officer when he is on his rounds through a town, disperse in dismay. Surgeons are naturally exposed to the suspicion of being engaged in this awful business, and some years ago most of the coolies deserted one of the hill stations, because an enthusiastic anatomist set up a private dissecting-room of his own. Freemasons, who are looked on by the general native public as a kind of sorcerers or magicians, are also not free from this suspicion. That such ideas should prevail among the rural population of India is not to be wondered at, when in our own modern England it is very commonly believed that luminous paint is made out of human fat.[92]
The Dânapurwâla Sâhib.
Another of these dreaded Sâhibs is the Dânapurwâla Sâhib, or gentleman from Dinapur. Why this personage should be connected with Dinapur, a respectable British cantonment, no one can make out. At any rate, it is generally believed that he has a contract from Government for procuring heads for some of the museums, and he too has a magic stick with which he entices unfortunate travellers on dark nights and chops off their heads with a pair of shears. The influence of these magic wands by smelling may perhaps be associated with the fact that the nose is a spirit entry, as we have seen in the case of sneezing.
Fetish Stones.
To return after this digression to fetish stones. Of this phase of belief we have well-known instances in the coronation stone in Westminster Abbey, which is associated with the dream of Jacob, and the Hajuru’l Aswad of Mecca, which Sir R. Burton believed to be an aërolite. No one will bring a stone from the Sacred Hill at Govardhan near Mathura, because it is supposed to be endowed with life. The Yâdavas, who are connected with the same part of the country, had a stone fetish, described in the Vishnu Purâna, which brought rain and plenty. There are numerous legends connected with many of these fetish stones, such as that in the temple of Daksha at Kankhal and Gorakhnâtha in Kheri,[93] which are said to owe the fissures in them to the blow of the battle-axe or sword of one of the iconoclast Muhammadan Emperors. Of Gorakhnâtha it is said that Aurangzeb attempted to drag up the great Lingam, and failed to do so even with the aid of elephants. When he came to investigate the cause of his failure, tongues of flame burst from the bottom of the pillar.
The stalactites in the Behâr Hills are regarded as the images of the gods.[94] The pestle and mortar in which a noted Darvesh of Oudh used to grind his drugs are now worshipped, and a leading family in the Lucknow District keep before their family residence a large square stone which they reverence. They say that their ancestors brought it from Delhi, and that it is the symbol of their title to the estates, which were granted to them by one of the Emperors. He enjoined them to take it as the foundation of their settlement, and since that time each new Râja on his accession presents flowers, sweetmeats, and money to it.[95]