The working of the implement thus requires the labour of two priests, one of whom presses down the plunger, and the other who revolves the drill rapidly by means of the rope. It is not easy to obtain specimens of the implement, which is regarded as possessing mystical properties, and the production of the sacred fire is always conducted in secret.
We have in one of the African folk-tales a reference to the production of the fire by friction, in which the hyæna gets his ear burnt.[138] In one of the tales of Somadeva we read, “Then the Brâhman blessed the king and said to him, ‘I am a Brâhman named Nâga Sarman, and bear the fruit, I hope, from my sacrifice. When the god of fire is pleased with this Vilva sacrifice, then Vilva fruits of gold will come out of the fire cavity. Then the god of fire will appear in bodily form, and grant me a boon, and so I have spent much time in offering Vilva fruits.’ Then the seven-rayed god appeared from the sacrificial cavity, bringing the king a golden Vilva fruit of his tree of valour.”[139]
The Agnikunda, the hole or enclosed space for the sacred fire, out of which, according to the popular legend, various Râjput tribes were produced, is thus probably derived from the Garta or pit out of which the sparks fly in the fire-drill.
The Agnihotri Brâhman has to take particular care to preserve the germ of the sacred fire, as did the Roman vestal virgins. It is in charge of the special guardians at some shrines, such as those of Sambhunâth and Kharg Joginî at Nepâl.[140]
The Muhammadan Sacred Fire.
But it is not only in the Hindu ritual that the sacred fire holds a prominent place. Thus, in ancient Ireland, the sacred fire was obtained by the friction of wood and the striking of stones, and it was supposed “that the spirits of fire dwelt in these objects, and when the priests invoked them to appear, they brought good luck to the household for the coming year, but if invoked by other hands on that special day, their influence was malific.”[141]
So, among the Muhammadans in the time of Akbar, “at noon of the day when the sun enters the 19th degree of Aries, the whole world being surrounded by the light, they expose a round piece of a white shining stone, called in Hindi Sûrajkrant.[142] A piece of cotton is then held near it, which catches fire from the heat of the stone. The celestial fire is committed to the care of proper persons.”[143] Perhaps the best example of the Muhammadan sacred fire is that at the Imâmbâra at Gorakhpur. There it was first started by a renowned Shiah Faqîr, named Roshan ’Ali, and has been maintained unquenched for more than a hundred years, a special body of attendants and supplies of wood being provided for it. There seems little reason to believe that the fire is a regular Muhammadan institution; it has probably arisen from an imitation of the customs of the Hindu Jogis.
It is respected both by Hindus and Musalmâns, and as in the case of the fires of the same kind, maintained by many noted Jogis, its ashes have a reputation as a cure for fever. We shall meet with the same belief of the curative effects of the ashes of the sacred fire in the case of the Holî. The ashes of the Jogi’s fire form a part of many popular charms. In Italy, the holy log burnt on Christmas Eve, which corresponds to the Yule log of the North of Europe, is taken with due observances to the Faunus, or other spirits of the forest.[144] In Ireland part of the ashes from the bonfire on the 24th of June is thrown into sown fields to make their produce abundant.[145] The ceremony of strewing ashes on the penitent on Ash Wednesday dates from Saxon times.[146] A modern Muhammadan of the advanced school has endeavoured to rationalize the curative effect of the ashes of the Gorakhpur fire by the suggestion that it is the potash in it which works the cure, but probably the element of faith has much to do with it.[147]