Of modern horse-worship there are many examples. The Palliwâl Brâhmans of Jaysalmer worship the bridle of a horse, which Colonel Tod supposes to prove the Scythic origin of the early colonists, who were equestrian as well as nomadic.[19] Horse-worship is still mixed up with the creed of the Buddhists of Yunân, who doubtless derived it from India.[20]
In Western India this form of worship is common. It is the chief object of reverence at the Dasahra festival. Some Râjput Bhîls worship a deity called Ghorâdeva or a stone horse; the Bhâtiyas worship a clay horse at the Dasahra, and the Ojha Kumhârs erect a clay horse on the sixth day after birth, and make the child worship it. Rag horses are offered at the tombs of saints at Gujarât. The Kunbis wash their horses on the day of the Dasahra, decorate them with flowers, sacrifice a sheep to them, and sprinkle the blood on them.[21] The custom among the Drâvidian races of offering clay horses to the local gods has been already noticed. The Gonds have a horse godling in Kodapen, and at the opening of the rainy season they worship a stone in his honour outside the village. A Gond priest offers a pottery image of the animal and a heifer, saying, “Thou art our guardian! Protect our oxen and cows! Let us live in safety!”[22] The heifer is then sacrificed and the meat eaten by the worshippers. The Devak or marriage guardian of some of the Dakkhin tribes is a horse.
The Worship of the Ass.
The contempt for the ass seems to have arisen in post-Vedic times. Indra had a swift-footed ass, and one of the epithets of Vikramaditya was Gadharbha-rûpa, or “he in the form of an ass.” The Vishnu Purâna tells of the demon Dhenuka, who took the form of an ass and began to kick Balarâma and Krishna, as they were plucking fruit in the demon’s grove. Balarâma seized him, with sundry of his companions and flung him on the top of a palm tree. Khara, a cannibal Râkshasa who was killed by Râma Chandra, also used to take the form of an ass. Muhammad said, “The most ungrateful of all voices is surely the voice of asses.” Muhammadans believe that the last animal which entered the ark was the ass to which Iblîs was clinging. At the threshold the beast seemed troubled and could enter no farther, when Noah said unto him, “Fie upon thee! Come in!” But as the ass was still in trouble and did not advance, Noah cried, “Come in, though the Devil be with thee!” So the ass entered, and with him Iblîs. Thereupon Noah asked, “O enemy of Allah! Who brought thee into the ark?” And Iblîs answered, “Thou art the man, for thou saidest to the ass, ‘Come in, though the Devil be with thee!’”[23]
The worship of the ass is chiefly associated with that of Sîtalâ, whose vehicle he is. The Agarwâla sub-caste of Banyas have a curious rule of making the bridegroom just before marriage mount an ass. This is done in secret, and though said to be intended to propitiate the goddess of small-pox, is possibly a survival of some primitive form of worship.
In folk-lore the ass constantly appears. We have in Somadeva the fable of the ass in the panther’s skin, which also appears in the fifth book of the Panchatantra. Professor Weber asserts that it was derived from the original in Æsop, but this is improbable, as it is also found in the Buddhist Jâtakas. In one of the Kashmîr tales we have the bird saying, “If any person will peel off the bark of my tree, pound it, mix the powder with some of the juice of its leaves and then work it into a ball, it will be found to work like a charm; for any one who smells it will be turned into an ass.”[24] We have instances of ass transformation in Apuleius and Lucian, and in German and other Western folk-tales.
The Lion.
The lion, from his comparative rarity in Northern India, appears little in popular belief. It is one of the vehicles of Pârvatî, and rude images of the animal are sometimes placed near shrines dedicated to Devî. There is a current idea that only one pair of lions exists in the world at the same time. They have two cubs, a male and a female, which, when they arrive at maturity, devour their parents. In the folk-tales the childless king is instructed that he will find in the forest a boy riding on a lion, and this will be his son. The lovely maiden in the legend of Jimutavâhana is met riding on a lion. We have the lion Pingalika, king of beasts, with the jackal as his minister, and in one of the cycle of tales in which the weak animal overcomes the more powerful, the hare by his wisdom causes the lion to drown himself. The basis of the famous tale of Androcles is probably Buddhistic, but only a faint reference to it is found in Somadeva. In one of the modern stories the soldier takes a thorn out of the tiger’s foot, and is rewarded with a box which contains a manikin, who procures for him all he desires.[25]