Indian Antiquary Vol 20

SR No.: 032512
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 486
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

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48
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1891.
Congo, and the high pontiff of the Zapotecs in South Mexico, all divine kings with supernatural powers, are samples of this kind of tabu. These precautions go 80 far as to regulate every detail in the life of such unfortunate rulers, for fear of the trouble that might be caused to the world if any irregularity were to occur. In this way the lives of the kings of Loango and of ancient Egypt were rendered a trouble to them. The tabus imposed on the priestking were, of course, extended to the man.god. priest: witness the rules of life observed by the Flamen Dialis at Rome, whose life must have been a continuous misery.
The effect of these customs in many instances has been notable. No one has wanted to be a high priest or supernatural king, or the holders have been religious recluses leaving the real power to men of action. In Savage Island the kingship ceased to exist because no one would take it. In Cambodia the Kings of Fire and Water had to be forced into office. In parts of Africa they are chosen in secret council. On the other hand, the rise of the Tycoons of Japan, of the Chovas of Tongking, and of the Ministers of Nepal and Bhutan, are instances of the separation of royal and political functions.
The object of the tabu being to preserve the life of the man-god, the question is: - what does the savage understand by this life; - what by the soul; - what by death P; -what is the danger he wishes to guard against by tábu P
Now, the savage understands the living and moving of an animal to be the result of the action of a smaller animal within it, just as he understands a force of nature to be the result of the action of a living being behind it. This man inside the man is the soul, and it is to protect the soul, to prevent its absence, i. e. death, and to secure its return il temporarily absent, that he sets up the machinery of tabu.
Many, indeed very many, savage customs illustrate the belief above stated. Any number of death, birth, and sleep customs turn on the liabi. lity of the soul to fly from the body, - some to try and prevent the flight, and others, as in Christian lands, - e. g., the opening of the windows when a person has died in Cornwall to this day, - to aid it in its flight. The "passing bell" is an in. stance of the survival of the belief in custom.
The theory of witches, sorcerers, ghosts, demons, and so on. is partly based on the suppogi tion that man-gods in various degenerated forms oan force, or induce the soul to quit its tene- ment, and hence innumerable practices to protect it from this danger. So, siokness is frequently
attributed by savages to a temporary absence or snatching away of the soul, and many and curious are the custome connected with its recapture and restoration to its owner, and equally curious are the "things" into which it is supposed to have escaped, butterflies, dolls, effigies, head. dresses, corpses, devils, cloths, and so on.
The above may be called the spiritual dangers to which the soul is liable, but the physical dangers are equally numerous and terrible. For instance, it is a common belief that the shadow or the reflection of the human being is his soul, and accidents to either are a danger to the life of the owner. This has led to all kinds of superstitions in every part of the world, from stabbing an enemy's shadow in order to kill him, to covering up the mirrors in a house after a death for fear that the soul of the dead man reflected therein should be carried off by his ghost. The most curious of all of which customs is perhape the objection to being photographed, which still exists in the west of Sootland for fear of sickness resulting therefrom!
Such being the nature of the soul to the savage and semi-civilized imagination, and the dangers to which it is exposed, the special objects of tabru become clear, and an examination of the methods used in tabu will shew that it has been instituted with a view to protecting the souls of mankind, generally of kings and priests in particular.
The king must be isolated from danger, hence it is common among many savages to safeguard him and his kingdom from the presence of strangers, because strangers are specially cre. dited with powers of magic and witohoraft. An instance of this was experienced by the Afghan Boundary Commission, which was frequently met with fire and incense when passing villages. Sometimes the superstitious dread is so great as to prevent all intercourse, as when Speke was once refused entrance to a village for fear that his tin boxes contained enemies transformed into demons !
The stranger is as often afraid of the village he enters as the village is of him, hence purificatory ceremonies before and after journey observed even in ancient Greece and in modern Hindustan. The dread of the kdlá paní and the ceremonies connected with "receiving back into caste" and excommunication from huqd pdns, or outcasting, are nothing but instances of a creed held in common with the veriest savages.
At the times of eating and drinking, the soul is especially liable to escape, hence the customs prevalent among many såvages of shutting up the house while feeding, of feeding in