Indian Antiquary Vol 26

SR No.: 032518
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1897
of jins, each troop 6,00,000 strong. Some are land-spirits, some sea-spirits, some air-spirits ;. some fly, some lodge in animals, some lodge in men.19
Arabs believe that bad smells are caused by spirits, who they think get into the body through the nose, and affect the health. The Bedouins seldom go into a town because of the smells. If they do, they stop their noses with a cloth.20 "The Arabian desert," says Mr. H. Spencer, "is so thick with spirits that no one can throw anything without striking a spirit."21 The prophet mentions five classes of Arab spirits: Jâns, Junus Efrits, Mauds, and Shaitans.22 Other accounts add: Dulhân, an ostrich-riding sea-spirit; Ghaddar, a Yemen man-torturer; Ghûl, a female cannibal; Nesnâs, a half man cut lengthwise; Saalah, a man-eating forest spirit; Shikk, a man cut lengthwise.23 The Arab Ghul (a female man-eater) belongs to the order of Shaitâns or Evil-Jins. Some authors describe the Ghûl as an enchanter that appears in human or in animal form or in some monstrous guise. The Ghûl haunts burial-grounds, lonely places, deserts, and wastes, and allures and eats travellers. Another opinion is that when the devils (Shaitâns) attempt to overhear some of the heavenly words of power on the skirts of the lowest heaven they are driven out by falling stars. Of the fugitives some are burnt, some fall into the sea as crocodiles, others fall on land and become Ghûls. The male of the Ghûl class of spirits is by most writers called Kutrnb. Mas'udi25 (A. D. 930) says:-"The Arabs have many accounts of Ghûls assuming different shapes. They believe that Ghûls appear in lonely places, and Arabs. say they have often entertained Ghûls as guests." Arab poetry is rich in allusions to Ghûls. The Arab poet, known as Ta-abbata Sharran (the carrier of evil under his arm), says :
"The black one whose pavilion I entered as readily As the high-bosomed maiden enters her corset Her at morn when I awoke I found to be a Ghûl. Alas! for one whose companion is so hideous. I asked her for my dole. She discovered herself In a monstrous face and changing form.
Tell him who wishes to ask for my fair comrade, She pitches her tent at the edge of a winding desert." "
The Arabs believe that the Ghûl is cloven-footed. When they meet in the desert a person whom they suspect of being a Ghûl they say:
"Oh cloven-foot, bleat me news
Whether thou hast come along a way or path."
If the form is a Ghûl it will disappear; otherwise in the dusk the traveller might take the form for a woman and follow her to destruction, for Ghûls lure men with songs and bon-fires. Some of the companions of the Prophet (on whom be peace) have related stories of Ghûls. The Khalifa 'Umr (A. D. 630) tells how, on a journey to Syria, he struck a Ghûl with his sword, and she disappeared.
Two classes of female spirits, the Kirab and the Kidâr, roughly correspond to Succubus, the female, and Incubus, the male, nightmare, not mentioned by Lane-Poole, are described by Mas'udi. Mas'ûdî says:- "The Kirâb and the Kidâr have connection with men and women with a result generally fatal to the human lover. The Kirâb hides itself and frightens people
19 Arabian Lije in the Middle Ages, p. 34.
20 Burkhardt's Arabia, Vol. II. p. 85. Compare the merchant in the Thousand and One Nights who killed a jinni by throwing away a date stone (Lane's Arabian Life in the Middle Ages, p. 223).
21 Spencer's Principles of Sociology, Vol. I. p. 236.
22 Arabian Life in the Middle Ages, p. 27. All of these are Jinus. The Persians call good Jinns Paris, and evil Jinns Narah, literally male.
24 Arab Society in the Middle Ages, pp. 42, 43.
23 Op. cit. pp. 41, 45.
25 Prairies d' Or, Arabic text, Vol. IV. pp. 113-120.