Indian Antiquary Vol 27

SR No.: 032519
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 404
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 281

Остовкв, 1898.]
and sorcery which caused so great a scare in Europe between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries was partly white magic, that is, magic practised with the view of curing diseases; and partly black magic,- that is magic practised with the view of causing harm. The basis of both was partly old rites and spirit-worship belonging to pre-Christian times, and partly a knowledge of healing or poisonous herbs and drugs. Many of the cures were caused by simple means without any power from spirits. According to Burton (1620) many an old wife does more good with a few known and common garden herbs than our bombast physicians with their prodigious, far-fetched, conjectural medicines.91 So also in Pliny the quaint cures which he ascribes to magicians differ little from the cures he cites as worked by the common people. As a rule, Pliny professes to believe in neither, though he occasionally admits there must be some reason why every one should believe in the cures.92 He also abuses doctors for being too fond of new drugs,03 and praises the diligence and curiosity of the men of old, who searched the secret of things. As Pliny scoffed at spirits, he did not attempt to explain the grounds of the different cures. Many of the cures he cites are difficult to explain. The bulk of them seem to take their rise in the state of mind which believes all disease to be the work of spirits, and which knows that certain strong-smelling or pungent drugs recover people from swoon and other typical spirit-seizures.
94
THE TELUGU LITERATURE.
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275
It is interesting to note how far the priests of the different religions have claimed the power of casting out spirits. Brahmans seem not to claim the power, or, at least, except the lower class Brahmans, do not practise the art. So also the pure Lingayats of the Bombay Karnatak do not believe in exorcism. On the other hand exorcism was one of the most important functions of the old Buddhist priest, and it is still the chief employment of the Jain Gorji. In Europe, the early Christian Church had a special staff of exorcists. In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic priests practised exorcism. The power was at first claimed by the Reformed Churches. The clergy of the Established Church of England after the sixteenth century seldom exercised it, although Dissenting ministers continued to exorcise till the eighteenth century. In England, Roman Catholic priests are the only clergy who still claim the power, and nervous seizures and similar diseases are now almost always treated by physicians as bodily maladies.
(To be continued.)
DISCURSIVE REMARKS ON THE AUGUSTAN AGE OF TELUGU LITERATURE BY G. R. SUBRAMIAH PANTULU... (Continued from p. 249.)
BUKKARAJA afterwards begot Hariharanatha by Kâmâkshîdê vi,3 who reigned from 1379 to 1401 A. D. His son by Mallâdêvi, Vira Praudharaya by name, reigned till 1412, and his son Vijayabhupati till 1418, and his son Dêvaraya from 1422 to 1447. These facts we are able to gather from inscriptions, but we are at a loss to know when exactly they were born, when they ascended the throne, and when they breathed their last. They were constantly at war with the Muhammadans from the time of Bukka, who gained a victory over the Muhammadans for the first time in 1364 A. D. His son Harihara utterly routed them in 1380, and drove them off from Goa. This Harihara gave enormous tracts of land to varions Hindu temples. In the latter part of his reign, Saluva Gunda was his minister, and he was the father of Saluva Nrisimharaja, the person to whom the Jaimini-Bharata was dedicated. This Gundarâja, who combined in himself both the offices of minister and commander, gained an extensive tract of country. His son Saluva Nrisimharaja occupied the whole of the Carnatic, as Dêvaraya died heirless, or for 92 Pliny's Natural History, Book xxviii., Chap. 19. Op. cit. Book xxviii., Chap. 20.
91 Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 430. 95 Op. cit. Book xxix., Chap. 1.
25 Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft, p. 247.
[The mother of Harihara (II.) was Gaurâmbika and Kamakshidev! was his paternal grandmother - Epigraphia Indica, Vol. III. pp. 36 and 228.-V. V.]
[The Vijayanagara king Dêvaraya II. did not, as a matter of fact, die heirless. He had two sons, viz., Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha I., and two grandsons, Rajasekhara and Virupaksha II.; Epigraphia Indica, Vol. III. p. 35. V. V.]