Indian Antiquary Vol 28

SR No.: 032520
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 356
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 40 MB

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80
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCK, 1899.
of ascetics throughout the country carry bells and rattles made of iron, which they move as they walk to scare demons.... This also accounts for the musie played at weddings, when the young pair are in special danger from the attacks of evil spirits. At many rites it is the rule to clap the hands at a special part of the ritual with the same perpose." Why the ceremony should take place in the gambling-ball is not quite clear, unless it be that the dice were considered as demons. In the epic literature we meet with two of the dice, who are represented as evil demons. But the casting of diee oecurs also as a kind of oracle in the ancient sacrificial ritual of the Hindus, and this may account for the demoniacal or religious eharacter of the dice. Interesting is the practice of bringing the child into the ball throngh an opening in the roof, that is, not by the door. To enter a house by any other opening bt the door seems to be a means of escaping the demons who are haunting the threshold. Thus, according to a German superstition, it is conducive to the health of a child to lift it ont of the window whes it is taken to church to be baptized.
Demons are not only expelled by fire, strong smells and loud noises, but also by the use of inore material weapons. Thus, at an ancient Hindu wedding pointed chips of wood or arrow- . heads were shot into the air with the following imprecation against the demons: “] pierce the eyes of the Rakshas (devils) who roam about the bride as she approaches the wedding fire ; may the Lord of the Demons bestow welfare on the bride !" A staff also is frequently used for driving away the evil spirits. It has been shown by Professor H. Oldenberg (Religion des Veda, pp. 492 ff.) that the staff which asceties and other koly persons are reqnired to carry was originally intended as a weapon against the demons. In order to insure good luck everywhere, an ancient Hindu manual of sorcery advises & man always to carry an oleander staff which has been consecrated by sacrifices and sacred hymns. If he wishes that a certain town or village or bouse or stablo should not be entered by hostile persons, he should draw a circle with his staff, thinking of the place he wishes to protect, and no such person will be able to enter the place.
Of course, the ancient Hindus knew that some maladies and derangements of the human body were not caused by any mysterious power; they knew that wounds were inflicted by weapons, they knew something about the effects of poison, and had an idea that certain diseases were oaused by animals, such as worms. But in ancient India, as well as in German popular superstition, the term "worms" includes all kinds of reptiles, and snakes and worms are not kept very distinct. Moreover, all kinds of diseases were ascribed to worms. And both worms and snakes are actually considered as a kind of demoniacal beings. The imprecations against worms are therefore not very different from the charms against the demons. Thus we read in charm against worms: "The worm which is in the entrails, and he that is in the head, likewise the one that is in the ribs : ... the worms do we crush with this charm. The worms that are within the mountains, forests, plante, cattle, and the waters, those tbat bave settled in our bodies, all that brood of the worms do I smite."
In a charm against worms in children it is said : "Slay the worms in this boy, 0 Indra, lord of treasures! Slain are all the evil powers by my fierce imprecation! Him that moves about in the eyes, that moves about in the nose, that gets to the middle of the teeth, that worm do we crush. Slain is the king of the worms, and their viceroy also is slain. Slain is the worm, with him his mother is slain, his brother slain, his sister slain. ... Of all the male worms, and of all the female worias do I split the heads with the stone, I burn their faces with fire."
This fierce imprecation is accompanied by a rite symbolical of the destruction of worms in the patient. An oblation of black lentils, mixed with roasted worms and with ghee, is offered
in the fire. Then the sick child is placed upon the lap of its mother, and, with the bottom of • & pestle heated in the fire and greased with butter, the palate of the child is warmed by thrice
pressing upon it. Then a mixtare of the leaves of a horse-raddish tree and batter is applied, and three times seven dried roots of andropogon muricatus are given to the child, upon whom