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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1894.
certain myths in their totality, such as those of Namuchi and Indra, of Yama and his two dogs, of Manu, and of Saranyu. I think that for each one of these he has been successful in making the story more definite, in telling it to us better, notably in the case of Namuchi1 and Saranyu; where he attempts to guess at their origin, be seems less fortunate. But, as a whole, these studies are written with such care and with such a perfect knowledge of the data, that with regard to this alone any future student of these myths will have always to pay attention to them. Professor Bloomfield is indefatigable. At the head of a company of pupils and colleagues he gives us hopes of a complete Vedic Concordance which will contain all the formule of the older literature. If this work be carried out thoroughly on the orderly and comprehensive plan sketched out by Prof. Bloomfield, it will be an invaluable help in future researches.93 Another announcement which we welcome with pleasure is that of the speedy appearance of the translation of the Atharvaveda by Prof. Whitney, with commentary, notes and references. It is, further, a proof that the health of Prof. Whitney, which has long been far from good, is at last re-established, and that is a second reason for hailing this announcement with joy. (To be continued.)
NOTES ON THE SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM. BY J. M. CAMPBELL, C.I.E., I.C.S. (Continued from p. 338.)
11
2. Badges or Dévaks...
Zal
A great step towards guardian gods took place when the spirits of the family dead were considered friendly, not hostile. These friendly dead had, as noticed above, taken their abode either in the living tombs of man-eating animals, or in fruit or other food-yielding trees. The choosing a badge was not the cause of tree, or animal, worship; it was the result of the belief that the spirits of ancestors lived in plants or in animals. Mr. McLennan explains the ten incarnations of Vishnu as the adoption into the national religion of ten clan gods.3 It seems simpler to suppose that these were all worshipped as different objects, which gave protection against spirits, before they were chosen as a badge by any clan.
In the Bombay Presidency the practice of choosing guardians, or devaks, is universal among the Marathas of the Deccan, and to a less extent antong the Kunbis, Kôlis, and Mâlis of the Konkan, and some husbandmen, like the Halvakki Vakkals of North Kinara. The usual devaks are animals, like the elephant, stag, deer, or cock, or trees, as the mango, jambul, vaḍ, or bor. The dévak is the ancestor or head of the house, and so families, who have the same guardian badge, or déval, cannot intermarry. If the déral be an animal, its flesh is not eaten. If the dévak be a fruit tree, the use of the fruit is not forbidden, though some families abstain from eating the fruit of the tree which forms their derak, or badge. Among the Nasik
91 See on this a letter of Prof. M. Müller in the Academy, 22nd October 1892.
92 On the myths I shall also mention a pamphlet by M. V. Henry, in which he applies the theory of nature.or Folar " riddles" to some ancient legends and in which the references to the Veda are numerous: Quelques mythes naturalistes méconnus. Les supplices infernaux de l' antiquité, Paris, 1892. In the case of Tantalus the author could have strengthened his position if he had noticed that, in its most ancient form, the punishment of Tantalus takes place not in hell, but in heaven.
93 A Vedic Concordance. Being a Collection of the Hymns and Sacrificial Formulas of the Literature of the Vedas. By Maurice Bloomfield. From the Johns Hopkin's University Circulars, May 1992. Cf. Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, April 1892.
94 Announcement as to a Second volume of the Roth. Whitney edition of the Atharva-Veda, by Prof, W. D. Whitney, in the Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, April 1892. [The great Professor died 7th June, 1894. ED.]
1 McLennan (Fort, Rev. Vol. VII. New Series, p. 213) thinks that the worship of animals or plants began in their being badges or protectors. Lubbock thinks it arose from certain ancestors choosing to be called as a memorial after some animal. It seems more likely to have its rise in the experience of men being re-born as animals (Tylor's Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 237). WP!
2 Fort, Rev. Vol. VII. New Series, p. 215.
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