________________
378
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1894.
an angry god, and the Bijapur Vaddars have a yearly feast to their ancestors to prevent the dead bringing sickness into the house. In the Dabistan it is stated that in Kalinga in East India (1649 A. D.) every village had a spirit called by some particular name, each supposed to be the author of some disease. One was called anambaram. In North Bhután all diseases are believed to be special spirits, and the only treatment is by exorcising. Among the Garos when a man sickens, the priest asks what god has done it.87 The Kûkîs and nearly all. aboriginal tribes hold that disease is caused by evil spirits. The Khonds think disease is sent either by a god, or by an angry ancestor. The Bâstâr Kðis believe that death is generally caused by female spirits, probably at the instigation of an enemy.70 The Katals, or Kurumbals, of Malabar, a higher class slave tribe, believe that the spirits of men after death inflict diseases, and are appeased by the offerings of distilled liquor, which the votary drinks, after calling on the spirit to partake of it.71 The Mogayers, South Kánara fishermen, believe that evil spirits cause disease, and so in cases of sickness they call in Billavars, and even Musalman exorcists.72
The old Persians had, as the Pârst sacred books still have, & spirit-explanation for almost all diseases. Fever was made by the devil.73 Sickness, fever, cold, and shivering gather at the Tower of Silence.74 The Parsi has also a spirit of blindness, 75 of hunger and thirst,76 of bad swelling, 77 and of irregular sickness.78 The Prophet Muhammad, 70 held that all diseases were the work of devils, except fever, which was a foretaste of bell-fire.80
The Chinese believe that all diseases are caused by the spirits of the unfriendly dead.91 The inhabitants of Melanesia believe that all sickness and mischief to the living is the work of the ghosts of the dead, who are always seeking an opportunity to do evil. So, for fear of tamates, no one will go about at night, unless be carries a light, which ghosts are afraid of. If a child is sick, it is thonght that it has wandered within reach of some ghost. When a man goes out of his mind, it is thought that a ghost has possessed him, and wonderful things are thought to be done by one in such a condition. The Australians believe that diseases are caused by evil spirits.83 The Inthlangwains near Natal do not know how long the spirit of a dead person lives. They attribute every untoward occurrence to the influence of the spirit, and if sickness comes, slaughter- & beast to please the spirit.84 Among the Wazaramos of East Africa, whenever any one is ill he is supposed to be possessed by the evil one. In East Africa all disease is believed to be caused by spirits or winds. The spirit doctor drives out the spirit by music and hard exorcism.96 The Tanalas of Madagascar believe that death is caused by spirits, and so at the grave a man shouts: "This is what yes7 get; you must not follow after his children. This is the one you have got."89 The Indians of Arizona believe that death is caused by the devil.80
The next step was that only certain diseases came to be attributed to spirits. Thus the Mängellâs of Thânâ believe that most diseases and misfortunes in life are due to blúts, evil spirits, witchcraft, or to the influence of the nine planets. The palm-tappers of South Kanara, called Billavars, believe that most women are liable to spirit-possession. The Waspaluli
• Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XVII. p. 200.
04 Op. cit. Vol. XXIII. p. 212. « Vol. II. p. 160.
* Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 97. 67 Op. cit. p. 60.
65 Op. oit. p. 43. Macpherson's Khonds, p. 76.
To Jour. R. A. Soc. Vol. XIII. p. 416. T1 1800 A. D., Buchanan's Mysore, Vol. II. p. 498. 11 Op. cit. Vol. III. p. 63. 15 Bleek's Avesta, Vol. I. p. 12.
14 Op. cit. p. 68. 76 Op. at. p. 56; Yaina, Vol. X.
16 Bleek's Avesta, Vol. I. pp. 68-65. 11 Op. ot. p. 69.
T8 Op. cit. p. 12. TA. . 612.
Fort. Rev. Vol. VI. p. 426. * Jour. Ethno. Soc. Vol. II. p. 21.
* Codrington in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Vol. X. p. 284. 85 Wallace's Australasia, p. 100.
* Gardiner's Zuh Country, p. 314. # Thomson's Central Africa, p. 104.
* Barton's Central Africa, VOL. II. p. 353. 87 I. e., spirits of the dead ancestors.
Sibree's Madagascar, p. 237. # First Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Washington. # From MS, notes.
# Buchanan's Mysore, VOL. III. p. 58.
