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SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM.
MAY, 1895.]
thrown round the necks of the Kunbi bride and bridegroom. The Râjputs of Kathiawâr make three circles at different parts of the wedding service.70 The Nagar Châmbhârs lay before Satvai, turmeric, sandal paste, flowers, a coil of thread, and wheat cakes.71 Among the Dhruva Prabhûs of Poona, the priest passes a thread five or six times round the husband and wife. Among the Telugu Nhâvis, or barbers, of Poona, a thread is wound fourteen times round the bride and bridegroom, cut into two, and one part of it tied round the wrist of the bride and the other round the wrist of the bridegroom.72 in Bijapur, among many classes, the practice at a wedding is to have a surgi, or square, with a water-pot at each corner and a thread passed several times round the necks of the water-pots. Among the Mâdhava Brahmans of Dharwar, a thread is passed five times round a group of married women, who oil and turmeric themselves before the wedding.73 In Belgaum the full-moon of Śrâvan (July-August) is called the thread-hank full-moon. Kunbis make hanks of thread, colour them yellow, and throw them round the necks of the men and women of the family. Among the Kulachârî Hatgars, a class of Belgaum hand-loom weavers, after the birth of a male child, a party of elderly married women come and gird the child's waist with a thread called kadadôrá.75 Among the Kânara Shênvis, a Brahman priest winds a thread in a double circle-of-eight pattern round the bride and bridegroom.70 Among the Roman Catholics of Kânara, the dead have their hands tied together across the chest, and a crucifix is laid on them.77
To keep off spirits, the Orions of Chuția Nagpur, wear a girdle of cords of tusser silk or of canes.78 In Bengal, the Hindu wife worships her husband, walking round him seven times.79 When the Hindus dedicate a temple, they walk thrice round it.80 Hindu satis tied threads round their wrists (to keep off spirits).81 In India, if a Brâhman sees a temple, a cow, or a holy man, he ought to walk round them.82
The Supreme Ruler addressed Zoroaster from the midst of a vast and pure circle of fire.83 The Pârsis wear a girdle of thread, called kasti, round their waists. The Egyptian god Oneph was shewn holding a zone and a sceptre.84 The Jews compassed the altar.85 Mecca pilgrims go seven times round the Ka'ba, or sacred black stone.88
In Burma, when cholera breaks out, the Burmese get the priests to bless holy water and yellow threads, which they either wear as bracelets or hang round the eaves of their houses.97 The Burman king at his crowning goes round the city, beginning from the east.99 The object of the Nagas in wearing a ring of hart's horn round the point of the penis is probably to scare spirits.99 The Chinese villagers paint a circle on farm walls to keep off wolves, panthers, and foxes,90
129
The Dinkas of the White Nile, as a sign of grief, wear a necklace of cord. In East Africa, the wizard is tied to a stake, and a circle of fire is lighted round him, and he is roasted.92 The Hottentots wear many rings of leather round the ankle, circles of simple cords above or below the knee, and bracelets of beads.93
The Romans wore crowns at their feasts (to keep off spirits); their dead were wreathed, nd their victors, crowned with laurel and bay. The Romans had great faith in the virtue of the ring. When the table was spread, a ring was laid on the Roman table.94 To nove a ring from the left hand to the right cured cough. A morsel of goat's brain passed
Ti Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XVII. p. 157. 73 Op. cit. Vol. XXII. p. 80.
76 Op. cit. Vol. XV. p. 158.
70 Information from Colonel Barton.
3 Op. cit. Vol. XVIII. p. 382.
75 Op. cit. Vol. XXI. p. 137.
78 Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 249.
80 Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 7. 81 Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 99.
83 Maurice's Indian Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 225.
$5 Psalm, xxvi. 6.
87 Shway Yoe's The Burman, Vol. II. p. 108.
89 Fytche's Burmah, Vol. I. pp. 350, 351.
1 Schweinfurth's Heart of Africa, Vol. I. p. 154. 85 Burchel's Afrien, Vol. I. p. 396.
74 Op. cit. Vol. XXI. p. 115. 77 Op. cit. Vol. XV. p. 393.
79 Ward's View of the Hindus, Vol. II. p. 75. 82 Dabistan, Vol. II. p. 84.
84 Kennedy's Hindu Mythology, p. 33.
86 Burckhardt's Arabia, Vol. I. p. 172.
88 Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 171.
30 Gray's China, Vol. II. p. 111.
2 Cameron's Across Africa, Vol. I. p. 116.
Pliny's Natural History, Book xxviii. Chaps. 2 and 6.
