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AUGUST, 1895.)
SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM.
227
Suppliants put grass in their mouths, apparently to scare anger from the mind of the person they address. So, about 1760, when the Kolis took the fort of Trimbak, the Musalman garrison are described as going about with grass in their mouths.13 Sholapur Mångs, on their return from a funeral, bring hardl4l4 grass and nem leaves, and strew them on the floor of the house where the body was laid.15 In Bengal, the Brahman bride during part of the marriage ceremony sits on a mat of viránálo grass, covered with silk.17 In Bengal, at the beginning of the marriage ceremony, the first part of which is the solemn reception of the bridegroom by the father-inlaw, the father presents the bridegroom with a cushion of darbha grass on which the bridegrooma stands.18 Hindus use darbha grass to purify their sacrificial vessels. In the thread-girding, Karnatak Brahmans wind a girdle of darbha grask thrice round the boy.20 Hindus scatter durbha grass over a place which has been smeared with cow-dung.21 In South India, the sight of darbha grass is believed to drive off the giants, demons and other bad spirits, who hurt man and spoil Brâhmaņ ceremonies. The charm called pavitrak, purifier, consists of three, five, or seven blades of darbha grass worn in the form of a ring. Before beginning any ceremony the priest takes the grass ring, dips it in holy water, and draws it on his middle right finger. This holy grass enters into all ceremonies, all sacrifices, and all religious and social rites.22 On the 11th of Âáadh (June-July) in Southern India no rice is eaten. People take a bundle of darbha grass, go to a temple of Vishņu, make a bed of the grass, and pass the night in the temple.2 In India, images of grass are made at places of pilgrimage 24 and formerly a blade of grass in a man's hair was a sign that he was for sale.36 The Brihman's sacred waist-thread, at the time of thread-girding, is made from the muñao grass,27,28 Hindu recluses sit on darbha grass.29 The Beni-Isra'ils, on leaving a grave, pick three handfuls of grass and throw them back over their heads, apparently to prevent the spirit of the dead following them to his house.30 Similarly, the ancient Jews, as they returned from the grave, plucked grass and threw it behind them two or three times, saying :-“They shall flourish outside of the city like grass upon the earth.''31 In Egypt kuphob grass was burnt to drive off malaria.32 In 1583, the Chinese wore straw hats as a sign of mourning.33 In Japan, a straw rope is tied round the temple of the sun-goddess to keep off evil spirts. The women of the South Sea Islands and the Motu women of New Guinea wear grass girdles.35 The Motu men and women of New Guinea wear plaited strips of bark or grass about two inches broad, as an armlet, round the upper arm. These armlets are often smeared with red clay.36 The Negrillos of the Philippine Islands (1695) wear no ornaments, except bracelets of rushes.37 At a holy spot in Dahomey travellers are given a blade of grass to throw towards the object of worship.38 The woman who led a band of Kafirs in the South African war of 1878 had wisps of straw in her ears, a charm which made her wound-proof.39 Some Papuans plait rushes into their hair round the crown. The only ornament of Wafip, an East African chief was a few strings of grass worn round his legs.11 Well-to-do Nubian women wear glass bracelets; those who are poor wear bracelets of grass.12 The Monbatus of Central Africa twist ornaments for themselves out of reeds and
18 Mackintosh in 7'rans, Bombay Geog. Soc. Vol. I. p. 214. Cynodon dactylin. 15 Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XX. p. 174.
16 Andropogon aromaticum. 11 Colebrooke's Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I. p. 213. 18 Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 205. 19 Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 152.
20 Dubois, Vol. I. p. 224. 21 Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 208.
92 Op. cit. Vol. I. pp. 202, 204, 28 Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 526.
* Ward's View of the Hindus, Vol. II. p. 131. 25 Op. cit. Vol. III. p. 16.
* Saccharum munja. 27 Dibistán, Vol. II. p. 53.
28 Maurioe's Indian Antiquities, Vol. V. p. 968. * Ward's View of the Hindus, Vol. I. p. 7.
30 Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XVIII. p. 584. 31 Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 266. The saying apparently means - they, that is the spirits, shall (rather, perhaps, may the spirita) flourish outside of the city (and not return among the dwellings of men.] 31 Maurice's Indian Antiquities, Vol. VII. p. 631.
39 Kerr's Voyages, Vol. VII. p. 500. * Roed's Japan, Vol. I. p. 34.
35 Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Vol. VII. p. 476. 36 Op. cit. Vol. VII. p. 479.
31 Oareri in Churchill, Vol. IV. p. 414. * Burton's Dahomey, Vol. I. p. 286.
Canninghara's South Afrua, p. 373. " Earl's Papuans, p. 18. Thomson's Lakes of Central Africa, Vol. II. p. 241, 49 Burkhardt's Nubia, p. 14
