Indian Antiquary Vol 24

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 69

MARCH, 1895.]
BULLETIN OF THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA.
The Kirghiz of Central Asia beat a woman in child-bed, because they believe her to be possessed.70 Beating with a leather lash is a common Japanese application as a remedy for rheumatism, and to promote circulation. The Arawahs, when a man dies, cut thorny twigs and beat the body to try and bring him back.73 Carerit notices & disease in the Philippine Islands, which can be cured only by beating the patient black and blue. The South Africans have a ceremony, called sechu, in which the men beat the boys with wands, drawing blood, to harden them.74 When the king of Tahiti, on his crowning day, is bathing, the priest strikes him on the back with a sacred branch: this purifies the king from blood and other guiltiness.75
In the mysteries of Adonis, in the funeral ceremony mourners pass along the streets, scourging themselves and uttering frantic cries.76 In chivalry the knigbt struck the candidate on the neck with a sword, kissed his cheeks and forehead, and with his open palm gave him a gentle slap.77 Among the Romans, during the La percalia, matrons were lashed by the priests with leather thongs, and they became pregnant. **
When St. Teresa of Spain (1540) began to suffer from trances and fits she was said to be possessed by a devil, and Francesco Borgia, Jesuit Provincial General for Spain, advised her to scoarge herself with a whip of nettles 7" In Germany, if your milk is bewitched, whip it in a pot, or stir it with a riekle: every lash or ent makes the witch wince.80 The Duke of Carinthis, in Austria, gets a slight slap on the face from a peasant when he succeeds. In the thirteenth century the Italian sect, called the Flagellante, held that scourging was equally important as Baptism and the Sacrament. Among Roman Catholics the communicant is patted on the cheeks, and the Roman Catholic priest in the Bacrifice of the Mask on several occasions strikes his breast. Beating with nettles was, in England, considered good for consumption."
Similarly with men, dower and fruit trees and animals were whipped, if believed to be worried by spirits. The Hindus have a belief that the kadamb tree when beaten by pregnant woman with her left foot bears plenty of flowers. According to the Spanish proverb “a woman, a spaniel, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be." In Hull and York dogs are whipped once a year. 57
(To be continued.)
BULLETIN OF THE BELIGIONS OF INDIA.
BY A. BARTH OF THE INSTITUT DE VRANCE. (Translated from the French by Dr. James Morison.)
(Concluded from p. 41.) I SHALL finish this review of works on the ancient philosophy of India, by mentioning a short Jains work, the Shaddaranasamuchchsya, “the Epitome of the Six Systems," of Haribhadra, of which we have a good edition from Prof.P. L. Pallé, of Padua. Haribhadrs, who according to tradition, died in 529 A.D., but by more exact testimony lived in the ninth century, and who had several homonyms, was a Brahman converted to Jainism He is famous still as the author of 1,400 prabandhas (chapters of works), and seems to have been one of the
Spencer's Principles of Sociology, Vol. L p. 246. 11 Silver's Japan, 12. 19 Spencer'. Principles of Beciology Vol. I. p. 168. Careri in Churchiu, Vol. IV. p. 430. * Dr. Lavingstone's Travels in South Africa, p. 146. Jones' Orowns, p. 458. To Mackay's Freemasonry, p. 8.
11 Op. cit. p. 56.
* From M8. Notes. ** Quart. Rou. October 1883, p. 406.
Grimm's Tente. Myth. Vol. III. p. 1078. * Jones' Crotons, p. 899.
* Goldon Manual, p. 690. Op. cit. Pp. 280-271. * Dyer's Foll-Lore, p. 82.
* Information from Mr. P. B. Joshi, Dyer's Folk-Lore, p. 80.
Op. cit. p. 104 19 In the Gior della Sociale Asiatics Hakana, L. (1887).