Indian Antiquary Vol 25

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

Page 86

80
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCH, 1896.
child is five months old, children are called and feasted, and have their heads rubbed with jessamine oil. The Dharwâr Madhava Brahmans anoint their bodies on New Year's Day.79 Among the Khandesh Bhils, and also among the Bhois or fishermen of Poona, on the third day after a death, one of the women of the mourning household rubs the shoulders of the pall-bearers with oil, milk and cowdung. Among Gujarat Brahmans and Vânis, mourners are anointed on the seventh day after a death. And a week later, from the house of mourning, oil is sent to relations, who use no oil till the mouruers' oil is received. Anong the Kurs or Muasis of Western Bengal, the exorcist drives out spirits by gently anointing the patient with butter.80 In Ceylon, a possessed man is cured by having his bair knotted and cocoanut oil smeared over his head, brow, temples, breast and nails.81 In Gujarat, when an upper class Kinda child has small-pox, the mother does not dress or oil her hair. The reason seems to be that Sayid Káká, by whom the child is possessed, is mainly a fiend whom the scent of oil will annoy and enrage. The reason why a Brahman may not look at his wife when she is oiling her hair is perhaps the risk that the evil spirit scared by the oil may go into the looker.82 So, to prevent spirits entering by their newly washed hair, Brâhman women oil their hair before washing it in water. Among the ingredients in Herrick's charm-song to affright and drive away the evil sprite are salt, sacred spittle and a little oil. The Oraons and the Hô and Mundâs of South-West Bengal anoint the dead.83 The Moria Gonds anoint the bride and bridegroom.84 At an Indian Musalman wedding, oil jars are passed over the heads of the bride and bridegroom, and an arrow is dipped in oil and with its point the brido's knees, shoulders, temples, hair and brow are anointed.85 Before a caste feast, the Nagar Bråbmans of Gujarat, dip their right finger tips in oil and mark their brows. At Hinda visits sweet-scented oil or 'atar is rubbed on the face and clothes of the parting guest. In Malabar (A. D. 1508), warm oil applied three times a day cured wounds.87 Oil is poured by Hindus over Hanuman or Måruti, over Sani or Saturn, and over the two Nodes, Kêtu and Rahu. Oil mixed with red lead is still more widely used in marking worshipful stones and images. On high festivals, when upper class Hindus apply scented oils to their own heads, they also pour some of the same oil over the heads of their household gods.89 In the crowning of Sivaji (A. D. 1674) the first of the sacred sprinklings or abhišék was the dropping through a dish drilled with boles of clarified butter over the seated Raja. The Red Indians bathe and anoint themselves with cedar oil before praying to the Sun.a
That its light-giving quality is one element in the worshipfulness of oil appears from the address in the Hindu midday sandhya or prayer to butter :-"You are the light, by you everything burns." The Babylonian Beel-samen was the God of Oil. The body of the Babylonian Belus was kept floating in oil. According to the ancient Persians the departed in heaven live on oil.92 The ancient Ethiopians delighted in anointing the head, so that the oil ran down and made their shoulders shine. The ancient Egyptians anointed guests, mummies, and the statues of the gods. The anointing was one of the chief ceremonies at the king's crowning. At Egyptian parties, every guest's head-dress was bound with a chaplet of flowers, and ointment was put on the top of the wig as if it had been hair. The Jews anointed the table and vessels the candlesticks, the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offerings with sacred ointment.86 They also anointed their hair and beards, and on festive days they anointed their bodies, especially the head and feet. Further, they anointed their dying, their dead, their žings, their high 18 Op. cit. Vol. XXII. P. 69.
19 Op. cit. Vol. XIL p. 92. Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 238. 1 Journal Asiatic Society, Ceylon, 1966, p. 49. " Dabistan, II.
#5 Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 202, 261. # Hislop's Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 23.
Herklot's Quntuni Islám, p. 128. * Moore's Fragmenta, p. 149. M Commentaries of Albuquerque, Vol. II. p. 79. * Note from L. S. Gupte. • Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XI. p. 370.
Wa Emerson's Masks, Heada and Faces, 88. # Dabois, Vol. I. p. 366.
Hislop's Theo Babylons, p. 241. n West's Pahlavi Tezts, p. 83; Dabistan, Vol. I. p. 290. Wilkinson's Egyptians, Vol. III. p. 380. N Wilkinson's Egyptians, Second Series, Vol. II. pp. 279, 280, 282. * Op. cit. Vol. III. p. 356.
* Exodus, inx, 22-29; Josephus' Antiquities, Vol. III. 9.