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JOYE, 1898.1
SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM.
157
strew and on the spot where the dead breathed his last. They cover the spot with a basket, and next morning lift the basket. They trust to find the mark of a palm. The palm shows the dead is plensed, and from the palm virtne goes ont over the whole family. The Poona Thakars, . wild tribe, on the fifth day after the birth of a child, dip a hand in red powder and water, and mark it on the wall in the lying-in room, and worship the mark. When the Belgaum Bhoi or fisher agrees to break his family ties, to renounce the pleasures of the world, to obey the teacher or guru, and to follow him wherever he goes, the guru lays his hand on the Bhoi's head and says:-"Rise ; from this day you are my disciple." The Bijâ půr Lingayats at the festival called Nandi-kodu along with the Nandi's born carry a hand which they call Vyasantol, or the hand of Vyas the Paran writer.? All Brahmaps, while performing their sandhya or prayer, pass the thumb over the other fingers, and repeat verse. In his evening prayer & Brihmny, after praying the goddess Gayatri to enter him, cracks bis fingers ten times, and sliuts all the openings into the body, so that Gayatri cannot get out. The origin of the special respect which is paid to the hand may be that the wrist contains the pulse, an important sign of life, or, according to the early view, one of the chief spirits which lodge in the body of man. Hindus generally feel the paise and draw blood from the forearm. Among the Jews the right hand was an emblem of fellowship. Abraham says: "I have lifted my right hand. "50 In Egypt, hands and fingers were dedicated to the gods who healed the sick. Among the Ainos of Japan, when one who has been away comes back, his friends take his hands and rub them.53 Among the Niam-Niam of Africa there is a fashion of grasping right hande in such a way that the two middle fingers crackle. The Romans usually joined right hands in sign of a bargain; so did the Parthians and Persians. The hand of justice was a part of the regalia of the Holy Roman Empire. Among the Roman Catholics, in the service of the Mass, after the priest has elevated the Host, he never disjoins bis fingers and thumbs, except when he is to take the Host, till after wanbing his fingers,67 The laying on of hands at a Roman Catholic Baptism implies possession by God,58 and in an adult Baptism the laying on of hands drives out the devil. In the solemn plighting of troth in the Roman Catholio marriage the bride and bridegroom join their right hands. In Middle-Age Europe, the thumb was held sacred and worshipped as thumbbin polluiz. Licking or biting thumbs was a sign of challenge, promise, or agreement among the English and Scotch. In a fit of convulsion or shortness of breath hold your left thumb with your right hand. It may be suggested that the idea that spirits enter by the hands explains the old English practice of giving presents of gloves at marriages and at funerals. So Mr. Cornelius Bee was buried on the 4th of January, 1671, without sermon, without wine ; only gloves and rosemary. The custom of giving gloves at weddings was prevalent in England. Hatebinson, in his. History of Northumberland, says: "Children to Avoid danger are taught to double the thumb within the hand. This was mach praotised whilst the tortorg of witchcraft remained." It was also the custom to fold the thumbs of dead persons within the hands to prevent the power of evil spirits over the deceased. In some parts of England, it is believed that the clergyman's touch cures rheumatism,67 and in North-West England, a child's right hand is not washed that it may gather richies.
* Op. cit. Vol. XVIII. p. 473. ++ Op. cit. Vol. XXI. p. 156. - Information from Mr. P. B. Joshi
Mackay's Froom sonry, p. 291. » St. John's Nipon, p. 99.
Mackay's Freemasonry. p. 292. 87 Golilen Manual, p. 261. * Op. cit. p. 793. & Grimm's Tectonic Mythology, Vol. I. p. 160. # St. Austin in Brand's Popular Antipsities, Vol. II. p. 343. • Op. cit. Vol. II. p. 125. 67 Henderson's Folk-Lre, p. 161.
15 Op.cit. Vol. XVIII. p. 426. * Op. cit. Vol. XXIII. p. 229. 49 Dubois, Vol. I. p. 372. 61 Jones' Crou ne, p. 345. 63 Schweinfurth's Heart of Africa, Vol. II. p. 27. u Op.cit. Do. " Jones' Crown, p. 845. A Op. cit. p. 070. 69 Op. cit. p. 699. 61 Chambers's Book of Day, p. 350. 64 Braad'a Popular Antiquities, Vol. II. p.144
Op. cit. Vol. III. p. 180. Op. cit. p. 16.
