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82
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
MAY, 1926
it the Cicada uttered its cry and the whole world became dark. When the people saw that it was dark they tried to bring back the daylight. Tengat took some of the resin and made torches. He taught the people how to dance and sing. When Da Kongoro (Sir Ant) sang a song, the day came back. After that the day and night came alternately."
Next Mr. Brown says that the skeleton of the Legend, (p. 331) is this: "one of the ancestors killed a Cicada (a forbidden act), the Cicada uttered its cry (as it does when hurt), and as a result, darkness covered the world (as it always does when the Cicada sings in the evening). Leaving aside, for the present, the rest of the story, we may try to make clear to ourselves just what this part of it expresses."
Then he goes on (p. 331) : "the explanation that I propose is to the effect that the Legend is simply an expression or a statement of the social volue of the phenomenon of the alternation of day and night."
He next remarks that "the one outstanding feature of the first importance is that the day is the time of social activity, whereas the night is a period when the society is, as a rule, not activo; " and that “one of the most important elements in the mental complex revealed by a study of the ceremonial is the recognition of the fact that it is on the activity of the society that the individual depends for his security and well-being." Also (p. 332) :
it is the inevitable result of this that the daytime, when the society is aotive, should be felt to be a period of comparative security, while the night, when all social activity ceases, should be a period of comparative insecurity."
Mr. Brown's next note is (p. 332): “the Andaman Islander, like many other savages, is afraid of the dark.... But I would hold that in the Andaman Islanders and probably in other savages, the fear of darkness, of night, is a secondary induced feeling, not by any means instinctive, and is in a large part due to the social sentiments, to the fact that at night the social life ceases. ... Because any condition of the individual in which he is withdrawn from active participation in the common life is regarded as one of danger from magico-religious foroes antagonistio to the society."
Having read all this into the tale Mr. Brown says (p. 332): "the interpretation that I would offer of the Akar. Bale [Balawa) Legend is that it is an expression of these sentiments relating to the night; an expression that takes advantage of the connection between the song, the Cicada and the alternation of the night and day .... The necessity of this particular form must be accepted as a postulate." After this he proceeds (p. 333) to show at length "that the Legend does express the social value of Night."
Prohibitions as Precautions. Mr. Brown harks back, however, for a moment to discuss the fear of night in a paragraph of the first iinportance to his general argument. He says (p. 333) :
“The fear of night, or rather, since that fear is rarely more than potential, the feeling that night is a time of insecurity, is part of the general attitude of fear or respect towards the forces of nature that are believed to be possible sources of danger to the society. Now, it has been shown that this particular attitude towards nature finds expression in ritual prohibitions of various kinds. For instance, the Andaman Islander translates his feeling of the social value of food substances into the belief that such things must be treated with ritual precautions." And then he goes on (p. 334) with the argument : " Applying this to the case before us, we must first recognise that to the Andaman Islander the alternation of the day and night and the singing of the Cicada are not separate phenomena, but are two parts or aspects of one and the same recurring event. Now, the night and day are things that cannot be handled, i.e., cannot be immediately subject to the actions of human beings, while the Cicada can be handled. Hence it is to the Cicada that the need of precaution is referred. Any interference with the Cioada is forbidden, and this prohibition serves as a mark or expression of the social
