Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 134

124
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1920
sun and of the moon is particularly in force among them. Looking at a map showing the distribution of animists in India we find that in the area occupied by the Garos and other tribes, more than fifty per cent. of the whole population are animistall. To sum up in one word, the religion of the Garos may be defined as poly-demonism mixed with magic.
To the savage the world of experience is not the same as with us. Dreams to them are caused by the "soul " leaving its habitation for a time, and the actions performed in a dream are, to him, actions actually performed by the soul in its peregrinations. Dreams are something real and tangible, full of dangers and warnings; therefore when a man dreams, immediate precautions are to be taken if the evil consequences are to be avoided. To the primitive mind there is no very great difference between the seen and the unseen, between the material and the supernatural. Therefore, since it is an undeniable fact with him that dreams are what the soul goes or feels, there is no reason whatever why he should not accept the evidence of dreams. In fact in many cases dreams are more satisfactory and more oonvincing evidence because of their mystic origin than realities; and, as Prof. Haddon remarks, there is nothing about which a primitive man is more certain than the things revealed to him in dreamg18. Not only savages but even comparatively civilized peoples have taken notice of, and provided against, evil dreams. Joseph, husband of Mary, was warned by a dream to flee from Jr.; and whe. urod was dead, he was warned again by a dream to "turn aside into the philip of Gai..du."19 In che Old Testament, Pharaoh had a warning dream of a famine which he was able to provide against20. And, to give a comprehensive example, dreams occupy & prominent part in modern folklore 21. Such being the case, the whole life of the Garos is one continual round of precautions against all the ills which human flesh is heir to. As soon as a man has a bad dream he collects a reel-like grass and goes to the village priest. The priest mutters certain incantations and beats the dreamer with the grass. Then the dreamer carries a cock to the nearest stream, kills it, and lets its blood fall into a toy boat; the boat is launched, and as it starts, the dreamer bathes in the water. The object of all this is twofold ; the incantations, mock chastisement and the sacrifice appease the spirits, and the launching of the boat and the bathing in the water carry off the ill luck ,
Not being content with driving away the misfortunes of one particular individual, the Garos attempt to expel all the aocumulated ills of the year through the medium of a scapegoat in the form of an animal. For the cure of diseases sacrifices 23 are resorted to, for who can doubt that illnesses are caused only when a certain spirit is enraged, and he takes his revenge by causing a malady to the malefactor! The belief that sicknesses are caused by demons is so wellknown to all students of anthropology that it is hardly necessary to say anything at all on the subject, and it will suffice to give one or two examples chosen at random from widely different parts. The natives of Central Australia believe that all sicknesses, from the simplest to the most complicated, from a headache or a slight indisposition to a cancer, are caused by the malign influenoes of an enemy either in human or in spirit form 4. The Kei islanders believe that sicknesses are caused only when the spirits of ancestors are enraged at not receiving food, who therefore make people sick by obtaining their souls.26 Among the Yoruba-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast the belief in sickness-causing demons is carried to an extreme.
11 See Oensus of India, 1911, p. 130,"Map showing the Distribution of Animists." 18 A. C. Haddon, Head Hunters, Black, White and Brown (London, 1901), p. 67. 19 Matthew, ii, 13, 19, 22.
30 Genesis, xli, 15-36. 21 Of. A Dictionary of Superstitions and Mythology, passim.
32 A. Playfair, The Garos, pp. 1161. Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, vol. viii (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 281. The Philistines made golden images of sores which plagued them and stowed them away in the ark (7 Sanuel vi, 4, 5). For various forms of driving out evils see (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Scapegoat, passim.
23. For a masterly exposition of Sacrifice, see H. Hubert and M. Maues, “Ensai sur la nature et la fonc. tion du saorifice, L'Annde Sociologique, vol. ii (1897-1898).
34 (Sir) B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1899), p. 530. 35 J. G.F. Riedel, De sluik en kroesharige rasaen tusschen Celebes en Papua (The Hague, 1886), pp. 221 sqı