target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_17097005-9ded-5d96-a3de-67a449cbc194">46 Jarrett, “Aîn-i-Akbari,” ii. 159; Führer, “Monumental Antiquities,” 153.
47 “Annals,” ii. 15.
48 “Notes,” 147.
49 MacIagan, “Panjâb Census Report,” 107.
50 Sherring, “Sacred City,” 119.
51 “Panjâb Notes and Queries,” i. 35.
52 “Central Provinces Gazetteer,” 259.
53 For the Celtic Mothers see Rhys, “Lectures,” 100, 899; for Arabia, Robertson-Smith, “Kinship,” 179.
54 Lubbock, “Origin of Civilization,” 146; Starke, “Primitive Family,” 17 sqq.; Letourneau, “Sociology,” 384.
55 Benfey, “Panchatantra,” i. 41–52; quoted by Tawney, “Katha Sarit Sâgara,” ii. 638.
56 Monier-Williams, “Sanskrit Dictionary, s.v. Mâtrî”; for the Nepâl enumeration, Oldfield, “Sketches,” i. 151; for Bombay, “Gazetteer,” xvii. 715. In the “Katha Sarit Sâgara” (i. 552), Nârâyanî is their leader. There is a very remarkable story of the gambler who swindled the Divine Mothers (ibid., ii. 574 sqq.).
57 Campbell, “Notes,” 311; “Athenæum,” 6th December, 1879; “Folk-lore Record,” iii. Part i. 117 sqq.
58 “Bombay Gazetteer,” v. 432 sq.
59 Atkinson, “Himâlayan Gazetteer,” ii. 884.
60 Cunningham, “Archæological Reports,” vii. 158.
61 Growse, “Mathura,” 116, 125; Führer, “Monumental Antiquities,” 27, 132.
62 Bholanâth Chandra, “Travels of a Hindu,” i. 38.
63 “Rig Veda,” viii. 23, 25.
64 Brand, “Observations,” 331.
65 “Border Minstrelsy,” 466.
66 Tod, “Annals,” ii. 363 sq., 763; Conway, “Demonology,” i. 54.
67 Campbell, “Notes,” 145.
68 Tod, “Annals,” i. 708; ii. 670.
69 Hartland, “Legend of Perseus,” i. chap. iv.
70 Dalton, “Descriptive Ethnology,” 232.
71 “Gazetteer,” 276.
72 “Rambles and Recollections,” i. 123.
73 Stokes, “Indian Fairy Tales,” 140 sqq.; Temple, “Wideawake Stories,” 109, 302; “Indian Antiquary,” iv. 57; Grimm, “Household Tales,” ii. 400.
74 Dalton, “Descriptive Ethnology,” 64; other instances in Westermarck, “History of Human Marriage,” 158 sq.
CHAPTER III.
THE GODLINGS OF DISEASE.
Καὶ γὰρ τοῖσι κακὸν χρυσόθρονος Ἄρτεμις ὦρσεν
Χωσαμένη ὃ οἰ οὔτι θαλύσια γουνῶ ἀλωῆς
Οἰνεὺς ῥέξ.
Iliad ix. 533–535.
We now come to consider a class of rural godlings, the deities who control disease.
The Demoniacal Theory of Disease.
It is a commonplace of folk-lore and the beliefs of all savage races that disease and death are not the result of natural causes, but are the work of devils and demons, witchcraft, the Evil Eye, and so forth. It is not difficult to understand the basis on which beliefs of this class depend. There are certain varieties of disease, such as hysteria, dementia, epilepsy, convulsions, the delirium of fever, which in the rural mind indicate the actual working of an evil spirit which has attacked the patient. There are, again, others, such as cholera, which are so sudden and unexpected, so irregular in their appearances, so capricious in the victims which they select, that they naturally suggest the idea that they are caused by demons. Even to this day the belief in the origin of disease from spirit possession is still common in rural England. Fits, the falling sickness, ague, cramp, warts, are all believed to be caused by a spirit entering the body of the patient. Hence comes the idea that the spirit which is working the mischief can be scared by a charm or by the exorcism of a sorcerer. They say to the ague, “Ague! farewell till we meet in hell,” and to the cramp, “Cramp! be thou faultless, as Our Lady was when she bore Jesus.”
It is needless to say that the same theory flourishes in rural India. Thus, in Râjputâna,1 sickness is popularly attributed to Khor, or the agency of the offended spirits of deceased relations, and for treatment they call in a “cunning man,” who propitiates the Khor by offering sweetmeats, milk, and similar things, and gives burnt ash and black pepper sanctified by charms to the patient. The Mahadeo Kolis of Ahmadnagar believe that every malady or disease that