Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub
[graphic][merged small][merged small]

usually takes the form of a monument, on which is carved the warrior on his charger, with his wife standing beside him, and the images of the sun and the moon on either side, emblematical of never-dying fame. Such places are the scene of many a ghostly legend. As Col. Tod writes in his sentimental way" Among the altars on which have burnt the beautiful and brave, the harpy or Dâkinî takes up her abode, and stalks forth to devour the heart of her victims." The Râjput never enters these places of silence, but to perform stated rites or anniversary offerings of flowers and water to the manes of his ancestors. There is a peculiarly beautiful Satî necropolis at Udaypur, and the Satî Burj, or tower at Mathura, erected in honour of the queen of Râja Bihar Mal of Jaypur in 1570 A.D., is one of the chief ornaments of the city.*

THE SATI AND THE PITRI.

The connection between the special worship of the Satî and that of the Pitri or sainted dead will have been remarked. In many places the Satî represents the company of the venerated ancestors and is regarded as the guardian mother of the village, and in many of the rustic shrines of this class the same connection with the Pitri is shown in another interesting way. The snake is, as we shall see, regarded as a type of the household deity, which is often one of the deified ancestors, and so, in the Satî shrine we often see a snake delineated in the act of rising out of the masonry, as if it were the guardian mother snake arising to receive the devotion of her descendants.

The Satî having thus secured the honour of deification by her sacrifice, is able to protect her worshippers and gratify their desires. Some are even the subject of special honour, such as Sakhû Bâî, who is worshipped at Akola. Even the Drâvidian Kaurs of Sarguja worship a deified Satî, another 1 66 Annals," i. 79.

2 Ferguson, "History of Indian Architecture," 470; "Râjputâna Gazetteer," iii. 46; Growse, "Mathura,” 138.

"Berár Gazetteer," 191.

link connecting the cultus with the aboriginal races. She has a sacred grove, and every year a fowl is sacrificed to her, and every third year a goat. Col. Dalton' observes that the Hindus who accompanied him were intensely amused at the idea of offering fowls to a Satî, who is accustomed to the simpler bloodless tribute of milk, cakes, fruit and flowers. This is the form of the offering at Jilmili, the Satî shrines belonging to the local Râja. The curses of a dying Satî were greatly feared. Numerous instances of families ruined in this way are told both in Râjputâna and in Nepâl, the last places where the rite is occasionally performed.2

The arrangements for the cremation varied in different places. In Western India she sat in a specially built grass hut, and keeping her husband's head in her lap, supported it with her right hand, while she kindled the hut with a torch held in her left hand. Nowadays in Nepâl the husband and the Satî are made to lie side by side on the pyre. The woman's right hand is put under the husband's neck, and round her face are placed all kinds of inflammable substances. Three long poles of undried wood are laid over the bodies-one over the legs, the second over the chest, and the third over the neck. Three men on either side press down the poles till the woman is burnt to death. There have been cases in which the wretched victim tried to escape, and was dragged back by force to her death.

A curious modification of the practice of Satî, which so far has been traced only in Râjputâna, is what is known as Mâ Satî, or mother Satî, where the mother immolates herself with her dead child. Colonel Powlett3 remarks that in inquiring about it one is often told that it is really Mahâ Satî, or "the great Satî." He adds that there can be no doubt that mother Satî really prevails, but was confined to the sandy and desert tract, where domestic affection is said

1 "Descriptive Ethnology," 138.

2 Tod, "Annals," ii. 544, 546, 676; Wright, "History of Nepâl," 159, 212.

3 "North Indian Notes and Queries," ii. 199; "Panjâb Notes and Queries," iv. 44 sq. In the "Katha Sarit Sâgara" (Tawney, ii. 254), a mother proposes to go into the fire with her dead children.

to be stronger than elsewhere. "In one large remote village I found five monuments to Mother Satîs, one a Chhatri or pavilion of some pretensions. A Râjput lady from Jaysalmer was on a visit to her father's family with her youngest son. The boy was thrown when exercising his pony, dragged in the stirrup and killed. His mother became Satî with her son's body, and probably her example, for she was a person of some rank, led to the subsequent practice of Mâ Satî in the same district."

MODERN SAINTS.

We have already noticed some instances of the canonization in modern times of saints and holy men. Of worthies of this kind, who have received divine honours, the number is legion. This deification of human beings is found in the very early Brâhmanical literature. One of the most noteworthy ideas to be found in the Brâhmanas is that the gods were merely mortal till they conquered Death by their sacrifices. Death, alarmed, protested to the gods, and it was then arranged that no one should become immortal by the force of his piety without first offering his body to Death. Manu declares that "from his birth alone a Brâhman is regarded as a divinity, even by the gods." Modern practice supports this by calling him Mahâ-râja or "Great king," and he rises to heaven as a deity, like many of the famous kings of old. In the same way the Etruscans had certain rites through which the souls of men could become gods and were called Dii Animales, because they had once been human souls. Quite in consonance with Indian practice they first became Penates and Lares before they rose to the rank of the superior deities.3

DEIFICATION IN MODERN TIMES.

A few examples of modern deification may be given to illustrate this phase of the popular faith. Thus, one Gauhar "Institutes," xi. 84. 2 Frazer, “Golden Bough," i. 8. 3 Leland, "Etruscan Roman Remains," 202.

« ForrigeFortsæt »