An Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern IndiaPrinted at the government Press, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 1894 - Ancestor worship - 420 pages |
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An Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India William Crooke Limited preview - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
animal Baiga believed Bengal Berár Bhúts blood Bombay Bombay Gazetteer Bráhman Campbell cattle ceremony charm child cholera Churel connection custom Dalton dead death deity demon Demonology Descriptive Ethnology Deví disease Dravidian Dravidian races earth Evil eye evil spirits Fairy festival fetish fire Folklore ghost goat goddess godling gods Gonds grain head Himalayan Gazetteer Hindu Hinduism honour idea Indra jungle Katha Sarit Ságara Kharwars killed Korwas Kunbis Lady Wilde legend marriage Mathura milk Mirzapur mother Muhammadan Mythology Nepál night North Indian Notes Northern India Notes and Queries offerings Oudh Panjab Notes Pír priest Primitive Culture propitiated races rain Rája Rakshasas rice round sacred sacrifice saint Sanskrit scare serpent Settlement Report shrine snake stone supposed Tawney temple tiger totem tree Tribes and Castes turmeric Tylor UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Upper India village Vishnu witch woman women worship
Popular passages
Page 394 - when the granaries are full of grain, and the people, to use their own expression, full of devilry. They have a strange notion that at this period, men and women are so over-charged with vicious propensities, that it is absolutely necessary for the safety of the person to let off steam by allowing for a time full vent to the passions.
Page 365 - They have an astonishing acquaintance with the devilries of enchantment ; insomuch that they make their idols to speak. They can also by their sorceries bring on changes of weather and produce darkness, and do a number of things so extraordinary that no one without seeing them would believe them. Indeed, this country is the very original source from which Idolatry has spread abroad.
Page 39 - KESIMUR, which are the names of two nations of Idolaters. Whatever they do in this way is by the help of the Devil, but they make those people believe that it is compassed by dint of their own sanctity and the help of God. 6 [They always go in a state of dirt and uncleanness, devoid of respect for themselves, or for those who see them, unwashed, unkempt, and sordidly attired.] These people also have a custom which I must tell you.
Page 255 - They answered no ; but that it was a very noble tree, being called ' the imperial tree," for its excellent properties : that it slept all night, and wakened, and was alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if any one attempted to touch them. Above all, however, it was useful as a preservative against magic ; a sprig worn in the turban, or suspended over the bed, was a perfect security against all spells, evil eye, &c., insomuch that the most formidable wizard would not, if he could help it, approach...
Page 39 - But I must now tell you a strange thing that hitherto I have forgotten to mention. During the three months of every year that the Lord resides at that place, if it should happen to be bad weather, there are certain crafty enchanters and astrologers in his train, who are such adepts in necromancy and the diabolic arts, that they are able to prevent any cloud or storm from passing over the spot on which the Emperor's Palace stands.
Page 266 - At the end of each season of rain, the dragon suddenly assumes the form of a little serpent, both of whose ears are edged with white. The body of priests...
Page 108 - I was requested to intimate the circumstances to the officer commanding the troops in cantonments, in order that the noise they intended to make might not excite any alarm and bring down upon them the visit of the soldiery. It was, however, subsequently determined that the animal should be a goat, and he was driven before the crowd. Accordingly, I have on several occasions been requested to allow of such noisy ceremonies in cases of epidemics, and the confidence the people feel in their efficacy...
Page 14 - And this is done on the injunction of the Idolaters and Idol-priests, who say that it is an excellent thing to sprinkle that milk on the ground every 28th of August, so that the Earth and the Air and the False Gods shall have their share of it, and the Spirits likewise that inhabit the Air and the Earth. And thus those beings will protect and bless the Kaan and his children and his wives and his folk and his gear, and his cattle and his horses, his corn and all that is his.
Page 317 - S'ankhadatta went away indignant at this treatment, and made a strict friendship with Bhimabhata, in order to have the opportunity of conquering Samarabhata. Then a merchant, of the name of Manidatta, came there from a foreign country, bringing with him an excellent horse ; it was as white as the moon ; the sound of its neighing was as musical as that of a clear conch or other sweet-sounding instrument ; it looked like the waves of the sea of milk surging on high...
Page 388 - The best general explanation of these European fire-festivals seems to be the one given by Mannhardt, namely, that they are sun-charms or magical ceremonies intended to ensure a proper supply of sunshine for men, animals, and plants.