DEVIL GOAD.
Croton oblongifolitun, B. p. 685.
Bliatamkusam, . SANSE. I Bhutala . TEL.
The Telugu name signifies deinon driver ' or devil goad, and sticks made of this tree are carried as a protection against evil spirits. DEVILS and Devil-dancers. The ordinary word in use in the Tainil country to designate a devil is Paisacha or Pisacha, and the temple raised to a Paisacha is a. Pekoil ; but the fonner seems rather to be an evil spirit, and the latter a temple to an evil spirit. All the Aryan and non Aryan Hindu and Buddhist races of India, and all the races in the Malaya and the Eastern Archi pelagoes recognise the existence of spirits both gootl and bad and the whole series of the funeral ceremonies from the date of the demise of a Ilindu until the demise of his son, are instituted from the belief that the spirit of the deceased is present and can accept oblations ; and there are even instances where contracts have been entered into or renewed with tho spirit of a deceased owner. The Hindus bavo a hell, Narakam, and a devil, but the spirits of the non Aryan races seem to refer to evil spirits. In their belief, if any good man die, his spirit may occupy a tree or stone or other locality, and be an evil spirit ; may even take possession of ono of his votaries, in which event the screaming and gesti culating of the possessed person are attributed to the spirit in possession, and in the Urdu tongue the phrase would bo, Sap, uska ang bhara,' the shade bas filled his body; and the possessed person prophesies. In their belief, every malady may be tho infliction of an evil spirit. To dis possess the spirit, wild music and dancing are had recourse to, and the possessed, generally a woman, exhausted by her Pythonizing, falls down utterly exhausted, is seized with violent hysteria, or goes into convulsions. The non Aryan races are constantly recognising new spirits from amongst deceased natives of India or Europeans, particularly from amongst those whotn death or accident have suddenly cut off, and they have also introduced the deities of the Ilindus as demons ; but the Amman or earth deity is in every village throughout S. India, and the worship of all thd demon gods is by blood-sacrifices and ardent spirits. Amongst the Shanar race in the south of the Peninsula of India, the belief is that sometimes demons are content with frightening the timid without doing any real harm. Failures in trade or in crops are attri buted to demons. People hear a strange noise at night, and immediately they see a devil making his escape in the shape of a dog as largo as a hyrena, or a cat with eyes like two lamps. In the dusk of the evening devils have been observed in a burial or burning ground, a.ssurning various shapes, one after another, as often as the eyo of the observer is turned away ; and they have often been knolvn at night to ride across the country on invisible horses, or glide over marshy lands in the shape of a wandering, flickering light. In all their journeyings they move along without touch ing the ground, their elevation above the ground being proportioned to their rank and importance. Dr. Caldwell has known a village deserted, and the people afraid even to remove tho materials of their houses, in consequence of the terror caused by stones being thrown on their roofs at night by invisible bands. Demons more malicious still havo sometimes been known, under cover of the night, to insert combustible materials under the eaves of thatched roofs. Even in the day-time, about the close of the hot season, when the winds fail, dernons may often be seen careering along in the shape of a whirlwind, catching up and whisking about in their fierce play every dry stick and leaf that happens to lio in their path. In short,
writes Dr. Caldwell, the demons do much evil, but no good. They often cause terror, but never bestow benefita, or evince any affection for their votarlea. They must be placated by aacrifice, be cause they aro so mischievous ; but there is no use supplicating their favour. If in any case the hope of obtaining a benefit seems to be their votary's motive in worshipping thern,further inquiry provem that it is under the supposition that the demon's inalignity stands in the way of what would other wise be obtained as a 'natter of comae. And it may ba said to be the object of the worship of all the non-Aryan races, to avert from themselves the evils which the demons could inflict ; for gratitude for good received, or resignation to the will of a Supreme, are not parts of the Amman or spirit worship. A similar superstition respecting goblins and demons exists all over India. Every Hindu work containing allusions to native life, and the dictionaries of all the IIindu dialects, prove the general prevalence of a belief in tho existence of malicious mischievous demons, in demoniacal in flictions and possessions, and in the power of exorcisms. The chief peculiarity of the supersti tion, as it exists lunongst the Shanars, consists in their systematic worship of tho demons in which all believe. In every part of India, innumerable legends respecting goblins and their malice are current ; but scarcely any trace of their worship in the proper sense of the term, much less of their exclusive worship, can be discovered beyond the districts in which Shanars, or other primitive illiterate tribes, are found. In travelling down to Tinnevelly from the north, the first village which is found to be inhabited by Shanars, Virduputty, about thirty miles south of Madura, is the first place where Dr. Caldwell observed systematic devil-worship. In like manner, in Travancore, devil-worship appears to commence with the first appearance of the Sbanar race in tho neighbour hood of Trivandrum, from whence it beconies more and more prevalent as you approach Cape Comorin. Tho demon-worship of the Shanars and a few other illiterate tribes is II degradation beneath which the human mind cannot descend. The places in which the demons are worshipped are commonly termed Pe-koil, or devil-temples ; some of the temples, especially those erected to the sanguinary forms of Kali, are sinall, mean, tomb-like buildings, with an image at the further end of the cloister. But the majority of the devil temples are built neither with stone nor brick ; the roof is neither terraced nor tiled, nor even thatched. A heap of earth, rftisbd into a pyramidi cal shape, and adorned with streaks of whitewa.sh, sometimes alternating with red ochre, constitutes both the temple and the demon's imago ; and a smaller heap in front of the teinple, with flat surface, forrns the altar. In such cases large conspicitons tree--a tamarind tree, an mnbrella tree (Acacia planifron.$), or even a palmyra, whose leaves have never been cut or trimmed— will generally be observed in the vicinity. This tree is supposed to bo the devil's onlinary dwelling place, from which he snuffs tip the odour of the sacrificial blood, and descends unseen to join in the feast. Tnrnour 'mentions that an ordinance of one of the kings of Ceylon commanded. that a devil dancer should be provided for every ten villages.