Bells and chains are almost always used in devil worship and exorcism ; the notion involved seetns less t,o be that of scaring the devil, than that of charming him, just as a snake-charmer charms a snake by music. Near the fancs of the popular devils there are massive iron chains hanging from the trees, with bells and knives attached to them. In the well-known Sanskrit work, the Hitopadesa, occurs a story relatine. to a famous devil, called Ghanta-karna or Bell-ear. This Rakshasa was believed to dwell on the top of a mountain near the town of Brahmapura. One day a. thief, having stolen a bell (probably ono of those near the demon's fane), was killed by a tiger as he was carrying off his plunder. The monkeys , who dwelt in the adjacent forest obtained the bell, and amused themselves by ringing it. The people of the town having found the dead body of the man, and continually hearing the sound of the bell, were filled with intense horror, fully believing that the demon, enraged, had killed the thief, and was now ringing the bell. The town was in consequence nearly deserted, when an old woman, guessing the truth, went to the king, and said that for a small sum she would undertake to settle the demon. The king, de lighted, gave her what she asked, and the old woman, after tracing the cabalistic eirele,—the Kolam,—and pretending to go through certain incantations, entered tho forest. By means of fruits which she strewed on the ground, she was enabled to decoy the monkeys, and, having obtained the bell as a trophy of her victory over the demon, she returned in triumph to the town.
So little has the belief in devils been shaken, that in the India of the present day, it would, in a like case, be just as easy to deceive tho people, and even their native Hindu rulers. Dr. Cald well mentions that the process of demonifica tion is still going on amongst the Shanars; and in every case the characteristics of the devil and his worship are derived from the character and exploits of his human prototype. There is a continued succession of devils claiming the adoration of the Shanars, and after a time sink ing into forgetfulness. Among the demons most feared at the middle of the 19th century, he men tions Palevesham, a notorious robber during the latter period of the Mahoinedan government A few of the demons are forms of Kali, con nected with a debased and comparatively modern development of the Brahmanical system.
Devil-worship in Ceylon by the Rodya is performed in the jungle. A kind of altar is erected, and covered with the skin of the plantain tree. It is then scented with dammer resin, and cooked vegetables, placed on a plantain leaf, are laid on it, to which is added rice and flowers, and the blood of a red cock. The Kattadiya, or devil dancer, then recites a charm, arid the cure is supposed to be complete. The offering is left to be eaten by bircls or animals. The devils Gerre and Meleyi are of two kinds.—Dr. Caldwell on the Shanar ; Kenrich's Phcenicia, pp. 307,314 ; Dubois' India, quoted in Cole.'s Hind. Myth. p. 378 ; Son nerat's Voyage, p. 29 ; Bunsen, iv. p. 210 ; 117/ /icons' Story of Nala, p. 208.