Sir Bartle Frere accidentally found an order in existence at Government House, Dapurie, handed lown by non-commissioned officers, for the native ientry on guard to present arms if a cat or dog, jackal or goat, entered or left the house or crossed tiear his beat during certain hours of the night, because it was the ghost of a former governor who was still remembered as 011C of the best and kindest of men. The raja of Wanparty, one of the Reddi race who have founded small princi palities along the banks of the Kistna river, died in 1868 at Hyderabad. Ife had led a turbulent life, and retained to the htst much of the spirit of his youth. At the close of that year, an outbreak of cholera occurred in that neighbourhood, which the people attributed to the spirit of Wanparty, and they made a clay image of him, riding on an elephant, and placed near him the figure of a Bin jarni, and worshipped all with the great Mahabala sacrifice.
The superstitious fears of the Hindus extend to innumerable objects: they dread the wrath of the following invisible beings,—the messengers of Yama, bhuts, prets, pisacha, dakinee, yoginee. hakinee, yukhshu, rakshasa, shunkinee, gooma, brumhu-doitya, aluya, etc. They also fear the cries of the following animals, at particular times, and in certain situations, viz. jackals, owls, crows, cats, asses, vultures, dogs, lizards, etc. They alsc dread different sights in the air, and many kind. of dreams.
King.fames in the preface to his Demonology says, They (magicians) can suddenly cause to bc brought unto them all kinds of dainty dishes 133 their familiar spirit, since as a thief he delight to steal, and its a spirit he Call subtilely anc suddenly enough transport the same.' To obtail such a spirit for a familiar, the two followim receipts were presented by a IIindu of the Penin sula as having been tried and found efficacious:— In the dense darkness, at the time of new moon let the person who would obtain a devil, walk naked into a lake, and, standing in the water up to his middle, repeat the mantra (a charm pre viously taught him hy some proficient) the appointed number of tunes, taking care of his reckoning by casting into the water a pebble, a jasmine flower, or a pepper-corn, from a collection which he has previously counted and brought witlt hint. At every repetition of the mantra, let hint give himself a stroke with a rattan. The charm is to be repeated boldly, and without mistake, or the devil will certainly kill the c harmer.
Or, go to the temple sacred to the (lemon whose services are required. Having closed all avenues by which so subtle a subject may escape, stand on the threshold of the temple, and boldly conquer the dernon by a powerfttl mantra. Then you must
raise the pedestal on which the image of the demon is placed, and take from under it the money placed there when the image was inaugur ated. Instead of this money place there a copper plate, on which you have engraved a kolant (magical inscription). Front that day the demon becomes your slave, and will perform for you any service, or bring you whatever you may require. Some say the spirit must, when caught, be con fined in a little golden box, called a Shull. Exami nation of a manuscript book of spells, kolanu, and cabalistic figures, collected by a Tamil man of low caste, shows that very many of the in cantations continence with the s.acred syllable Om ! or the mantra Nama Sivayah,' salutation to Siva. The invocation is never addressed to either Brahma or Vishnu. The following is a specimen of a charm given by Mr. .Murdoch :— ` Om ! Adoration to the supreme power, Kali ratri, black night 1 To whom the bloody flesh of man is dear ; Whose very form is fate and death ; Seize, seize on the life of such a one.
Drink blood ! drink blood ! Devour flesh ! devour flesh ! Make lifeless ! make lifeless.
Hum ! Phut !' The highest Brahman authorities have taught that the case of the devils themselves is not al together hopeless. There is a well-known aphorism in the Sankhya, whielt is illustrated by the story of a devil (Pisacha), who Nvas enlighthned and ob tained felicity by overhearing the religious dis course between Krishna and Arjuna. Burns, it will be remembered, expresses a hke hope for the puir deil'— ` But fare ye well, Auld Niekie ben ! 0 wad ye tak' a thought and men': Ye aiblins might—I dinna ken— Still ha'e a stake ; I'm wae to think upon your den, Ev'n for your sake.' With the Burmese, the six lower heavens arc occupied by Nat or Dewa, where good kings and virtuous people reside, and the Tha gyali min, or king of the Nat, visits the earth for three day: at the beginning of the Burman year, 9th to 12tI April. Perfectly distinct from these are the Nat: of the house, the water, the air, and the forest The Nats are everywhere worshipped, but this i ; denounced by devout Buddhists. With the Karel all nature is filled with Nats; and the Ka-Chii provide the Nat with pipes of spirit, sacrifice( , animals, hatchets, spears, bows and arrows, whiel the Nats may use at their pleasure. In all Burma, (s ecially among the Talaing or Mon (Mohn), and ia the neighbourhood of the Geniolatrie tribes, at t he extremity of every village, the Yua-sohn, there is a .Nat-sin, a shrine of every dimension, for the Nats of the neighbourhood, at which lamps, water pots, and food are offered, with figures of Shway Pyin-gyi, Shway Pyin-nge, the Nyi-daw, etc.