File:The popular religion and folk-lore of northern India (1896) (14594385620).jpg

Identifier: popularreligionf01croo (find matches)
Title: The popular religion and folk-lore of northern India
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Crooke, William, 1848-1923
Subjects: Folklore -- India Religion, Primitive Mythology, Hindu India -- Religion
Publisher: (London) A. Constable & co.
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
place wherethe first view of the shrine is obtained. This is known asthe Devadekhni or spot from which the deity is viewed.This is generally occupied by some lower-class deity, who isjust beginning to be considered respectable. Then comesthe temple dedicated to the warden, and lastly the realshrine itself. There can be little doubt that this representsthe process by which gods which are now admittedly withinthe inner circle of the first class, such as the beast incarna-tions of Vishnu, the elephant-headed Ganesa, and the Saktisor impersonations of the female energies of nature, under-went a gradual elevation. This process is actually still going on before our eyes.Thus, the familiar Gor Baba, a deified ghost of the aboriginalraces, has in many places become a new manifestation ofSiva, as Goreswara. Similarly, the powerful and malignantgoddesses, who were by ruder tribes propitiated with thesacrifice of a buffalo or a goat, have been annexed to^ Atkinson, Himalayan Gazetteer, ii, 762.
Text Appearing After Image:
HANUMAN AS A WARDEN. /. 84. The Heroic and Village Codlings. 85 Brahmanism as two of the numerous forms of Durga Devi,by the transparent fiction of a Bhainsasuri or Kali Devi. Inthe case of the former her origin is clearly proved by thefact that she is regarded as a sort of tribal deity of the mixedtribe of Kanhpuriya Rajputs in Oudh. Similarly Mahamai,or the Great Mother, a distinctively aboriginal goddesswhose shrine consists of a low flat mound of earth withseven knobs of coloured clay at the head or west side, hasbeen promoted into the higher pantheon as Jagadamba Devi,or Mother of the World. Her shrine is still a simple flatmound of earth with seven knobs at the top, and a flag infront to the east.^ More extended analysis will probablyshow that the obligations of Brahmanism to the local cultusare much greater than is commonly supposed. Hanuman. First among the heroic godlings is Hanuman, He of thelarge jaws, or, as he is generally called, Mahabir, the greathero, the celebrated mo

Note About Images