fables to explain away the simian head and tail which have stuck to him through all his metamorphoses."*

Some animals are worshipped for their usefulness. This applies especially to the cow and bull.

Great religious changes have taken place among the Hindus. One of the most remarkable is the feeling with regard to the cow. In Vedic times the Gomedha, or cow sacrifice, was common. When a person died, a cow was killed to accompany him. The flesh of the cow was freely eaten.t A guest was called Goghna, he for whom a cow is killed. It is pretended by some that the animals were not really killed; but the Atharva Veda gives a list of the different persons who were to receive the various parts when cut up. Some say that animals were always restored to life again; but this must have been done after they were eaten.

At present the idea of eating beef is so horrible to Hindus, that some never mention the word in the vernacular, and frequently there have been serious riots on account of the slaughter of cows. Among the Sikhs it was considered a greater crime to kill a cow than to kill a daughter.

The cow, valuable for its milk, is the animal which receives most worship in India. There is an annual ceremony in her honour. The prayer is sometimes offered: "O mother, be gracious to us. Bless us with a rich harvest. Let our lands bring forth an increase. We are thy humble servants."

The ancient Egyptians were especially notorious for animal worship. Bulls received the most profound veneration. They were kept in splendid temples, they were adored and prayed to by thousands during their lives, and at their death they were placed in huge tombs, while all Egypt went into mourning. But the Hindus have reached the lowest depth of degradation in animal worship. The very excrements of the cow are sacred. Her urine is the best of all holy waters-a sin-destroying liquid which purifies every thing it touches. Cow dung is supposed to be of equal efficacy. The ashes produced by burning this hallowed substance, are of such a holy nature, that they have only to be sprinkled over a sinner to convert him into a saint. To swallow a pill composed of the five products of the cow will even purify a man who has been polluted by a visit to England.

The bull, useful in cultivation, ranks next to the cow. Siva is said to perform all his journeys riding upon its back. Vemana, a Telugu poet, says, Seeing a bull made of stone, men reverently bow down before it; seeing the living moving animal, they flog it."

Asiatic Studies, p. 14.

Full proofs are given by Dr. Rajendralala Mitra in his Indo-Aryans, Vol. I. pp. 354-388.

Shasti is said to ride on a cat. Hence no Hindu woman will injure that animal, lest she should offend the goddess.

The Brahmany kite, supposed to represent Garuda, the vehicle of Vishnu, is the most sacred of birds. Offerings are made to it by throwing up bits of flesh, which it nimbly catches with its claws. It is said to destroy serpents. On this account the ancient Egyptians worshipped the bird ibis.

TOOL WORSHIP.

In the Vedas hymns are addressed to the sacrificial implements. The posts to which victims were tied were asked to bestow" wealth and progeny." A hymn is especially dedicated to the arrow. It is

addressed:

"Arrow, whetted by charms, fly when discharged; go, light among the adversaries; spare not one of the enemy." The ladle, a kind of large spoon, likewise receives great honour. "We revile not the ladle which is of exalted race; verily, we assert the dignity of the wooden implement. The ladle has established the sky."

Every object that benefits the Hindu and helps to provide him with a livelihood becomes for the time being his fetich or god. On particular days the farmer prays to his plough, the fisher to his net, the writer adores his pen, the banker his account books, the carpenter his tools, the woman her basket and other articles that assist her in her household labours. The Thugs, who murdered travellers in the name of the goddess Kali, worshipped the pickaxe which they carried for the speedy burial of their victims.

RIVER AND WATER WORSHIP.

The tendency to worship anything useful has been noticed. The fertility of Egypt depends upon the river Nile; hence it was early regarded as a deity. In the times of the Vedas, the Aryans had not advanced far into India; the Ganges is therefore only twice mentioned in the hymns. The Indus was the most celebrated river. The Saraswati, as a goddess, protected the Aryans from their eastern enemies.

In later times the Ganges was generally considered to be the most sacred of all rivers. It is said to flow from the toe of Vishnu, and to have been brought down from heaven by the prayers of the saint Bhagirathi to purify the ashes of the 60,000 sons of King Sagara. Ganga was angry at being brought down from heaven, and Siva, to save the earth from the shock of her fall, caught the river on his matted hair.

The following is a prayer addressed to the river: "Oh, Mother Ganga! I now bow at thy feet, have mercy on thy servant. Who can describe thy virtues? Were the greatest of sinners, the perpetrator of endless crimes to pronounce the word Ganga, he, being delivered from all his sins, shall be translated to the blissful abode of the celestials." Hence the countless temples with flights of

steps lining its banks; hence the array of priests, called 'sons of the Ganges,' sitting on the edge of its streams, ready to aid the ablutions of conscience-stricken bathers, and stamp them as whitewashed when they emerge from the stream. Hence also the constant traffic carried on in transporting Ganges water to all parts of the country.

The Agni Purana declares that "those who die when half their body is immersed in Ganga water, shall be happy thousands of thousands of ages and resemble Brahma." This false superstition has led to a very barbarous practice in Bengal, where the Ganges is especially worshipped. When a person is supposed to be dying, he is carried to the Ganges and laid down upon its banks, sometimes surrounded by beings like himself, whose shrieks and groans disturb his repose. A few minutes before his death he is again brought to the brink of the river, when the body is half immersed in water; while Ganges water and mud are put into his mouth.

Sometimes people lie for days on the river bank, unwilling to return home as their friends would refuse to take them in. When a person is dying, every thing should be done to lessen his sufferings; but through this false notion every thing is rather done to increase the agony. Many lives are thus shortened, and in some cases people are even murdered by those who wish to get their property. Hindu mothers sometimes offered children in sacrifice to the Gauges. The British Government had to place guards at Sagar Island, where the Ganges joins the sea, to stop the practice.

Only Brahmans living near the Ganges profited by the supposed sanctity of the river. Those in the south make the people believe that the water of the Ganges comes once in twelve years to Combaconum, in the Madras Presidency, and lakhs of people go to bathe in a muddy tank.

The Narbada (bliss-giver) has its admirers who exalt it even above the Ganges. It is said to have sprung from the perspiration of the god Rudra. "One day's ablution," they say, "in the Ganges frees from all sin, but the mere sight of the Narbada purifies from guilt." Furthermore, either bank of the Narbada may be used for burning the dead, whereas only the northern bank of the Ganges is effectual for that purpose. Sanctity is also claimed, more or less, for other rivers, as the Godavery, Cavery, &c. Chapters, called Mahatmyas, extolling the virtues of their waters, have been introduced into the Puranas.

On the other hand, a river, called Karmanasa, destroyer of good works,' which falls into the Ganges, is held to be so unholy that if a man touches its water he loses all the merit he has acquired.

It is considered highly meritorious to follow on foot a sacred river from its source to the sea and then back again.

Some wells are considered sacred as well as rivers. They were very common in Europe, and belief in them has among some not yet died out. People drank their water or bathed in it, leaving behind them a scrap of their clothing or a small piece of money as an offering.

In India, two wells at Benares are considered specially holy. One is called Gyan Kup, "well of knowledge," in which it is believed the god Siva resides. Pilgrims cast into the water flowers and other offerings to the deity below. As the mixture produces a constant state of putrefaction, the stench is most disgusting.

The Manikarnika well is still more sacred. The Kashi Khanda says that Vishnu dug this well with his discus, and in lieu of water filled it with the perspiration from his own body. Mahadeva, looking into the well, beheld in it the beauty of a hundred millions of suns. In his joy an ear-ring called Manikarnaka, fell from his ear into the well; hence its name. Among other epithets it is called Mukti-shetra; seat of liberation.

Stone steps on four sides lead down to the well, which is only two or three feet deep. From the lakhs of pilgrims bathing in it, some of them filthy and covered with sores, the water is so stinking, that the air is polluted for some distance around. The worshipper descending into the water laves his head and body with the vile liquid, repeating certain phrases. It is believed that this stinking water will infallibly wash away all the sins of the soul and make it pure and holy. Many come hoping thus to remove in one minute the

crimes and sins of a life-time.