. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . ear of suchretribution as being haunted by the ghosts of their instances of religious beliefs and practices are givenin the accounts of other criminals, such as the Badhaks andSansias. And the more strict and serious observances of theThugs may be accounted for by the more atrocious characterof their crimes and the more urgent necessity of finding somepalliative. The veneration paid to the pickaxe, which will shortlybe described, merely arises from the common animistic beliefthat tools and implements generally achieve
. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . ear of suchretribution as being haunted by the ghosts of their instances of religious beliefs and practices are givenin the accounts of other criminals, such as the Badhaks andSansias. And the more strict and serious observances of theThugs may be accounted for by the more atrocious characterof their crimes and the more urgent necessity of finding somepalliative. The veneration paid to the pickaxe, which will shortlybe described, merely arises from the common animistic beliefthat tools and implements generally achieve the resultsobtained from them by their inherent virtue and of theirown volition, and not from the human hand which guidesthem and the human brain which fashioned them to servetheir ends. Members of practically all castes worship theimplements of their profession and thus afford evidence ofthe same belief, the most familiar instance of which isperhaps, The pestilence that walketh in the darkness and * Sleemans Report on the Thug Gangs, Introduction, p. /■iiincM-, (, Petiy. THE GODDESS KALI. II WORSHIP OF KALI—THE SACRED PICKAXE 575 the arrow that flieth by noonday ; where the writer intendedno metaphor but actually thought that the pestilence walkedand the arrow flew of their own volition. Kali or Bhawani was the principal deity of the Thugs, 14. Wor-as of most of the criminal and lower castes ; and those who f,.^.°^ kali. were Muhammadans got over the difficulty of her being aHindu goddess by pretending that Fatima, the daughter ofthe Prophet, was an incarnation of her. In former timesthey held that the goddess was accustomed to relieve themof the trouble of destroying the dead bodies by devouringthem herself; but in order that they might not see herdoing this she had strictly enjoined on them never to lookback on leaving the site of a murder. On one occasion anovice of the fraternity disobeyed this rule and, unguardedlylooking behind him, saw the goddess in the
Size: 1537px × 1625px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidtribescastesofce04russ
