DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0075
INTRODUCTION.
43
where in the south, we may find the fossil remains of the old
Dravidian religion before they adopted that of the Hindus.
These monuments, however, have not been examined with
anything like the care requisite for the solution of a complex
problem like this, and till it is done we must rest content with
our ignorance.1
In the north we have been somewhat more fortunate, and
enough is now known to make it clear that, so soon as
enquirers apply themselves earnestly to the task, we may
know enough to make the general outline at least tolerably
clear. When I first pubhshed my work on ‘Tree and Serpent
Worship,’ in 1869, no one suspected, at least no one had
hinted in type, that such a form of religion existed in Bengal.
Since that time, however, so much has been written on the
subject, and proofs have accumulated with such rapidity, that
few will now be bold enough to deny that Trees were
worshipped in India in the earliest times, and that a Naga
people did exist, especially in the north - west, who had a
strange veneration for snakes. In the Buddhist legends,
Buddha is constantly represented as converting Nagas, and
whilst a superhuman character is ascribed to them, they
doubtless represent people of Turanian descent.2 Further,
snake worship is prevalent still, especially among the lower
castes, and, though to a less extent, yet somehow connected
with it, is the veneration of trees.3 It is also quite certain that
underlying Buddhism we everywhere find evidence of a stratum
of Tree and Serpent Worship. Sometimes it may be repressed
and obscured, but at others it crops up again, and, to a certain
extent, the worship of the Tree and the Serpent, at some
times and in certain places, almost supersedes that of the
founder of the religion himself.
The five, or seven, or thousand-headed Naga is everywhere
1 A book was published in 1873 by
the late Mr. Breeks, of the Madras
Civil Service, on the Primitive Tribes
of the Nilagiris, which gives a fuller
account of these “rude stone monu-
ments” than any other yet given to
the public. It can hardly, however, be
accepted as a solution of the problem,
which requires a wider survey than he
was able to make. See also Fergusson’s
‘ Rude Stone Monuments ’ (1872), pp.
455-499-
2 The Nagbansis of Chutia Nagpur, who
appear to have come from about Gorakh-
pur in northern Bihar, are evidently of
an early Naga or snake - worshipping
raqe.
3 In Malabar, “ a clump of wild jungle
trees luxuriantly festooned with graceful
creepers is usually found in the south-
west corner of the gardens of all respect-
able Malayali Hindus. The spot is left
free to nature to deal with as she likes;
every tree and bush, every branch and
twig is sacred. This is the 1 vishdttum
kdvu’ (poison shrine) or ‘ ndga kotta’
(snake shrine). Usually there is a
granite stone (chittra kuta kallu) carved
after the fashion of a cobra’s hood set up
and consecrated in this waste spot.”—
Logan’s ‘ Malabar,’ vol. i. p. 183. For
some account of Trees worshipped in
Western India, see Bombay Gazetteer,
vol. ix. pt. i. pp. 382-388.
43
where in the south, we may find the fossil remains of the old
Dravidian religion before they adopted that of the Hindus.
These monuments, however, have not been examined with
anything like the care requisite for the solution of a complex
problem like this, and till it is done we must rest content with
our ignorance.1
In the north we have been somewhat more fortunate, and
enough is now known to make it clear that, so soon as
enquirers apply themselves earnestly to the task, we may
know enough to make the general outline at least tolerably
clear. When I first pubhshed my work on ‘Tree and Serpent
Worship,’ in 1869, no one suspected, at least no one had
hinted in type, that such a form of religion existed in Bengal.
Since that time, however, so much has been written on the
subject, and proofs have accumulated with such rapidity, that
few will now be bold enough to deny that Trees were
worshipped in India in the earliest times, and that a Naga
people did exist, especially in the north - west, who had a
strange veneration for snakes. In the Buddhist legends,
Buddha is constantly represented as converting Nagas, and
whilst a superhuman character is ascribed to them, they
doubtless represent people of Turanian descent.2 Further,
snake worship is prevalent still, especially among the lower
castes, and, though to a less extent, yet somehow connected
with it, is the veneration of trees.3 It is also quite certain that
underlying Buddhism we everywhere find evidence of a stratum
of Tree and Serpent Worship. Sometimes it may be repressed
and obscured, but at others it crops up again, and, to a certain
extent, the worship of the Tree and the Serpent, at some
times and in certain places, almost supersedes that of the
founder of the religion himself.
The five, or seven, or thousand-headed Naga is everywhere
1 A book was published in 1873 by
the late Mr. Breeks, of the Madras
Civil Service, on the Primitive Tribes
of the Nilagiris, which gives a fuller
account of these “rude stone monu-
ments” than any other yet given to
the public. It can hardly, however, be
accepted as a solution of the problem,
which requires a wider survey than he
was able to make. See also Fergusson’s
‘ Rude Stone Monuments ’ (1872), pp.
455-499-
2 The Nagbansis of Chutia Nagpur, who
appear to have come from about Gorakh-
pur in northern Bihar, are evidently of
an early Naga or snake - worshipping
raqe.
3 In Malabar, “ a clump of wild jungle
trees luxuriantly festooned with graceful
creepers is usually found in the south-
west corner of the gardens of all respect-
able Malayali Hindus. The spot is left
free to nature to deal with as she likes;
every tree and bush, every branch and
twig is sacred. This is the 1 vishdttum
kdvu’ (poison shrine) or ‘ ndga kotta’
(snake shrine). Usually there is a
granite stone (chittra kuta kallu) carved
after the fashion of a cobra’s hood set up
and consecrated in this waste spot.”—
Logan’s ‘ Malabar,’ vol. i. p. 183. For
some account of Trees worshipped in
Western India, see Bombay Gazetteer,
vol. ix. pt. i. pp. 382-388.