DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0234
222 Mother-worship.
The veneration in which apes and monkeys of every kind
are held throughout India cannot fail to strike a stranger as
remarkable. This is doubtless intensified by the homage paid
to Hanuman. It is certainly connected with that homage.
All monkeys are believed to be his near relations, though
they were probably objects of worship long before his time1.
Yet they are quite as ungodlike in their habits in the regions
where they are worshipped as the most mischievous monkeys
in any other part of the world. Often a troop will make its
appearance in a village, tear off the roof of a native house, or
do even worse damage out of sheer wantonness. Yet no
householder would ever dream of reprisals. The sacred
character of the monkey shields him from all harm.
Mother-worship.
Undoubtedly the most popular tutelary deities of India are
the divine Matris or Mothers. The propitiation of Ayenar
and his wives is confined to the South, but mother-worship is
extended everywhere throughout India. In the first place,
every living mother is venerated as a kind of deity by her
children. Then every village has its own special guardian
mother, called Mata or Amba. Generally there is also a
male deity, who protects like the female from all adverse and
demoniacal influences. But the mother is the favourite object
of adoration; and no wonder; for, as we have seen in the
preceding chapter, activity, power, and force (sakti) are sup-
posed to be her peculiar attributes. Perhaps however the real
reason for her attracting more homage than the god is that
she is held to have a thoroughly feminine nature. She is
more easily propitiated by prayer, flattery, and offerings, more
1 It seems not unlikely that the Vrishakapi of Rig-veda X. 86 may
point to a very early veneration of apes, arising, perhaps, from their
mysterious resemblance to men.
The veneration in which apes and monkeys of every kind
are held throughout India cannot fail to strike a stranger as
remarkable. This is doubtless intensified by the homage paid
to Hanuman. It is certainly connected with that homage.
All monkeys are believed to be his near relations, though
they were probably objects of worship long before his time1.
Yet they are quite as ungodlike in their habits in the regions
where they are worshipped as the most mischievous monkeys
in any other part of the world. Often a troop will make its
appearance in a village, tear off the roof of a native house, or
do even worse damage out of sheer wantonness. Yet no
householder would ever dream of reprisals. The sacred
character of the monkey shields him from all harm.
Mother-worship.
Undoubtedly the most popular tutelary deities of India are
the divine Matris or Mothers. The propitiation of Ayenar
and his wives is confined to the South, but mother-worship is
extended everywhere throughout India. In the first place,
every living mother is venerated as a kind of deity by her
children. Then every village has its own special guardian
mother, called Mata or Amba. Generally there is also a
male deity, who protects like the female from all adverse and
demoniacal influences. But the mother is the favourite object
of adoration; and no wonder; for, as we have seen in the
preceding chapter, activity, power, and force (sakti) are sup-
posed to be her peculiar attributes. Perhaps however the real
reason for her attracting more homage than the god is that
she is held to have a thoroughly feminine nature. She is
more easily propitiated by prayer, flattery, and offerings, more
1 It seems not unlikely that the Vrishakapi of Rig-veda X. 86 may
point to a very early veneration of apes, arising, perhaps, from their
mysterious resemblance to men.