DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0252
240 Demon-worship and Spirit-worship.
and became a devil. In another place the ghost of a potter
became a devil and a terror to the neighbourhood. The priests
of these demons were milkmen and potters respectively.
And a curious notion prevails in some parts of India that,
the better the man, the more mischievous will his ghost turn
out to be, if his body has not received proper cremation,
or if from any accident the succeeding rites have not been
carefully performed or partially omitted.
Again, a still more remarkable doctrine is rife in India,
especially in the South. There it is a fixed article of belief
that when a man notorious for any particular vices dies, the
man himself may become extinct, but his evil nature never
dies, for every one of his vices then assumes personality and
lives after him as a demon.
And this applies equally to women, so that the resulting
demons may be of either sex, and the female is not unfre-
quently more spiteful and malignant than the male. It also
applies to persons of all castes, high or low, so that the
demons created may be of all ranks, and may have either
refined or low tastes.
It is thus that legion after legion of foul fiends and un-
clean spirits bearing names corresponding to such expressions
as deceit-devils, lying-devils, gambling-devils, pride-devils,
cruelty-devils, lust-devils, gluttony-devils, strife-devils, drunk-
enness-devils, are supposed to have originated.
The same applies to a man who has been guilty of great
crimes or sins. His crimes and sins live after him in the
shape of malignant demons.
Hence have arisen any number of murder-devils, theft-
devils, perjury-devils, adultery-devils, blasphemy-devils, who
are always on the look-out for weak-minded victims, and evef
instigating them to the commission of similar crimes.
Nay, a man may sometimes become a demon without)^*^.
dying; for example, we read in the Maha-bharata and Vishnu-1 {/.{&,
purana that Nahusha son of Ayus was changed into a serpent- >p- $■-$-
and became a devil. In another place the ghost of a potter
became a devil and a terror to the neighbourhood. The priests
of these demons were milkmen and potters respectively.
And a curious notion prevails in some parts of India that,
the better the man, the more mischievous will his ghost turn
out to be, if his body has not received proper cremation,
or if from any accident the succeeding rites have not been
carefully performed or partially omitted.
Again, a still more remarkable doctrine is rife in India,
especially in the South. There it is a fixed article of belief
that when a man notorious for any particular vices dies, the
man himself may become extinct, but his evil nature never
dies, for every one of his vices then assumes personality and
lives after him as a demon.
And this applies equally to women, so that the resulting
demons may be of either sex, and the female is not unfre-
quently more spiteful and malignant than the male. It also
applies to persons of all castes, high or low, so that the
demons created may be of all ranks, and may have either
refined or low tastes.
It is thus that legion after legion of foul fiends and un-
clean spirits bearing names corresponding to such expressions
as deceit-devils, lying-devils, gambling-devils, pride-devils,
cruelty-devils, lust-devils, gluttony-devils, strife-devils, drunk-
enness-devils, are supposed to have originated.
The same applies to a man who has been guilty of great
crimes or sins. His crimes and sins live after him in the
shape of malignant demons.
Hence have arisen any number of murder-devils, theft-
devils, perjury-devils, adultery-devils, blasphemy-devils, who
are always on the look-out for weak-minded victims, and evef
instigating them to the commission of similar crimes.
Nay, a man may sometimes become a demon without)^*^.
dying; for example, we read in the Maha-bharata and Vishnu-1 {/.{&,
purana that Nahusha son of Ayus was changed into a serpent- >p- $■-$-