DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0256
244 Demon-worship and Spirit-worship.
an enormous debt which they are quite unable to discharge.
They are euphemistically called Pitas, 'fathers/—that is,
by the name to which they are least entitled,—and are
propitiated by offerings presented at small shrines of a very
simple construction erected near rivers or pools of water.
Often these shrines are formed by merely setting up two
bricks with a little interval between them covered by another
brick.
And here it should be noted that although nearly every
village has its own special demon, whose cultus may not
only have existed from time immemorial, but may have an
origin antecedent to the introduction of Hinduism, yet it is
always possible to connect every form and variety of such
worship with that of the god Siva, his consort Durga (or
Devi), and his two sons Ganesa and Su-brahmanya (see
page 2,12).
It is important, too, to bear in mind that as the South of
India is the region in which Saivism is particularly prevalent,
so also it is among the inhabitants of the South that devil-
worship is most systematically practised. No one who has
travelled in that region can doubt that demonophobia is a
disease with which the whole Southern population is almost
hopelessly and incurably afflicted. Possibly one reason of
this may be that when the Dravidians invaded India they
found the South inhabited by wild aboriginal savages, whose
whole aspect and demeanour appeared to them to resemble
those of devils. Again, the Aryans as they advanced towards
the South found it occupied by hostile Dravidian races, as
well as by apparently aboriginal tribes, and their excited
imaginations converted these powerful enemies into super-
natural giants, and the most formidable of them into veritable
demons (Rakshasas).
In due time Aryans, Dravidians, and aborigines blended
amicably together, but the dread of demon-foes remained,
and this dread still prevails not only in the South, but over
an enormous debt which they are quite unable to discharge.
They are euphemistically called Pitas, 'fathers/—that is,
by the name to which they are least entitled,—and are
propitiated by offerings presented at small shrines of a very
simple construction erected near rivers or pools of water.
Often these shrines are formed by merely setting up two
bricks with a little interval between them covered by another
brick.
And here it should be noted that although nearly every
village has its own special demon, whose cultus may not
only have existed from time immemorial, but may have an
origin antecedent to the introduction of Hinduism, yet it is
always possible to connect every form and variety of such
worship with that of the god Siva, his consort Durga (or
Devi), and his two sons Ganesa and Su-brahmanya (see
page 2,12).
It is important, too, to bear in mind that as the South of
India is the region in which Saivism is particularly prevalent,
so also it is among the inhabitants of the South that devil-
worship is most systematically practised. No one who has
travelled in that region can doubt that demonophobia is a
disease with which the whole Southern population is almost
hopelessly and incurably afflicted. Possibly one reason of
this may be that when the Dravidians invaded India they
found the South inhabited by wild aboriginal savages, whose
whole aspect and demeanour appeared to them to resemble
those of devils. Again, the Aryans as they advanced towards
the South found it occupied by hostile Dravidian races, as
well as by apparently aboriginal tribes, and their excited
imaginations converted these powerful enemies into super-
natural giants, and the most formidable of them into veritable
demons (Rakshasas).
In due time Aryans, Dravidians, and aborigines blended
amicably together, but the dread of demon-foes remained,
and this dread still prevails not only in the South, but over