DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0285
Hero-worship and Saint-worship. 273
Soon after his birth his mother, who was carrying him in her
arms up a mountain, accidentally let him fall over a precipice,
and on descending in great agony of mind, expecting to
find her baby dashed to pieces on the rock beneath, she
found to her amazement and delight that the boy was
unhurt, and the rock shivered to atoms by contact with his
body.
Kama, too, another of the Maha-bharata heroes (also son
of KuntI by the Sun-god), is greatly revered, and often cited
in proverbial expressions, as a model of liberality, chivalrous
honour, and self-sacrificing generosity. I saw one or two
images of him in Southern India, but met with no shrines
dedicated to his worship.
Clearly the hero-worship of India is subject to constant
changes and fluctuations. Worshippers are capricious; great
warriors, great saints, and great sages have their day and find
themselves gradually pushed into the background, while their
places are taken by rival warriors, saints, and sages who claim
to be still greater1.
1 That man-worship is not confined to India may be proved by
numerous examples drawn from all countries. In Africa the King of
Loango is honoured as a god. His person is so sacred that no one is
allowed to see him eat. In Peru a particular Inca was adored as a god
during his lifetime. In New Zealand the warrior chief, Hongi, was called
a god by his followers. At the Society Islands, King Tamatoa was
worshipped, and in the Marquesas there are several men named atua
believed to possess the power of gods. At Tahiti the king and queen
were once held so sacred that the sounds forming their names could
not be used for ordinary words. See ' Origin of Civilization,' by Sir J.
Lubbock, p. 355.
Soon after his birth his mother, who was carrying him in her
arms up a mountain, accidentally let him fall over a precipice,
and on descending in great agony of mind, expecting to
find her baby dashed to pieces on the rock beneath, she
found to her amazement and delight that the boy was
unhurt, and the rock shivered to atoms by contact with his
body.
Kama, too, another of the Maha-bharata heroes (also son
of KuntI by the Sun-god), is greatly revered, and often cited
in proverbial expressions, as a model of liberality, chivalrous
honour, and self-sacrificing generosity. I saw one or two
images of him in Southern India, but met with no shrines
dedicated to his worship.
Clearly the hero-worship of India is subject to constant
changes and fluctuations. Worshippers are capricious; great
warriors, great saints, and great sages have their day and find
themselves gradually pushed into the background, while their
places are taken by rival warriors, saints, and sages who claim
to be still greater1.
1 That man-worship is not confined to India may be proved by
numerous examples drawn from all countries. In Africa the King of
Loango is honoured as a god. His person is so sacred that no one is
allowed to see him eat. In Peru a particular Inca was adored as a god
during his lifetime. In New Zealand the warrior chief, Hongi, was called
a god by his followers. At the Society Islands, King Tamatoa was
worshipped, and in the Marquesas there are several men named atua
believed to possess the power of gods. At Tahiti the king and queen
were once held so sacred that the sounds forming their names could
not be used for ordinary words. See ' Origin of Civilization,' by Sir J.
Lubbock, p. 355.