Читать книгу The Religion and Folklore of Northern India - William Crooke - Страница 59

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Another of these beneficent guardians or wardens is Bhîmsen, “he who has a terrible army.” He has now in popular belief very little in common with the burly hero of the Mahâbhârata, who was notorious for his gigantic strength, great animal courage, prodigious appetite and irascible temper; jovial and jocular when in good humour, but abusive, truculent and brutal when his passions were roused.14 He is now little more than one of the wardens of the house or village.

In parts of the Central Provinces he has become degraded into a mere fetish, and is represented by a piece of iron fixed in a stone or in a tree.15 Under the name of Bhîmsen or Bhîmpen, his worship extends from Berâr to the extreme east of Bastar, and not merely among the Hinduized aborigines, who have begun to honour Khandoba, Hanumân, Ganpati and their brethren, but among the rudest and most savage tribes. He is generally adored under the form of an unshapely stone covered with vermilion, or of two pieces of wood standing from three to four feet out of the ground, which are possibly connected with the phallic idea, towards which so many of these deities often diverge. Bhiwâsu, the regular Gond deity, is identical with him. Mr. Hislop16 mentions a large idol of him eight feet high, with a dagger in one hand and a javelin in the other. He has an aboriginal priest, known as Bhûmak, or “he of the soil,” and the people repair to worship on Tuesdays and Saturdays, offering he-goats, hogs, hens, cocks and cocoa-nuts. The headman of the village and the cultivators subscribe for an annual feast, which takes place at the commencement of the rains, when the priest takes a cow from the headman by force and offers it to the godling in the presence of his congregation. The Mâriya Gonds worship him in the form of two pieces of wood previous to the sowing of the crops. The Naikudê Gonds adore him in the form of a huge stone daubed with vermilion. Before it a little rice is cooked. They then besmear the stone with vermilion and burn resin as incense in its honour, after which the victims—sheep, hogs and fowls—with the usual oblation of spirits, are offered. The god is now supposed to inspire the priest, who rolls his head, leaps frantically round and round, and finally falls down in a trance, when he announces whether Bhîmsen has accepted the service or not. At night all join in drinking, dancing and beating drums. Next morning the congregation disperses. Those who are unable to attend this tribal gathering perform similar rites at home under the shade of the Mahua tree (Bassia latifolia).17