SOME one writing on the gods of the Hindus, remarks: “There is not an object in heaven or earth which a Hindu is not prepared to worship—sun, moon, and stars; rocks, stocks, and stones; trees, shrubs, and grass; sea, pools, and rivers; his own implements of trade; the animal he finds most useful; the noxious reptiles he fears; men remarkable for any extraordinary qualities—for great valor, sanctity, virtue, or even vice; good and evil spirits, ghosts and goblins, the spirits of departed ancestors; an infinite number of semi-human and semi-divine existences; inhabitants of the seven upper and seven lower worlds—each and all come in for a share of honor or a tribute of more or less adoration.”
Demon-worship is one form of idolatry widely practised in India. Some writer has stated that “the great majority of the inhabitants are, from the cradle to the burning-ground, haunted and oppressed by a perpetual dread of demons.” They believe that evil spirits of all kinds are ever on the watch to harm, harass, and torment them; to cause plague and disaster, sickness, famine, and trouble of every kind. They are believed to have once been human beings—especially those who have died in some mysterious manner, and are considered as having become demons. To these supposed malicious adversaries they offer sacrifices of goats, fowls, etc., to appease their anger. They hold that nightmare is always inflicted by a demon; also various other diseases have each a presiding demon.
Two Mexican Maidens.
A Hindu Worshiping the Sun and His Tools.
Thus thousands are kept in slavish fear and dread of these wicked spirits which are supposed to be lurking in trees and uninhabited places. They grope on in this sad plight, knowing not of the God of infinite love and might, before whom devils “fear and fly.” There is scarcely a village or household in India that has not some kind of deity for the purpose of preventing the evils believed to be caused by these demons, tho sometimes it is only a roughly carved image or patch of red paint on a stone.—Selected.
