Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 678

THE MONKEY-GOD HANUMAX
338
are ready to give him a share of their
Hanuman are to be seen in most tem-
They are also to be found
ples and in many public places.
Indeed, in those provinces
in forests and desert spots.
where there are many followers of Vishnu, you can scarcely
move a yard without coming across an image of this beloved
The offerings made to him consist solely of natural
god.
Wherever monkeys
products, never of a sacrifice of blood.
are to be found in a wild state, their devotees daily bring
them offerings of boiled rice, fruit, and various other kinds
This is considered a most
of food to which they are partial.
meritorious act.
this deity,
homage.
but
all
Images
of
Basava, or the Bull.
This is the favourite deity of the Sivaites, or followers of
Many conjectures have been offered as to the origin
Siva.
It
of bull-worship among so many idolatrous peoples.
seems to me, however, that the reason is simple enough.
Was it not most natural that those who worshipped so many
different objects should offer homage to animals which were
so pre-eminently valuable to them, which were their com-
panions in labour, on which they relied to carry on all their
agricultural work, which in primitive times constituted
their one source of wealth, and which even at the present
day form the basis of material wealth all over the world ?
The nations which did not actually worship them as gods
were always careful to show the high value they set upon
them. For instance, amongst the Romans to kill a bull
was accounted a no less crime than to kill a fellow-citizen
J
;
was a long time before the Athenians could bring
themselves to offer up one of these animals in their sacrifices.
There is every reason therefore why the Hindus should
and
it
regard their cattle with extraordinary veneration, for as
a matter of fact oxen and cows are so absolutely necessary
to them that one may safely say it would be quite impossible
for them to exist without their help.
For this reason, there-
fore, these animals are reckoned among the most sacred
objects of their religion.
Their images are to be found in
1
'
Bovis tanta
bovem
occidere
fuit
quam
apud antiquos veneratio, ut
Columella, Book VI.
civem.'
—
tarn capitale esset