Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-08
MIXED RELIGIONS.
People Who Worship Snakes. Rivers and
Other Unconventional Gods,

People Who Worship Snakes, Rivers and
Other Unconventional Gods.
From the London Daily News
We are apt to be very proud Of our religious
liberation, forgetting that this is quite a new
idea among ourselves. As the religious statis-
tics of the Punjab seem TO show, it must be q
very old idea in the east. Only lao years have
passed since the mild sect Of Episcopalisns
were prosecuted in Scotland. Only $50 years
have gone by since Mr.. James Guthrie petit
toned King Charles to persecute every one who
did not agree with him, Mr.. Guthrie, .whereupon
they hanged Mr.. Guthrie, "pour encourager les
autres." Now. In the dusky orient. federation
must have been more prevalent. or the Pun
jab could scarcely rejoice in SO many religions.
Sir Alfred Lyall has shown that almost any
man who can preach and work miracles may
found a new sect, and these gifts are, or are
esteemed to be, very common in the east.
Thus. in Mr.. Maclagan's estimate. he reckons
about 80, 600 believers in Yogism. Their tenets
are very contrary to those with which the Bad
Squire informed the mind of Mr.. Robert Els
mere. "In the miracles Of the New Testament
they see nothing wonderful" as being per-
suaded that miracles are matters Of common
occurrence Outside the circle Of con-
tributors to the Journal Of Psychical
Research this doctrine is not held by 10000
English people. II the Yogis are 90 accom-
r - sASs NcSaofc, ~ 40 W w Ao6hSss>~
that they do not come over and work . few
miracles under test conditions. II Yogi,
sealed up in bag. with Mr.. Myers eye upon
him, can make tables walk about the room, then
we are prepared TO admit that there 10 some
thing In Yogism. miracle will be all the
more miraculous II performed in unhappy eli
matte conditions Besides. even IL the Yogis
nnds 1t too cold for miracles mediums do not.
De Foe remarks, with misplaced confidence,
that I'VE don't find our houses disturbed as
they used to be and the stools and chairs walk
Ing about out Of one room into another as
formerly. But we do find all this occurring
In printed books. which ought to be q great en-
couragement to Yogis
Compared with Yogis. river worshipers are
only small sect. In this country they would
be beating the rivers with iron chains, like
Aerxes, because the rivers in this dry spring
are very provoking to their adorers- Not q
trout can be induced to rise, while the
barometer does nothing else. and salmon
streams are mere collections Of dry boulders
at 100 guineas . month. The man who has
paid that sum, and whose sole occupation is
whistling for . south wind and rain, would be
rather apt to burn few river worshipers il
toieration had not obtained such hold on our
manners. Most Of the river worshipers belong
to the Od sect" The DDS always wear black
blanket not to save washing in the sacred
rivers, but TO put them in mind OF their lat
ter end, and Of the fact that they must 20 in
mourning till food in the Gauges, which at
present seems extremely unlikely to occur
They might get their friends. the Yogis, to
cause a flood by the occult power Of the will,
and IL Yogi really can do this then Suther-
land Is the county where a Yogi would be
simply adored. But il he cannot do it in the
danges he is not likely TO succeed in the
Oykel or the Helmsdale. There is something
very provoking In the contrast between what
the Yogis say they can do and what they actu-
ally perform.
Snake worshipers are more numerous than
river worshipers. They have always been q
large denomination in heather countries. Why
they worship snakes is problem that has been
frequently discussed to no particular purpose
But people who worship owls, bats, HOLSTERS,
rats and mice will worship anything, and per-
haps snake worshipers are SO common merely
because snakes are SO widely distributed and
so far from exclusive in their habits. II
q man worships an opossum or an ornithorny-
serpents are everywhere. So ID the
earth (Prithi). and the earth, as
Hertha, Demeter and under many other
names. has never wanted adorers. Even
the untutored Pawnees are earth worshipers
and bury objects by way Of sacrifice, which il
can be dug up again. The ancestral mound is
good deal adored in the Punjab. In Scot
land it became the fairy hill, as at Aberfoyle,
and was treated with conspicuous respect in
times comparatively modern. The church was
usually built as near il as possible, perhaps to
counteract the influence of the ancestral mound,
or to acquire any local sacredness that might
be going. There are said to be thirty-three
crores Of gods in the Hindoo Pantheon, and put
ting the crore at million. even allowing for
the depreciation of the rupee. this il . large
supply. In the British Punjab there are said
to be only 1000 sun worshipers, .
statement painful to believers in the solar theory
OF myth: For it is plain that serpents. rivers,
the earth and ancestors, not to speak of Yogis,
must supply moro mythology than the sun, if
the figures be correct At all events, ali these
denominations live very peacefully together,
and do not burn each other for their very
striking differences of theological opinion
This proves that they are wiser than our re-
cent ancestors. No Cd would put fellow
creature to the torture(li like Archbishop Spottis-
woode with Father Ogilvie) for being q sweep
Yet sweeps differ as much from DDS as Episco-
palians from Jesuits.