The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-06
,v1LLAGB DEITIEs.
The Religion of the Masses in south-
 ern India

The Religion or the Masses III pOulA~
 ern India.
 I will try to describe briefly one im- portant feature of the religion of the masses. Out of the 3OO,00O,0O0 inhabit- ants of India about 200,000,0O0 are Hindus, some 5500O,O0O Mohammedans, and the rest Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Parsees, Jews and Animists. Hindus- ism, then, is in India the religion of the masses. But It must not be sup posed that Hinduism Is, like Chlstian- ity or Mohammedanism, single re- ligion with a definite creed On the contrary, it is a conglomerate of be- liefs and customs belonging to diff ferent ages and expressing often in consistent ideas and sentiments, We may roughly divide 1t into three main forms of religion, First, there are the six systems of Hindu philosophy, of which the most popular is Vedantism, a subtle and refine form of Pantheism which forms the creed of small and educated minority Secondly, there is the popular worship of Siva and Vish- nu Siva representing the destructive power of nature and Vishnu its power of preservation. This is not the ancient religion of the Vedas the sacred books of the Hindus but a comparatively modern form of worship that originat- ed about the time of the decay and ex- termination of Buddhism between the first and sixth centuries A. D., and represents a combination of the ab- stract philosophical ideas of the Ary- an Brahmtns with the grosser forms of worship of the original inhabitants of India. It is the form of Hinduism which is most in evidence and with which English people in India arc most familiar. The large temples 1T town and village are nearly all dedi' cated to Siva or Vishnu, and travel Ter who visited India and saw only tht surface of the religious life of tht Hindus would naturally imagine tha this worship of Siva and Vishnu, witt it's various ramifcations, formed th' sum total of popular Hinduism.
 But In south India there is thirC element in Hinduism, which is jus as important as the worship of Siy' and Vishnu and has it's roots deepe down in the thoughts and feelings o the masses, namely the worship of vii large deities. Every village in sout India is believed by the people to b surrounded by evil spirits, who are al ways on the watch to infict diseas and misfortunes on the unhappy vii lagers. They turk everywhere, on tn tops of the palmyra trees in cave and rocks, in ravines and chasm They fly about in the air, like birds nrey ready to bounce upon any UT nroteeted victim, and the villargeI mass through life in constant dread these invisible enemies. At the san lime each village has also its guardla enjrit ar spirits, whose function 1t to ward off evil spirits and protect U villagers from epidemics of choler smallpox, cattle disease, famine ar all the manifold ills that flesh is he to in an Indian village. The sole o iec+ of the worship of these villaI deities is to propitiate them and p' in a good temper, so as to insure the nrotection or avert their wrath. The is hardly any trace of praise
 fhanKSglVlnS, UT any S1NP-
 oratitude and love in the whole sy tenn. and no desire for moral al sniritual blessings. The one great feet of all the rites and ceremonies to get rid of epidemlcs or to obta material properity. The worship the1 fore. in most villages only takes pla occasionally. In some there IS
 annual sacrifice; but in the majori sacrifices are only offered when an el demic or cattle disease breaks o' The general attitude of the villager ward his village deities is "let slee ing dogs lie" so long as everythl goes on well and there is no dlea aflicting man or beast it seems sat to let them alone, but when misfortu comes it is a sign that they are out
 temper and require propitiation. Wh therefore, siva and Vishnu may
 more dignified beings, with far mt imposing shrines and temples, s when calamity overtakes village, a famine, pestilence-or cattle dise' makes its appearance, it is to the ' lage deities that the whole body of
 villagers turn for protection, as a m
 present help in trouble and as be
 more intimately concerned with
 the happiness and prosperity of
 people.
 The origin of this farm of Hindui