subject of Indian art: for instance, it is represented, in the case of Siva and Pārvatī in the Caves of Elephanta.[1]
The Mana of the Mothers is also reinforced or restored by blood sacrifice, especially of a male victim, whose shivering, stimulated by pouring water on its back, indicates that it is possessed by the deity, when it is slain at once by a single stroke, in order to prevent the Mana from being dispersed and lost.[2] But it is still believed that unless the victim is subjected to torture or meets with a tedious death, the state of tension requisite for the accumulation and bestowal of the Mana will not be attained. Hence we find that the animal is ill-treated, beaten, crushed, or trampled to death, preventing the careless effusion of blood which is the prime vehicle of the Mana. Such barbarities are a scandal in the popular ritual.[3]
It is impossible to discuss in detail the question whether this type of sacrifice is communal or not; the theory that it corresponds to the Semitic type of sacrifice is supported by Bishop Whitehead, but his remarks do not carry complete conviction.[4] There are certainly points of resemblance:—the meat is cooked by the men of the menial castes who perform the rite, and it is eaten there and then before the god, except the head, the share of the officiant, which he usually takes to his home: as a general rule none of the flesh may be removed from the sacred place. This last precaution may imply nothing more than that the flesh is regarded as sacrosanct or tabu, and it is a fact that many high castes, like the Nāmbūtiri Brahmans of Malabar, the most conservative of Hindus, who aim at
- ↑ J. Fergusson, J. Burgess, The Cave Temples of India, 471; V. A. Smith, History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, 215, with a photograph.
- ↑ See M. Haug, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writinigs, and Religion of the Parsis, 128.
- ↑ See the remarks on Hausa sacrifices, A. J. N. Tremearne, The Ban of the Borī, 239 f. On the mysterious power of blood, A. A. Macdonell, A. B. Keith, Vedic Index, ii. 146.
- ↑ Op. cit. 144.
