BENEDICT, BAGOBO CEREMONIAL, MAGIC AND MYTH 273 



less offering, as well as the bloody sacrifice; 509 the virtue of the 

 sacrifice for curing sickness and for securing material goods; 510 the 

 cleansing and generative power of the waters; 511 the celebration of 

 a festival during the bright fortnight of the moon. These and 

 other ritual aspects make one feel that the last word has not been 

 said when all the single Malay characters in worship have been 

 ■exactly compared and checked up. 



Yet, after all, it is in hearing Bagobo songs recited and in 

 listening to Bagobo romantic tales that one is conscious of a pre- 

 vailing Hindu atmosphere. Without going too much into detail in 

 the direction of the myths, since a careful analysis of episodes 

 cannot be included within the limits of this discussion, there may 

 be named a few constantly recurring elements: such as methods of 

 magical manipulation; certain regularly appearing personalities; 

 distino-uishino; marks of exalted individuals; the character of con- 

 ventional incidents that are repeated so often as to form the woof 

 of mythical situations — all these methods of literary treatment 

 characterize Bagobo song and story as they characterized the Sagas 

 of ancient India, though the respective settings are very different. 

 As illustrations of this characterization, we might name, particularly, 

 the stress laid on the distinction of chaste men and of virtuous 

 women, from whose bodies rays of light emanate, and on whose 

 heads are halos inseparable from them; 512 the auspicious marks on 

 the bodies of semi-divine heroes; 513 the essential coordination be- 

 tween rich apparel and a pure and lovely character; 514 the dis- 

 appearance of thirst and of hunger on attainment of the divine 

 nature; 515 the appearance of celestial women from trees in which 

 are cities or palaces ; 516 the growth to partial maturity at the moment 

 of birth; 517 a magical covering of physical distance by flight through 

 the air, 51S or in response to a mental suggestion; the summoning 



609 Cf. J. Darmesteter (ti\): op. cit., p. lxii. 



510 Cf. ibid., p. 87. 



511 Cf. ibid., pp. Ixxx, lxxxi, 87, 232. Cf. also, R. T. H. Griffith (tr.): The hymns 

 of the A thar va- Veda, vol. 1, pp. 37—38, 43—41. 



512 Cf. Somadeva: The Katha sarit sagara; tr. by C. H. Tayvney, vol. 1, pp. 121, 

 166, 415, 418; vol. 2, p. 246. 1880—1884. 



513 Cf. ibid., vol. 1, pp. 25—26, 189; vol. 2, p. 141. 

 5li Cf. ibid., vol. 1, p. 333; vol. 2, p. 159. 



515 Cf. ibid., vol. 1, p. 36. 



S1B Cf. ibid., vol. 1, pp. 121, 229, 574; vol. 2, p. 150. 



sl * Cf. ibid., vol. 1, pp. 119, 156. 



5,8 Cf. ibid., vol. 1, pp. 142, 278, 327, 328, 344, 346 : 457, 494. 



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