GHOST WORSHIP AND TREE WORSHIP. 495 



it not at least possible that in the minds of early men the f ruitf ul- 

 ness of the sown crop may seem to depend upon the presence be- 

 neath the soil of the deified ancestor ? I do not mean physically, 

 as manure, for that idea is, of course, quite beyond the savage, 

 but magically and supernaturally, as ghost and spirit. At first 

 sight, to be sure, this seems a somewhat large and uncertain pos- 

 tulate. But if we reflect upon the nature of the evidence collected 

 by Mr. Frazer, we shall see, I think, that the transition is a suffi- 

 ciently simple and natural one. Primitive man may well have 

 begun by scattering seeds as offerings on the graves of his rela- 

 tions. If these seeds germinated and grew successfully, as they 

 would be pretty certain to do, he would at once, as if by instinct, 

 accept the increase as the immediate gift of the dead ancestor. 

 For he knows nothing beforehand about the nature of seeds or 

 the laws of their germination. He doesn't even know, to start 

 with, that seeds are necessary for the production of food plants. 

 From this first step, however, it would be but a slight advance 

 deliberately to produce and bury a god for the express purpose 

 of fertilizing a sown crop. That gods were so produced, slain, 

 and buried in fields, to insure fertility, we know now for certain. 

 " The Kandhs," says Sir William Hunter,* " have many deities — 

 race gods, tribe gods, family gods, and a multitude of malignant 

 spirits — each one of whom must be appeased with blood. But 

 their great divinity is the earth god, who represents the produc- 

 tive energy of Nature. Twice each year, at sowing time and at 

 harvest, and in all special seasons of distress, the earth god re- 

 quired a human sacrifice. The duty of providing the victims 

 rested with the lower race of outcasts attached to the Kandh vil- 

 lage. Brahmans and Kandhs were the only two classes exempted 

 from being sacrificed ; and an ancient rule ordained that the offer- 

 ing must be bought with a price. Men of the lower race, attached 

 to the villages, kidnapped victims from the plains ; and it was a 

 mark of respectability for a Kandh hamlet to keep a small stock 

 in reserve, as they said, ' to meet sudden demands for atonement/ 

 The victim, on being brought to the hamlet, was welcomed at 

 every threshold, daintily fed, and kindly treated, till the fatal 

 day arrived. He was then solemnly sacrificed to the earth god ; 

 the Kandhs shouting in his dying ear: 'We bought you with a 

 price ; no sin rests with us/ His flesh and blood were distributed 

 among the village lands, a fragment being solemnly buried in 

 each field in the newly turned furrows/' 



This passage is sufficiently striking in itself as evidence for 

 our purpose ; but Mr. Frazer has further shown good grounds for 

 believing that the meriah, or victim selected for this purpose, 



* Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. vii, p. 207. 



