ipio.] HOPKINS— MAGIC OBSERVANCES IN HINDU EPIC. 25 



told that when a king and his priest perform a magical ceremony 

 involving murder they are sent to hell (see below). 



A great deal of magical lore lies in the wonder stories of the 

 holy watering-places called Tirthas. We read that at such and 

 such a Tirtha the footprints of the gods are still visible, that " fishes 

 of gold " are to be found, that animals change their shapes, etc. 

 Primarily, the Tirthas are in the interest of the accepted religious 

 cult and the reward ofifered for a journey to a Tirtha and a bath 

 in the sacred pool is forgiveness of sins, 3.47.29, etc. But besides 

 this the pilgrim gets " all his wishes " or more specifically " regains 

 his youth," or gets "beauty and fortune," as in 3.82.43f., ih. inf.; 

 85.32. That diseases are cured in the Tirthas, 3.83. 5of., may be 

 due rather to a belief in medicinal waters and is not necessarily a 

 magical trait. But it is a trifle more magical when we read that if 

 one eats once at the Tirtha called Maninaga he will never thereafter 

 be poisoned by snake-bites, 3.84.i09f. In the same section it is 

 said that the tracks of the magical cow Kapila " and of her calf " 

 are preserved till now at the Tirtha named for her, ih. 88. 



The Tirtha is, in short, the place where marvels are to be seen, 

 and these marvels are of more or less magical nature, like the 

 "marvel visible even today at Pindaraka " (in Gujarat), viz., "im- 

 pressions having the mark of the lotus and lotuses stamped with 

 (Siva's) trident," 3.82.66. 



Like the Tirthas, the trees and mountains show many magical 

 touches, but these require separate treatment.^ 



Magic in Sacrifice. 



It must be assumed at the outset that all the paraphernalia of 

 the Vedic cult, with its fire sacrifice, havyam and kavyam, 7.59.16, 

 sacrificial sessions, " four-month " sacrifice, the " five sacrifices," 

 5. 134.12 (cf. 19) ; the " six sadyaskos," the sarvamcdha, the 

 "seven soma-saihsthas," 12.24.7; 29.38, etc., were perfectly well 

 known to the writers of the epic. Thus the horse-sacrifice and 

 human sacrifice are referred to, e. g., 5.29.18, and the countless 



^ Compare my forthcoming paper on " Mythological Aspects of Woods, 

 and Mountains in the Hindu Epic," JAOS. igio. 



