OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 89 



Probably Syria. (Cat. Nos. 311845-311847, U.S.N.M.) Bequest 

 of Miss Elizabeth S. Stevens. 



84. Rosary. — Consisting of 98 beads made of olive wood, carved. 

 India. (Cat. No. 289298, U.S.N.M.) 



85. Rosary. — Consisting of 99 beads made of bone, divided into 

 three sections by two slate stones. The ends of the string pass 

 through a large bead made from a piece of conch shell. This style 

 of rosary is used by the Mohammedans in China. China. (Cat. 

 No. 167300, U.S.N.M.) 



86. Bronze crescent. — -The figure of the crescent was the symbol 

 of Byzantium, and when the Turks became masters of Constanti- 

 nople (1453), they adopted it as an emblem of their growing empire. 

 Some authorities, however, think that the device has been used by 

 the Turks before that event. It is also used by them as the insignia 

 of their creed, putting it on the cupolas of mosques and minarets or 

 the towers from which the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer five 

 times a day. The crescent as a religious symbol is unknown to the 

 Mohammedans not under Turkish rule. • Cairo, Egypt. (Cat. No. 

 154742, U.S.N.M.) 



V 



THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL OBJECTS OF HINDUISM 



INTRODUCTION 



The religion of the Hindus, that is, of about 218,000,000 of the 

 320,000,000 of the people of India, has passed through three phases: 

 (1) Vedism; (2) Older Brahmanism, or Brahmanism proper; (3) 

 Sectarian Brahmanism, or Hinduism, which is the prevailing religion 

 of India. 



1. Vedism, which derived its name from its sacred books, the 

 Vedas (that is knowledge), is assumed to have originated between 

 1500 and 1200 B. C. It was a naturalistic religion, based on the 

 deification and worship of the elements and forces of nature. Among 

 the 33 gods mentioned in the Vedas stand out Dyaus (heaven), 

 later superseded by Indra, the storm god, who conquers demons and 

 aids in battle. Next in importance are the rituahstic figures of the 

 fire-god, Agni, the conveyor of sacrifices and protector against dark- 

 ness, and Soma, the juice of a plant beheved to be of the milkweed 

 family, now classed as Sarcostemma hrevistigma. The use of this 

 liquor in the sacrifices together with the natural effect of drinking it 

 gave it a supernatural character. It was largely due to copious 

 draughts of Soma that Indra was able to perform his heroic deeds. 

 Other Vedic gods to be mentioned were Varuna, the god of the firma- 

 ment; Surya, the god of the sun; Vayu, the god of the wind; and 

 Prithivi, the goddess of the earth. 

 61551—29 7 



