182 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



and not worked in the plough. 1 The Paharias of the 

 Rajmahal Hills hold that for the spirits of the suicide 

 and the murderer there is no hope. They are con- 

 demned to wander up and down in the nether world 

 without rest. Other spirits, however, after awhile are 

 born again. Those who have done good are born in 

 a better position than before. Those who have mis- 

 used their opportunities or abused their position in 

 former days will be born again in a lower grade. 

 This process of reincarnation may be repeated again 

 and again until the good man reaches the highest 

 position, and 'the wicked man ceases to be born of a 

 woman and joins the ranks of the inferior animals. 2 

 So in a much higher grade of civilisation the Laws of 

 Manu declare that for disloyalty to her husband a wife 

 is censured in this world, and after death she is born 

 again from the womb of a jackal and is tormented by 

 diseases, the punishment of her sin. 3 



An old Dutch traveller tells us that the Cinghalese 

 are persuaded that the souls of men pass into domestic 

 buffaloes, rather than into other animals. Accordingly 

 they will not kill these creatures lest they kill or injure 

 their relations or friends. 4 The Chingpaw of Upper 

 Burmah hold that the souls of such as have behaved 

 well on earth live in the air or are born again as 

 chieftains ; the wicked on the other hand turn into 

 lower animals and insects. 5 The natives of Ugi in the 

 Solomon Islands believe that the souls of the dead 



1 N. Ind. N. and Q.\. 129 (par. 817); Crooke, Tribes and Castes, 

 iii. 434. The Pataris referred to in these authorities are a branch 

 of the Majhwars now occupying the status of their family priests. 



2 Bradley-Birt, 309. 



3 Sacred Books, xxv. 197, 332. 4 Schouten, ii. 24. 

 * Dr. Wehrli, Int. Arch. xvi. Suppl. 52. 



