134 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



fields. Very often these images are exceedingly obscene.^* The 

 usual explanation is that the object first seen will utilize all the 

 evil in the look, and these objects will first attract attention. There 

 is some reason to beheve that before pots were used for these 

 purposes human skulls were placed in the fields. If this was the 

 origin it certainly must have been with the purpose of making 

 the demons think the spot was an undesirable place, perhaps a 

 cemetery. The strange images which look like scarecrows prob- 

 ably originated in the same idea. Their hideous appearance is 

 thought to deceive the spirits. The obscene images are more diffi- 

 cult to explain. Taking account of the state of Dravidian 

 morality, and that the spirits were once human beings, it is prob- 

 able that the original idea was that the spirts would have so much 

 interest in these figures that they would not proceed further. 



Akin to the reason for the fear of the evil eye are other pecu- 

 liar customs which have been described in the preceding pages. 

 In the worship of Bangaramma,^^ and also occasionally in that of 

 other gods, the Madigas revile the higher castes. If they hesitate 

 to do this they are compelled to begin their vituperation. The 

 reason is the same as the desire to be spat upon by the Matangi, 

 and to have no complimentary word spoken of one. That reason 

 is that listening evil spirits may hear the vile epithets spoken by 

 despised outcastes, and so drop all interest in those who are 

 reviled. 



The ordinary worship of Dravidian local deities is easily un- 

 derstood on the hypothesis of demonolatry. The usual object of 

 worship is to stop some epidemic or other trouble which has ap- 

 peared in the village. The deity concerned is angry and must be 

 propitiated. In the case of the village deity the cause of the 

 anger may be that she is expecting offerings. In the case of a 

 visiting goddess like Kanaka Durgamma, the offering is to induce 

 her to leave peaceably. In any case the goddess is an evil-bring- 

 ing demoness, and the worship is to propitiate her.^^ 



3» See Crooke, Things Indian, pp. 114 sq. At one time I was able to 

 persuade the villagers of the evil effects of such an image and they 

 removed it. 



37 See page 26. 



38 I have tried to find in the worship at least some measure of gratitude 



