136 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



idolatry on the ground that deity is present in everything, and 

 that it is therefore justifiable to worship any object which is con- 

 venient or desirable. 



The Dravidian idea is not the same. In the foregoing chapters 

 we have seen no instance of the worship of any object as an object, 

 or because of the spirit of the object. In every case the worship 

 is addressed to an outside spirit which has taken up its residence, 

 temporary or otherwise, in the object. The Dravidian makes a 

 god for the day and throws it away, or leaves it on the boundaries. 

 After the one day it is nothing, and the cattle may trample it under 

 foot. This by no means indicates that the deity is discarded. It 

 cannot be that the image is the object of worship. We see a 

 company of people placing hotlu on a tree and making offerings 

 before it, and it appears that they are worshiping the tree. It is 

 not the tree, however, but the spirits in the tree, that they are 

 worshiping.*** Tree worship as such is Hindu, not Dravidian. 



It is very evident, therefore, that the Dravidian is not a wor- 

 shiper of " stocks and stones." He is a worshiper of spirits. The 

 question then arises as to the connection between the spirit wor- 

 shiped, and the image, often shapeless and uncarved, and quite un- 

 connected with the history of the spirit. The totemistic theory ex- 

 plains the image as being at first placed to mark the spot where 

 the totem animal was killed to insure the presence of its spirit. 

 The place became taboo, and needed some such symbol to prevent 

 it from any violation. In course of time the original significance 

 was lost, and the stone itself was considered to be the deity. 



My investigations lead me to believe that, while the stone was 

 not the original deity, and while it was erected to mark a partic- 

 ular spot, that spot was not the scene of the sacrifice of a totem 



*° See page 35. Manual of Administration of Madras Presidency, I, p. 

 71, says trees are worshiped because they are supposed to be the abode 

 of gods. In South India it is thought that the superior gods live in groves, 

 and demons in single trees. This is probably an inaccurate distinction be- 

 tween the gods of Hinduism and of the Dravidians. The Gazetteer of 

 South Arcot, I, p. 102, says that puja is made to the margosa tree, appar- 

 ently, but really to Maramma who dwells in the tree. The Valaiyans in 

 their backyards have a tree, Odina wodier, in which devils are thought to 

 live. These devils are propitiated once a year. Gazetteer of Tanjore, I, p. 69. 



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