Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism 137 



animal, but rather the place where a spirit first appeared. The 

 difficulty with the totemistic theory is that to this day the stone is 

 not worshiped, and so no transference of worship from the totem 

 animal to the stone can be assumed. It is the spirit which has 

 come to dwell in the stone that is worshiped, and that spirit has 

 no connection with a totem. 



The legends which have been given of the formation of new 

 deities all indicate that the stone marks the place where the spirit 

 appeared, or the place chosen for its residence. Commonly a 

 shrine or temple is erected over the stone, but this is by no means 

 essential. Often the stone is changed, or the same stone has an 

 image graven on it long after it was first erected.*^ 



After the place was marked by a stone, the dwelling place of 

 the spirit appears to have been gradually narrowed to the stone 

 itself. The idea has then developed that the spirit may be in- 

 duced to take up its residence, temporary or otherwise, in the 

 prepared image, and in this form receive the homage of the 

 people. It can not be denied that, by long association with the 

 image it inhabits, the spirit has become identified with the image in 

 the minds of many of the people. Even in such a case, however, 

 when the people speak of the image as the god, in their minds 

 they appear to have the same idea that more advanced people have 

 when they think of the bodily form of a friend as being the person, 

 and yet after his death would not consider the lifeless body to be 

 the one whom they had known. 



The popular idea that these Dravidians are worshipers of 

 " stocks and stones " needs, therefore, considerable modification. 

 It is true that, while the spirit is supposed to be residing in the 

 image, the image itself receives the worship. At such a time one 

 who is rash enough to take liberties with such an image will cer- 

 tainly think that the image itself is the god, for the worshipers 

 would defend it or resent any familiarities most fanatically. 



The Meaning of the Sacrifices. The fundamental idea of 

 the sacrifices is undoubtedly that of propitiation. The spirits are 



*i The Manual of Administration of the Madras Presidency, p. 81, says 

 that images are not essential to demon-worship, and have been adopted 

 from Brahmanism. 



