NO. 6 



GREAT STONE MONUMENTS FEWKES 



15 



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t^Mtt 



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The upright stones of some of the East Indian dolmens in the 

 Deccan are, according to Capt. Meadows Taylor, 1 perforated and used 

 by the natives for various purposes one of which is to facilitate the 

 passage of food to the manes of the dead. 



Similar " holed-stones," according to Mr. W. G. Wood-Martin, 2 

 which " may, in most instances, be regarded as pillar-stones,'' are found 

 in Ireland: they occur in Scotland, England, and France, and from 

 thence can be traced to 

 India. It is stated that in 

 the last mentioned country 

 these perforated stones are 

 " used by devotees, as a 

 means of attaining for- 

 giveness of sins, or for 

 spiritual regeneration. If 

 the hole is large enough, 

 the suppliant creeps 

 through,, but if it is small 

 the hand alone is passed 

 through." 



While some of the Irish 

 " holed-stones " are un- 

 worked monoliths perfor- 

 ated, belonging to pagan 

 times and worship, the 

 early Christian mission- 

 aries, in order " to divert 

 the religious feeling per- 

 taining to them into Chris- 

 tian channels, caused them 

 to be cut in the shape of 



crosses, the hole being reduced to the size of the finger." These 

 so-called " secondary holed-stones " are also known in Ireland as 

 " prayer-stones " and still appeal to the imagination of the modern 

 peasants, who suppose they possess magic powers. Irish country 

 women resort to them to pray for children ; marriages are performed 

 near them, the betrothed pair clasp hands through them ; while 

 children by creeping through them are supposed to be cured of certain 



Fig. 8.- 



-Holed-Stone, India, from Strand 

 Magazine. 



1 Capt. Meadows Taylor, Trans. Roy. Hist. Acad, Vol. 24, p. 329- 

 2 W. G. Wood-Martin, Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, 2 vols. 

 London, 1902. 



