196 Religion &c. among the Karens. [No. 4, 



To these ideas are appended others that appear to have been 

 originally derived from the Hindus. They say that Hades has a king, 

 or judge, who stands at the door to admit or reject those who apply 

 for admission into his kingdom. He decides the future of each. 

 Those who have performed meritorious works are sent to the regions of 

 happiness above ; but those that have done wickedness, such as 

 " striking father or mother," are delivered over to the king of hell 

 who is in waiting, and who casts them down into hell ; while those 

 who have neither performed deeds of merit, nor are guilty of great 

 crimes, are allotted a place in Hades. The Sgaus call this personage 

 Yu. or Tha-mie-Yu and the Bghais Tha-ma. Both are probably derived 

 from the Hindu Ya-ma ; and his office and duties are as old as the 

 earliest records we have of the Egyptian religion. 



The Spirit World. 



To a Karen, the world is more thickly peopled with spirits, than it 

 is with men, and the occasions on which his faith requires him to make 

 sacrifices and offerings to these unseen beings are interminable. 



Every human being has his guardian spirit walking by his side, 

 or wandering away in search of dreamy adventures ; and if too long 

 absent, he must be called back with offerings. 



Then the spirits of the departed dead crowd around him, whom he 

 has to appease by varied and unceasing offerings, to preserve his life 

 and health. 



Again there are all the conspicuous objects of the material world 

 — the lofty mountain, the wide river ; the shady tree and the inac- 

 cessible pricipice, every one of which, by the awe they inspire, 

 demands reverence and respect from human beings, and punishes each 

 breach of etiquette with sickness or death. These too must be 

 propitiated. 



Thus, though the Karens have no cumbrous written ritual of ser- 

 vices and ceremonies, like the Mahommedans, the Bralrmins and the 

 Buddhists ; they have yet an oral liturgy of observances, as burden- 

 some as the services of the ancient Egyptians or the Mosaic ritual. 



Guardian Spirits. 

 The word in Karen that designates the heart is also used for the 

 mind and soul. The seat of all moral qualities is in the heart, and 

 death is designated as the departure of the heart from the body. 



