90 
INDIA AND MALAY BELIEFS. 
common in ancient India :-^-Satapatha, Br. VI, 1, 1, 2, etc.; the 
Mantrapatha ( Anecdota Oxoniensia ) Oxford 1897, p. 29. The 
Snataka or young Brahman, who had concluded his study of the 
Vedas and taken vows, had to observe many such tabus : — he must 
say bhagala for kapala “ head,” inanidhatms for indradlianus “ rain- 
bow,” dhenubhavya “ a cow which will become a milch-cow,” in- 
stead of adhenu “a cow which gives no milk” (Gautama Dhar- 
masastra IX, 19-22; Apast. Dharmas. I, 31, 11; 12; 15; 16; — 
“The Sacred Laws of the Aryas ” Part I, pages 216-224, 92-98, 
Oxford; Baudh. Dh. II, 6, 11, 18; Vasistha Dh. XII, 32). 
Wintemitz finds parallels for the figurative language of Malay 
betrothal verses (Skeat pages 364 and 634), where the girl is called 
a calf, in the language of the Ests where the wooer pretends to 
search for a lost calf (L. v. Schroeder, Hochzeitsbrauclie der Esten , 
Berlin 1888, page 36) ; of the Finns where the wooer pretends he 
wishes to buy a bird ; of the Sardinians, where the wooer as’ks for 
a white dove or a white calf. 
The mimic combat for the person of a Malay bride (Skeat, 
page 381) is widespread, of course, even in Europe: it was prac- 
tised in ancient India (Wintemitz: AXtindisches H ochaetisrituell, 
page 68). The throwing of rice over the head of the bridegroom 
(Skeat, page 382) is commonly observed bv all Indo-Germanie 
peoples. Confarreatio forms part of a Malay wedding as of mar- 
riages among so many races : it was a ceremony known in ancient 
India (Wintemitz, op. cit., page 79). Malay bride and groom are 
princes for the wedding-day (Skeat, page 388). In Kashmir the 
bridegroom is entitled for the day Maharaja : — cf. A. Stein’s Raja- 
tarangini I, page 131. In the Ramavana “a marriage-crown” is 
mentioned: — Growse’s “Ramayana” Book I, page 182 (Allahabad 
1877). In Modern Bengal the poorest bridegroom wears a tinsel 
crown (Lai Behari Day, “Bengal Peasant Life” 1884, page 88) — 
A similar custom obtains in Russia, Scandinavia and parts of 
Germany. 
Wintemitz notes that Malay animistic beliefs concerning trees 
and plants are derived neither from Islam nor from Brahamanism 
There are other customs and beliefs which the reviewer might 
have noted, had he found space. The belief in the need for human 
sacrifice at the founding of a building is common to East and 
West: — Skeat, page 144; Crooke’s “Introduction to Popular Re- 
ligion and Folk-lore of Northern India” page 237 and Index; 
Robertson Smith’s “Religion of the Semites” page 158; Greek 
modern folk-songs (Passow Carm. Pop. Gr. 512, and “Folklore”' 
1899). The Malay notion of a mousedeer in the moon (Skeat, 
page 13) must be derived from the “hare” in the moon common 
in Indian folk-lore and found in the Sanskrit epithets sasin , 
marganka, harinanka “ having the mark of a deer.” The Brah- 
man held the work of a police officer to be degrading: — Gautama, 
Jour. Straits Branch 
