Ritual and belief : $b Studies in the history of religionHartland, Edwin Sidney
Religion
Ritual and belief : $b Studies in the history of religion
Hartland, Edwin Sidney
Ethnopsychology; Magic; Religion; Rites and ceremonies
manner kings were elected in that country.”[304.2] In a story which
appears to come from Gujerat, the king dies without an heir, and the
astrologers prophesy that his heir would be the first who entered the
gates of the city on the morrow of the king’s decease, and around
whose neck the sacred elephant would throw a garland of
flowers.[304.3]
At other times the elephant alone does not make the choice. With him
is conjoined some other animal or symbol of royalty. A tale from
Kashmir speaks of a land where, when the king died, his elephant “was
driven all over the country and his hawk was made to fly here, there
and everywhere in search of a successor; and it came to pass that
before whomsoever the elephant bowed and on whosesoever hand the hawk
alighted, he was supposed to be the divinely chosen one.”[304.4] In
the _Kathákoça_, a collection of stories illustrating the tenets and
practice of Jainism, five ordeals, as they are expressly called, are
invoked. “The mighty elephant came into the garden outside the city.
There the elephant sprinkled Prince {305} Amaradatta [we have already
heard of sprinkling as a means of hallowing to kingship], and put him
on its back. Then the horse neighed. The two chowries fanned the
prince. An umbrella was held over his head. A divine voice was heard
in the air: ‘Long live King Amaradatta.’”[305.1]
In most of these cases the decision is clearly regarded as the
judgement of Heaven; and in every case the judgement of Heaven may at
least be inferred. The incident is hardly less a favourite in the West
than in the East. In the West, too, it is an appeal to the judgement
of Heaven. All the European stories, however, in which it occurs have
been recorded within the last century; consequently the incident in
question appears only in a very late form. Now an appeal to the
judgement of Heaven in the selection of a ruler is familiar to the
peasant mind of the continent in one solitary instance--that of the
choice of a pope. Accordingly this is the favourite, if not the only
form of the story as it is told in France, Italy, and Switzerland. The
charming collection by the late M. Luzel of religious and
quasi-religious tales of Lower Brittany contains one entitled “Pope
Innocent.” The hero is a son of the King of France cast off by his
parents, who attempt to put him to death. He sets out for Rome to be
present at the election of a new pope. On the way he falls in with two
Capuchin monks. The elder of them is gentle to him, the other
suspicious and hostile. The youth is a bit of a prig. Perhaps this is
not to be wondered at, seeing that he is endowed with supernatural
knowledge and power. These qualities make his conduct throughout the
journey enigmatical to the point of excusing, if not justifying, the
attitude of his unfriendly companion. {306} Everyone takes him for a
sorcerer; and the younger monk says in so many words to the other,
that they will be lucky if he do not bring them to the gallows or the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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