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
In the same manner, in India snakes are supposed to be specially
gifted with the faculty of distinguishing persons of royal race or
born to rule.[323.2] One example will be enough. The Gandharbs of
Benares, a caste of singers and prostitutes, ascribe their origin to
Doman Deo, the second Raghubansi Râjput king of Chandrâvati. He had
a groom named Shîru, who one day went into the jungle to cut grass,
and fell asleep. While he slept, a cobra raised its hood over his
head, and a wagtail kept flying above him. In that condition his
master saw him, and afterwards asked him what he would do for him if
he became king. Shîru promised to make him his prime minister. Going
subsequently to Delhi, the throne of which was vacant, Shîru was
chosen emperor, in the manner with which we are already acquainted, by
an elephant laying a garland on his neck; and he redeemed his word by
making Doman Deo his wazîr.[323.3] In Further India a saga of the
Chams relates that Klong Garay, who plays a great part in their
legendary history, {324} was found by a companion of his wanderings,
after a temporary absence, sleeping and watched by two dragons, which
were licking his body. Then he knew, we are told, that Klong Garay was
of royal race.[324.1] The child of a king of Siam by a Naga, or
divine snake, being exposed, was found and adopted by a hunter. The
king’s subjects were compelled by law to work in turn for the king.
The hunter, when summoned, took with him his adopted child and laid it
in the shadow of the palace, to protect it from the rays of the sun
while he performed his task. But the spire of the palace inclined
before the child, and the shadow appeared to fly. This prodigy put the
king upon enquiry, and he identified his son by means of the ring and
mantle which he had given to the lady, and which had been found with
the child.[324.2] In the old English metrical romance of _Havelok the
Dane_, the hero is identified by means of a royal mark, “a croiz ful
gent,” shining brighter than gold on his right shoulder.
“It sparkede, and ful brith shon,
So doth the gode charbucle ston,
That men mouthe se by the lith
A peni chesen, so was it brith.”[324.3]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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