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
because personalization is the inevitable tendency of the mind.
Professor Durkheim’s theory of religion is exhibited in detail only in
one type. He speaks of “the aptitude of society to erect itself into a
god or to create gods”;[124.1] but he illustrates his thesis only in
the case of totemism, which he takes as an example of the religion of
the least advanced people hitherto thoroughly examined. He is careful
to say that the question whether totemism has been more or less
widespread is of secondary importance; it is at all events the most
primitive and the simplest religion it is possible to reach.[124.2]
But his whole argument, if it prove anything, goes to show the
universality of totemism. For the idea of the soul, according to the
data of ethnography, appears to him to have been coeval with humanity,
and that not merely in germ but in all its essential characters; and
the soul is nothing else than the totemic principle incarnated in each
individual, a portion of the collective soul of the group, that is to
say of the totem, individualized.[124.3] Now totemism is certainly a
very archaic form of religion. That it was universal {125} is,
however, very far from being demonstrated. It may well be that many
branches of the human race have outgrown it, and that its traces have
been obliterated. But among peoples very low down in culture there are
many where it is unknown, or at least unrecognizable. It is more than
possible, could we ascertain the facts, that Bushman society was
organized on the basis of totemism. But there are other tribes no
higher than Bushmen and Australian Blackfellows where we fail to
discern it. The Veddas of Ceylon are indeed divided into clans with
female descent. Yet no totem has emerged after the most careful
enquiries. Their religion is essentially a cult of the dead, based on
fear. The dead man is addressed as “Lord! New Driver-away of Vaeddas!”
Sacrifices are offered and eaten as an act of communion with the
deceased. In addition to the dead of the local group, “certain
long-dead Veddas who may be regarded as legendary heroes” are invoked,
of whom the most important are Kande Yaka, an ancient hunter whose
assistance is implored for good hunting, and his brother Bilindi Yaka,
a sort of pale double of himself. But they are not known among all the
Vedda communities, though Kande is regarded by some as Lord or leader
of the dead. There are also other spirits, who appear to be of foreign
origin and superimposed upon the original cult of the dead, and are
perhaps on their way to become nature-spirits.[125.1] The religion of
the Andaman Islanders “consists of fear of the evil spirits of the
wood, the sea, disease and ancestors, and of avoidance of acts
traditionally displeasing to them.” There is besides an
anthropomorphic being, Puluga, who is said to be “the cause of all
things.” He receives no active worship, though acts thought to be
displeasing to him are avoided “for fear of damage to {126} the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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