The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
Sometimes, at the death of the human incarnation, the divine spirit
transmigrates into another man. In the kingdom of Kaffa, in Eastern
Africa, the heathen part of the people worship a spirit called _Deòce_, to
whom they offer prayer and sacrifice, and whom they invoke on all
important occasions. This spirit is incarnate in the grand magician or
pope, a person of great wealth and influence, ranking almost with the
king, and wielding the spiritual, as the king wields the temporal, power.
It happened that, shortly before the arrival of a Christian missionary in
the kingdom, this African pope died, and the priests, fearing that the
missionary would assume the position vacated by the deceased pope,
declared that the _Deòce_ had passed into the king, who henceforth,
uniting the spiritual with the temporal power, reigned as god and
king.(158) Before beginning to work at the salt-pans in a Laosian village,
the workmen offer sacrifice to a local divinity. This divinity is
incarnate in a woman and transmigrates at her death into another
woman.(159) In Bhotan the spiritual head of the government is a person
called the Dhurma Raja, who is supposed to be a perpetual incarnation of
the deity. At his death the new incarnate god shows himself in an infant
by the refusal of his mother’s milk and a preference for that of a
cow.(160) The Buddhist Tartars believe in a great number of living
Buddhas, who officiate as Grand Lamas at the head of the most important
monasteries. When one of these Grand Lamas dies his disciples do not
sorrow, for they know that he will soon reappear, being born in the form
of an infant. Their only anxiety is to discover the place of his birth. If
at this time they see a rainbow they take it as a sign sent them by the
departed Lama to guide them to his cradle. Sometimes the divine infant
himself reveals his identity. “I am the Grand Lama,” he says, “the living
Buddha of such and such a temple. Take me to my old monastery. I am its
immortal head.” In whatever way the birthplace of the Buddha is revealed,
whether by the Buddha’s own avowal or by the sign in the sky, tents are
struck, and the joyful pilgrims, often headed by the king or one of the
most illustrious of the royal family, set forth to find and bring home the
infant god. Generally he is born in Tibet, the holy land, and to reach him
the caravan has often to traverse the most frightful deserts. When at last
they find the child they fall down and worship him. Before, however, he is
acknowledged as the Grand Lama whom they seek he must satisfy them of his
identity. He is asked the name of the monastery of which he claims to be
the head, how far off it is, and how many monks live in it; he must also
describe the habits of the deceased Grand Lama and the manner of his
death. Then various articles, as prayer-books, tea-pots, and cups, are
placed before him, and he has to point out those used by himself in his
previous life. If he does so without a mistake his claims are admitted,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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