FOLKLORE OF WELLS BEING A STUDY OF - WATER-WORSHIP IN EAST AND WEST BY R. P. MASANI, M. A. BOMBAY D. B. TARAPOKEVALA SONS Co. 1918 ctf w tJ ctf g ctf bo Crf O TABLE OF CONTENTS. Introduction Pages xvii to xxvi. T AJT I FOLKLORE OF BOMBAY WELLS. CHAPTER I. SANCTITY OF WATER. Origin of fevers Wrath of Shiva Story of Ekanterio, the malaria fiend Closing of wells Protests based on religious sentiments and supernatural beliefs Scriptural injunctions for the use of well water Opinions of Parsi scholars Some Hindu beliefs and usages Ceremonies requiring water drawn from seven wells Lighting of lamps in the niches in wells The unwashed sect of the Jains Aversion to bathing The days of the Drymais . . . . 1 8 CHAPTER II. WATER SAINTS. Spirits dwelling in wells Disasters brought on by pent-up spirits The fortunes of the Edwardes Theatre Mysterious collapse of barriers The sacred well of Alice Building Propitiated well-spirits avert accidents Story of two sisters Oracular well of Ghogha Street Midnight and midday visits to wells Ceremony of divination at St. OswalTs well 9 - 13 VI TABLE OF CONTSOTS CHAPTER HL PENALTY FOR DEFILEMENT. The labourer who spat on the pavement of an oracular well Fate of an European girl who offended the saintly spirit of Lovejr Castle Acts of defilement, whether conscious or unconscious, offend the spirits The Nowrojee Wadia house tragedy A Damascus custom Destruction of the land of Logres Concerts of the nymphs The pure one fountain of Egypt An Esthonian belief . A curious variant of the belief concerning defilement Deliberate pollution of wells so as to constrain the rain-god Albirunis interrogatories Doctrine of negation of knowledge 14 17 CHAPTER IV. QUAINT PARSI BELIEFS. Worship of cabined spirits on full moon eve Goat-sacri fice on marriage days Practice of besmearing the forehead with the blood of the victim Non-Aryan cults imbibed by the Aryans Hindu and Parsi beliefs in water-spirits compared Antiquity of water-worship among the Parsis Worship of Ard vi Sura AnaMtar Influence of the genii locorum on the community Mahomedan patron saints of Parsi household An anthropological puzzle Ecstatic possession of a Parsi woman The Gunbow well Murgha Bawas well Cures effected by the grace of water-saints Beliefs common to the whole world Association of life with motion Water worship in the East has its counterpart in the history of Western thought Professor Robertson Smiths description of th worship prevailing ia Axabia in the West probably more wide-... , .. TABLE OF CONTENTS , vii P JRT II. WATER-WORSHIP IN EAST AND WEST. CHAPTER V. THE MOST WIDE-SPREAD PHASE OF ANIMISM. Deification of fountains and rivers a general cult Max Miillers theory of poetic personification The spiritual element uppermost in the worship of water Water an important factor during the first three days of Creation Rabbi IsmaePs saying Babylonian conception of the god Nun Rising of Shu from water The Akkad triad of gods Worship of streams absorbed by the Hittites into their pantheon Two triads sacred to the Phoe nicians The Vedic god Varuna How the concep tion of the night served to convey the idea of the ocean Greek beliefs Okeanos and Skamandros Neptune, the Latin sea-god Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea The Scandinavian god Niord Midsuno Kami, the water-god of Japan The Peruvian sea-god Virakocha Worship of Mama cocha, Mother Sea The Egyptian Nile-god Parsi festival in honour of Ardevi Sur Anahita The Greek goddess Aphrodite Wells of water bestowed by Greek saints Healing virtues of the waters of Egeria Dedication of likenesses of diseased limbs to the water-nymph Egeria Similar offerings to Virgil Mary at Mount Marys Chapel at Bandra The holy well of Smyrna Cathedral Cures effected with ordinary water just as well as with the sanctified water ArchsDological evidence of the British cult American examples of animistic ideas concerning water African rites of water worship .. ,, ,. 2939 Ylii TABLE OF COEfTENTS CHAPTER VI... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.