Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/436

 39^ The Folklore in the Legends of the Panjah.

the appearance will be demoniacal or animistic. In every case they will belong to one fundamental category and be essentially animistic heroes, or they may with equal truth be classed as saints minus the veneer of Musalman, i.e. Western, philosophy.

The corollary to the notion of ghosts and spirits, exorcism and the casting out of devils, only once occurs in the Legends, though miraculous and magical cures of all other sorts abound, and then only by a reference, which is, how- ever, a significant one. For there a Hindu jogi cures a Muhammadan family of goblins and spirits by medicines and herbs ; and it is to be observed that in the passage in question the goblins were Musalman {jinn) and the spirits were Hindu {bhut).

Perhaps the most strongly marked variant of the idea of immortality to be found in Indian belief is the very common folktale expedient of temporary death. In the Legends there is a distinct instance of it, and also a matter-of-fact allusion to it, made in terms that clearly show the uni- versality of the acceptance of the notion.

Supernatural personages in Indian story have as a matter of course, in common with many otherwise work-a- day mortals, the power of second sight — that knowledge of things that are hidden — and, in addition to forestalling secret malice, proving innocence " not proven," and so on, can detect unseen thieves, a power by the way claimed by certain leaders of theosophy and esoteric Buddhism who ought to know better.

Supernatural personages may also be said to possess certain inherent powers, of which that of working miracles is the most important. So much are miraculous powers inherent in saints that saintship is held to be proved by the possession of the wonder-working gifts, and it is not an offence to holy men to seek to test them. Every one in contact with a saint is considered to be justified in doing so. These powers can be delegated, and we find several