Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/250

 2 2 8 Collectanea.

Indian Folklore Notes, IV. ^

The following notes are taken from the Report of the Census of Baiuchistafi for igii by Mr. Denys Bray,- which is full of inter- esting matter, and is not generally accessible to English readers.

Ablution, coimiing times for. — " In any Yasinzai Kakar hut you may see a string hanging from the roof during the winter months, in which the goodman of the house ties a knot whenever the cause for an ablution arises, to serve as a reminder of the number of ablutions he must get through, when summer comes and washing is less of a nuisance" (p. 60).

Fertility charm. — At a boy's circumcision "among the Mari the mother stands in the centre of singing women, bearing in her hands an upper mill-stone, which is sprinkled with red earth and covered with rue, an iron ring, a green bead and a red cloth, tied together by a red thread — all symbolical, I imagine, of procreative virility" (p. 61).

Mosqties primitive. — As for the more primitive mosques, a few stones in a ring, with a small opening to the east and a small arch to the west, complete the Brahul's mosque. " My own impression is that these so-called mosques are much older than Islam itself, probably developments of something of the nature of magic circles" (p. 61).

Stojie worship. — " In a certain Chagai shrine there stands a stone some two feet high, with a flat base and a rounded, bullet- shaped head, too lifelike, it would seem, to be other than the conscious work of men's hands. It is hard to avoid the conclu- sion that in this far-off shrine the pious Musalman is bowing his head all unwittingly before a lingam, an ancient relic of pre- Islamic times. Similar in character appear to be a couple of conical stones at the shrine of Pir-Sultan-ul-Afirin in Zahri, rever- ' entially kissed by all who come to worship. Their shape and their polished surfaces seem unmistakeable evidence of their long- forgotten origin. The tops of the stones by the by are pierced through from side to side, and the keepers of the shrine never tire of telling how the saint used to run ropes through the holes and

^ For No. Ill, see vol. xx., pp. 229-31.

^ Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printing, price 4s'. 6d.