Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/202

 176 '^ Hook -Swinging'' in India.

Frazer have been actuated by a desire to propitiate demons. While agreeing generally with Dr. Frazer's conclusions I do not draw them from the same premises, for I fail to comprehend why the Indian rite of "hook-swinging," (not "swinging on hooks" as Dr. Frazer styles it), should be dealt with in a way suggesting that it is to be included among or explained from the analogy of simple swinging festivals held elsewhere, the rationale of which is to be sought in magic. I suspect that Dr. Frazer has allowed himself to be misled by the term "hook-swinging," and, without due enquiry, has taken for granted that "swinging on hooks" is its equivalent, and that szuinging- is the all- important feature, if not the very essence, of the rite. In Hamilton's description, of which Dr. Frazer makes use, there is certainly nothing suggestive of such a view, especially when read in the light of other descriptions of similar ceremonies. So far as the part played by the victims can be abstracted from the rite as a whole, they were first of all crowned with sugar-cane leaves, and then, with hooks inserted in their backs, they went dancing round the stone, presumably led by the priests by means of the cords attached to the hooks. After two minutes of this they were fastened to the cross pieces attached to the " tree," and, when duly hoisted, the whole apparatus was dragged for about a mile to the spot where the ceremony was con- cluded so far as the part played by these particular victims was concerned. There is no hint here of swinging, nor is there any reason to suppose that the Santali rite referred to by Dr. Frazer took other than the usual form.

Outside Dr. Frazer's treatment of it we have the explana- tions offered hy lyer^- and Wilkins,'^'^ the former of which as an aetiological one is not uninteresting ; neither, however, are of any practical value in an endeavour to trace this ceremony to its sources. W. Crooke, oi passant, refers to "hook-swinging" under the heading, " human sacrifice;

^- Supra, pp. 166-8. ^'^ Supra, pp. 172-3.