Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/155

Rh This long discussion does not exhaust a very complicated subject. But I have perhaps said enough to show that the study of the house in India is of some interest from the point of view of sociology and folk-lore; that it is the result of a process of evolution, and that in India these successive stages are more clearly traceable than in many other countries. The superstitions connected with it bring us back to the basis of the animistic beliefs of the Hindus, the constant danger to which they are exposed from ubiquitous hosts of evil spirits, the Evil Eye, and witchcraft. The precautions adopted to repel such dangers rest on well-established principles, and it is interesting to watch how these primitive rites, when they come into the hands of the Brahman priesthood, rapidly develop into an elaborate system of ritual on which endless labour and exorbitant sums of money, which the peasant often finds it difficult to provide, are expended.