Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/73

 INTRODUCTION. 43 where in the south, we may find the fossil remains of the old Dravidian religion before they adopted that of the Hindus. These monuments, however, have not been examined with anything like the care requisite for the solution of a complex problem like this, and till it is done we must rest content with our ignorance. 1 In the north we have been somewhat more fortunate, and enough is now known to make it clear that, so soon as enquirers apply themselves earnestly to the task, we may know enough to make the general outline at least tolerably clear. When I first published my work on ' Tree and Serpent Worship,' in 1869, no one suspected, at least no one had hinted in type, that such a form of religion existed in Bengal. Since that time, however, so much has been written on the subject, and proofs have accumulated with such rapidity, that few will now be bold enough to deny that Trees were worshipped in India in the earliest times, and that a Naga people did exist, especially in the north - west, who had a strange veneration for snakes. In the Buddhist legends, Buddha is constantly represented as converting Nagas, and whilst a superhuman character is ascribed to them, they doubtless represent people of Turanian descent. 2 Further, snake worship is prevalent still, especially among the lower castes, and, though to a less extent, yet somehow connected with it, is the veneration of trees. 3 It is also quite certain that underlying Buddhism we everywhere find evidence of a stratum of Tree and Serpent Worship. Sometimes it may be repressed and obscured, but at others it crops up again, and, to a certain extent, the worship of the Tree and the Serpent, at some times and in certain places, almost supersedes that of the founder of the religion himself. The five, or seven, or thousand-headed Naga is everywhere 1 A book was published in 1873 by the late Mr. Breeks, of the Madras Civil Service, on the Primitive -Tribes of the Nilagiris, which gives a fuller account of these "rude stone monu- ments" than any other yet given to the public. It can hardly, however, be accepted as a solution of the problem, which requires a wider survey than he was able to make. See also Fergusson's 'Rude Stone Monuments' (1872), pp. 455-499- ' 2 The Nagbansis of Chutia Nagpur, who appear to have come from about Gorakh- pur in northern Bihar, are evidently of an early Naga or snake - worshipping 3 In Malabar, " a clump of wild jungle trees luxuriantly festooned with graceful creepers is usually found in the south- west corner of the gardens of all respect- able Malayali Hindus. The spot is left free to nature to deal with as she likes ; every tree and bush, every branch and twig is sacred. This is the 'viskdttnm kdvu ' (poison shrine) or ' ndga kotta ' (snake shrine). Usually there is a granite stone (chittra kuta ka/lu) carved after the fashion of a cobra's hood set up and consecrated in this waste spot." Logan's ' Malabar,' vol. i. p. 183. For some account of Trees worshipped in Western India, see Bombay Gazetteer, vol. ix. pt. i. pp. 382-388,