Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/249

Rh square, which was resorted to by those who were suffering from the effects of poison, witchcraft or venomous bites. They walked round the stone reverently and worshipped it in the hope of being restored to health. There was also a spring which was reputed to possess the virtue of curing the defects of all the deaf, dumb, dwarfs, lepers and hunchbacks, who bathe in it and walk round it praying for its healing grace.

The huntsmen and hill-tribes or Kuravas worshipped the heroic god of war, Muruga. This god had six faces and twelve arms. His shrines were generally built on the tops of high hills, or in the midst of dense forests. His priest carried a lance the favorite weapon of the war-god: and was known as Velan or lancer. When sacrifices were to be offered to the god, a shed was put up, and it was adorned with strings of flowers. High over the shed was hoisted the flag of Muruga, which bore the device of a cock. The priest tied a red thread round his wrist, as a sign of his having vowed himself to the service of the god, and bowing before the altar, muttered spells and prayers, and scattered flowers and fried paddy on all sides. He then slaughtered a bull, and in its warm blood mixed boiled rice and offered it to the god, amidst the blare of trumpets, horns, bells and drums, while the perfumes of incense and flowers filled the place. The worshippers chanted hymns in praise of the god, and the priest went off into an ecstasy and danced and snorted and gave out oracles regarding the fortunes of the devotees. Many circumstances related of this god go to show that he was not entirely an imaginary being, but a warlike king who had been deified after his death. He is said to have been born in the sacred pond Saravana near the source of the Ganges, and to have been brought up by six nurses. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the celestial armies when they fought with the Asura or demons: and he invaded Lanka to kill Soora, the Asura king of that island. The Kuravas had a tradition that the god married a maiden of their tribe.

The shepherd races worshipped their national hero Krishna and his elder brother Balarâma. Shepherd classes amused themselves by acting in their houses plays representing the chief