The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume I (of IV)

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51. Clan kinship and totemism.

The same argument seems to demonstrate that the idea of kinship within
the clan was prior to the idea of descent from a common ancestor,
whether an animal or plant, a god, hero or nicknamed ancestor. Because
it is obvious that a set of persons otherwise unconnected could not
suddenly and without reason have believed themselves to be descended
from a common ancestor and hence related. If a number of persons not
demonstrably connected by blood believe themselves to be akin simply
on account of their descent from a common ancestor, it can only be
because they are an expanded family, either actually or by fiction,
which really had or might have had a common ancestor. That is, the
clan tracing its descent from a common ancestor, if this was the
primary type of clan, must have been subsequent to the family as
a social institution. But as already seen the sentiment of kinship
within the clan was prior to that within the family, and therefore
the genesis of the clan from an expanded family is an impossible
hypothesis; and it follows that the members of the clan must first
have believed themselves to be bound together by some tie equivalent to
or stronger than that of consanguineous kinship, and afterwards, when
the primary belief was falling into abeyance, that of descent from a
common ancestor came into existence to account for the clan sentiment
of kinship already existing. If then the first form of association
of human beings was in small groups, which led a migratory life and
subsisted mainly by hunting and the consumption of fruits and roots,
as the Australian natives still do, the sentiment of kinship must
first have arisen, as stated by Mr. M'Lennan, in that small body
which lived and hunted together, and was due simply to the fact that
they were so associated, that they obtained food for each other, and
on occasion protected and preserved each other's lives. [93] These
small bodies of persons were the first social units, and according to
our knowledge of the savage peoples who are nearest to the original
migratory and hunting condition of life, without settled habitations,
domestic animals or cultivated plants, they first called themselves
after some animal or plant, usually, as Sir J.G. Frazer has shown in
_Totemism and Exogamy_, [94] after some edible animal or plant. The
most probable theory of totemism on _a priori_ grounds seems therefore
to be that the original small bodies who lived and hunted together, or
totem-clans, called themselves after the edible animal or plant from
which they principally derived their sustenance, or that which gave
them life. While the real tie which connected them was that of living
together, they did not realise this, and supposed themselves to be akin
because they commonly ate this animal or plant together. This theory
of totemism was first promulgated by Professor Robertson Smith and,
though much disputed, appears to me to be the most probable. It has
also been advocated by Dr. A.C. Haddon, F.R.S. [95] The Gaelic names
for family, _teadhloch_ and _cuedichc_ or _coedichc_, mean, the first,
'having a common residence,' the second, 'those who eat together.' [96]
The detailed accounts of the totems of the Australian, Red Indian and
African tribes, now brought together by Sir J.G. Frazer in _Totemism
and Exogamy_, show a considerable amount of evidence that the early
totems were not only as a rule edible animals, but the animals
eaten by the totem-clans which bore their names. [97] But after the
domestication of animals and the culture of plants had been attained
to, the totems ceased to be the chief means of subsistence. Hence the
original tie of kinship was supplanted by another and wider one in the
tribe, and though the totem-clans remained and continued to fulfil an
important purpose, they were no longer the chief social group. And in
many cases, as man had also by now begun to speculate on his origin,
the totems came to be regarded as ancestors, and the totem-clans,
retaining their sentiment of kinship, accounted for it by supposing
themselves to be descended from a common ancestor. They thus also
came to base the belief in clan-kinship on the tie of consanguinity
recognised in the family, which had by now come into existence. This
late and secondary form of totemism is that which obtains in India,
where the migratory and hunting stage has long been passed. The Indian
evidence is, however, of great value because we find here in the same
community, occasionally in the same caste, exogamous clans which
trace their descent sometimes from animals and plants, or totems,
and sometimes from gods, heroes, or titular ancestors, while many
of the clans are named after villages or have names to which no
meaning can be attached. As has been seen, there is good reason to
suppose that all these forms of the exogamous clan are developed from
the earliest form of the totem-clan; and since this later type of
clan has developed from the totem-clan in India, it is a legitimate
deduction that wherever elsewhere exogamous clans are found tracing
their descent from a common ancestor or with unintelligible names,
probably derived from places, they were probably also evolved from
the totem-clan. This type of clan is shown in Professor Hearn's _Aryan
Household_ to have been the common unit of society over much of Europe,
where no traces of the existence of totemism are established. [98]
And from the Indian analogy it is therefore legitimate to presume
that the totem-clan may have been the original unit of society among
several European races as well as in America, Africa, Australia and
India. Similar exogamous clans exist in China, and many of them have
the names of plants and animals. [99]

52. Animate Creation.

In order to render clear the manner in which the clan named after a
totem animal (or, less frequently, a plant) came to hold its members
akin both to each other and their totem animals, an attempt may be
made to indicate, however briefly and imperfectly, some features
of primitive man's conception of nature and life. Apparently when
they began dimly to observe and form conscious mental impressions
of the world around them, our first ancestors made some cardinal,
though natural and inevitable, mistakes. In the first place they
thought that the whole of nature was animate, and that every animal,
plant, or natural object which they saw around them, was alive and
self-conscious like themselves. They had, of course, no words or
ideas connoting life or consciousness, or distinguishing animals,
vegetables or lifeless objects, and they were naturally quite incapable
of distinguishing them. They merely thought that everything they saw
was like themselves, would feel hurt and resentment if injured, and
would know what was done to it, and by whom; whenever they saw the
movement of an animal, plant, or other object, they thought it was
volitional and self-conscious like their own movements. If they saw
a tree waving in the wind, having no idea or conception of the wind,
they thought the tree was moving its branches about of its own accord;
if a stone fell, they, knowing nothing of the force of gravity, thought
the stone projected itself from one place to another because it wished
to do so. This is exactly the point of view taken by children when
they first begin to observe. They also think that everything they see
is alive like themselves, and that animals exercise volition and have
a self-conscious intelligence like their own. But they quickly learn
their mistakes and adopt the point of view of their elders because
they are taught. Primitive man had no one to teach him, and as he did
not co-ordinate or test his observations, the traces of this first
conception of the natural world remain clearly indicated by a vast
assortment of primitive customs and beliefs to the present day. All
the most prominent natural objects, the sun and moon, the sky, the sea,
high mountains, rivers and springs, the earth, the fire, became objects
of veneration and were worshipped as gods, and this could not possibly
have happened unless they had been believed to have life. Stone images
and idols are considered as living gods. In India girls are married
to flowers, trees, arrows, swords, and so on. A bachelor is married
to a ring or a plant before wedding a widow, and the first ceremony
is considered as his true marriage. The Saligram, or ammonite stone,
is held to represent the god Vishnu, perhaps because it was thought
to be a thunderbolt and to have fallen from heaven. Its marriage is
celebrated with the _tulsi_ or basil-plant, which is considered the
consort of Vishnu. Trees are held to be animate and possessed by
spirits, and before a man climbs a tree he begs its pardon for the
injury he is about to inflict on it. When a tank is dug, its marriage
is celebrated. To the ancient Roman his hearth was a god; the walls and
doors and threshold of his house were gods; the boundaries of his field
were also gods. [100] It is precisely the same with the modern Hindu;
he also venerates the threshold of his house, the cooking-hearth, the
grinding-mill, and the boundaries of his field. The Jains still think
that all animals, plants and inanimate objects have souls or spirits
like human beings. The belief in a soul or spirit is naturally not
primitive, as man could not at first conceive of anything he did not
see or hear, but plants and inanimate objects could not subsequently
have been credited with the possession of souls or spirits unless they
had previously been thought to be alive. "The Fijians consider that
if an animal or a plant dies its soul immediately goes to Bolotoo;
if a stone or any other substance is broken, immortality is equally
its reward; nay, artificial bodies have equal good luck with men
and hogs and yams. If an axe or a chisel is worn out or broken up,
away flies its soul for the service of the gods. If a house is taken
down or any way destroyed, its immortal part will find a situation on
the plains of Bolotoo. The Finns believed that all inanimate objects
had their _haltia_ or soul." [101] The Malays think that animals,
vegetables and minerals, as well as human beings, have souls. [102]
The Kawar tribe are reported to believe that all articles of furniture
and property have souls or spirits, and if any such is stolen the
spirit will punish the thief. Theft is consequently almost unknown
among them. All the fables about animals and plants speaking and
exercising volition; the practice of ordeals, resting on the belief
that the sacred living elements, fire and water, will of themselves
discriminate between the innocent and guilty; the propitiatory
offerings to the sea and to rivers, such incidents as Xerxes binding
the sea with fetters, Ajax defying the lightning, Aaron's rod that
budded, the superstitions of sailors about ships: all result from
the same primitive belief. Many other instances of self-conscious
life and volition being attributed to animals, plants and natural
objects are given by Lord Avebury in _Origin of Civilisation_, by
Dr. Westermarck in _The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_,
[103] and by Sir J.G. Frazer in _The Golden Bough_ [104]

Thus primitive man had no conception of inanimate matter, and it seems
probable that he did not either realise the idea of death. Though
it may be doubtful whether any race exists at present which does not
understand that death is the cessation of life in the body, indications
remain that this view was not primary and may not have been acquired
for some time. The Gonds apparently once thought that people would not
die unless they were killed by magic, and similar beliefs are held by
the Australian and African savages. Several customs also point to the
belief in the survival of some degree of life in the body after death,
apart from the idea of the soul.

53. The distribution of life over the body.

Primitive man further thought that life, instead of being concentrated
in certain organs, was distributed equally over the whole of the
body. This mistake appears also to have been natural and inevitable
when it is remembered that he had no name for the body, the different
limbs and the internal organs, and no conception of their existence and
distribution, nor of the functions which they severally performed. He
perceived that sensation extended over all parts of the body, and
that when any part was hurt or wounded the blood flowed and life
gradually declined in vigour and ebbed away. For this reason the blood
was subsequently often identified with the life. During the progress
of culture many divergent views have been held about the source and
location of life and mental and physical qualities, and the correct
one that life is centred in the heart and brain, and that the brain is
the seat of intelligence and mental qualities has only recently been
arrived at. We still talk about people being hard-hearted, kind-hearted
and heartless, and about a man's heart being in the right place, as if
we supposed that the qualities of kindness and courage were located in
the heart, and determined by the physical constitution and location of
the heart. The reason for this is perhaps that the soul was held to be
the source of mental qualities, and to be somewhere in the centre of
the body, and hence the heart came to be identified with it. As shown
by Sir J.G. Frazer in _The Golden Bough_ many peoples or races have
thought that the life and qualities were centred in the whole head,
not merely in the brain. And this is the reason why Hindus will not
appear abroad with the head bare, why it is a deadly insult to knock
off a man's turban, and why turbans or other head-gear were often
exchanged as a solemn pledge of friendship. The superstition against
walking under a ladder may have originally been based on some idea
of its being derogatory or dangerous to the head, though not, of
course, from the fear of being struck by a falling brick. Similarly,
as shown in the article on Nai, the belief that the bodily strength
and vigour were located in the hair, and to a less extent in the
nails and teeth, has had a world-wide prevalence. But this cannot
have been primary, because the hair had first to be conceived of
apart from the rest of the body, and a separate name devised for it,
before the belief that the hair was the source of strength could
gradually come into existence. The evolution of these ideas may have
extended over thousands of years. The expression 'white-livered,'
again, seems to indicate that the quality of courage was once held to
be located in the liver, and the belief that the liver was the seat
of life was perhaps held by the Gonds. But the primary idea seems
necessarily to have been that the life was equally distributed all
over the body. And since, as will be seen subsequently, the savage
was incapable of conceiving the abstract idea of life, he thought of
it in a concrete form as part of the substance of the flesh and blood.

And since primitive man had no conception of inanimate matter it
followed that when any part of the body was severed from the whole,
he did not think of the separate fraction as merely lifeless matter,
but as still a part of the body to which it had originally belonged and
retaining a share of its life. For according to his view of the world
and of animate nature, which has been explained above, he could not
think of it as anything else. Thus the clippings of hair, nails, teeth,
the spittle and any other similar products all in his view remained
part of the body from which they had been severed and retained part of
its life. In the case of the elements, earth, fire and water, which
he considered as living beings and subsequently worshipped as gods,
this view was correct. Fractional portions of earth, fire and water,
when severed from the remainder, retained their original nature and
constitution, and afforded some support to his generally erroneous
belief. And since he had observed that an injury done to any part
of the body was an injury to the whole, it followed that if one got
possession of any part of the body, such as the severed hair, teeth
or nails, one could through them injure that body of which they still
formed a part. It is for this reason that savages think that if an
enemy can obtain possession of any waste product of the body, such
as the severed hair or nails, that he can injure the owner through
them. Similarly the Hindus thought that the clippings of the hair or
nails, if buried in fertile ground, would grow into a plant, through
the life which they retained, and as this plant waxed in size it
would absorb more and more of the original owner's life, which would
consequently wane and decline. The worship of relics, such as the
bones or hair of saints, is based on the same belief that they retain
a part of the divine life and virtue of him to whom they once belonged.

54. Qualities associated with animals.

It is probable that qualities were first conceived of by being observed
in animals or natural objects. Prior to the introduction of personal
names, the individuality of human beings could neither be clearly
realised nor remembered after they were dead. But man must have
perceived at an early period that certain animals were stronger or
swifter than he was, or more cunning, and since the same quality was
reproduced in every animal of the species, it could easily become
permanently associated with the animal. But there were no names
for qualities, nor any independent conception of them apart from the
animal or animals in which they were observed. Supposing that strength
and swiftness were mainly associated with the horse, as was often
the case, then they would be necessarily conceived of as a part or
essence of the horse and his life, not in the way we think of them,
as qualities appertaining to the horse on account of the strength
of his muscles and the conformation of his limbs. When names were
devised for these qualities, they would be something equivalent to
horsey or horse-like. The association of qualities with animals is
still shown in such words as asinine, owlish, foxy, leonine, mulish,
dogged, tigerish, and so on; but since the inferiority of animals
to man has long been recognised, most of the animal adjectives have
a derogatory sense. [105] It was far otherwise with primitive man,
who first recognised the existence of the qualities most necessary
to him, as strength, courage, swiftness, sagacity, cunning and
endurance, as being displayed by certain animals in a greater degree
than he possessed them himself. Birds he admired and venerated as
being able to rise and fly in the air, which he could not do; fish
for swimming and remaining under water when he could not; while at
the same time he had not as yet perceived that the intelligence of
animals was in any way inferior to his own, and he credited many of
them with the power of speech. Thus certain animals were venerated on
account of the qualities associated with them, and out of them in the
course of time anthropomorphic gods personifying the qualities were
evolved. The Australian aborigines of the kangaroo totem, when they
wish to multiply the number of kangaroos, go to a certain place where
two special blocks of stone project immediately one above the other
from the hillside. One is supposed to represent an 'old man' kangaroo
and the other a female. The stones are rubbed and then painted with
alternate red and white stripes, the red stripes representing the red
fur of the kangaroos, and the white ones its bones. After doing this
some of them open veins in their arms and allow the blood to spurt
over the stones. The other men sing chants referring to the increase
in the numbers of the kangaroos, and they suppose that this ceremony
will actually result in producing an increased number of kangaroos
and hence an additional supply of food. [106] Here the inference
seems to be that the stones represent the centre or focus of the
life of kangaroos, and when they are quickened by the painting, and
the supply of blood, they will manifest their creative activity and
increase the kangaroos. If we suppose that some similar stone existed
on the Acropolis and was considered by the owl clan as the centre of
the life of the owls which frequented the hill, then when the art of
sculpture had made some progress, and the superiority of the human form
and intellect began to be apprehended, if a sculptor carved the stone
into the semblance of a human being, the goddess Athena would be born.

55. Primitive language.

It has been seen that primitive man considered the life and qualities
to be distributed equally over the body in a physical sense, so that
they formed part of the substance and flesh. The same view extended
even to instrumental qualities or functions, since his mental powers
and vision were necessarily limited by his language. Language must
apparently have begun by pointing at animals or plants and making
some sound, probably at first an imitation of the cry or other
characteristic of the animal, which came to connote it. We have to
suppose that language was at the commencement a help in the struggle
for life, because otherwise men, as yet barely emerged from the animal
stage, would never have made the painful mental efforts necessary
to devise and remember the words. Words which would be distinctly
advantageous in the struggle would be names for the animals and
plants which they ate, and for the animals which ate them. By saying
the name and pointing in any direction, the presence of such animals
or plants in the vicinity would be intimated more quickly and more
accurately than by signs or actions. Such names were then, it may
be supposed, the first words. Animals or plants of which they made
no use nor from which they apprehended any danger, would for long be
simply disregarded, as nothing was to be gained by inventing names for
them. The first words were all nouns and the names of visible objects,
and this state of things probably continued for a long period and
was the cause of many erroneous primitive conceptions and ideas. Some
traces of the earliest form of language can still be discerned. Thus of
Santali Sir G. Grierson states: "Every word can perform the function
of a verb, and every verbal form can, according to circumstances,
be considered as a noun, an adjective or a verb. It is often simply
a matter of convenience which word is considered as a noun and which
as an adjective ... Strictly speaking, in Santali there is no real
verb as distinct from the other classes of words. Every independent
word can perform the function of a verb, and every verbal form can in
its turn be used as a noun or adjective." [107] And of the Dravidian
languages he says: "The genitive of ordinary nouns is in reality an
adjective, and the difference between nouns and adjectives is of no
great importance ... Many cases are both nouns and verbs. Nouns of
agency are very commonly used as verbs." [108] Thus if it be admitted
that nouns preceded verbs as parts of speech, which will hardly be
disputed, these passages show how the semi-abstract adjectives and
verbs were gradually formed from the names of concrete nouns. Of
the language of the now extinct Tasmanian aborigines it is stated:
"Their speech was so imperfectly constituted that there was no settled
order or arrangement of words in the sentence, the sense being eked
out by face, manner and gesture, so that they could scarcely converse
in the dark, and all intercourse had to cease with nightfall. Abstract
forms scarcely existed, and while every gum-tree or wattle-tree had
its name, there was no word for 'tree' in general, nor for qualities
such as hard, soft, hot, cold, etc. Anything hard was 'like a stone,'
anything round 'like the moon,' and so on, the speaker suiting the
action to the word, and supplementing the meaning to be understood
by some gesture." [109] Here the original concrete form of language
can be clearly discerned. They had a sufficiency of names for all the
objects which were of use to them, and apparently verbal ideas were
largely conveyed by gesture. Captain Forsyth states [110] that though
the Korkus very seldom wash themselves, there exist in their language
eight words for washing, one for washing the face, another for the
hands and others for different parts of the body. Thus we see that
the verbal idea of washing was originally conceived not generally,
but separately with reference to each concrete object or noun, for
which a name existed and to which water was applied.

56. Concrete nature of primitive ideas.

The primitive languages consisted only of nouns or the names of
visible objects, possibly with the subsequent addition of a few names
for such conceptions as the wind and the voice, which could be heard,
but not seen. There were no abstract nor semi-abstract terms nor parts
of speech. The resulting inability to realise any abstract conception
and the tendency to make everything concrete is a principal and salient
characteristic of ethnology and primitive religion. [111] All actions
are judged by their concrete aspect or effects and not by the motives
which prompted them, nor the results which they produce. For a Hindu
to let a cow die with a rope round its neck is a grave caste offence,
apparently because an indignity is thus offered to the sacred animal,
but it is no offence to let a cow starve to death. A girl may be
married to inanimate objects as already seen, or to an old man or a
relative without any intention that she shall live with him as a wife,
but simply so that she may be married before reaching puberty. If she
goes through the ceremony of marriage she is held to be married. Yet
the motive for infant-marriage is held to be that a girl should begin
to bear children as soon as she is physically capable of doing so,
and such a marriage is useless from this point of view. Some castes
who cannot afford to burn a corpse hold a lighted brand to it or
kindle a little fire on the grave and consider this equivalent to
cremation. Promises are considered as concrete; among some Hindus
promises are tied up in knots of cloth, and when they are discharged
the knots are untied. Mr. S.C. Roy says of the Oraons: "Contracts are
even to this day generally not written but acted. Thus a lease of land
is made by the lessor handing over a clod of earth (which symbolises
land) to the lessee; a contract of sale of cattle is entered into by
handing over to the buyer a few blades of grass (which symbolise so
many heads of cattle); a contract of payment of bride-price is made
by the bridegroom's father or other relative handing over a number of
_baris_ or small cakes of pulse (which symbolise so many rupees) to the
bride's father or other relative; and a contract of service is made by
the mistress of the house anointing the head of the intended servant
with oil, and making a present of a few pice, and entertaining him to
a feast, thus signifying that he would receive food, lodging and some
pay." [112] Thus an abstract agreement is not considered sufficient
for a contract; in each case it must be ratified by a concrete act.