Note 45 — Chapter I · THE GODLINGS OF NATURE.

Brâhmans so far join in this low-caste worship as to perform the fire sacrifice (homa) near the trench where the ceremony is being performed. In Mirzapur one of the songs recited on this occasion runs: “O devotee! How many cubits long is the trench which thou hast dug? How many maunds of butter hast thou poured upon it that the fire billows rise in the air? Seven cubits long is the trench; seven maunds of firewood hast thou placed within it. One and a quarter maunds of firewood hast thou placed within it. One and a quarter maunds of butter hast thou poured into the trench that the fire billows rise to the sky.” All this is based on the idea that fire is a scarer of demons, a theory which widely prevails. The Romans made their flocks and herds pass through fire, over which they leaped themselves. In Ireland, when the St. John’s Eve fire has burnt low, “the young men strip to the waist and leap over or through the flames, and he who braves the greatest blaze is considered the victor over the powers of evil.”45