Note 67 — Chapter III · TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM.

In connection with human flesh a curious story is told of a man who went to bathe in the Ganges, and met one of the abominable Faqîrs known as Augars or Aghorpanthis, who carry about with them fragments of a human corpse. He saw the Faqîr cut off and eat a piece of the flesh of a corpse, and he then offered him a piece, saying that if he ate it he would become enormously rich. He refused the ghastly food, and the Faqîr then threw a piece at him which stuck to his head, forming a permanent lump.67 In one of the tales of Somadeva the witches are seen flying about in the air, and say, “These are the magic powers of witches’ spells, and are due to the eating of human flesh.” In another the hero exchanges an anklet with a woman for some human flesh.68