Note 96 — Chapter III · TOTEMISM AND FETISHISM.

A great rock in the river above Badarinâth, the famous shrine in the Hills, is worshipped as Brahm Kapâl or the skull of Brahma, and Nandâ Devî, the mountain goddess of the Himâlaya, is worshipped in the form of two great stones glittering with mica, and reflecting the rays of the sun.96 At Amosi in the Lucknow District they worship at marriages and birth of boys the door-post of the house of an old Râjput leader, named Binâik, who is honoured with the title of Bâba or “father.”97 At Deodhûra in the Hills the grey granite boulders near the crest of the ridge are said to have been thrown there in sport by the Pândavas. Close to the temple of Devî at the same place are two large boulders, the uppermost of which is called Ransila, or “the stone of battle,” and is cleft through the centre by a deep, fresh-looking fissure, at right angles to which is a similar rift in the lower rock. A small boulder on the top is said to have been the weapon with which Bhîmsen produced these fissures, and the print of his five fingers is still to be seen upon it. Ransila itself is marked with the lines for playing the gambling game of Pachîsi, which, though it led to their misfortunes, the Pândavas even in their exile could not abandon. There are many places where the marks of the hoofs of the horse of Bhîmsen are shown.98 “One spot on the margin of Lake Regillus was regarded during many ages with superstitious awe. A mark, resembling in shape a horse’s hoof, was discernible in the volcanic rock; and this mark was believed to have been made by one of the celestial chargers.”99