Note 27 — Chapter IV · ANIMAL-WORSHIP.
Reading edition
Much also of the worship of the tiger is probably of totemistic origin. Thus the Baghel Râjputs claim descent, and from him (bâgh, vyâghra, “the spotted one”) derive their name. This tribe will not, in Central India, destroy the animal. So, “no consideration will induce a Sumatran to catch or wound a tiger, except in self-defence, or immediately after the tiger has destroyed a friend or a relation. When a European has set traps for tigers, the people of the neighbourhood have been known to go by night to the spot and explain to the tiger that the traps were not set by them, nor with their consent.” The Bhîls and the Bajrâwat Râjputs of Râjputâna also claim tiger origin.27