Note 30 — Chapter IV · ANIMAL-WORSHIP.

Hence in India the jungle people who are in the way of meeting him will not pronounce his name, but speak of him as Gîdar, “the jackal,” Jânwar, “the beast,” or use some other euphemistic term. They do the same in many cases with the wolf and bear, and though they sometimes hesitate to kill the animal themselves, they will readily assist sportsmen to destroy him, and make great rejoicings when he is killed. A Shikâri will break off a branch on the road as he goes along, and say, “As thy life has departed, so may the tiger die!” When he is killed they will bring forward some spirits and pour it on the head of the animal, addressing him, “Mahârâja! During your life you confined yourself to cattle, and never injured your human subjects. Now that you are dead, spare us and bless us!” In Akola the gardeners are unwilling to inform the sportsmen of the whereabouts of a tiger or panther which may have taken up its quarters in their plantation, for they have a superstition that a garden plot loses its fertility from the moment one of these animals is killed there. So, with the Ainos of Japan, who when a bear is trapped or wounded by an arrow, go through an apologetic or propitiatory ceremony.30