Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West

Many of these wells are renowned no less for their medicinal properties than for their sanctity. Their waters are believed to be under the care of sanitary guardians and are hel...

We have seen that water-worship was a cult of hoary antiquity. The belief that every locality has its presiding genius gave rise to the deification of fountains and rivers just...

European belief in the presence of animals or fish as the presiding spirits of water—These animal gods imperfectly represented in the waters of the East—The Nags or semi-divine...

With the learned author of _Tom Tit Tot_ we also think with sympathy of the worship of the saint Khwaja Khizr, who is believed by the Syrians to have caused water to flow in the...

Close by Nowroji Wadia’s house was another habitat of spirits. The owner of the house, a Parsi lady, was asked to cover it. In view of the sad experience of the fate of the owne...

The worst of all ill-omened streams in India is the dread _Vaitaranî_, the river of death, which is localized in Orissa and which pours its stream of ordure and blood on the con...

So far we have met beneficent spirits of the divine sea and blessed springs and wells. Let us not forget that there are also maleficent deities and mischievous water-goblins inf...

The most singular feature of well-worship in Europe is the fantastic custom of offering rags at sacred wells, also pins and buttons, rusty nails and needles, and even shells and...

In India no one would think of offering to the water-spirits such impure articles as pins and needles and nails, much less “rags tored off shirts and petticoats.” It would be po...

The western practices and customs we have noticed show that the cult of water-worship prevailed and survived throughout the west in a primitive form, evidently in a coarser form...

Time was when the whole earth, the fever-stricken isle of Bombay included, was free from fevers. One unlucky day, however, Daksha Prajapati and his son-in-law Shiva fell out and...

“Spring up, O well, Sing ye to it: Thou well dug by princes, Sunk by the nobles of the people, With the sceptre, with their staves Out of the desert a gift.”

We have seen that the Indian method of venerating a well was to crown it with flowers, to cover it with _jalis_ or trellis work of flowers, to illumine it with ghee-lamps placed...

Whence arose the fear of evil spirits? Who were those water demons? Both philology and history confirm the view that the _Devas_ or demons of old were in many cases either the c...

Water-spirits being authors of fertility in general, it is natural that they should be credited with the power of fertilizing human beings as well as animals. In many places the...

When owners of houses are asked to fill up their wells or to cover them, they generally apply for permission to provide a wire-gauze cover or a trap-door. In not a few of these...

In East and West alike there are oracular wells inhabited by spirits gifted with powers of divination. The instance of the well in Ghoga Street in Bombay has already been noted....

A tenant of the same house in Ghoga Street informed Dr. Shroff that a cooly spat on the pavement surrounding the oracular well with the result that he died instantly on the spot...

Throughout the West the cult of water was flourishing along with the cult of trees and stones when Christianity found its way to Europe. The holy wells which were then plentiful...

Commencing with the Teutonic centres of England, Sir Laurence Gomme shows that the middle and south-eastern counties almost fix the boundary of one form of well-worship, a form...

Deification of fountains and rivers a general cult—Max Müller’s theory of poetic personification—The spiritual element uppermost in the worship of water—Water an important facto...

Sanitary guardians of water—Balneotherapy and Hydrotherapy not unknown in Talmudic times—Indian wells and tanks renowned for medicinal properties—A milk-bestowing well in Lonavl...

Water-spirits conferring the blessings of parenthood—Charms for childless women—Bathing in the water of seven wells—The Dewali bath in the Punjab—Fertilizing virtue ascribed to...

Worship of cabined spirits on full moon eve—Goat-sacrifice on marriage days—Practice of besmearing the forehead with the blood of the victim—Non-Aryan cults imbibed by the Aryan...

Worship of Khwaja Khizr—Alexander’s ramble in quest of the blessed waters—Northern India customs—_Khwaja Saheb ka Dalya_—Water of Zumzum—Mother Ganges and Lady Jumna—Pilgrimage...

The River of Death—Indian water-furies easily propitiated—Continental water-deities demand human sacrifices—Peg O’Nell—Peg Powler—Blood-thirsty Dee—The saying about St. John the...

Water-goblins infesting ill-omened streams and wells—Water-spirits in India regarded as friendly dispensers of life and fertility—Western folklore abounds in blood-thirsty water...

The labourer who spat on the pavement of an oracular well—Fate of an European girl who offended the saintly spirit of Loveji Castle—Acts of defilement, whether conscious or unco...

Oracular wells inhabited by spirits gifted with powers of divination—The Baladana _Kund_—Prospects of the harvest divined by the holy well in Askot—Bread and pins as instruments...

Origin of fevers—Wrath of Shiva—Story of Ekānterio, the malaria fiend—Closing of wells—Protests based on religious sentiments and supernatural beliefs—Scriptural injunctions for...

A non-Christian custom—Edicts of Kings, Popes and Church Councils prohibiting the practice—Total eradication of beliefs and customs of age-long existence impossible—Continuance...

Race-origin of the _Devas_ or demons of old—Max Müller’s theory—Myths of malignant spirits connected with traditions of hostile races—Sir Laurence Gomme’s examination of the myt...

Indian custom of hoisting flags near shrines and sacred trees—A practice quite distinct from rag-offering—How European folklorists are misled—Confusion of flags and rags—The fla...

Spirits dwelling in wells—Disasters brought on by pent-up spirits—The fortunes of the Edwardes Theatre—Mysterious collapse of barriers—The sacred well of Alice Building—Propitia...

Indian methods of venerating wells—Human sacrifices—Animal sacrifices—Ceremonies demonstrably non-Aryan in India in original non-Aryan in Europe—A Whitsuntide custom—Lamb, a vot...

Rag wells and Pin wells of Great Britain—Their geographical distribution—Henderson’s explanation of the cult—Theory put forward by Sir John Rhys—Sir Laurence Gomme’s examination...

Gomme’s analysis—Table showing the effect of incoming civilisations—Garland-dressing, pins and rag bushes—Variants of one primitive form of rag-offering—Arguments in favour of a...