bes worship only mountains, rivers, and Manes, again a trait
both Vedic and Hinduistic, but not necessarily borrowed. Some of these
tribes, like the Kh[=a]s[=i]as of Oude, may be of R[=a]jput descent
(the Khasas of Manu, X. 22), but it is more likely that more tribes
claim this descent than possess it. We omit many of the tribal customs
lest one think they are not original; for example, the symbol of the
cross among the [=A]bors, who worship only diseases, and whose symbol
is also found among the American Indians; the sun-worship of the
Katties, who may have been influenced by Hinduism; together with the
cult of Burmese tribes too overspread with Buddhism. But often there
is a parallel so surprising as to make it certain that there has been
influence. The Niadis (of the South), for example, worship only the
female principle. Many other tribes worship _cakti_ almost
exclusively. The Todas worship stone images, buffaloes, and even
cow-bells, but they have a celibate priesthood! We do not hesitate to
express our own belief that the _cakti_-worship is native and drawn
from similar cults, and that the celibate priesthood, on the other
hand, is taken from civilization.

Such a fate appears to have happened in modern times to several
deities, now half Brahmanized. For example, Vet[=a]la (worshipped in
many places) is said in the Dekhan to be an _avatar_, or, properly
speaking, a manifestation of Civa. What is he in reality? A native
wild god, without a temple, worshipped in the open air under the shade
of a tree, and in an
enclosure of stones. Just such a deity, in other words, as we have
shown is worshipped in just such a way by the wild tribes. A
monolith[26] in the middle of twelve stones represents this primitive
Druidic deity. The stones are painted red in flame-shape for a certain
distance from the ground, with the upper portion painted white.
Apparently there is here a sun-god of the aborigines. He is worshipped
in sickness, as is Civa, and propitiated with the sacrifice of a cock,
without the intervention of any priest. The cock to Aesculapius
("_huic gallinae immolabantur_") may have had the same function
originally, for the cock is always the sun-bird. Seldom is Vet[=a]la
personified. When he has an image (and in the North he sometimes has
temples) it is that of an armless and legless man; but again he is
occasionally represented as a giant 'perfect in all his parts.'[27] To
the Brahman, Vet[=a]la is still a mere fi