If human sacrifice does still persist there is every reason to believe that animal sacrifice is not only continuing but on a very wide scale. It must be remembered that, with perhaps very few exceptions, the religions of the world have demanded the propitiation of gods, and that through the ages they have called for not only the sacrifice of animals and of wealth, but also of human life, and it is apparent that in some parts of the world mankind has'to progress a very great distance before those practices are eventually abandoned. One of the outstanding features of the book is the manner in which the general insistence upon blood plays a great part not only in the ordinary superstitions of the people but in their religious practices. There 1s probably some very good psychological reason why this vestigial remnant should still be found in the world, but it is very obviously the task of more enlightened races to work towards that time when these degrade ing superstitions shall be abolished from the earth. That it would seem is still a long way ahead, but it must come if ever such a country as India is to make that progress which from its size and the natural ability of its. people should be brought about.
The work is a most interesting one and full of a large number of instances to support the case which the author makes out. It is somewhat depressing reading, but nevertheless, coming from such a pen as his, it is an important first-hand account of Hindu saints, sorcerers and superstitions,—m, T. r-c.
...not only have we no, evidence that the "law of gravity" obtains Utterly and without exception, but We have plenty of evidence that in certain conditions it can be upset by Supernotmal powers: I would here merely quote the case, classic to all students of occultism, of the medium Home's levitation, and a demonstration I have myself witnessed in India, related later in this chapter, of sadhu welkin 300-foot ravine in mid have positive evidence that there was no deception of the senses.
Evidence of the Eyes If indeed Mr. Dare has seen a sadhu walking across a 200 foot ravine in mid-air, there is absolutely no reason why, if the law of gravity can, be defeated in such a manner, a Hindu magician should not be able to throw up a rope into the air up which a lad can clamber and disappear, finally to be-found in some other portion of the surrounding area—but the average so-called level-headed person, even if he saw it, would be inclined to doubt the efficiency of his senses. There is a theory that such performances have been the result of a form of mass-hypnotism, but opposed to this there are reported instances where an observer who does not appear to have been overcome by the spell has photographed the trick in process and found nothing of interest on his plates. "That, of course, might be offset. by another Hindu belief, that it is possible to suspend the laws of light with regard to the camera on certain CT spiritual occasions, That again some people may believe, while others most certainly will not.
Neti Confidence Men It is somewhat of a pity that the book opens with this particular subject, for when the author proceeds to deal with other aspects of superstition in India and the manner in which the fears of the commonalty are worked upon by the unscrupulous he touches a most interesting subject. It is probably inevitable that in the religious state in which the lower classes of India have found themselves for centuries, superstition should be so flourishing as it is even in this day end age. Many of the men who prey upon the credulity of their fellows are no more than common prestidiagitators, or, failing that, people gifted With all the eloquent persuasiveness of the confidence trickster, and where by reason of their religion the people are so completely soaked in superstition, the men operating along those lines find it a particularly easy and fruitful field, Thus in addition to the superstition racket there is a considerable amount of crime in India glossed over by all manner of abracadabra coming under the general heading of sorcery, Human Sacrifice Mr. Dare is by no means certain that both human sacrifice and sati—the practice of self-immolation by a widow on her husband's funeral pyre—have completely ceased. There is no doubt that the British Government has succeeded largely in suva pressing it; but as the author himself says, the ultimate abolition of both will have to come from w ithin Hinduism itself, if at all, the plain truth being that "the English are thoroughly detested in India and all attempts to interfere with basic practices of the Hindu faith onto deepen the hatred and drive these rites underground." The author makes a good case in showing why these practices should endure, If it is an age-old legend that the fertility of the earth depends upon the spilling over it of human blood or the burying in it of human flesh taken in ritual sacrifice, it is difficult to believe that Hindu beliefs have so pro-grossed up to the present that they themselves have discarded this very terrible practice. Mr. Dare suggests that even now such sacrifices are occasionally being offered, and he quotes a case which came to light in 1932:
Coin jbatore district. was tried for...when a priest of a village in murder after sacrificing his twelve-year-old son to appease the wrath of Kandi-amma, the goddess of disease, who insisted on a libation of blood. At the inquest the priest said that the jagganaut (the car-festival) had not been celebrated for. two years, which provoked the wrath of the goddess, who threatened to wipe out the village in an epidemic unless she Were appeased with human blood. She appeared to the priest in a vision, and told him only the blood bf his own son could expiate the sin of failing to. hold the car-ceremony; so he decapitated the boy Reviews Pace Avrams September.—Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A, Per Annum Gs2.
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The first article in the September number of "Pacific Affairs" is "The People Behind the Chinese Guerillas" by Haldore Hanson, the account of Which the author has made very reedable. "A- British Observer" writes "To Have and to Hold," discussing the present situation in China. Nym Wales describes an interview with Lo Fu, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, under the title "Why the Chinese Communists Support the United Front" "Manchoukuo's New Economic Policy" is dealt with by Nagaharu Yasuo, and "The Arming of Australia and New Zealand" by Donald Cowie. Under "Pacific Affairs Bibliographies" comes "The Development of Modern Social Science in China" by Wang /Yuchuan, and under Comment and Correspondence are articles and letters on "America's Interest and Britain's Policy," "The Moscow Trials" "The Standard of Living in the Soviet Union." Book reviews are also a feature of this quarterly.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.