s among some American Indian tribes), and later, Lord, Lady,
Mighty One, Exalted One; in process of time they receive proper names,
which must have arisen at a relatively early period, since the meaning
of the names of most of the old deities was to the ancients, as it is to
us, unknown. In the case of the demonic world this development has not
been carried so far, for the reason stated above, namely, that these
beings, unlike gods, have not become real citizens of the communities
with which they are connected.

+692+. In like manner the organization of demons has not kept pace with
that of gods. In most regions they have remained a mob, every individual
pursuing his way independently. It is only in advanced cults that they
form a community with a head. In China and Persia the sharp division of
supernatural forces into two classes was the outcome of great religious
reformations that followed the usual savage chaos of the hordes of
demons. The Jewish demonology (probably influenced by the Persian) chose
for the head of its kingdom of evil an old god (the Satan) or the
similar figure Azazel.[1180]

+693+. It does not appear that religious worship has ever been offered
to a being regarded as morally bad and in honor of moral badness. The
"devils" reported by early (and some recent) travelers as the recipients
of religious homage turn out on inquiry to be clan gods whose anger is
feared.[1181] The cult of many savage and many civilized deities has
been, and is, characterized by gross cruelty and licentiousness; but it
is certain that human sacrifice and sexual indulgence were, and are, in
these cases not regarded as morally wrong. Durga (Kali), wife of Civa,
most terrible and repulsive of female deities, while she is feared, is
also revered as the giver of all good gifts; and the Thugs, when they
offered her their strangled victims, ascribed no more moral blame to her
than to themselves--their work they regarded not as murder but as pious
sacrifice.[1182] The Gnostic sects, Ophites and Cainites, looked on the
serpent and Cain as friends of the supreme Deity and of man; they were
enemies only of the Demiourgos, the Jewish god Yahweh, who, they held,
wished to keep man in ignorance.[1183] The Mesopotamian Yezidis also
(the so-called devil-worshipers) revere only beings that they regard as
morally good or as destined to become good. Their peculiar attitude
toward Satan (a mingling of fear and respect) is based not on his
conn