about it, and
though in consenting to it Sen violated his faith, as is
evident from the protest of the Sam[=a]j, yet was the
marriage not an extreme case of child-marriage, for both the
'children' were sixteen. Sen's own excuse (he thought excuse
necessary) was that he was inspired when he consented to the
nuptials.]

[Footnote 114: The theistic tendency in the Hindu mind is so
exaggerated that even now it is with the greatest difficulty
that the vulgar can be restrained from new idolatry. Not
only priests, but even poets are regarded as gods.
Jn[=a]ndev and Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, the hymn-makers of the
Mahratta Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, are demi-gods to-day (IA. xi. 56.
149). A few striking examples are almost requisite to make
an Occidental reader understand against what odds the deism
of India has to contend. In 1830 an impudent boy, who could
train snakes, announced that he could also work miracles.
The boy was soon accepted as Vishnu's last _avatar_; hymns,
_abhangs_, were sung to him, and he was worshipped as a god
even after his early demise (from a snake-bite). A weaver
came soon after to the temple, where stood the boy's now
vacant shrine, and fell asleep there at night. In the
morning he was perplexed to find himself a god. The people
had accepted him as their snake-conquering god in a new
form. The poor weaver denied his divinity, but that made no
difference. In 1834 the dead boy-god was still receiving
flowers and prayers. Another case: In the eighties some
Englishmen on entering a temple were amazed to see revered
as an _avatar_ of Vishnu the brass castings of the arms of
the old India Co. This god was washed and anointed daily.
Even a statue of Buddha (with the inscription still upon it)
was revered as Vishnu. In 1880 a meteorite fell in Beh[=a]r.
In 1882 its cult was fully established, and it was
worshipped as the 'miraculous god.' A Mohammedan inscription
has also been found deified and regularly worshipped as a
god, JRAS. 1842, p. 109; 1884, pt. III, pp. I, LIX.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVIII.

RELIGIOUS TRAITS OF THE WILD TRIBES.

Besides the phases of pure Aryan and modified Aryan religions which
have already been examined, there are represented in India several
other aspects of civilized religion; for