Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c14.4.7

v2.c14.4.7

The appeasing of the captured bear here referred to seems, however, to fit in first of all with the bear-worship of the Aino, the Gilyaks and other Amur peoples, which finds its highest expression in the famous bear-festival of the Aino and the Gilyaks. Of this festival among the last-named people, and what is connected with it Leo Sternberg has given a very good account in his excellent article on the religion of the Gilyaks, *Zeitschr. f. Relgnswiss.*, Bd. 8, p. 260 ff.; see especially 272 there. The bear-cult of the Aino and a long set of details belonging to it, as also the ideas lying behind it are treated at length by Frazer, *Golden Bough* 2, 1900, Bd. ii, 374 ff.