[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Religion and philosophy](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion) › [The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925) › v1.c19.s3.15 # The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s3.15 The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s3.15 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c19.s3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925.v1.c19.s3.15) The belief in the presence of spirits in trees is, of course, ethnic and the Buddhist literature has many traces of it, showing the different sets of conceptions which are easily formed; the tree is primarily the spirit, then the spirit with or without its children lives in the tree, and, if it perishes, has to go away to seek a new abode, while at a further stage the tree becomes more and more remotely connected with the deity. This literature is also instructive in the fact that it mentions other than tree spirits, spirits of terrible form and uncanny and hostile nature, who may well be of double origin, arising from a direct or animatistic conception of the darkness and hostility of the woods,³ and also from the conception of unfriendly spirits which develops from the belief in the hostile spirits of the dead.⁴ The Rigveda⁵ preserves one hymn in its last book, describing the forest goddess, Araṇyānī, in a poetical and graphic manner which brings out clearly the uncanny sounds heard in the solitudes, the many beasts which abound, and the food which is raised without tillage. It is easy from this hymn alone to realize how spirits of dangerous character could, independently of any connexion with spirits of the dead, be deemed to abound in the forest. - [Previous: v1.c19.s3.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925.v1.c19.s3.14) - [Next: v1.c19.s3.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925.v1.c19.s3.16) - [Up: v1.c19.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925.v1.c19.s3) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925.v1.c19.s3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.religion.keith-1925.v1.c19.s3.15) · Pramāṇa