The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s3.14

v2.c32.s3.14

The use of noise to drive away demons is common: the drums at the Mahāvrata rite are paralleled by the sounds made by the Soma stones at the pressing, which are made doubly resonant by the device of putting under them sounding holes. The noise of the Sāman is also powerful to drive away evil, if the critics of the Sāman singers also make it a ground for the breaking off of the holy study for the day on which it is heard. Pots are beaten at burial. When a gong is beaten, it is expected that the demon which has a child in its grip will be driven away.¹ The fragrant bdellion also serves to drive away demons, while the Apāmārga plant is famed for this service, which, as its name denotes, it derives from its power to wipe off the influences of such powers. The ritual use of beating is not unknown: it occurs during the royal consecration, when the priests gently beat the prince,² and it may perhaps be recognized in the beating of their thighs by the maidens who dance round the fire at the Mahāvrata, bearing on their heads the water pitchers.³