1 CHAPTER X. MENHIRS (COLUMNAR STONES)-DEVOTIONAL; MEMORIAL. Menhirs, Upright Stones, the Earliest Emblems of Deities-Hare Stones not Boundary Stones-Stone erected at Bethel-Baetulia of the Phoenicians— Aerolites-Heliogabulus-Alitta of the Arabs, and Venus of Paphos― Menhir worshipped in Ireland, overthrown by St. Patrick-Stone Worship -Great Menhir at Loc-Maria-Ker-Rude Stones representing Deities— Menhir of Kerloaz-Obscene Rites-Druidesses-Monuments attributed to Seth-Stones of Memorial, first mentioned in Sacred History-Cat Stanes-Lulach's Stone. M ENHIRS, or columnar stones, placed upright in the ground, were the earliest monuments of which there is record that they were reared by man as emblems of a deity. They were also employed for preserving the memory of important events, and for recalling the past existence of beloved or distinguished individuals. Rude stones fixed up 2 3 right, singly or in a group not exceeding three in numberfrom a piece that could be lifted by an individual up to a mass of rock which required the combined exertions of a tribe to move-are all included in the category of devotional, memorial, and sepulchral stones, classed under the head of menhirs. Although without records or reliable traditions regarding the more ancient of these monuments in Western Europe, there are yet sufficient data by which there can be assigned to each monolith or group its distinctive character. Rules have even been proposed by which to determine the original intention of each variety of these monuments, but when sufficiently definite the formulæ appear not only unsatisfactory but inadmissible. In regard to such monuments we know that they were adopted from the earliest ages of the Hebrews in Canaan. We also find that the nations on whom they intruded had places of worship on mountains and hills, in sacred groves and under trees. They had altars, pillars,' and even sculptured stones, for such, it may be presumed, is the meaning of "figured stones" or " stones of picture." In India, not only among the aboriginal tribes but also among professed Hindus, unhewn stones are still used as representatives of the invisible powers which are the object of native worship. In many parts of the Indian peninsula rude stones mark or have made consecrated places; and nothing is more common than to see a Hindu god receiving vicarious 2 1 Deuteronomy xii. 1, 2, 3; Leviticus xxvi. 1; marginal note in D'Oyly and Mant's Bible. 2 Not only in India, but in Central Asia, in Kafiristan, and among the tribes on the eastern frontiers of Hindostan, stones are placed as representatives of deities. BUDDHISM AND DRUIDISM. 251 worship when, under the form of a stone, he is anointed with gee or oil by some pious villager or passing traveller. Being smeared and dirty, with perhaps a broken earthenware lamp lying near, is often the only mark which distinguishes these sacred stones from others, apparently equally eligible representatives of supernatural power. Such objects were worshipped in Hindostan prior to the era of Gautama Buddha,1 and we know not how many ages before; for that great moral teacher, speaking of those "who worship Gods," and address themselves for protection or reward "to trees and rocks, stocks and stones," compares them to people who would seek refreshment at the illusive waters of a scorching atmosphere, or might expect to derive warmth from the light of the glow-worm. The opinion has been stated and defended that the prototypes of the Caledonian hieroglyphics are to be found in the emblematic designs of the followers of the Gautama Buddha; but, on the contrary, I believe the sculptures on the monuments of Scotland to be referable to a system in every way the opposite of Buddhism. Buddhism is essentially peaceful, moral, and humane, forbidding the destruction of life and denouncing the sacrifice of any animal; Druidism, so far as we know, was the reverse of all this, for although of its moral laws we are ignorant, yet we can see that its characteristics were priestcraft combined with mystery, and cruelty consummated by the immolation of human victims. Primitive mounds, caves, and monuments are, however, the 1 B. C. 543. |