Page 206 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

animism 91

Andamanese Beliefs about the Soul

The Andamanese are the indigenous foraging people of had there seen the death of the baby of a woman of
the Andaman Islands of South Asia. Their traditional his own tribe. He was fully convinced that the baby
belief system is animistic as indicated by the nature of must really have died.
their belief in the soul. An Andamanese will never, or only with the very
greatest reluctance, awaken another from sleep. One
The nearest approach to our notion of a soul that the
explanation of this that was given to me was that the
natives possess is their belief concerning the double
ot-jumulo or double of the sleeper may be wandering
or reflection seen in a mirror. In the Northern tribes
far from his body, and to waken him suddenly might
the word ot-jumulo means “reflection,” and also
cause him to be ill.
“shadow,” and is also nowadays applied to a photo-
The principle on which dreams are interpreted is a
graph. The word ot-jumu, in the same languages,
very simple one. All unpleasant dreams are bad, all
means “a dream” or “to dream.” We may perhaps
pleasant ones are good.The natives believe that sick-
translate the word ot-jumulo as meaning “soul.” In the
ness is often caused by dreams. A man in the early
Aka-Bea language ot-yolo is “reflection,” while there is
stages of an attack of fever, for instance, may have a
a different word, ot-diya or ot-lere, for “shadow,” and
bad dream.When the fever develops he explains it as
neither of the words has any connection with the
due to the dream. If a man has a painful dream he
word “dream,” which is taraba. Mr. Man translates the
will often not venture out of the camp the following
word ot-yolo as “soul.”
day, but will stay at home until the effect has worn off.
The fact that the words for dream and reflection,
The natives believe that they can communicate in
double or shadow are from the same root in the
dreams with the spirits, but the power to do this reg-
Northern languages is of interest. Dreams are some-
ularly is the privilege of certain special individuals,
times explained by saying that the sleeper’s double
known as oko-jumu (dreamers). However, an ordi-
(ot-jumulo) has left his body and is wandering else-
nary individual may occasionally have dreams of this
where. Dreams are regarded as being veridical, or at
kind.
any rate, as having importance. One man told me
Source: Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. (1922). The Andaman Islanders: A study in social anthro-
how, in a dream the night before, his ot-jumulo had pology. (pp. 166–167). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
travelled from where we were to his own country and
trance at will; and when they returned to normal con- What made animism plausible was the experience of
sciousness, they regularly explained what the spirits dreaming. A sleeping person might remember strange
wished or intended. Ordinary people could then go sights and encounters, even with dead persons. It seemed
about their daily tasks reassured, or, as the case might be, obvious that when humans were asleep something
devote time and effort to rituals designed to appease or invisible—their spirits—could and did travel about
drive evil spirits away. among other disembodied spirits. Moreover, breath
The idea of an invisible spirit world parallel to the offered a clear example of an invisible something—a
material world of sense almost certainly spread with the spirit—essential to life, which departed from dying per-
wandering Paleolithic bands that occupied almost all the sons permanently, thus joining, or rejoining, other dis-
habitable lands of the earth between about 100,000 and embodied spirits.
10,000 years ago. At any rate, all the diverse and remote Trance, too, was interpreted as arising when a person’s
hunters and gatherers whom anthropologists began to spirit departed temporarily and returned with news from
study in the nineteenth century believed that invisible the spirit world. Illness could also be attributed to an evil
spirits surrounded them and had a lot to do with every- spirit that, by invading the body, upset normal health. Rit-
thing that happened. uals for driving out such spirits and for defeating other