Appreciation of the fundamental characteristics of belief is essential to
even the most general understanding of the Indian mythology and
philosophy, and even after careful study it is difficult for thinkers
trained in the higher methods of thought to understand the crude and
confused ideation of the primitive thinker.
In hecastotheism the believer finds mysterious properties and potencies
everywhere. To his mind every object is endued with occult power, moved by
a vague volition, actuated by shadowy motive ranging capriciously from
malevolence to benevolence; in his lax estimation some objects are more
potent or more mysterious than others, the strong, the sharp, the hard,
and the swift-moving rising superior to the feeble, the dull, the soft,
and the slow. Commonly he singles out some special object as his personal,
family, or tribal mystery-symbol or fetich, the object usually
representing that which is most feared or worst hated among his
surroundings. Vaguely realizing from the memory of accidents or unforeseen
events that he is dependent on his surroundings, he invests every feature
of his environment with a capricious humor reflecting his own disposition,
and gives to each and all a subtlety and inscrutability corresponding to
his exalted estimation of his own craft in the chase and war; and,
conceiving himself to live and move only at the mercy of his multitudinous
associates, he becomes a fatalist--kismet is his watchword, and he meets
defeat and death with resignation, just as he goes to victory with
complacence; for so it was ordained.
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