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1. INTRODUCTION
Religion is a main concern of man. Man, the social animal, is also a religious or spiritual
being. The institution of religion is universal and it is also found in all the societies, past and present.
Phenomenon of religion is not of recent emergence and its beginning is unknown and dateless.
Some artifacts and evidences of the burial practices of Neanderthal man indicate that human being
was a religious creature long before history began.
Laws, customs and fashion are not the only means of social control. Overriding them all are
religion and morality which formulate the shape of all of them. They are not only influential forces
of social control, but the most effective guides of human behavior. Unless we understand them
thoroughly we shall fail to understand the society.
2. Meaning and definition of Religion:
James George Frazer (1922) considered religion as a belief in powers superior to man which
are believes to direct and control the course of nature and of human life.
Emile Durkheim in his book, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life,
defines religion as a unified system of believes and practices relative to
sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden.
Lowie (1948) regarded religion as a spontaneous response to the aweinspiring extra-ordinary manifestation of reality.
According to Malinowski (1948), Religion is a mode of action as well
as system of belief and a sociological phenomenon as well as a personal
experience.
According to Edward Sapir, an American Anthropologist, Religion is
mans never-ceasing attempt to discover a road to spiritual serenity across the
perplexities and dangers of daily life.
According to Ogburn (1950), Religion is an attitude towards
superhuman powers.
Mans Adjustment with the Supernatural Forces - Man believe that he is at the mercy of
the supernatural forces. He expresses his subordination to them by means of prayers,
hymns, kirtans, yagyas and other acts. Failure to perform these acts is regarded as sinful.
Acts defined as Sinful Each religion defines certain acts as sinful. Such acts destroy
mans harmonious relationships with God or the Gods and the sinner suffers the wrath of
God.
Method of Salvation Man needs some methods by which he can regain harmony with
the Gods through removal of guilt. Thus Buddhism provides for Nirvana, and Hinduism
provides salvation to be released from the bondage of karma.
According to James Goerge Frazer (1922) Magic is inventory of beliefs and forms of behavior
which are not subject to criticism, recheck and elimination.
According to Beals and Hoijer (1975) Magic is a body of
techniques and methods for controlling the universe on the
assumption that if certain procedures are followed minutely certain
results are inevitable. It presupposes an orderly universe of cause
and effect.
According to Prof. Keesing (1962), A magical act is a rite carried
out to twist nature in a specific way to satisfy human desire.
The classification of magical practices most firmly established, comes to us from J. G. Frazer. He
found that magical formulae are based on two principles:
He has reduced these principles into laws. The first he calls the law of similarity and the second is
the law of contact, or contagion. Basing on these laws, he classified magic into two categories: (a)
Imitative or homoeopathic magic and (b) contagious magic.
Imitative Magic :
It is the magic which is associated with the law of similarity i.e. like produces like or that an effect
resembles its cause. Following this law, the magical practitioner
infers that he can produce any desired effect by imitating it.
Imitative magic includes both white or beneficial and black or
harmful magic.
believe that thunder with its rumbling noise, is the direct cause of rain. Therefore when
they want rains they go to a hill top, sacrifice a hen or a pig and then start flinging down
stones, rocks and boulders down the hill, expecting rain to follow the rumbling noises
created by their actions, just as it follows thunder.
Black Magic Black magic is that kind of magic which is always used to do harm in the
society. One of the most striking and prevalent form of the black magic is the image
magic. Images range from highly concrete and pictorial, doll-like representations of
human beings or animals to the symbolic representations. The acts which one performs
upon images by imitation are thought to come about in actuality. Thus burning of effigies
is the common form of black magic. It is believed that when the effigy is burnt, its
original will suffer like-wise.
CONTAGIOUS MAGIC :
Contagious magic is associated with the law of contact i.e. things once in
contact with each other remain forever in association even if the contact is
physically severed. Primitives have been found not to use each others
clothing, not for reason of hygiene, but because cloths are regarded as a part
of that persons body who wore them first. The main implication of the law of
contact is that a part is always associated with the whole to which it belongs or
belonged; once a part is always a part. This association is extended to clothing,
nail-cuttings, hair-trimming, utensils, personal effects and so on. It is because
of this belief that the personal belongingness of the dead are not made use of
by many primitive groups but are instead buried or cremated along with the
dead body.
Concrete specificity of goal relates most closely to the magical complex. This overlaps
towards religious goal more than most characteristic, since religious rewards are usually to be
found in this world. However religious goals do lean more heavily in the direction of
General welfare, health, Good weather, and eschatological occurrences.
The manipulative attitude is to be found most strongly at the magical complex as against the
supplicative, propitiatory or cajoling at the religious complex.
Individual ends are more frequently to be found towards the magical end of this continuum,
as against groupal ends towards the other.
The magical practitioner or his customer goes through his activities as a private individual
or individuals functioning much less as groups. At the religious extreme complex, groups
carry them out or representatives of groups.
With regard to the process of achieving the goal, in case of magical failure, there is more
likely to be a substitution or introduction of other techniques. Stronger magic will be used to
off-set the counter magic of enemies, or even a different magician.
The practitioner decides whether the process is to start at all, towards magical complex.
Towards religious goals, the ritual must be carried out. That it must be done, is part of the
structure of the universe.
As a final, ideally distinguishing characteristic, magic is used only instrumentally, i.e. for
goals. The religious complex may be used for goals, but at its ideal complex, the practices are
ends in themselves.
Magic and religion are both imbued with the mystery of the world.
Religion seeks an explanation in terms of spirits and gods. Magic does in terms of force.
Nonetheless the roles of magician and priest are often combined in one person.
The art of magician and many religious rituals are meant to create an atmosphere of
suggestibility.
The technique of both magic and religion is ritualistic, the performance of which is
governed by a traditional order.
The veil between the two is very thin. So a slight change in the formulation of words may
convert a magical formula into religious prayer.
to coerce it into service, i.e., by magic, or by praying and offering worship to it, i.e., by the religious
approach. Both magic and religion are tools of adaptation; the objective being to help man out of
difficult situations and relieve his tensions. The two approaches seem to have always existed
together and sometimes they come so near each other as almost to blend into each other. Man must
have resorted to supplication only after his ego-driven magical approach failed to produce results
invariably.
Magic is often called a type of primitive science. Magic, like science, pursues practical ends. It is
coercive that certain effects follow certain causes, takes an impersonal attitude towards causation,
and has little to do with morality. The function of magic is to give confidence and a sense of
security. For this reason, the individual must have a non-rational faith in its adequacy. Hence it can
exist side by side with perfectly good scientific and technological practices.