ABSTRACT
In my opinion totemism may be considered from two different standpoints, namely, zoolatry (or theriolatry) and ancestor worship. In other words, totemism is a combination of zoolatry and ancestor worship. Totemism holds that a whole clan or an individual person is descended from a certain kindred animal or plant or, very rarely, a certain inorganic object, while the clan or the individual worships such a class of organic or inorganic objects as divine. So totemism I wish to define as follows:—It is a form of worship of some species of animal or plant or, very rarely, a certain inorganic object, such as rain, rock, the sun, etc., which is believed to be a divine progenitor of the clan or of an individual.
