The Necronomicon by Simon is truly a book of supernatural origin. For those who are initiate into its primordial rites exists a wealth of information about the spiritual gnosis of the ancient world and its true alchemical path that is difficult to find. It is with this understanding that we find a great deal of knowledge about the Watcher and the origins of the rituals that pertain to such. In the Necronomicon’s Testimony of the Mad Arab, where we read:
“The third sign is the Sigil of the Watcher. It is called BANDAR. The Watcher is a Race sent by the Elder Ones. It keeps vigil while one sleeps, provided the appropriate ritual and sacrifice has been performed,: else, if called, it will turn upon you.
These seals, to be effective, must be graven on stone and set in the ground. Or, set upon the altar of offerings. Or, carried to the Rock of Invocations. Or, engraved on the metal of one’s God or Goddess, and hung about the neck, but hidden from the view of the profane. Of the three, the ARRA and the AGGA may be used separately, that is to say, singly and alone. The BANDAR, however, must never be used alone, but with one or both of the others, for the Watcher must needs be reminded of the Covenant it has sworn with the Elder Gods and our Race, else it will turn upon thee and slay thee and ravage thy town until succour is to be had from the Elder Gods by the tears of thy people and the wailing of thy women.”
The Mad Arab definitively states that the Watcher is also known as the BANDAR. But where does the term BANDAR come from? What does it mean? Well, the answer is very surprising. Yet at the same time, it illustrates the value of the tome itself. The term BANDAR is found among the rites of the Sinhalese. Historically, these ceremonies among scholars is known as the Bandar Cult. Published in 1908, under the direction of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland was a series entitled, Man: A Monthly Record of Anthropological Science. In Volume VIII of this work, under the subtopic, Note on the “Bandar” Cult of the Kandyan Sinhalese by C. G. Seligmann, M. D., we read:
“In a paper on the “Vedda Cult of the Dead,” published in the Transactions of the Third International Congress for the History of Religions, I alluded to the practice prevalent among the Kandyan Sinhalese, that is of the Sinhalese of the central portion of the island, of canonizing important men soon after their death and making offerings to their spirits, who are invoked to protect from evil and send good fortune. Such canonized spirits are known as Bandar, and Mr. H. Parker, late of the Irrigation Department, who has devoted special attention to this subject, writes that he has the names of considerably more than 100. “Some are included in the list as important ancestors; others, the majority, because of their power; others because of their cruelty or their sudden violent death. They are all classed as Yakas by the Sinhalese and are generally hurtful; but some have certain protective functions, and protect cattle and cocoanut trees and crops.”
Based on this information, we can see that the call of the Watcher, as set forth in the Simon Necronomicon greatly resembles the Sinhalese Indian ritual. A Bandar is a spirit of the deceased whether an ancestor, king, or someone who died violently. This process of Bandar-ship is explained as Seligmann continues:
“Before the dead can manifest their power in this manner or in any way interfere with human affairs they must obtain permission of one or more high gods of whom the most important is Skanda, one of the four guardian deities of Ceylon, “the Kataragam God” as he is called by the jungle-dwelling Sinhalese, on the account of his position of his famous temple. How the spirit obtains this permission is not clear, but I was told that the early signs of the power of the deceased are always in some way connected with the Kataragam God,……
Having one obtained permission from Kataragam God to accept offerings and to help or injure men, the spirit indicates his desire to be reverenced as a Bandar at a shamanistic ceremony which is held when the doings of the “sending,” or other mysterious events, suggest that one of the dead is trying to communicate with the living. A spirit-dancer then invokes the new Bandar and becomes possessed by him, and the Bandar, speaking through the dancer, explains who he is, how he should be invoked, what offering should be made to him, and the benefits that he will confer in return.”
Basically, the Bandar represents a spirit of the deceased that acts as a guardian. It seems that this ritual was constructed through a comparative analysis of the Hindu pantheon and that of ancient Mesopotamia. We can determine this as we are told in the account above that in order for the deceased to become a Bandar they must get permission from the high gods, of which we are told that “the most important is Skanda, one of the four guardian deities of Ceylon.”
Skanda, also known as Kartikeya, is the god of war in a manner similar to that of Nergal. In Tamil literature, he is known as Murugan. It is said in one account, dated between the third century BCE and the fifth century CE, “the glorified Murugan, “the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent,” as “the favored god of the Tamils.” Kartikeya was also associated with the fire god Agni, much like Nergal is fond of Girra.
Among the Sinhalese Buddhists, Skanda is known as Kataradam deviyo and entered western knowledge through Buddhist factions of the Theosophical Society. Interestingly, when we uncover the origin of the Bandar and its roots among the Tamil-speaking Vedda people, we are able to confirm an aspect of philosophy that is discussed in much of its literature, namely, that the shamanic systems of the world were one, which is why they all possess the same aesthetics despite their languages differences.
The Necronomicon Tradition 