THE POPULAR RELIGION
AND FOLK-LORE OF
NORTHERN INDIA
BY
W. CROOKE, B.A.
BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.
A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED
WESTMINSTER
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO.
2, Whitehall Gardens, S.W.
1896
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
The Evil Eye and the Scaring of Ghosts 1
CHAPTER II.
Tree and Serpent Worship 83
CHAPTER III.
Totemism and Fetishism 146
CHAPTER IV.
Animal-Worship 201
CHAPTER V.
The Black Art 259
CHAPTER VI.
Some Rural Festivals and Ceremonies 287
Bibliography 327
FOLK-LORE OF NORTHERN INDIA.
CHAPTER I.
THE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.
Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos.
Virgil, Eclogues, iii. 103.
Asma 'bint 'Umais relates that she said, "O Prophet! the family of
Ja' afar are affected by the baneful influence of the Evil Eye. May
I use spells for them or not?" The Prophet said, "Yes; for if there
were anything in the world which would overcome fate, it would be
the Evil Eye."--Miskât, xxi.-i. Part II.
The belief in the baneful influence of the Evil Eye prevails
widely. [1] According to Pliny, [2] it was one of the special
superstitions of the people of India, and at the present day it forms
an important part of the popular belief. But the investigation of
its principles is far from easy. It is very closely connected with
a number of kindred ideas on the subject of diabolical influence,
and few natives care to speak about it except in a furtive way. In
fact, it is far too serious a matter to be discussed lightly. Walking
about villages, you will constantly see special marks on houses, and
symbols and devices of various kinds, which are certainly intended
to counteract it; but hardly any one cares directly to explain the
real motive, and if you ask the meaning of them, you will almost
invariably be told that they are purely decorative, or that they have
been made with some object which obviously conceals the real basis
of the practice.
One, and perhaps the most common theory of the Evil Eye is that "when
a child is born, an invisible spirit is born with it; and unless
the mother keeps one breast tied up for forty days, while she feeds
the child with the other (in which case the spirit dies of hunger),
the child grows up with the endowment of the Evil Eye, and whenever
any person so endowed looks at anything constantly, something will
happen to it." [3] So, in Ireland we are told that "the gift comes by
Nature and is born with one, though it may not be called into exercise
unless circumstances arise to excite the power; then it comes to act
like a spirit of bitter and malicious envy that radiates a poisonous
atmosphere, which chills and blights everything within its reach." [4]
In Bombay the "blast of the Evil Eye is supposed to be a form of
spirit possession. In Western India all witches and wizards are said
to be, as a rule, evil-eyed. Of the rest, those persons only who are
born under certain circumstances are believed to be evil-eyed. The
circumstances are as follows:--Among the Hindus it is believed that
when a woman is pregnant, she begins to conceive peculiar longings
from the day of conception, or from the fifth month. They consist in
eating various fruits and sweetmeats, in walking under deep shades,
or in gardens where brooks gurgle, or in putting on rich clothes or
ornaments, and in many other like things. If in the case of any woman
these desires are not gratified, the child whom she gives birth to
becomes weak and voracious, and is said to have an Evil Eye. If such a
person sees a man or woman eat anything which he feels a longing for,
the eater either vomits what he or she has eaten, or falls sick. By
some it is believed that if a person come from without at the time
of dinner, and enters the house without washing his feet, the man
who is eating becomes sick or vomits the food he has eaten, or does
not feel longing for food for some time, until the blast of the Evil
Eye is warded off." Mr. Campbell explains this on the principle that
"as he comes from places where three or four roads meet, and which
are spirit haunts, an evil spirit accompanies him without entering
his body, from the place of its residence by which he has passed. If
he washes his feet, the spirit goes back; but if he enters the house
with spirit-laden feet, the spirit enters the house with him, and
affects any one of the persons eating." [5]
The real fact seems to be that in most cases the Evil Eye is the
result of covetousness. [6] Thus, a man blind of an eye, no matter
how well-disposed he may be, is almost certain to envy a person
blessed with a peculiarly good pair of eyes. But if the blind man's
attention be distracted by something conspicuous in the appearance of
the other, such as lampblack on his eyelids, a mole, or a scar, the
feeling of dissatisfaction, which is fatal to the complete effect of
the envious glance, is certain to arise. This theory that the glance
may be neutralized or avoided by some blot or imperfection is the
basis of many of the popular remedies or prophylactics invented with
the object of averting its influence.
Hence comes the device of making an intentional blot in anything one
values, so that the glance of the Evil Eye may be deprived of its
complete satisfaction. Thus, most people put lampblack on the eyes of
their children as a protection against fascination, because black is
a colour hateful to evil spirits; it has the additional advantage of
protecting the eye from the fierce heat of the Indian summer. Women
when delivery approaches often mark themselves with black to avert
the demon who causes protracted labour. It is also believed that a
person whose eyelids are encircled with lampblack is incapable of
casting the Evil Eye himself; and it is considered nice in a woman
to ornament herself in this way, since because she herself, except
at some crisis of her life, such as marriage or parturition, is not
liable to fascination, it shows her indisposition to covet the beauty
of others, with the inference that she has no cause to do so.
On the same principle, when a parent has lost a child by any disease
which, as is usually the case, can be attributed to fascination or
other demoniacal influence, it is a common practice to call the next
baby by some opprobrious name, with the intention of so depreciating it
that it may be regarded as worthless, and so protected from the Evil
Eye of the envious. Thus a male child is called Kuriya or "Dunghill;"
Kadheran or Ghasîta, "He that has been dragged along the ground;" Dukhi
or Dukhita, "The afflicted one;" Phatingua, "Grasshopper;" Jhingura,
"Cricket;" Bhîkhra or Bhîkhu, "Beggar;" Gharîb, "Poor," and so on. So,
a girl is called Andhrî, "Blind;" Tînkauriyâ or Chhahkauriyâ, "She that
was sold for three or six cowry shells;" Dhuriyâ, "Dusty;" Machhiyâ,
"Fly," and so on. [7]
All this is connected with what the Scotch call "fore-speaking," when
praise beyond measure, praise accompanied with a sort of amazement or
envy, is considered likely to be followed by disease or accident. [8]
Thus Professor Rhys writes of the Isle of Man: [9] "You will never get
a Manxman to say that he is very well. He usually admits that he is
'middling;' and if by any chance he risks a stronger adjective, he
hastens to qualify it by saying 'now' or 'just now,' with an emphasis
indicative of his anxiety not to say too much. His habits of speech
point back to the time when the Manx mind was dominated by the fear
of awaking malignant influences in the spirit world around him." So,
in Ireland, to avoid being suspected of having the Evil Eye, it is
necessary when looking at a child to say, "God bless it!" and when
passing a farmyard where the cows are collected for milking to say,
"The blessing of God be on you and all your labour!" [10]
The same customs prevail in India. Thus, if a native gentleman brings
his child to visit a European, he dislikes to hear it praised, unless
the praise be accompanied with some pious ejaculation. And it is
safer to speak in a complimentary way of some conspicuous ornament
or piece of dress, which is always put on as a protective.
In connection with the question of naming, a reference may be made to
some taboos which are probably based on similar principles. A name is
part of a person in the belief of savages, and a man can be injured
through his name as well as through the parings of his nails or hair,
which are carefully looked after. Thus with all Hindus two names are
given to children, one secret and used only for ceremonial purposes,
and the other for ordinary use. The witch if she learns the real name
can work her evil charms through it. [11] Hence arises the use of many
contractions and perversions of the real name and many of the nicknames
which are generally given to children, as well as the ordinary terms
of endearment which are constantly employed. We have this name taboo
coming out in a cycle of folk-tales, such as "Rumpelstilzchen," "Tom
Titty Tot," and "Whuppity Stoorie." Here the imp or gnome has a secret
name of his own, which he thinks it impossible for any one to find out,
and he himself uses it only when he thinks he is sure to be alone.
This seems to be the most rational explanation of the curious
taboo according to which a Hindu woman will not name her husband,
or if she wants to refer to him, does so in some indirect way as
the father of her child and so on. To this, however, there is one
notable exception. Thus, writing of Bombay, Mr. Campbell says: [12]
"At marriages, coming of age, first pregnancy and festive days, such as
the Nâgpanchamî and Mangalâ Gaurî in August, it is usual for the woman
to recite some couplet or verse in which the husband's name occurs. At
marriages this naming is, in practice, little more than a game. An
old man or an old lady gets close to the door and refuses to allow
the young women to go until they have told their husbands' name. At
the pregnancy ceremony the same custom is observed." Mr. Campbell
takes this to be "part of a ceremony whose object is to drive to a
distance any spirits whose influence might blight the tender life
of the unborn child. This seems natural when it is remembered that
the names of men are either the names of gods, of precious stones,
or of spices, all of which have a power to scare spirits; and as
repeating the thousand names of Mahâdeva is a service in which he
greatly delights, apparently because it keeps spirits at a distance,
so this repeating of the husband's and wife's name seems to have the
same object." The name, in other words, is kept secret on account of
its sanctity, and the custom would be based on the same rules of taboo
which have been designed among most savages for the protection of
kings and other persons of dignity from the influence of evil spirits.
Another mode of protecting boys from demoniacal influence is based on
the same idea of the blot of imperfection. Boys of rich parents are
often dressed in mean or filthy clothes so that they may be considered
unworthy of the malicious glance of some envious neighbour or enemy.
Still another device, that of dressing up the boy during infancy as a
girl, in other words a pretended change of sex, may perhaps lead us on
the track of a possible explanation of some very curious and obscure
practices in Europe. We know that legends of actual change of sex are
not unknown in Indian folk-lore. Thus, we have the very primitive
legend of Idâ or Ilâ, who was the daughter of the Manu Vaivaswata,
who prayed to Mitra and Varuna for a boy and was given a girl. But the
prayers of her father to the deities resulted in her being changed into
a man, Sudyumna. Siva changed him back again into a woman, and she,
as Ilâ, became the wife of Budha. In more modern times we have the
very similar story of the daughter of the Bhadauriya Râja. He had a
daughter, who was seized by force for the seraglio of the Emperor at
Delhi, but she fled to the temple of Devî at Batesar and by the aid of
the goddess was changed into a boy. By another version of the tale he
arranged with another Râja that their children should be contracted,
if one chanced to be a boy and the other a girl. Both had daughters,
but the Râja concealed the circumstance and allowed the marriage
to go on as if his child was a son. When the fraud was detected the
girl tried to commit suicide in the Jumnâ, but came out a boy, and
everyone was satisfied. [13]
One explanation of the custom of pretended change of sex as shown in
the case of the Amazons, has been thus explained by Mr. Abercromby:
[14] "The great desire of women, more especially during a period of
warlike barbarism, is to bear male children. Turning our attention to
the result of flattening a girl's breasts and letting her wear male
attire, it is obvious that a sex distinction has been obliterated,
and she has become externally assimilated to a male youth. Moreover,
the object has evidently been intentional. It would be no outrage to
the reasoning powers of the Sarmatians to suppose that they believed
a woman's chances of bearing male children were vastly enhanced by
her wearing a man's dress, and by being in some degree conformed
to the male type by forcible compression of the breasts during
maidenhood. They would argue thus: a woman wants to bear male children,
therefore she ought to be made as much like a man as possible. A
conviction of this kind is gained by a process identical with the
immature reasoning that underlies what is called sympathetic magic."
This may possibly be one explanation of the practice among Chamârs and
other low castes in Northern India, when at marriages boys dress up as
women and perform a rude and occasionally obscene dance. Among the Modh
Brâhmans of Gujarât, at marriages, the bridegroom's maternal uncle,
whose special position is almost certainly a survival from times when
descent through the mother was the only recognized form, dresses as a
Jhanda or Pathân Faqîr, whose ghost is dangerous, in woman's clothes
from head to waist, and in men's clothes below, rubs his face with
oil, daubs it with red powder, goes with the bride and bridegroom to
a place where two roads meet (which, as we have seen, is a haunt of
spirits), and stays there till the pair offer the goddess food. [15]
Now, there are numerous customs which have been grouped in Europe under
the name of the False Bride. Thus, among the Esthonians the false
bride is enacted by the bride's brother dressed in woman's clothes;
in Polonia by a bearded man called the Wilde Brant; in Poland, by an
old woman veiled in white, and lame; again, among the Esthonians,
by an old woman with a birch-bark crown; in Brittany, where the
substitutes are first a little girl, then the mistress of the house,
and lastly, the grandmother. [16]
The supposition may then be hazarded, that in the light of the Indian
examples the object may be that some one assumes the part of the bride
in order to divert on himself from her the envious glance of the Evil
Eye. With the same object it is very common in India to bore the noses
of little boys and thus to make them resemble girls. The usual names
of Nathu or Bulâqi, the former where the ring was placed in the side
of the nose and the latter in the septum, are evidence of this.
The theory of the blot of imperfection again appears in the custom of
not washing the face of a little boy till he is six years old. [17]
Similarly, young men, if vigorous and stout, consider themselves
very liable to the fascination of lean people, and tie a rag round
the left arm, or a blue thread round their necks, often twisting the
blue feathers of the roller bird into the thread as an additional
precaution. Nor do they care to expose their bodies to the public
gaze, but wear a light shawl of a gaudy colour, even in the warmest
season of the year. Should such a youth, if sufficiently conceited
about his personal appearance, detect a suspicious person looking at
him, he will immediately pretend to limp, or contort his face and
spasmodically grasp his ankle or his elbow as if he were in pain,
to distract and divert the attention he fears.
So, all natives dread being stared at, particularly by Europeans;
and you will often see a witness cast his eyes on the ground when
the magistrate looks him full in the face, sometimes because he
knows he is lying and fears the consequences, but it is often done
through fear of fascination. A European, in fact, is to the rustic a
strange inscrutable personage, gifted with many occult powers both for
good and evil, and there are numerous extraordinary legends current
about him. We shall return to this in dealing with the wonderful
Momiâî story. Here it may be noted that he has control over the
Jinn. There was a place near Dera Ghâzi Khân so possessed by them
that passersby were attacked. A European officer poured a bottle of
brandy on the spot and no Jinn has been seen there ever since. A
very dangerous ghost which some time ago used to infest a road in
the Rûrki Cantonment was routed in the same way by an artilleryman,
who spat on him when he came across him one dark night. The nails
of a European, like those of the Râkshasa, distil a deadly poison,
and hence he is afraid to eat with his fingers, as all reasonable
people do, and prefers to use a knife and fork.
A few other examples illustrating the same principle may be given
here. When a man is copying a manuscript, he will sometimes make an
intentional blot. A favourite trick is to fold the paper back before
the ink of the last line has time to dry, so as to blot and at the
same time make it appear the result of chance. We have noticed the
same idea in the case of carpet patterns. A similar irregularity is
introduced in printing chintzes and like handicrafts, and this goes a
long way to explain the occasional and almost unaccountable defects
to be found in some native work. The letter from a Râja is spotted
with gold leaf, partly to divert fascination and partly to act as a
scarer of demons. In fact the two conceptions meet and overlap all
through the theory of these protectives.
Another plan is to paint up some hideous figure on the posts or arch
of the door. The figure of a Churel or the caricature of a European
with his gun is often delineated in this way. Others paint a figure of
Yamarâja or some of the gods or saints for the same purpose, and the
regular guardian deities, like Hanumân, Bhairon, or Bhîm Sen, often
figure on these protective frescoes. So in Italy Mania was a most
frightful spirit. "Her frightful image used to be hung over the doors
to frighten away evil. This is quite identical with the old Assyrian
observance recorded by Lenormant of placing the images of evil or
dreaded deities in places to scare away the demons themselves." [18]
Confectioners, when one of their vessels of milk is exposed to view,
put a little charcoal in it, as careful Scotch mothers do in the water
in which they wash their babies. [19] The idea is probably connected
with the use of fire as a charm. In Scotland it used to be the practice
to throw a live coal into the beer vat to avert the influence of the
fairies, and a cow's milk was secured against them by a burning coal
being passed across her back and under her belly immediately after
calving. [20] In India, if a cow gives a large quantity of milk, the
owner tries to hide it, and if it chances to get sour, he attributes
the loss to fascination, or the machinations of some enemy, witch,
or demon. A mother while dressing her baby makes a black mark on
its cheek, and before a man eats betel he pinches off the corner of
the leaf as a safeguard. When food is taken to the labourer in the
field, a piece of charcoal or copper coin is placed in the basket as
a preservative; and when horses while feeding throw a little grain
on the ground, it is not replaced, because the horse is believed to
do this to avoid fascination. Grooms, with the same object, throw
a dirty duster over the withers of a horse while it is feeding,
and they are the more particular to do this when it is new moon
or moonlight, when spirits are abroad. In the same way, when a man
purchases food in the open market, he throws a little into the fire,
and when a man is having a specially good dinner, he should select
an auspicious moment and do the same. The same idea accounts for
various customs of grace-giving at meals. Thus, when the Brâhmans at
Pûna begin dinner they repeat the name of Govinda; the Shenavis say,
Har! Har! Mahâdeva, and when half finished sing verses; the Mhârs
never eat without saying Krishnarpana! or "It is dedicated to Krishna";
[21] the Muhammadan, when he begins to eat, says, Bismillah!--"In the
name of God!" and when he finishes he says, Al-hamdulillah!--"Praise
be to God!" Orthodox Hindus pretend that this offering of food at
a meal is a sacrifice to Annadeva, the god of food; but here many
varied beliefs, such as fear of fascination, earth and fire worship,
appear to combine to establish these and similar practices.
We now come to consider the various articles which are believed
to have the power of scaring spirits, and counteracting demoniacal
influence of various kinds.
First among these is iron. Why iron has been regarded as a scarer
of demons has been much debated. Natives of India will tell you
that it is the material out of which weapons are made, and that an
armed man should fear nothing. Others say that its virtues depend
on its black colour, which, as we shall see, is obnoxious to evil
spirits. Mr. Campbell [22] thinks the explanation may be that in all
cases of swooning and seizures iron is of great value, either applied
in the form of the cautery or used as a lancet to let blood. The real
reason is probably a very interesting survival of folk-thought. We know
that in many places the stone axe and arrow head of the Age of Stone
are invested with magic qualities, and Mr. Macritchie has gone so far
as to assume that the various so-called fairy houses and fairy hills
which abound in Europe are really the abodes of a primitive pigmy
race, which survive to our days as the fairies. The belief in the
fairies would thus go back to a time anterior to the use of metals,
and these supernatural beings would naturally feel an abhorrence for
iron, a new discovery and one of the greatest ever made by man. There
is good evidence in custom that the Age of Stone existed in many places
up to comparatively modern times. The Hebrews used a stone knife for
circumcision, their altars were forbidden to be hewn, and even Solomon
ordered that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron should be
heard while his Temple was building. The same idea appears in many
cases in India. The Magahiya Doms, who are certainly one of the most
primitive races in the country, place iron under a stringent taboo,
and any Magahiya who breaks into a house with an iron implement is not
only put out of caste, but it is believed that some day or other he
will lose his eyesight. The Agariyas, the primitive iron smelters of
the Central Indian Hills, have deified iron under the form of Lohâsura,
as the Kaseras or brass-founders worship brass as Kansâsura.
This idea appears in many various forms. We have already noticed
the use of iron as a charm against hail. In the same way a sword or
knife is placed in the bed of the young mother. She is, at this crisis
of her life, particularly exposed to the influence of evil spirits,
as the Scotch fairies are very fond of milk, and try to gratify their
desires on "unsained" or unchurched women. [23] There is a case in the
Indian Law Reports, where the knife thus placed near the woman was
used to murder her. [24] Pliny advises that a piece of iron should
be placed in the nest of a sitting hen to save her eggs from the
influence of thunder. This is now done in Sicily, with the object of
absorbing every noise which might be injurious to the chickens. [25]
So, the Indians of Canada put out swords in a storm to frighten off
the demon of thunder. [26] The common belief is that the evil spirit
is such a fool that he runs against the sharp edge of the weapon and
allows himself to be wounded.
The magic sword constantly appears in folk-lore. We have Excalibur
and Balmung; in the tales of Somadeva it confers the power of making
the wearer fly through the air and renders him invincible; the snake
demon obtains from the wars of the Gods and the Asuras the magic
sword Vaiduryakanti. "Whatever man obtains that sword will become a
chief of the Siddhas and roam about unconquered; and that sword can
only be obtained by the aid of heroes." [27]
While a house is being built, an iron pot, or a pot painted black,
which is good enough to scare the demon, is always kept on the works,
and when it is finished the young daughter of the owner ties to the
lintel a charm, which is also used on other occasions, the principal
virtue of which consists in a small iron ring. Here is combined
the virtue of the iron and the ring, which is a sacred circle. In
India iron rings are constantly worn as an amulet against disease,
as in Ireland an iron ring on the fourth finger cures rheumatism. The
mourner, during the period of ceremonial impurity, carries a knife
or a piece of iron to drive off the ghost of the dead man, and the
bridegroom in the marriage procession wears a sword as a protection;
if he cannot procure a licence from a magistrate to carry a real
sword, he gets one made of lath, which is good enough to frighten the
evil spirit. In this case he fastens an iron spike to the point. On
the same principle the blacksmith's anvil is used as a hail charm,
and any one who dares to sit on it is likely to be punished for
the contempt by an attack of boils. The Romans used to drive large
nails into the side posts of the door with the same object. We have
already noticed the value of iron nails for the purpose of laying the
ghost of the Churel, and such nails are in India very commonly driven
into the door-post or into the legs of the bed, with the object of
resisting evil spirits. The horse-shoe is one special form of the
charm. The wild Irish, we are told, used to hang round the necks of
children the beginning of St. John's Gospel, a crooked nail out of a
horse-shoe, or a piece of wolf-skin. [28] Why the horse-shoe should
be used in this way has been much debated. Mr. Farrer thinks it may
be connected with the respect paid to the horse in folk-lore. [29]
The Irish say that the reason is that the horse and ass were in the
stall when Christ was born, and hence are blessed for evermore. [30]
The idea that its shape connects it with the Yonî and phallicism
hardly deserves mention. One thing is clear, that the element of
luck largely enters into the matter; the shoe must have been found by
chance on the road. Mr. Leland says, "To find and pick up anything,
at once converts it into a fetish, or insures that all will go well
with it, if we say when taking it up, 'I do not pick it up,'--naming
the object--'I pick up good luck, which may never abandon me!'" [31]
This, combined with the general protective power of iron, is probably
a sufficient explanation of the practice. The custom is common in
India. The great gate of the mosque at Fatehpur Sîkri is covered with
them, and the practice is general at many shrines.
There is also a cycle of legends which connect iron with the
philosopher's stone and transmutation into gold. The great Chandra
Varma, who was born of the embraces of Chandrama, the Moon god,
possessed the power of converting iron into gold. Laliya, a blacksmith
of Ahmadâbâd, made an axe for a Bhîl, who returned and complained that
it would not cut. Laliya, on looking at it, found that the blade had
been turned into gold. On questioning the Bhîl, he ascertained that
he had tried to sharpen it on what turned out to be the philosopher's
stone. Laliya, by possession of the stone, acquired great wealth, and
was finally attacked by the king's troops. At last he was obliged to
throw the stone into the Bhadar river, where it still lies, but once
some iron chains were let down into the water, and when they touched
it the links were converted into gold. [32]
Gold and Silver Protectives.
Gold, and in a less degree silver, have a similar protective
influence. The idea is apparently based on their scarcity and
value, and on their colour--yellow and white being obnoxious to
evil spirits. Hence a little bit of gold is put into the mouth of
the dying Hindu, and both gold and silver, combined with tigers'
claws and similar protectives, are largely used as amulets. These
metals are particularly effective in the form of ornaments, many of
which are images of the gods, or have some mystic significance, or
are made in imitation of some sacred leaf, flower, or animal. This
is one main cause of the recklessness with which rich natives load
their children with masses of costly jewellery, though they are well
aware that the practice often leads to robbery and murder.
Copper and Brass Protectives.
Next come copper and brass. The use of copper in the form of rings
and amulet cases is very common. Many of the vessels used in the
daily service of the gods, such as the Argha, with which the daily
oblations are made, are made of this metal. So with brass and various
kinds of alloy used for bells, drinking and cooking utensils.
The common brass Lota is always carried about by a man during the
period of mourning as a preservative against the evil spirits which
surround him until the ghost of the dead man is finally laid. Copper
rings are specially worn as an antidote to pimples and boils, while
those of iron are supposed to weaken the influence of the planet Sani
or Saturn, which is proverbially unlucky and malignant. His Evil Eye,
in particular, brings misfortune at intervals of twenty-four years;
all offerings to him are black, and consequently ill-omened, such as
sesamum, charcoal, buffaloes, and black salt; and only the Dakaut,
the lowest class of Brâhman priest, will accept such offerings. [33]
Coral and Marine Products Protectives.
Next in value to these metals come coral and other marine products,
which in the case of the Hindus probably derive their virtue from
being strange to an inland-dwelling people, and as connected with
the great ocean, the final home of the sainted dead. Coral is
particularly valued in the form of a necklace by those who cannot
afford the costlier metals, and its ashes are constantly used in
various rustic remedies and stimulants. In Gujarât a coral ring is
used to keep off the evil influence of the sun, [34] and in Bengal
mourners touch it as a form of purification. According to the old
belief in England, coral guarded off lightning, whirlwind, tempests
and storms from ships and houses, and was hung round the necks of
children to assist teething and keep off the falling sickness. [35]
So with shells, particularly the Sankha or conch shell, which is
used for oblations and is regarded as sacred to Vishnu. It is blown
at his temples when the deity receives his daily meal, in order to
wake him and scare off vagrant spirits, who would otherwise consume
or defile the offering. This shell, in popular belief, is the bone of
the demon Panchajana, who, according to the Vishnu Purâna, [36] "lived
in the form of a conch shell under the ocean. Krishna plunged into
the water, killed him, took the shell, which constituted his bones,
and afterwards used it for a horn. When sounded it fills the demon
hosts with dismay, animates the gods, and annihilates unrighteousness."
All these shells appear to derive part of their virtue from the fact
that they are perforated. The cowry shell, which is worn round the neck
by children as an antidote to the Evil Eye and diabolical influence,
is supposed to have such sympathy with the wearer that it cracks when
the evil glance falls upon it, as in England coral was thought to
change colour and grow pale when its owner was sick. The cowry shell
is, with the same object, tied round the neck or pasterns of a valued
horse, or on a cow or buffalo. The shell armlet worn by Bengal women
has the same protective influence. [37]
Precious Stones Protectives.
Precious stones possess similar value. Sir Thomas Brown would not
deny that bezoar was antidotal, but he could not bring himself to
believe that "sapphire is preservative against enchantments." In
one special combination of nine varieties, known as the Nauratana,
they are specially efficacious--the ruby sacred to the sun, the
pearl to the moon, coral to Mars, emerald to Mercury, topaz to
Jupiter, diamond to Venus, sapphire to Saturn, amethyst to Râhu,
and the cat's-eye to Ketu. In the mythology the gods interrupted
Pârvatî when she was with Mahâdeva, and nine jewels dropped from her
anklet. When he looked at them he saw his image reflected in each of
them, and they appeared in the form of the nine Kanyâs or heavenly
maidens. The Naulakha or nine lâkh necklace constantly appears in
Indian folk-lore. In the story of the Princess Aubergine we read that
"inside the fish there is a bumble-bee, inside the bee a tiny box,
and inside the box is the wonderful nine lâkh necklace. Put it on
and I shall die." And in one of Somadeva's stories, at the marriage,
Jaya gives the bride a necklace of such a kind that, as long as it is
upon a person's neck, hunger, thirst, and death cannot harm him. [38]
It is of jewels that the lamps which light fairy-land are made.
Many of the precious stones have tales and qualities of their own. Once
upon a time a holy man came and settled at Panna who had a diamond
as large as a cart-wheel. The Râja, hearing of this, tried to take
it by force, but the saint hid it in the ground out of his way. He
told the Râja that the diamond wheel could not leave his dominions,
and that no one could ever find it. The Muhammadans say that all
the diamonds found since, in these famous mines, were fragments of
the wheel. [39] The wearing of a ring of sapphire, sacred to Sani
or Saturn, is supposed to turn out lucky or unlucky, according to
circumstances. For this reason, the wearer tries it for three days,
that is, he wears it on Saturday, which is sacred to Saturn, and
keeps it on till Tuesday. During this time, if no mishap befalls him,
he continues to wear it during the period when the planet's influence
is unfavourable; but should any mishap befall him during the three
days, he gives the ring to a Brâhman. [40] The amethyst obtains its
name because any one who wears it cannot be affected by wine. The
turquoise or Fîroza is a mystic stone in India. If you bathe wearing a
turquoise, the water touched by it protects the wearer from boils, and
snakes will not approach him. [41] Shylock got a turquoise from Leah
which he would not have given for a wilderness of monkeys, because it
changed colour with the health of the owner, and the Turkeys, says an
old writer, "doth move when there is any peril prepared to him that
weareth it." [42] So the onyx, known as the Sulaimâni, or stone of
Solomon, has mystic virtues, as, according to Burton, carbuncles and
coral, beryl, pearls and rubies were believed to drive away devils,
to overcome sorrow, and to stop dreams. [43]
Beads Protectives.
With poorer people beads take the place of gems, and in particular
the curious enamelled bead, which probably came from China and is
still found in old deserted sites, mostly of Buddhistic origin,
enjoys special repute. We have already met with the parturition
bead, and in Kolhapur there is a much-valued Arabic stone which,
when any woman is in labour, is washed and the water given to her to
drink. In Scotland the amber bead cures inflamed eyes and sprains,
as in Italy looking through amber beads strengthens the sight. [44]
Here the perforation confers a mystical quality. As an antidote to
the Evil Eye blue beads are specially valued, and are hung round the
necks and pasterns of horses and other valuable animals. The belief in
the efficacy of beads is at the basis of the use of rosaries, which,
as used in Europe, are almost certainly of Eastern origin, imported
in the Middle Ages in imitation of those worn by Buddhistic or Hindu
ascetics, who ascribe to them manifold virtue. Such are those of the
Tulasî or sacred basil, worn by Vaishnavas, and those of the Rudrâksha,
worn by Saivas.
Blood a Protective.
Blood is naturally closely connected with life. "The flesh with the
life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." Hence
blood comes to be a scarer of demons. In Scott's Lay the wizard's book
would not open till he smeared the cover with the Borderer's curdled
gore. In Cornwall, the burning of blood from the body of a dead
animal is a very common method of appeasing the spirits of disease,
[45] and the blood sacrifices so prevalent all over the world are
performed with the same object. A curious Evil Eye charm is recorded
from Allahâbâd. A woman of the Chamâr or carrier caste gave birth to a
dead child. Thinking that this was due to fascination, she put a piece
of the cloth used at her confinement down a well, having previously
enclosed in it two leaves of betel, some cloves, and a piece of the
castor-oil plant. [46] Here we have, first, a case of well-worship;
secondly, the use of betel, cloves, and the castor-oil plant, all
scarers of evil spirits; and thirdly, an instance of the use of blood
for the same purpose. We have elsewhere noticed the special character
attached to menstrual or parturition blood. But blood itself is most
effectual against demoniacal influence. There are many cases where
blood is rubbed on the body as an antidote to disease. In Bombay some
Marhâtas give warmed goat's blood in cases of piles, and in typhus,
or red discoloration of the skin with blotches, the patient is cured
by killing a cock and rubbing the sick man with the blood. Others use
the blood of the great lizard in cases of snake-bite. [47] A bath of
the blood of children was once ordered for the Emperor Constantine,
and because he, moved by the tears of the parents, refused to take it,
his extraordinary humanity was rewarded by a miraculous cure.
Similarly, among the Drâvidians, the Kos drink the blood of the
sacrificial bull; the Malers cure demoniacs by giving the blood of
a sacrificed buffalo; the Pahariyas, in time of epidemics, set up a
pair of posts and a cross beam, and hang on it a vessel of blood. [48]
So, the Jews sprinkled the door-posts and the horns of the altar with
blood, and the same customs prevail among many other peoples.
We shall meet with instances of the same rite when dealing with the
blood covenant and human sacrifice. On the same analogy many Indian
tribes mark the forehead of the bride with blood or vermilion, and
red paint is smeared on the image of the village godling in lieu of
a regular sacrifice.
Incense.
Similarly, incense is largely used in religious rites, partly to please
with the sweet savour the deity which is being worshipped, and partly
to drive away demons who would steal or defile the offerings. Bad
smells repel evil spirits, and this is probably why assafoetida is
given to a woman after her delivery. In Ireland, if a child be sick,
they take a piece of the cloth worn by the person supposed to have
overlooked the infant and burn it near him. If he sneezes, he expels
the spirit and the spell is broken, or the cloth is burned to ashes and
given to the patient, while his forehead is rubbed with spittle. In
Northern India, if a child be sick, a little bran, pounded chillies,
mustard, and sometimes the eyelashes of the child are passed round its
head and burned. If the burning mixture does not smell very badly,
which it is needless to say is hardly ever the case, it is a sign
that the child is still under the evil influence; if the odour be
abominable, that the attack has been obviated. [49] Similarly, in
Bengal, red mustard seeds and salt are mixed together, waved round the
head of the patient, and then thrown into the fire. [50] This reminds
us of the flight of the Evil One into the remote parts of Egypt from
the smell of the fish liver burnt by Tobit, and an old writer says:
"Wyse clerkes knoweth well that dragons hate nothyng more than the
stenche of breenynge bones, and therefore they gaderyd as many as they
might fynde, and brent them; and so with the stenche thereof they drove
away the dragons, and so they were brought out of greete dysease." [51]
Spittle.
We have just met with an instance of the use of spittle for the
scaring of the disease demon or the Evil Eye. This is a very common
form of charm for this purpose. In one of the Italian charms the
performer is directed to spit behind himself thrice and not to look
back. In another, "if your eyes pain you, you must take the saliva of
a woman who has given birth only to boys, not girls. And she must have
abstained from sexual union and stimulating food for three days. Then,
if her saliva be bright and clear, anoint your eyes with it and they
will be cured." [52] At Innisboffin, in Ireland, when the old women
meet a baby out with its nurse they spit on the ground all round it to
keep fairies from it. In Wicklow they spit on a child for good luck
the first day it is brought out after birth. [53] In several of the
European folk-tales we find that spittle has the power of speech. The
habit of spitting on the handsell or first money taken in the morning
is common. It is done "either to render it tenacious that it may remain
with them and not vanish away like a fairy gift, or else to render
it propitious and lucky, that it may draw more money to it." [54]
Muhammad advised that when the demon Khanzab interrupted any one at
his prayers, he was to spit over his left shoulder three times.
In India, spittle is regarded as impure. Hence a native cleans
his teeth daily with a fresh twig of the Nîm tree, and regards the
European's use of the same tooth-brush day after day as one of the
numerous extraordinary impurities which we permit. Hence, too, the
practice of spitting when any one who is feared or detested passes
by. When women see a falling star they spit three times to scare
the demon. In Bombay, spittle, especially fasting spittle, is used
to rub on wounds as a remedy. It cures inflammation of the eyes, an
idea which was familiar to the Jews. It guards children against the
Evil Eye. In the Konkan, when a person is affected by the Evil Eye,
salt and mustard are waved round his head, thrown into the fire,
and he is told to spit. In Gujarât, when an orthodox Shiah Musalmân
travels with a Sunni, he spits, and among the Roman Catholics of
Kanara, at baptism the priest wets his thumb with spittle and with
it touches the child's ears and nostrils. [55]
Salt.
We have seen above that salt is also used in the same way. Salt,
apparently from its power of checking decay, is regarded as possessing
mystical powers. All over Europe the spilling of salt in the direction
of a person was considered ominous. "It was held to indicate that
something had already happened to one of the family, or was about
to befall the person spilling it, and also to denote the rupture of
friendship." [56] The custom of putting a plate of salt on a corpse
with the object of driving off evil spirits is common in Great
Britain. We have already seen that salt is given to children after
they have eaten sweets. Many classes of Hindu ascetics bury their
dead in salt. It is waved round the head of the bride and bridegroom,
and buried near the house door as a charm. In classical antiquity it
was mixed with water and sprinkled on the worshippers.
Salutation.
Another way of dispelling evil spirits is by the various forms
of salutation, which generally consist in the invocation of some
deity. The Hindu says, "Râm! Râm!" when he meets a friend, or Jay
Gopâl! "Glory to Krishna!" or whoever his personal god may be, and the
same idea accounts for many of the customs connected with the reception
of guests, who, coming from abroad, may bring evil spirits with them.
The Separable Soul: Waving.
Another series of prophylactics depends on the idea of the separable
soul or that spirits are always fluttering in the air round a person's
head. Hence a long series of customs known as Parachhan, performed
at Hindu marriages in Upper India, when lights, a brass tray, grain,
and household implements like the rice pounder or grindstone are waved
round the head of the married pair as a protective. In Somadeva's tale
of Bhunandana we find that he "performs the ceremony of averting evil
spirits from all quarters by waving the hand over the head." [57] This
is perhaps one explanation of the use of flags at temples and village
shrines, though in some cases they appear to be used as a perch,
on which the deity sits when he makes his periodical visits. Hence,
too, feathers have a mystic significance, though in some cases, as in
those of the peacock and jay, the colour is the important part. Hence
the waving of the fan and Chaurî over the head of the great man and
the use of the umbrella as a symbol of royalty. A woman carrying her
child on her return from a strange village, lest she should bring the
influence of some foreign evil spirit back with her, will, before
entering her own homestead, pass seven little stones seven times
round the head of the baby, and throw them in different directions,
so as to pass away any evil that may have been contracted. When
a sorcerer is called in to attend a case attributed to demoniacal
possession, he whisks the patient with a branch of the Nîm, Madâr,
or Camel thorn, all of which are more or less sacred trees and have
acquired a reputation as preservatives. When this is completed, the
aspersion of the afflicted one, be he man or beast, with some water
from the blacksmith's shop, in which iron has been repeatedly plunged
and has bestowed additional efficacy upon it, usually follows.
Blacksmith, Respect for.
The respect paid to the trade of the blacksmith is a curious survival
from the time of the early handicrafts and the substitution of weapons
of iron for those of stone. [58] In Scotland the same belief in the
virtues of the water of the forge prevails, and in Ireland no one
will take anything by stealth from such a place. [59] In St. Patrick's
Hymn we have a prayer against "the spells of women, of smiths, and of
druids." Culann, the mystic smith, appears in Celtic folk-lore. In
all the mythologies the idea is widespread that the art of smithing
was first discovered and practised by supernatural personages. We
see this through the whole range of folk-lore, from the Cyclopes to
Wayland Smith, who finally came to be connected with the Devil of
Christianity. [60]
Water.
We have already referred to water as a protective against the influence
of evil spirits. We see this principle in the rite of ceremonial
bathing as a propitiation for sin. It also appears in the use of
water which has been blown upon by a holy man as a remedy for spirit
possession. Among many menial tribes in the North-Western Provinces
with the same object the bride is washed in the water in which the
bridegroom has already taken his wedding bath. Again, on a lucky
day fixed by the Pandit the rite of Nahâwan or ceremonial bathing
is performed for the protection of the young mother and her child
two or three days after her confinement. Both of them are bathed in a
decoction of the leaves of the Nîm tree. Then a handful of the seeds of
mustard and dill are waved round the mother's head and thrown into a
vessel containing fire. When the seeds are consumed the cup is upset,
and the mother breaks it with her own foot. Next she sits with grain
in her hand, while the household brass tray is beaten to scare demons
and the midwife throws the child into the air. All this takes place
in the open air in the courtyard of the house. Here we have a series
of antidotes to demoniacal possession, the purport of which will be
easily understood on principles which have been already explained.
Grain.
With this use of grain we meet with another valuable antidote. We
have it in Great Britain in the rule that "the English, when the
bride comes from church, are wont to cast wheat upon her head." [61]
It survives in our custom of throwing rice over the wedded pair when
they start on the honeymoon. On the analogy of other races one object
of the rite would seem to be to keep in the soul which is likely
to depart at such a crisis in life as marriage. Thus, "in Celebes
they think that a bridegroom's soul is apt to fly away at marriage,
so coloured rice is scattered over him to induce it to stay. And,
in general, at festivals in South Celebes rice is strewed on the head
of the person in whose honour the festival is held, with the object
of retaining his soul, which at such times is in especial danger of
being lured away by envious demons." [62]
This rite appears widely in Indian marriage customs. Among the
Mhârs of Khândesh, on the bridegroom approaching the bride's house,
a piece of bread is waved round his head and thrown away. [63] In
a Kunbi's wedding a ball of rice is waved round the boy's head and
thrown away, and at the lucky moment grains of rice are thrown over the
couple. Among the Telang Nhâvis of Bijaypur the chief marriage rite is
that the priest throws rice over the boy and girl. The grain acquires
special efficacy if it be either parched, and thus purified by fire,
or if it be stained in some lucky or demon-scaring colour. [64] Thus,
in Upper India grain parched with a special rite is thrown over the
pair as they revolve round the marriage shed, and this function is,
if possible, performed by the brother of the bride. Rice stained
yellow with turmeric is very often used for this purpose. Another
device is to make a pile of rice, with a knot of turmeric and a copper
coin concealed in it. This at a particular stage of the service the
bride knocks down with her foot. The Lodhis of the Dakkhin, in the
same way, put a pile of rice at the door of the boy's house, which
he upsets with his foot. All through Northern India the exorciser
shakes grain in a fan, which is, as we shall see, a potent fetish,
and by the number of grains which remain in the interstices calculates
which particular ghost is worrying the patient. On the same principle
the Orâons put rice in the mouth of the corpse, and the Koiris, when
they marry, walk round a pile of water-pots and scatter rice on the
ground. [65] The custom of sprinkling grain at marriage appears in
many of the folk-tales.
Urad.
We are familiar in Roman literature with the use of beans at funerals,
and at the Lemuria thrice every other night to pacify the ghosts
of the dead beans were flung on the fire of the altar to drive the
spirits out of the house. The same idea appears in the Carlings or
fried peas given away and eaten on the Sunday before Palm Sunday. [66]
No special sanctity appears to apply to the pea or bean in India,
but they are replaced by the Urad pulse, which is much used in rites
of all kind, and especially in magic, when it is thrown over the head
of the person whom the magician wishes to bring under his control. [67]
Barley.
Barley, another sacred grain, is rubbed over the corpse of a Hindu
and sprinkled on the head before the cremation rite is performed. So,
the Orâons throw rice on the urn as they take it to the tomb, and
sprinkle grain on the ground behind the bones to keep the spirit from
coming back. [68]
Sesamum.
Til or black sesamum, again, has certain qualities of the same
kind. Hence it is used in the funeral rites, and in form of Tilanjalî
or a handful mixed with water is one of the offerings to the sainted
dead, and made up in the form of a cow, called Tiladhenu, it is
presented to Brâhmans.
Sheaves.
Most grains in the ear have also mystic uses. It is hung up over
the house door to repel evil spirits, and in Hoshangâbâd they tie
a sheaf of corn on a pole and fasten it to the cattle shed as a
preservative. [69] The combination of seven kinds of grain, known
as Satnaja, is an ingredient in numerous charms and is used in many
forms of worship.
Milk.
So with the products of the sacred cow, which are, as might have been
expected, most valuable for this purpose. Hence the use of Ghilor
or clarified butter in the public and domestic ritual. Milk for the
same reason is used in offerings and sprinkled on the ground as an
oblation. Cowdung, in particular, is regarded as efficacious. After
the death or birth impurity the house is carefully plastered with a
mixture of cowdung and clay. No cooking place is pure without it, and
the corpse is cremated with cakes of cowdung fuel. Even the urine of
the cow is valued as a medicine and a purificant. The cow guards the
house from evil, and every rich man keeps a cow so that his glance
may fall on her when he wakes from sleep, and he regards her as the
guardian of the household.
Colours.
Colours, again, are scarers of evil spirits. They particularly dread
yellow, black, red, and white. The belief in the efficacy of yellow
accounts for the use of turmeric in the domestic ritual. [70] A few
days before the marriage rites commence the bride and bridegroom are
anointed with a mixture of oil and turmeric known as Abtan. The bride
assumes a robe dyed in turmeric, which she wears until the wedding. The
marriage letter of invitation is coloured with turmeric, and splashes
of it are made on the wall and worshipped by the married pair. In the
old times the woman who performed Satî, and nowadays married women who
die, are taken to the pyre wrapped in a shroud dyed with turmeric. The
corpse is very often smeared with turmeric before cremation, a custom
which is not peculiar to the so-called Aryan Hindus, because it
prevails among the Thârus, one of the most primitive tribes of the
sub-Himâlayan forests. The same principle probably explains the use
of yellow clothes by certain classes of ascetics, and of Chandan or
sandal-wood in making caste marks and for various ceremonial purposes.
Yellow and red are the usual colours of marriage garments, and the
parting of the bride's hair is stained with vermilion, though here
the practice is probably based on the symbolical belief in the Blood
Covenant. The same idea is probably the explanation of the flinging
of red powder and water coloured with turmeric at the Holî or spring
festival.
Black, again, is feared by evil spirits, and the husbandman hangs a
black pot in his field to scare spirits and evade the Evil Eye, and
young women and children have their eyelids marked with lampblack. In
the Mirzapur Baiga's sacrifice the black fowl or the black goat is
the favourite victim, and charcoal is valued, some put into the milk
as a preservative and some buried under the threshold to guard the
household from harm.
Grasses.
For the same reason various kinds of grass are considered sacred,
such as the Kusa, the Dûrva, the Darbha. Among the Prabhus of Bombay
juice of the Dûrva grass is poured into the left nostril of a woman
when the pregnancy and coming of age rites are performed, and the
Kanaujiya Brâhman husband drops some of the juice down her nose when
she reaches maturity. [71] The Sholapur Mângs when they come back
from the grave strew some Hariyâli grass and Nîm leaves on the place
where the deceased died. The Mûnj grass is also sacred, and a thread
made of it is worn at one stage of the Brâhman's life. Some of these
sacred grasses form an important ingredient in the Srâddha offerings to
the sacred dead, some are used in the marriage and cremation ritual,
on some the dying man is laid at the moment of dissolution. They
are potent to avert the Evil Eye, and hence the mother of Râma and
Lakshmana, when she looks at them, breaks a blade of grass. [72]
Tattooing.
Next come special marks made on the body. Such are the marks branded
on various parts of their bodies by many classes of ascetics, and the
caste marks made in clay or ashes by most high-class Hindus. It has
been suggested that many of these marks are of totemistic origin. That
this is so among races beyond the Indian border is almost certainly
the case. [73] But though tattooing, a widespread practice of the
Indian people, very possibly originated in totemism, still, as far as
has hitherto been ascertained, no distinct trace remains of a tribal
tattoo, and it is safer at present to class marks of this kind in
the general category of devices to repel evil spirits. Among purely
sectarial marks we have the forehead mark of the Saivas, composed of
three curved lines like a half-moon, to which is added a round mark on
the nose; it is made with the clay of the Ganges, or with sandal-wood,
or the ashes of cowdung, the ashes being supposed to represent the
disintegrating force of the deity. The mark of the Vaishnavas is in
the form of the foot of Vishnu, and consists of two lines rather oval
drawn the whole length of the nose and carried forward in straight
lines across the forehead. It is generally made with the clay of the
Ganges, sometimes with the powder of sandal-wood. The Sâkta forehead
mark is a small semi-circular line between the eyebrows, with a dot
in the middle.
The practice of tattooing is common both among the Aryan and
Drâvidian races, but is more general among the lower than the higher
castes. Thus, the Juâng women tattoo themselves with three strokes on
the forehead just over the nose, and three on each of the temples. They
attach no meaning to the marks, have no ceremony in adopting them,
and are ignorant of the origin of the practice. The Khariya women make
three parallel marks on the forehead, the outer lines terminating
at the ends in a crook, and two on each temple. The Ho women tattoo
themselves in the form of an arrow, which they regard as their national
emblem. The Birhor women tattoo their chests, arms, and ankles, but
not their faces. The Orâon women have three marks on the brow and two
on each temple. The young men burn marks on their fore-arms as part of
the ordeal ceremony; girls, when adult, or nearly so, have themselves
tattooed on the arms and back. The Kisân women have no such marks;
if a female of the tribe indulges herself in the vanity of having
herself tattooed, she is at once turned adrift as having degraded
herself. Here we may have some faint indications of a tribal tattoo,
but among most of the tribes which practise the custom it has become
purely protective or ornamental. [74]
Among the Drâvidian tribes of the North-Western Provinces tattooing
generally prevails. The Korwas and many other of these tribes get
their women tattooed by a woman of the Bâdi sub-division of Nats. They
are tattooed only on the breast and arms, not on the thighs. There
are no ceremonies connected with it, nor any special pattern. Any
girl gets herself tattooed in any figure she approves for a small
sum. Well-to-do women always get it done; but if a woman is not
tatooed, it is not considered unlucky. The men of the tribe are not
tattooed. The Ghasiya women tattoo themselves on the breasts, arms,
thighs, and feet. They say that when a woman dies who is not tattooed,
the Great Lord Parameswar is displeased and turns her out of heaven,
or has her branded with the thorn of the acacia. In the same way among
the Chamârs, when a woman who has not been tattooed dies, Parameswar
asks her where are the marks and signs which she ought to possess
to show that she had lived in the world. If she cannot show them,
she will in her next birth be re-born as a Bhûtnî, Pretnî, or Râkshasî.
At present among low-caste women the process of tattooing is regarded
as a species of initiation, and usually marks the attainment of
puberty. It thus corresponds with the rite of ear-piercing among
males. To the east of the North-West Provinces a girl is not allowed
to cook until she is tattooed with a mark representing the Sîtâ kî
Rasoî or cook-house of Sîtâ, and in Bengal high-caste people will
not drink from the hands of a girl who does not wear the Ullikhî or
star-shaped tattoo mark between her eyebrows. A Chamâr woman who is
not tattooed at marriage will not, it is believed, see her father and
mother in the next world. This reminds us of the idea prevalent in
Fiji, that women who are not tattooed are liable to special punishment
in the land of the dead. [75] In Bombay the custom has been provided
with a Brâhmanical legend. One day Lakshmî, the wife of Vishnu,
told her husband that whenever he went out on business or to visit
his devotees she became frightened. Hearing this, Vishnu took his
weapons and stamped them on her body, saying that the marks of his
weapons would save her from evil.
Hence women in Bombay tattoo themselves with the figures of the lotus,
conch shell, and discus, and from this the present custom is said to
have originated. [76]
In Upper India the forms of the tattoo marks fall into various
classes. Some are rude or conventionalized representations of animals,
plants, and flowers. The operators carry round with them sketches of
the different kinds of ornament, and the girl selects these according
to taste. The peacock, the horse, the serpent, the scorpion, tortoise,
centipede, appear constantly in various forms. Others, again, are
representations of jewellery actually worn--necklaces, bracelets,
armlets, or rings. Others, again, are purely religious, such as
the trident or matted hair of Siva, the weapons of Vishnu, and the
cooking house of Sîtâ, the type of wifely virtue. Some of these marks
were probably of totemistic origin, but they have now become merely
ornamentative, as was the case in Central Asia in the time of Marco
Polo, where they were regarded only as "a piece of elegance or a sign
of gentility," and among the Thracians, as described by Herodotus. [77]
It may be noticed that in the time of Marco Polo people used to go
from Upper India to Zayton in China to be tattooed. [78] These animal
forms of tattooing are found also among the Drâvidian tribes of the
Central Provinces, where the forms used are a peacock, an antelope,
or a dagger, and the marks are made on the back of the thighs and
legs. In Bengal tattooing is used as a cure for goitre. [79]
We may close this long catalogue of devices intended to scare spirits,
with a number of miscellaneous examples.
It seems to be a well-established principle that evil spirits
fear leather. On this is perhaps based the idea of the shoe being
a mode of repelling the Evil Eye and the influence of demons. We
find this constantly appearing in the folk-lore of the West. Thus,
the Highlanders paid particular attention to the leaving of the
bridegroom's left shoe without buckle or latchet, to prevent the
secret influences of witches on the wedding night. [80] And Hudibras
tells how--
Augustus having by oversight
Put on his left shoe 'fore his right,
Had like to have been slain that day
By soldiers mutinying for pay."
Maidens in Europe ascertain whether they will be married and who will
be their future husbands by throwing the slipper at the new year. The
throwing of old shoes at an English wedding seems on the same principle
to be based on the idea of scaring the demon of barrenness. According
to Mr. Hartland, [81] the gipsies of Transylvania throw old shoes and
boots on a newly married pair when they enter their tent, expressly
to enhance the fertility of the union.
In the same way in India, people who are too poor to afford another
protective place on the top of their houses a shoe heel upwards. This
seems to give some additional efficacy to the charm, because we find
the same rule in force elsewhere. Thus, in Cornwall, a slipper with
the point turned up placed near the bed cures cramp. [82] In Pûna,
if a man feels that he has been struck by an incantation, he at once
takes hold of an upturned shoe. [83]
The fear which spirits feel for leather is also illustrated by the
procedure of the Drâvidian Baiga, who flagellates people suffering
from demoniacal possession with a tawse or leathern strap. In the
Dakkhin a person troubled with nightmare sleeps with a shoe under
his pillow, and an exorcist frightens evil spirits by threatening to
make them drink water from a tanner's well. We shall see that this
is one way of punishing and repelling the power of witches. The Pûna
Kunbis believe that a drink of water from a tanner's hand destroys the
power of a witch. In the Panjâb, if a man sits on a currier's stone,
he gets boils. [84] The same principle probably accounts for much of
the fear or contempt generally felt in India regarding shoe-beating
as a form of punishment. At the same time it is said in Persia and
Arabia that the dread of a flagellation with the slipper is based
on the idea that while a flogging with the regular scourge involves
little discredit, a beating with anything not originally intended
for the purpose, such as a shoe or knotted cloth, is disgraceful.
The same feeling for the power of leather possibly explains the use
as a seat of various kinds of skins, such as those of the tiger and
antelope, by many kinds of ascetics, and in the old ritual the wife
with her husband sat on the hide of a bull to promote the fertility
of their union.
Garlic.
Garlic, again, from its pungency, is valued in the same way. Garlic
was one of the substances used by Danish mothers to keep evil
from children. [85] The Swedish bridegroom sews in his clothes
garlic, cloves, and rosemary. Garlic was an early English cure
for a fiend-struck patient. [86] Juvenal said that the Egyptians
had gods growing in their gardens, in allusion to their reverence
for onions or garlic. In Sanskrit garlic is called Mlechha-kanda,
"the foreigner's root," and its virtues for the removal of demons are
so well known that it will be often seen hung from the lintel of the
house door. The same idea may account for the very common prejudice
among some castes against eating onions.
Glass.
Glass in the form of beads, which seem to derive some of their
efficacy from being perforated, is also very useful in this
way. Mirrors from time immemorial have been held to possess the same
quality. "Fascinators, like basilisks, had their own terrible glance
turned against them if they saw themselves reflected," "Si on luy
presente un miror, par endardement reciproque, ces rayons retournent
sur l'autheur d'iceux." Philostratus declares that if a mirror be held
before a sleeping man during a hail or thunder-storm, the storm will
cease. [87] Hence women in India wear mirrors in their thumb rings,
and the Jâtnî covers her sheet with little pieces of shining glass.
Pieces of horn, especially that which is said to come from the
jackal, and that of the antelope, are also efficacious. The bâzâr
Banya treasures up the gaudy labels from his cloth bales for the
same purpose. Garlands of flowers possess the same quality, and so do
various fruits, such as dates, cocoanuts, betel-nuts, and plantains,
which are placed in the lap of the bride or pregnant woman to scare
the evil spirits which cause barrenness, and sugar is distributed
at marriages. The bones of the camel are very useful for driving off
insects from a sugar-cane field, and buried under the threshold keep
ghosts out of the house. Pliny says that a bracelet of camel's hair
keeps off fever. [88]
Lastly, the demon may be trapped by physical means. "To be delivered
from witches they hang in their entries whitethorn gathered on May
Day." [89] So, many of the menial castes in the North-West Provinces
keep a net and some thorns in the delivery room to scare evil spirits.
There are certain persons who are naturally protected from the Evil
Eye and demoniacal agency, or who have control over evil spirits. Such
is a man born by the foot presentation, who can cure rheumatism and
various other diseases by merely rubbing the part affected. Men with
double thumbs are considered safe against the Evil Eye, and so is
a bald man, apparently because no one thinks it worth his while to
envy such people. According to English belief, children born after
midnight have power all through their lives of seeing the spirits of
the departed. In India, people who are born within the period of the
Salono festival in August are not only protected from, but possess
the power of casting, the Evil Eye. The same is the case of those
who have accidentally eaten ordure in childhood. We have already
noticed the mystic power of cowdung. Dung generally is offensive to
spirits. It was believed in Europe that horsedung placed before the
house or behind the door brought good luck. [90] Women who eat dung
possess, as we shall see, the power of witchcraft.
A man with only one eye is dreaded because he is naturally envious of
those with good sight, and he is proverbially a scoundrel. The giant
with one eye is familiar in folk-lore, and he is generally vicious
and malignant. We have the black man of Celtic folk-lore who has
only one eye and one leg. [91] In the Irish tales Crinnaur, like the
Cyclopes, has only one eye. Sindbad in his third voyage encounters
a monster of the same kind. Laplanders have a one-eyed giant Stalo,
and in one of the modern versions of the Perseus myth there are two
hags who have only a single eye between them. The same idea appears in
Indian folk-lore. The planet Sukra is said to have only one eye. Such
was also the case with the monster Kabandha, who was killed by Râma,
and Arâyî, the female fiend of the Veda. The one-eyed devil appears
in one of the Kashmîr tales. [92]
Gonds: Procedure in Cases of Fascination.
The Gonds have a special procedure in cases of deaths which they
believe to have occurred through fascination. The burning of the
body is postponed till it is made to point out the delinquent. The
relations solemnly call upon the corpse to do this, and the theory
is that if there has been foul play of any kind, the body on being
taken up, will force the bearers to convey it to the house of the
person by whom the spell was cast. If this be three times repeated,
the owner of the house is condemned, his property is destroyed,
and he is expelled from the neighbourhood. [93]
Amulets.
In ordinary cases most people find it advisable to carry an amulet
of some kind as a preservative. An amulet is primarily a portion of
a dead man or animal, by which hostile spirits are coerced or their
good offices secured. [94] The amulet, then, in its original sense,
is supposed to concentrate in itself the virtues and powers of the
man or animal of which it formed a part. Hence the claws of the tiger,
which represent in themselves the innate strength and bravery of the
animal, are greatly esteemed for this purpose, and the sportsman,
when he shoots a tiger, has to count over the claws carefully to
the coolies in charge of the dead animal, or they will certainly
misappropriate them. In the same way a portion of the umbilical cord
is placed among the clothes of the mother and infant to avert the
Evil Eye and scare the demons which are then particularly active.
Mr. Ferguson may be correct in his opinion that in India, prior to the
distribution of the remains of the Buddha at Kusinagara, we have no
historical record of the worship of relics; [95] still the idea must
have prevailed widely among the Hindu races, out of whom the votaries
of the new faith were recruited. With some of these relics of the
Buddha, such as his begging bowl, which was long kept in a Dagoba or
Vihâra erected by King Kanishka, then removed for a time to Benares,
and finally to Kandahâr, where it is now held in the highest respect
by Musalmâns, and has accumulated round it a cycle of legends like
those connected with the Sangrail, we reach the zone of pure fetishism.
Another form of amulet is a piece of metal, stone, bone, or similar
substance worn on the person, with an invocation inscribed on it to
some special god. These are very commonly used among Muhammadans. By
Hindus the "Yantras or mystic diagrams are thought to be quite as
effective in their operation as the Mantras or spells, and, of course,
a combination of the two is held to be absolutely irresistible. An
enemy may be killed or removed to some other place, or a whole army
destroyed, or salvation and supreme felicity obtained by drawing a
six-sided or eight-sided diagram and writing a particular Mantra
underneath. If this be done with the blood of an animal killed
sacrificially in a Smasâna or place where corpses are burned, no power
in earth or heaven can resist the terrific potency of the charm." [96]
On the same principle Hindus head their letters with the words Srî
Râmjî! "the great god, Râma," or the figures 74, of which one not
very probable explanation is that they represent the weight in maunds
of the gold ornaments taken from the Râjput dead at the famous siege
of Chithor.
The equilateral triangle is another favourite mystic sign. According
to the Christian ideas, the figure of three triangles intersected and
containing five lines, is called the pentangle of Solomon, and when
it is delineated on the body of a man, it marks the five places in
which our Saviour was wounded; it was, therefore, regarded as a fuga
demonum, or a means of frightening demons. [97] Similarly in Northern
India, the equilateral triangle is regarded as a mystic sign, and the
little broadcloth bags hung round the necks of children to avert the
Evil Eye are made in this shape. The diamond shape is also approved
because it contains two equilateral triangles base to base.
Another form of mystic sign is the mark of the spread hand with
the fingers extended. This is made by the women of the family on
the outer wall and round the door-post, and is considered to be
particularly efficacious. Mr. Campbell suggests that the custom is
based on the belief in the hand being a spirit entry. [98] Natives will
tell you that it is because the number five, that of the fingers, is
lucky. However this may be, the custom is very generally prevalent. The
Bloody Hand of Ulster, worn as a crest by the Baronets of one creation,
is well known. [99] The Uchlas of Pûna strew sand on the spot where
the dead man breathed his last. They cover the spot with a basket,
which they raise next morning in the hope of finding the mark of a
palm, which shows that the dead is pleased and brings vigour on the
family; and the Thâkurs on the fifth day after the birth of a child
dip a hand in red powder and water and make a mark on the wall of the
lying-in room, which they worship. [100] At the rock-cut temple of
Tilok Sendur in Hoshangâbâd, an annual festival is held, and those
who come to demand any special benefit, such as health or children,
mark their vow by staining their hand dipped in red paint against the
rock wall, fingers upward. If the prayer be heard, they revisit the
place and make the same mark, this time with the fingers downward;
but whether Mahâdeva is not gracious to his votaries, or whether
it is that the sense of favours to come is not keen enough after
the prayer of the moment has been granted, the hand-stamps pointing
downwards are not a tenth in number of those pointing upwards. [101]
The stamping of the hand and five fingers immersed in a solution of
sandal-wood has always been regarded as a peculiarly solemn mode of
attesting an important document, and it is said that Muhammad himself
adopted this practice. [102]
There are numerous varieties of these protective amulets. One purpose
which they serve is the procuring of offspring. Children naturally
require special protection. Thus, the Mirzapur Korwas tie on the
necks of their children roots of various jungle plants, such as the
Siyâr Singhî, which owes its name and repute to its resemblance to
the so-called horn of the jackal. In cases of disease the Kharwârs
wear leaves of the Bel, a sacred tree, cloves and flowers selected
by a Brâhman. In the Konkan, in order that a child may not suffer
from the Evil Eye, a necklace of marking nuts is put round its
neck. [103] The Gûjars of Hazâra hang the berries of the Batkar tree
(Celtis caucasia) round the necks of men and animals to protect them
from the Evil Eye. [104] The pious Musalmân inscribes on his amulet
the five verses known as Ayâtu-l-Hifz or "verses of protection," or
he makes a magic square with the letters making up the word Hâfiz,
"the protector." Many village Musalmâns use little stone or glass
tablets for the same purpose. Some have a hocus-pocus inscription
purporting to be a verse of the Qurân in Arabic; others have the
name of Fâtima coupled with that of the famous martyrs Hasan and
Husain. Another amulet of a very elaborate character is described as
containing a piece of the umbilical cord encased in metal, a tiger's
claw, two claws of the large horned owl turned in opposite directions,
and encased in metal, a stone known as the Athrâhâ kâ mankâ, because
it has the property of turning eight colours according to the light
in which it is placed (probably a tourmaline or quartzose pebble),
and a special Evil Eye destroyer in the shape of a jasper or marble
bead. These five articles are necessaries, but as an extra precaution
the amulet contained some crude gold, a whorled shell, an ancient
copper coin, some ashes from the fire of a Jogi ascetic, and the
five ingredients of the sacred incense. The owner admitted that it
would have been improved had it also contained a magic square. [105]
This reminds us of the necklace of amber beads hung round the neck
of Scotch children to keep off ill-luck, and the Irish scapular, a
piece of cloth on which the name of the Virgin Mary is written on one
side, and I.H.S. on the other, which are preservatives against evil
spirits. In old times in England such charms were called Characts,
and one found with a criminal contained an invocation to the three
holy kings, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar. [106]