As a general rule, if the guilt of having caused a suicide was at a
man's door, he should expiate it by going to the Ganges to bathe. When
a man was haunted by the ghost of any one whom he had wronged, whether
such a person had committed suicide or simply died of grief at being
unable to obtain redress, it was said of him _Brahm laga_, or that
Brahma had possessed him. The spirit of a Brahman boy, who has died
unmarried, is also accustomed to haunt any person who walks over his
grave in an impure condition or otherwise defiles it, and when a man is
haunted in such a manner it is called _Brahm laga_. Then an exorcist
is called, who sprinkles water over the possessed man, and this burns
the Brahm Deo or spirit inside him as if it were burning oil. The
spirit cries out, and the exorcist orders him to leave the man. Then
the spirit states how he has been injured by the man, and refuses to
leave him. The exorcist asks him what he requires on condition of
leaving the man, and he asks for some good food or something else,
and is given it. The exorcist takes a nail and goes to a _pipal_
tree and orders the Brahm Deo to go into the tree. Brahm Deo obeys,
and the exorcist drives the nail into the tree and the spirit remains
imprisoned there until somebody takes the nail out, when he will come
out again and haunt him. The Hindus think that the god Brahma lives
in the roots of the _pipal_ tree, Siva in its branches, and Vishnu
in the _choti_ or scalp-knot, that is the topmost foliage.