A black Brahmin,
A fair-coloured Soodh (Soodhra, or low caste)
A short-necked person
A blue or grey-eyed Rajpoot.
There are many other evil omens too numerous to mention; such as,
meeting a corpse being carried to burial; an oil seller; or a woman with
an empty water-pot; a crow sitting on a dry tree with no water near. The
reverse of the picture is lucky; so it would be a piece of good fortune
to see a crow sitting on a tree near where there _was_ water.
With some Hindus it is unfortunate when setting out on a journey for one
of the party to sneeze, and they generally get down for a while until
the evil spell, supposed to be from an evil bird is believed to be over.
Men of the sweeper caste are often called “Kal-jibha,” or black-tongued,
and whose curses always prevail.
“_Trees._”—There is a universal belief amongst Hindus that in most trees
certain spirits take up their abode, and that to destroy a tree is to
disturb the spirits, who have to be appeased by offerings of grain and
oil to keep off evil consequences to the village.
There are certain special trees in addition to the two oracular trees of
Alexander, called by the natives Mather and Emaüsae, notably the Ficus
religiosa, or “Pepul” tree, towards which their veneration shews itself
in devotional acts which may be termed “Tree worship.” In the Hazara and
other districts it is not an uncommon thing to see small hollow shrines
placed beneath this particular class of tree, containing a small lamp,
and sprinkled over with yellow ochre and oil, while the tree itself is
encircled by a white thread.
One such tree was planted years ago in the jail for Indian transports at
Singapore; the charge of which was for years under Major M^cNair, one of
the authors of this volume. It was called by the Hindus “Aswatha,” and
it was currently believed that it spoke and sang through the points of
its heart-shaped leaves. They looked upon it as the abode of their
principal deities.
The “Tulsi” shrub, or “Holy basil,” as before said, is also held in
great veneration, and has over and over again formed the subject of
verse. Here is one example:
Tulsi birwa bagh men
Seencht hay komlahay
Rahê bhurlosa Ram kay
Purbuth pur hurriayi.