HUMAN BEINGS.
It is considered unlucky to lie down when the sun is setting; to sleep
with the head towards the west or with the hands between the thighs;
to clasp one's hands across the head or to eat with the head resting
on a hand; to strike the plate with the fingers after taking a meal; to
give to another's hand worthless things like chunam or charcoal without
keeping them on something, and for a female to have a hairy person.
It is thought auspicious to eat facing eastwards, to gaze at the full
moon and then at the face of a kind relative or a wealthy friend;
to have a girl as the eldest in the family; to have a cavity between
the upper front teeth: and if a male to have a hairy body.
If a person yawns loud the crop of seven of his fields will be
destroyed; a child's yawn indicates that it is becoming capable of
taking a larger quantity of food.
If a person bathes on a Friday it is bad for his sons, if on a Tuesday
for himself; if he laughs immoderately he will soon have an occasion
to cry; if he allows another's leg to be taken over him he will be
stunted in his growth; if he passes under another's arm he will cause
the latter to get a boil under the armpit, which can be averted by
his returning the same way.
If a person eats standing, or tramples a jak fruit with one foot only
he will get elephantiasis; if he eats walking about he will have to
beg his bread; if he gazes at the moon and finds its reflection round
his own shadow his end is near.
If the second toe of a female be longer than the big toe she will
master her husband; if the left eye of a male throbs, it portends
grief, the right pleasure--of a female it is the reverse.
If the eyebrows of a woman meet she will outlive her husband; if of
a man he will be a widower; if a male eats burnt rice his beard will
grow on one side only; if the tongue frequently touches where a tooth
has fallen the new tooth will come out projecting; if an eye tooth
be extracted it will cause blindness.
A sneeze from the right nostril signifies that good is being spoken
of the person, from the left ill; when an infant sneezes a stander
by says "ayi-bôvan" (long life to you).
If a child cuts its upper front teeth first, it portends evil to its
parents; a child sucks its toe when it has drunk seven pots of milk.
An infant whimpers in its sleep when spirits say that its father is
dead as it had never seen him, but smiles when they say its mother is
dead as it knows she has nursed it only a little while before. Mothers
hush crying children by calling on the kidnapping goblin Billâ or
Gurubâliyâ.
A person who dangles his legs when seated digs his mother's grave. As
one with a hairy whorl on his back will meet with a watery death,
he avoids seas and rivers.
Everyone's future is stamped on his head; flowers on the nails signify
illness and the itching sensation in one's palm that he will get money.
It is bad to raise one's forefinger as he takes his handful of rice
to his mouth as he thereby chides the rice.
No one takes his meal in the presence of a stranger without giving him
a share as it will disagree with him. If any envious person speaks
of the number of children in another's family or praises them the
party affected spits out loud to counteract the evil.
Two people who are the first born of parents are never allowed to
marry as their children rarely live. The dead body of a first male
child of parents who are themselves the first born of their parents
is regarded as having magical powers and sorcerers try to obtain it;
if this be done the mother will not bear any more children; to prevent
this it is buried near the house. When a mother's pregnancy desires
are not satisfied the child's ears fester.
Pollution caused by a death lasts three months, by child birth one
month, by a maid attaining puberty fourteen days, and by the monthly
turn of a woman till she bathes.
Every person has in a more or less degree on certain days an evil
eye and a malevolent mouth; to avoid the evil eye black pots with
chunam marks and hideous figures are placed before houses; children
are marked between the eyes with a black streak, chanks are tied
round the forehead of cattle, branches of fruit are concealed with
a covering made of palm leaves and festive processions are preceded
by mummeries. Serious consequences befall a person who recites
ironically laudatory verses written by a person with a malevolent
mouth. Assumption of high office and marriage ceremonies are fraught
with ill to the persons concerned owing to the evil eye and malevolent
mouth.
The kalawa (principle of life,) in man rises with the new moon from
the left toe and travels during the lunar month up to the head and
down again to the right foot. Any injury however slight to the spot
where it resides causes death. Its movements are reversed in a woman,
in whom it travels up from the right toe and comes down on the left
side. The course it takes is (1) big toe of foot; (2) sole of foot;
(3) calf; (4) knee cap; (5) lingam; (6) side of stomach; (7) pap; (8)
armpit; (9) side of neck; (10) side of throat; (11) side of lip; (12)
side of cheek; (13) eye; (14) side of head; (15) other side of head;
(16) eye; (17) side of cheek; and so on till the big toe of the other
foot is reached.