OMENS AND DIVINATION.
One will not start on a journey, if he meets as he gets out a beggar,
a Buddhist priest, a person carrying firewood or his implements of
labour, if a lizard chirps, a dog sneezes or flaps his ears. Nor will
he turn back after once setting out; if he has forgotten anything it
is sent after him, he never returns for it. That the object of his
journey may be prosperous he starts with the right foot foremost
at an auspicious moment, generally at dawn, when the cock crows;
his hopes are at their highest if he sees on the way a milch cow,
cattle, a pregnant woman or a person carrying a pitcher full of water,
flowers or fruits.
Thieves will not get out when there is the handa madala (ring round
the moon) as they will be arrested.
The day's luck or ill-luck depends on what one sees the first thing
in the morning; if anything unlucky be done on a Monday, it will
continue the whole week.
If a crow caws near one's house in the morning, it forebodes sickness
or death, at noon pleasure or the arrival of a friend, and in the
evening profit; if it drops its excrement on the head, shoulders or
on the back of a person it signifies happiness but on the knee or in
step a speedy death.
A lizard warns by its chirp; if it chirps from the East pleasant
news can be expected, from the South news of sickness or death,
from the North profit and from the West the arrival of a friend. If
a lizard or a skink (hikenellâ) falls on the right side of a person,
he will gain riches, if on the left he will meet with ill luck.
A snake doctor finds out what kind of reptile had bitten a person by a
queer method; if the person who comes to fetch him touches his breast
with the right hand it is a viper; if the head it is a mapila; if the
stomach a frog; if the right shoulder with the left hand a karavalâ,
(bungarus coerulus); if he be excited a skink; and if the messenger
be a weeping female carrying a child it is a cobra.
Something similar to crystal gazing is attempted by means of a
betel leaf smeared with a magical oil; a female deity (Anjanan Devi)
appears on the leaf and reveals what the gazer seeks.
A professional fortune teller (guru) when a client comes to consult
him, measures the client's shadow, divides it into three equal parts
and after some calculations informs him whether a lost article will
be found, a sick person will recover or any enterprise will fail
or succeed.
Dreams that prognosticate a good future are kept secret, but bad ones
are published. When a bad dream is dreamt it is advisable to go to a
lime tree early in the morning, mention the dream and ask the tree to
take to itself all the bad effects. Dreams at the first watch of the
night will be accomplished in a year, at the second watch in eight
months, at the third watch in five months, and at the dawn of day in
ten days.
If a person dreams of riding on a bull or an elephant, ascending the
summit of a mountain, entering a palace, or smearing himself with
excrement he will obtain an increase of wealth.
If a person dreams that his right hand was bitten by a white serpent
he will obtain riches at the end of ten days.
If a person dreams of a crane, a domestic fowl, an eagle or crows,
he will get an indulgent wife.
If a person dreams of the sun or moon, he will be restored from
sickness.
If the teeth of an individual in his dream fall out or shake his wealth
will be ruined or he will lose a child or parent but if his hands be
chained or bound together he will have a son or obtain a favour.
If a female clothed in black embraces a man in his dream it foretells
death.
If a person dreams of an extensive field ripe for the sickle, he will
obtain rice paddy within ten days.
If a person dreams of an owl, a beast in rut or being burnt he will
lose his habitation.
If a person dreams of nymphs dancing, laughing, running or clapping
their hands, he will have to leave his native land.