The Sahavasis of Mysore are described [113] as "immigrants, like the
Chitpavanas. Sahavasi means co-tenant or associate, and the name is
said to have been earned by the community in the following manner. In
remote times, a certain Brahman came upon hidden treasure, but,
to his amazement, the contents appeared in his eyes to be all live
scorpions. Out of curiosity, he hung one of them outside his house. A
little while after, a woman of inferior caste, who was passing by
the house, noticed it to be gold, and, upon her questioning him about
it, the Brahman espoused her, and by her means was able to enjoy the
treasure. He gave a feast in honour of his acquisition of wealth. He
was subsequently outcasted for his mesalliance with the low caste
female, while those who ate with him were put under a ban, and thus
acquired the nickname."
It is commonly said that the scorpion has great reverence for the name
of Ganesa, because it is supposed that when, on seeing a scorpion,
one cries out "Pilliyar annai" (in the name of Ganesa), the scorpion
will suddenly stop; the truth of the matter being that any loud noise
arrests the movements of the animal. [114]
At the temple of Kolaramma at Kolar in Mysore, a pit under the
entrance is full of scorpions, and the customary offerings are silver
scorpions. The village goddess at Nangavaram in the Trichinopoly
district is called Sattandi Amman, and her idol represents her in the
act of weaving a garland of scorpions. It is generally supposed that
no scorpion can live in this village, and that the sacred ashes from
Sattandi Amman's shrine are a specific for scorpion stings. People
sometimes carry some of the ashes about with them, in case they
should be stung. [115] At Royachoti in the Cuddapah district, a
festival is held on the occasion of the god going hunting. The idol
Virabudra is carried to a mantapam outside the town, and placed on
the ground. Beneath the floor of the mantapam there is a large number
of scorpions. Whilst the god is taking his rest, the attendants
catch these scorpions, and hold them in their hands without being
stung. As long as the god remains in the mantapam, the scorpions do
not sting, but, directly he leaves it, they resume their poisonous
propensities. [116] The peon (attendant) in the zoological laboratory
of one of the Madras colleges would put his hand with impunity into
a jar of live scorpions, of which he believed that only a pregnant
female would sting him with hurt. Lieutenant-Colonel D. D. Cunningham
records [117] the case of a certain Yogi (religious mendicant), who
was insusceptible to the stings of scorpions, "which would fix their
stings so firmly into his fingers that, when he raised and shook
his hand about, they remained anchored and dangling by their tails,
whilst neither then nor afterwards did he show the slightest sign
of pain or inconvenience. The immunity may possibly have been the
result of innate idiosyncratic peculiarity in the constitution of
the performer, or more probably represented the outcome of artificial
exemption acquired at the expense of repeated inoculations with the
virus, and corresponding development of its antitoxin."
A sweeper man, who had a mole on his back in shape somewhat resembling
a scorpion, believed himself to be immune against scorpion sting,
and would confidently insert the poison spine of a live scorpion
into his skin. In a letter to a medical officer, a Native wrote,
that, when a pregnant woman is stung by a scorpion, the child which
is in the womb at the time of such stinging, when delivered, does
not suffer from the sting of a scorpion, if ever it is stung during
its lifetime. Some families keep in their homes small pots called
thelkodukku undi (scorpion sting vessels), and occasionally drop
therein a copper coin, which is supposed to secure immunity against
scorpion sting. The Sakuna Pakshi mendicants of Vizagapatam have
a remedy for scorpion sting in the root of a plant called thella
visari (scorpion antidote), which they carry about with them on
their rounds. The root should be collected on a new-moon day which
falls on a Sunday. On that day, the Sakuna Pakshi bathes, cuts off
his loin-cloth, and goes stark-naked to a selected spot, where he
gathers the roots. If a supply thereof is required, and the necessary
combination of moon and day is not forthcoming, the roots should
be collected on a Sunday or Wednesday. In cases of scorpion sting,
Dommara medicine-men rub up patent boluses with human milk or juice
of the milk-hedge plant (Euphorbia Tirucalli), and apply them to
the parts. Among quaint remedies for scorpion sting may be noted,
sitting with an iron crowbar in the mouth, and the application of
chopped lizard over the puncture. The excrement of lizards fed on
scorpions, and the undigested food in the stomach of a freshly killed
goat, dried and reduced to powder, are also believed to be effective
remedies. There is a belief that scorpions have the power of reviving,
even after being completely crushed into pulp. We are, therefore,
warned not to rest secure till the animal has actually been cremated.
The whip-scorpion Thelyphonus is believed to be venomous, some Natives
stating that it stings like a scorpion, others that it ejects a slimy
fluid which burns, and produces blisters. The caudal flagellum of
Thelyphonus, of course, possesses no poison apparatus.
When the umbilical cord of a Kondh baby sloughs off, a spider is burnt
in the fire, and its ashes are placed in a cocoanut shell, mixed with
castor-oil, and applied by means of a fowl's feather to the navel.
The eggs of red ants, boiled in margosa (Melia Azadirachta) oil,
are said to be an invaluable remedy for children suffering from asthma.
If a house is infested by mosquitoes, or the furniture and bedding
by bugs, the names of a hundred villages or towns should be written
on a piece of paper. Care must be taken that all the names end in
uru, kottai, palayam, etc. The paper is fastened to the ceiling or
bed-post, and relief from the pests will be instantaneous. [118]
The Oriya Haddis, on the evening of the tenth day after a death,
proceed to some distance from the house, and place food and fruits
on a cloth spread on the ground. They then call the dead man by his
name, and eagerly wait till some insect settles on the cloth. As soon
as this happens, the cloth is folded up, carried home, and shaken
over the floor close to the spot where the household gods are kept,
so that the insect falls on the sand spread on the floor. A light is
then placed on the sanded floor, and covered with a new pot. After
some time, the pot is removed, and the sand examined for any marks
which may be left on it.
A devil, in the disguise of a dung-beetle of large size, is believed
to haunt the house wherein a baby has been newly born, and the impact
of the insect against the infant will bring about its instant death.
The following case was brought to my notice by the Chemical Examiner to
Government. In Malabar, a young man, apparently in good health, walked
home with two other men after a feast, chewing betel. Arriving at his
home, he retired to rest, and was found dead in the morning. Blood
was described as oozing out of his eyes. It was given out that the
cause of death was an insect, which infests betel leaves, and is
very poisonous. The belief in death from chewing or swallowing the
veththilai or vettila poochi (betel insect) is a very general one,
and is so strong that, when a person suffers from giddiness, after
chewing betel, he is afraid that he has partaken of the poisonous
insect. Native gentlemen take particular care to examine every betel
leaf, wipe it with a cloth, and smear chunam (lime) over it, before
chewing. The poochi is called by Gundert [119] vettila pampu or
moorkhan (snake), or vettila thel (scorpion). It has been described
[120] as "a poisonous creature, which lives adhering to the betel
leaf. Its presence cannot be easily detected, and many deaths
occur among persons who are in the habit of carelessly chewing
betel. The poison passes into the system through the moisture of
the mouth, and death ensues within an hour and a half. It generally
inhabits the female leaf, i.e., the leaf that opens at night. The
following symptoms are seen when a person is affected with the
poison:--exhaustion, delirium, copious perspiration, and change of
colour of the skin. Treatment:--administer internally the juice of
the leaves of a tree called arippera. Make the patient suck the milk
of the breast of a woman, whose baby is more than eighty days old."
A perichaete earthworm was sent to me from Malabar as a specimen
of vettila poochi, with a note to the effect that, when it is
accidentally chewed, the chief symptom is drawing in of the tongue,
and consequent death from suffocation. The antidote was said to be salt
and water, and the leaves of the goa (guava) tree. From South Canara,
Mr H. Latham sent me a planarian worm, about two inches in length,
which is believed to be the vettila poochi. His camp boy told him of
a case in which death was said to have resulted from eating one of
these animals cooked with some jak fruit.
A few years ago, a scare arose in connection with an insect, which was
said to have taken up its abode in imported German glass bangles, which
compete with the indigenous industry of the Gazula bangle-makers. The
insect was reported to lie low in the bangle till it was purchased,
when it would come out and nip the wearer, after warning her to
get her affairs in order before succumbing. A specimen of a broken
bangle, from which the insect was said to have burst forth, was sent
to me. But the insect was not forthcoming.
As a further example of the way in which the opponents of a new
industry avail themselves of the credulity of the Native, I may cite
the recent official introduction of the chrome-tanning industry
in Madras. In connection therewith, a rumour spread more or less
throughout the Presidency that the wearing of chrome-tanned boots
or sandals gave rise to leprosy, blood poisoning, and failure of
the eyesight.