Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7Thurston, Edgar
History
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 5 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
cost of each villager in rotation, and partaken of by all assembled,
and a small offering to the temple, are all that remains to commemorate
it. Astrology is believed in, and some of its votaries are spoken of
as Trikalagnas, or those who know the past, present, and future. It
is due to a curse of Siva on the science of his son, who made bold by
its means to predict even the future of his father, that occasional
mistakes are said to occur in astrological calculations. Sorcery
and witchcraft are believed to be potent powers for evil. To make a
person imbecile, to paralyse his limbs, to cause him to lavish all
his wealth upon another, to make him deaf and dumb, and, if need be,
even to make an end of him, are not supposed to be beyond the powers
of the ordinary wizard. Next to wizardry and astrology, palmistry,
omens, and the lizard science are generally believed in. In the
category of good omens are placed the elephant, a pot full of water,
sweetmeats, fruit, fish and flesh, images of gods, kings, a cow with
its calf, married women, tied bullocks, gold lamps, ghee, milk, and
so on. Under the head of bad omens come the donkey, a broom, buffalo,
untied bullock, barber, widow, patient, cat, washerman, etc. The worst
of all omens is beyond question to allow a cat to cross one's path. An
odd number of Nayars, and an even number of Brahmans, are good omens,
the reverse being particularly bad. On the Vinayaka-chaturthi day in
the month of Avani, no man is permitted to look at the rising moon
under penalty of incurring unmerited obloquy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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