The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
[Various superstitions, omens, oaths, witchcraft, etc.] 20. The lucky
days are Sunday and Monday and Friday; Tuesday and Saturday are
unlucky. Among numbers 5 and 3 are lucky, 13 unlucky. They take omens
from the kurli bird, whose song on commencing a journey or business is
lucky. A jackal crossing the road is inauspicious. The house door may
face the North, East, or West, but not the South. Every one has two
names, that fixed by astrology (râs), and that in ordinary use. They
swear by putting the hand on their son’s head or touching a Brâhman’s
feet. In the first place if they tell a lie the son dies, in the second
they lose their property or life. They are much in dread of witchcraft
(tona). Such cases are treated by the Ojha, who has power to drive off
or summon Bhûts, and can thus revenge himself on an enemy. Dreams only
mean the displeasure of the sainted dead at inattention, and are not
specially interpreted. Some women, particularly those born on a
Saturday, can cast the Evil Eye. When a child is thus affected its
eyelashes stand out straight, and when babies are struck they refuse
the mother’s breast. Even big children are affected. The sign of the
arrival of a person with this power is that the person affected if
eating immediately vomits. All disease is due to demoniacal influence.
It is only Ojhas who can recognise the particular Bhût which is at the
bottom of the mischief, and having marked him down they are able to
prescribe the appropriate offering or expel the evil spirit by bringing
the victim into a state of ecstacy (abhuâna).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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