Note 67 — T (continued 3)

In connection with the tulabhāram ceremony as performed at the temple of Kāli, the goddess of cholera and small-pox at Cranganore in the Cochin State, Mr. T. K. Gopal Panikkar writes as follows.67 “When a man is taken ill of any infectious disease, his relations generally pray to this goddess for his recovery, solemnly covenanting to perform what goes by the name of a thulabhāram ceremony. The process consists in placing the patient in one of the scale-pans of a huge balance, and weighing him against gold or more generally pepper (and sometimes other substances as well) deposited in the other scale-pan. Then this weight of the substance is offered to the goddess. This is to be performed right in front of the goddess in the temple yard.”