Chapter VI · THE EVIL EYE AND THE SCARING OF GHOSTS.

Hindus generally believe in the effects of the evil eye. If an accident befall any thing of value, or it undergoes any sudden change, it is said to be due to the effects of an evil eye. In order to escape from the influence of an evil eye, people begin the use of incantations and charms on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday and finish them on the third or the fifth day. Small children, domestic animals, and beautiful objects are generally liable to be affected by an evil eye.

The following are some of the methods of evading the effects of an evil eye.

1st.—Dry chillies are waved round the body of the affected person and thrown into the fire, and if they do not thereupon make a loud noise, it is said that the effects of an evil eye are averted.

2nd.—Mustard seed and salt are waved round the face of a child and then thrown into the fire.

3rd.—Alum is waved round the child and then thrown into fire. The piece of alum thus thrown is sometimes believed to be changed into the form of a man or a woman. From this, conjectures are made as to the sex of the person by whose evil eye the patient is affected. The form or the figure is then broken by a toe of the left foot of the patient, and dry chillies, garlic, hair, rubbish from the house and salt are mixed in the alum powder. The mixture is waved round the patient three times and then thrown into fire. Meanwhile the sorcerer repeats the names of all persons, things and evil spirits suspected by him. After this performance has been repeated three times, the fire is deposited in a public place where three roads meet.

4th.—If the evil eye is believed to be that of a ghost, the sorcerer mutters some words to himself, waves ashes round the affected child, and blows them in the air.

5th.—The evil eye of a tiger is removed from an affected animal in the following manner. An oil lamp is burnt in the eye of a dead tiger and the lamp is waved round the animal by a Mahár. The Mahár is given a loaf prepared from eight kinds of grain.

The people of Poladpur in the Kolába District believe the effects of an evil eye to be as follows. A healthy child becomes sickly and cries, a man may suffer from indigestion or loss of appetite, a cow or a she-buffalo yielding plenty of milk suddenly ceases to give milk or gives blood in place of it, a good image is disfigured or broken, and even stones are shattered to pieces by the effects of an evil eye.

It is a general belief among all classes of Hindus in the Bombay Presidency that Saturday is an unlucky day, and in some places Friday and Tuesday are also considered inauspicious.

Sunday is considered as an ordinary day.

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday are believed to be auspicious or lucky days.

The numbers 2, 6, 11 and zero are believed to be lucky, 4, 5, 10 and 8 are unlucky, and 1, 3, 7 and 9 are considered as middling or moderate.

The following are generally held to be auspicious omens:—

The following are considered to be auspicious when seen within a hundred paces of a person starting on business:—

The following objects and persons are generally believed to be inauspicious:—

The funeral solemnities performed from the 1st to the 14th day from the death of the deceased are as described below:—

Among the Hindus in the Konkan, as well as in the Deccan, dead bodies are generally burnt, but under the following circumstances they are buried.