Note 57 — Chapter IV · WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS AND SAINTS.
Reading edition
In the Konkan it is believed that sneezing and yawning indicate the call of death, and therefore it is customary among the Hindus to snap the thumb and the middle finger at the time of yawning, and to repeat the words Shatanjiva i.e. Live for hundred years, at the time of sneezing.57 Sneezing on a threshold is believed to forebode evil.58