Note 7 — Chapter XIV · THE BLACK CHARM.

To show how strong this fear of witchcraft is amongst Hindu women, I will give another extract, almost as curious as the first, from the public address of the Christian gentleman and converted Brahmin, T. K. Chatterji. Speaking of his mother he says,—

“She was very much afraid of the witches, and to protect me from their evil influences she used to fast often, and make vows to gods and goddesses. If any devotee happened to visit our village, one of the first things that she would ask him was, whether he knew anything that would keep me from the evil influence of the witches. She would pay him money with which to make puja [worship], and would not mind undergoing any amount of penances for my good. She was not content doing this only, but procured a costly gold chain, and enclosed in its links little pieces of the roots of some wild trees which she thought had the virtue of driving away witches and evil spirits, and she took great care to hang this chain round my neck. She used to spit on my forehead whenever I went out to play with other boys or to the village school, and would not eat anything until I returned home safe.”

Oh, what a picture is here presented to us of maternal love, strong though blind, and of slavish, misery-making fear! Such superstition, met with in various forms, is one of the galling chains from which, in God’s strength, missionaries desire to free their poor native sisters.