Note 19 — Chapter XI · SOCIAL DIVISIONS—MARRIAGE—FUNERALS—MEDICINE—FESTIVALS.

Leprosy is prevalent in most of the countries of High Asia. It is variously called glud-nad, “the nag’s (serpent’s) disease,” and mje-nad,19 the “corroding malady,” and is believed to originate from various causes, fanciful and real. By digging in pestilential soil where snakes live, turning up stones under which these reptiles lurk, felling poisonous trees, throwing tea, water, or cooked food and other refuse on the blazing hearth, men are said to excite the wrath of the Nagas and mischievous spirits of the upper and nether worlds, who delight in working the ruin of the human race. They spread this hateful malady by the exhalation of their breath, by their poisonous touch or malignant glance, or even by the power of their malignant wish. The “charmed banner”20 is a great preventive of these evils. The people of High Asia generally fix banners with printed charms thereon near to or on their houses, as they are believed to prevent the Nagas entering them. Leprosy is likewise assumed to be the consequence of the sins of former lives.21 It also originates from disorders produced by irregularity and intemperance in food and habits, whereby the black and yellow fluids of the body are increased, and give rise to this distressing malady. Eighteen different kinds of leprosy are recognized. The chanting of charms and mantras of Vajrapani Buddha by the patient or the physician is resorted to, that wrathful deity being a mighty subduer of all malevolent demons and Nagas, and various native drugs are also administered in the form of pills.