Note 24 — Chapter V · THE BLACK ART.
Reading edition
“It is the general belief that there is not a village or a single family without its witch in this part of the country. Indeed, no one will give his daughter in marriage to a family without one, saying, ‘If my daughter has children, what will become of them without a witch to protect them from witches of other families in the neighbourhood?’”24 Sir John Malcolm notices the same fact. “In some places men will not marry into a family where there is not a Dâkinî or witch to save them from the malice of others; but this name, which is odious, is not given to those persons by their relations and friends. They are termed Rakhwâlî or guardians.”25