Note 31 — Thug

The noise of two cats heard fighting was propitious only during the first watch of the night; if heard later in the night it was known as ‘Kāli ki mauj’ or ‘Kāli’s temper,’ and threatened evil, and if during the daytime as ‘Dhāmoni31 ki mauj,’ and was a prelude of great misfortune; while if the cats fell from a height while fighting it was worst of all. The above shows that the cat was also the animal of Kāli and is a point in favour of her derivation from the tiger; and on this hypothesis the importance of the omen of the cat is explained. If they obtained a good omen when in company with travellers they believed that it was a direct order from heaven to kill them, and that if they disobeyed the sign and let the travellers go they would never obtain any more victims.32