CONTENTS.

Asma ’bint ’Umais relates that she said, “O Prophet! the family of Ja’ afar are affected by the baneful influence of the Evil Eye. May I use spells for them or not?” The Prophet said, “Yes; for if there were anything in the world which would overcome fate, it would be the Evil Eye.”—Miskât, xxi.–i. Part II.

The belief in the baneful influence of the Evil Eye prevails widely.[1] According to Pliny,[2] it was one of the special superstitions of the people of India, and at the present day it forms an important part of the popular belief. But the investigation of its principles is far from easy. It is very closely connected with a number of kindred ideas on the subject of diabolical influence, and few natives care to speak about it except in a furtive way. In fact, it is far too serious a matter to be discussed lightly. Walking about villages, you will constantly see special marks on houses, and symbols and devices of various kinds, which are certainly intended to counteract it; but hardly any one cares directly to explain the real motive, and if you ask the meaning of them, you will almost invariably be told that they are purely decorative, or that they have been made with some object which obviously conceals the real basis of the practice.

One, and perhaps the most common theory of the Evil Eye is that “when a child is born, an invisible spirit is born with it; and unless the mother keeps one breast tied up for forty days, while she feeds the child with the other (in which case the spirit dies of hunger), the child grows up with the endowment of the Evil Eye, and whenever any person so endowed looks at anything constantly, something will happen to it.”[3] So, in Ireland we are told that “the gift comes by Nature and is born with one, though it may not be called into exercise unless circumstances arise to excite the power; then it comes to act like a spirit of bitter and malicious envy that radiates a poisonous atmosphere, which chills and blights everything within its reach.”[4]

In Bombay the “blast of the Evil Eye is supposed to be a form of spirit possession. In Western India all witches and wizards are said to be, as a rule, evil-eyed. Of the rest, those persons only who are born under certain circumstances are believed to be evil-eyed. The circumstances are as follows:—Among the Hindus it is believed that when a woman is pregnant, she begins to conceive peculiar longings from the day of conception, or from the fifth month. They consist in eating various fruits and sweetmeats, in walking under deep shades, or in gardens where brooks gurgle, or in putting on rich clothes or ornaments, and in many other like things. If in the case of any woman these desires are not gratified, the child whom she gives birth to becomes weak and voracious, and is said to have an Evil Eye. If such a person sees a man or woman eat anything which he feels a longing for, the eater either vomits what he or she has eaten, or falls sick. By some it is believed that if a person come from without at the time of dinner, and enters the house without washing his feet, the man who is eating becomes sick or vomits the food he has eaten, or does not feel longing for food for some time, until the blast of the Evil Eye is warded off.” Mr. Campbell explains this on the principle that “as he comes from places where three or four roads meet, and which are spirit haunts, an evil spirit accompanies him without entering his body, from the place of its residence by which he has passed. If he washes his feet, the spirit goes back; but if he enters the house with spirit-laden feet, the spirit enters the house with him, and affects any one of the persons eating.”[5]

The real fact seems to be that in most cases the Evil Eye is the result of covetousness.[6] Thus, a man blind of an eye, no matter how well-disposed he may be, is almost certain to envy a person blessed with a peculiarly good pair of eyes. But if the blind man’s attention be distracted by something conspicuous in the appearance of the other, such as lampblack on his eyelids, a mole, or a scar, the feeling of dissatisfaction, which is fatal to the complete effect of the envious glance, is certain to arise. This theory that the glance may be neutralized or avoided by some blot or imperfection is the basis of many of the popular remedies or prophylactics invented with the object of averting its influence.

Hence comes the device of making an intentional blot in anything one values, so that the glance of the Evil Eye may be deprived of its complete satisfaction. Thus, most people put lampblack on the eyes of their children as a protection against fascination, because black is a colour hateful to evil spirits; it has the additional advantage of protecting the eye from the fierce heat of the Indian summer. Women when delivery approaches often mark themselves with black to avert the demon who causes protracted labour. It is also believed that a person whose eyelids are encircled with lampblack is incapable of casting the Evil Eye himself; and it is considered nice in a woman to ornament herself in this way, since because she herself, except at some crisis of her life, such as marriage or parturition, is not liable to fascination, it shows her indisposition to covet the beauty of others, with the inference that she has no cause to do so.

On the same principle, when a parent has lost a child by any disease which, as is usually the case, can be attributed to fascination or other demoniacal influence, it is a common practice to call the next baby by some opprobrious name, with the intention of so depreciating it that it may be regarded as worthless, and so protected from the Evil Eye of the envious. Thus a male child is called Kuriya or “Dunghill;” Kadheran or Ghasîta, “He that has been dragged along the ground;” Dukhi or Dukhita, “The afflicted one;” Phatingua, “Grasshopper;” Jhingura, “Cricket;” Bhîkhra or Bhîkhu, “Beggar;” Gharîb, “Poor,” and so on. So, a girl is called Andhrî, “Blind;” Tînkauriyâ or Chhahkauriyâ, “She that was sold for three or six cowry shells;” Dhuriyâ, “Dusty;” Machhiyâ, “Fly,” and so on.[7]

All this is connected with what the Scotch call “fore-speaking,” when praise beyond measure, praise accompanied with a sort of amazement or envy, is considered likely to be followed by disease or accident.[8] Thus Professor Rhys writes of the Isle of Man:[9] “You will never get a Manxman to say that he is very well. He usually admits that he is ‘middling;’ and if by any chance he risks a stronger adjective, he hastens to qualify it by saying ‘now’ or ‘just now,’ with an emphasis indicative of his anxiety not to say too much. His habits of speech point back to the time when the Manx mind was dominated by the fear of awaking malignant influences in the spirit world around him.” So, in Ireland, to avoid being suspected of having the Evil Eye, it is necessary when looking at a child to say, “God bless it!” and when passing a farmyard where the cows are collected for milking to say, “The blessing of God be on you and all your labour!”[10]

The same customs prevail in India. Thus, if a native gentleman brings his child to visit a European, he dislikes to hear it praised, unless the praise be accompanied with some pious ejaculation. And it is safer to speak in a complimentary way of some conspicuous ornament or piece of dress, which is always put on as a protective.

In connection with the question of naming, a reference may be made to some taboos which are probably based on similar principles. A name is part of a person in the belief of savages, and a man can be injured through his name as well as through the parings of his nails or hair, which are carefully looked after. Thus with all Hindus two names are given to children, one secret and used only for ceremonial purposes, and the other for ordinary use. The witch if she learns the real name can work her evil charms through it.[11] Hence arises the use of many contractions and perversions of the real name and many of the nicknames which are generally given to children, as well as the ordinary terms of endearment which are constantly employed. We have this name taboo coming out in a cycle of folk-tales, such as “Rumpelstilzchen,” “Tom Titty Tot,” and “Whuppity Stoorie.” Here the imp or gnome has a secret name of his own, which he thinks it impossible for any one to find out, and he himself uses it only when he thinks he is sure to be alone.

This seems to be the most rational explanation of the curious taboo according to which a Hindu woman will not name her husband, or if she wants to refer to him, does so in some indirect way as the father of her child and so on. To this, however, there is one notable exception. Thus, writing of Bombay, Mr. Campbell says:[12] “At marriages, coming of age, first pregnancy and festive days, such as the Nâgpanchamî and Mangalâ Gaurî in August, it is usual for the woman to recite some couplet or verse in which the husband’s name occurs. At marriages this naming is, in practice, little more than a game. An old man or an old lady gets close to the door and refuses to allow the young women to go until they have told their husbands’ name. At the pregnancy ceremony the same custom is observed.” Mr. Campbell takes this to be “part of a ceremony whose object is to drive to a distance any spirits whose influence might blight the tender life of the unborn child. This seems natural when it is remembered that the names of men are either the names of gods, of precious stones, or of spices, all of which have a power to scare spirits; and as repeating the thousand names of Mahâdeva is a service in which he greatly delights, apparently because it keeps spirits at a distance, so this repeating of the husband’s and wife’s name seems to have the same object.” The name, in other words, is kept secret on account of its sanctity, and the custom would be based on the same rules of taboo which have been designed among most savages for the protection of kings and other persons of dignity from the influence of evil spirits.

Another mode of protecting boys from demoniacal influence is based on the same idea of the blot of imperfection. Boys of rich parents are often dressed in mean or filthy clothes so that they may be considered unworthy of the malicious glance of some envious neighbour or enemy.

Still another device, that of dressing up the boy during infancy as a girl, in other words a pretended change of sex, may perhaps lead us on the track of a possible explanation of some very curious and obscure practices in Europe. We know that legends of actual change of sex are not unknown in Indian folk-lore. Thus, we have the very primitive legend of Idâ or Ilâ, who was the daughter of the Manu Vaivaswata, who prayed to Mitra and Varuna for a boy and was given a girl. But the prayers of her father to the deities resulted in her being changed into a man, Sudyumna. Siva changed him back again into a woman, and she, as Ilâ, became the wife of Budha. In more modern times we have the very similar story of the daughter of the Bhadauriya Râja. He had a daughter, who was seized by force for the seraglio of the Emperor at Delhi, but she fled to the temple of Devî at Batesar and by the aid of the goddess was changed into a boy. By another version of the tale he arranged with another Râja that their children should be contracted, if one chanced to be a boy and the other a girl. Both had daughters, but the Râja concealed the circumstance and allowed the marriage to go on as if his child was a son. When the fraud was detected the girl tried to commit suicide in the Jumnâ, but came out a boy, and everyone was satisfied.[13]

One explanation of the custom of pretended change of sex as shown in the case of the Amazons, has been thus explained by Mr. Abercromby:[14] “The great desire of women, more especially during a period of warlike barbarism, is to bear male children. Turning our attention to the result of flattening a girl’s breasts and letting her wear male attire, it is obvious that a sex distinction has been obliterated, and she has become externally assimilated to a male youth. Moreover, the object has evidently been intentional. It would be no outrage to the reasoning powers of the Sarmatians to suppose that they believed a woman’s chances of bearing male children were vastly enhanced by her wearing a man’s dress, and by being in some degree conformed to the male type by forcible compression of the breasts during maidenhood. They would argue thus: a woman wants to bear male children, therefore she ought to be made as much like a man as possible. A conviction of this kind is gained by a process identical with the immature reasoning that underlies what is called sympathetic magic.”

This may possibly be one explanation of the practice among Chamârs and other low castes in Northern India, when at marriages boys dress up as women and perform a rude and occasionally obscene dance. Among the Modh Brâhmans of Gujarât, at marriages, the bridegroom’s maternal uncle, whose special position is almost certainly a survival from times when descent through the mother was the only recognized form, dresses as a Jhanda or Pathân Faqîr, whose ghost is dangerous, in woman’s clothes from head to waist, and in men’s clothes below, rubs his face with oil, daubs it with red powder, goes with the bride and bridegroom to a place where two roads meet (which, as we have seen, is a haunt of spirits), and stays there till the pair offer the goddess food.[15]

Now, there are numerous customs which have been grouped in Europe under the name of the False Bride. Thus, among the Esthonians the false bride is enacted by the bride’s brother dressed in woman’s clothes; in Polonia by a bearded man called the Wilde Brant; in Poland, by an old woman veiled in white, and lame; again, among the Esthonians, by an old woman with a birch-bark crown; in Brittany, where the substitutes are first a little girl, then the mistress of the house, and lastly, the grandmother.[16]

The supposition may then be hazarded, that in the light of the Indian examples the object may be that some one assumes the part of the bride in order to divert on himself from her the envious glance of the Evil Eye. With the same object it is very common in India to bore the noses of little boys and thus to make them resemble girls. The usual names of Nathu or Bulâqi, the former where the ring was placed in the side of the nose and the latter in the septum, are evidence of this.

The theory of the blot of imperfection again appears in the custom of not washing the face of a little boy till he is six years old.[17] Similarly, young men, if vigorous and stout, consider themselves very liable to the fascination of lean people, and tie a rag round the left arm, or a blue thread round their necks, often twisting the blue feathers of the roller bird into the thread as an additional precaution. Nor do they care to expose their bodies to the public gaze, but wear a light shawl of a gaudy colour, even in the warmest season of the year. Should such a youth, if sufficiently conceited about his personal appearance, detect a suspicious person looking at him, he will immediately pretend to limp, or contort his face and spasmodically grasp his ankle or his elbow as if he were in pain, to distract and divert the attention he fears.

So, all natives dread being stared at, particularly by Europeans; and you will often see a witness cast his eyes on the ground when the magistrate looks him full in the face, sometimes because he knows he is lying and fears the consequences, but it is often done through fear of fascination. A European, in fact, is to the rustic a strange inscrutable personage, gifted with many occult powers both for good and evil, and there are numerous extraordinary legends current about him. We shall return to this in dealing with the wonderful Momiâî story. Here it may be noted that he has control over the Jinn. There was a place near Dera Ghâzi Khân so possessed by them that passersby were attacked. A European officer poured a bottle of brandy on the spot and no Jinn has been seen there ever since. A very dangerous ghost which some time ago used to infest a road in the Rûrki Cantonment was routed in the same way by an artilleryman, who spat on him when he came across him one dark night. The nails of a European, like those of the Râkshasa, distil a deadly poison, and hence he is afraid to eat with his fingers, as all reasonable people do, and prefers to use a knife and fork.

A few other examples illustrating the same principle may be given here. When a man is copying a manuscript, he will sometimes make an intentional blot. A favourite trick is to fold the paper back before the ink of the last line has time to dry, so as to blot and at the same time make it appear the result of chance. We have noticed the same idea in the case of carpet patterns. A similar irregularity is introduced in printing chintzes and like handicrafts, and this goes a long way to explain the occasional and almost unaccountable defects to be found in some native work. The letter from a Râja is spotted with gold leaf, partly to divert fascination and partly to act as a scarer of demons. In fact the two conceptions meet and overlap all through the theory of these protectives.

Another plan is to paint up some hideous figure on the posts or arch of the door. The figure of a Churel or the caricature of a European with his gun is often delineated in this way. Others paint a figure of Yamarâja or some of the gods or saints for the same purpose, and the regular guardian deities, like Hanumân, Bhairon, or Bhîm Sen, often figure on these protective frescoes. So in Italy Mania was a most frightful spirit. “Her frightful image used to be hung over the doors to frighten away evil. This is quite identical with the old Assyrian observance recorded by Lenormant of placing the images of evil or dreaded deities in places to scare away the demons themselves.”[18]

Confectioners, when one of their vessels of milk is exposed to view, put a little charcoal in it, as careful Scotch mothers do in the water in which they wash their babies.[19] The idea is probably connected with the use of fire as a charm. In Scotland it used to be the practice to throw a live coal into the beer vat to avert the influence of the fairies, and a cow’s milk was secured against them by a burning coal being passed across her back and under her belly immediately after calving.[20] In India, if a cow gives a large quantity of milk, the owner tries to hide it, and if it chances to get sour, he attributes the loss to fascination, or the machinations of some enemy, witch, or demon. A mother while dressing her baby makes a black mark on its cheek, and before a man eats betel he pinches off the corner of the leaf as a safeguard. When food is taken to the labourer in the field, a piece of charcoal or copper coin is placed in the basket as a preservative; and when horses while feeding throw a little grain on the ground, it is not replaced, because the horse is believed to do this to avoid fascination. Grooms, with the same object, throw a dirty duster over the withers of a horse while it is feeding, and they are the more particular to do this when it is new moon or moonlight, when spirits are abroad. In the same way, when a man purchases food in the open market, he throws a little into the fire, and when a man is having a specially good dinner, he should select an auspicious moment and do the same. The same idea accounts for various customs of grace-giving at meals. Thus, when the Brâhmans at Pûna begin dinner they repeat the name of Govinda; the Shenavis say, Har! Har! Mahâdeva, and when half finished sing verses; the Mhârs never eat without saying Krishnarpana! or “It is dedicated to Krishna”;[21] the Muhammadan, when he begins to eat, says, Bismillah!—“In the name of God!” and when he finishes he says, Al-hamdulillah!—“Praise be to God!” Orthodox Hindus pretend that this offering of food at a meal is a sacrifice to Annadeva, the god of food; but here many varied beliefs, such as fear of fascination, earth and fire worship, appear to combine to establish these and similar practices.

We now come to consider the various articles which are believed to have the power of scaring spirits, and counteracting demoniacal influence of various kinds.

First among these is iron. Why iron has been regarded as a scarer of demons has been much debated. Natives of India will tell you that it is the material out of which weapons are made, and that an armed man should fear nothing. Others say that its virtues depend on its black colour, which, as we shall see, is obnoxious to evil spirits. Mr. Campbell[22] thinks the explanation may be that in all cases of swooning and seizures iron is of great value, either applied in the form of the cautery or used as a lancet to let blood. The real reason is probably a very interesting survival of folk-thought. We know that in many places the stone axe and arrow head of the Age of Stone are invested with magic qualities, and Mr. Macritchie has gone so far as to assume that the various so-called fairy houses and fairy hills which abound in Europe are really the abodes of a primitive pigmy race, which survive to our days as the fairies. The belief in the fairies would thus go back to a time anterior to the use of metals, and these supernatural beings would naturally feel an abhorrence for iron, a new discovery and one of the greatest ever made by man. There is good evidence in custom that the Age of Stone existed in many places up to comparatively modern times. The Hebrews used a stone knife for circumcision, their altars were forbidden to be hewn, and even Solomon ordered that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron should be heard while his Temple was building. The same idea appears in many cases in India. The Magahiya Doms, who are certainly one of the most primitive races in the country, place iron under a stringent taboo, and any Magahiya who breaks into a house with an iron implement is not only put out of caste, but it is believed that some day or other he will lose his eyesight. The Agariyas, the primitive iron smelters of the Central Indian Hills, have deified iron under the form of Lohâsura, as the Kaseras or brass-founders worship brass as Kansâsura.

This idea appears in many various forms. We have already noticed the use of iron as a charm against hail. In the same way a sword or knife is placed in the bed of the young mother. She is, at this crisis of her life, particularly exposed to the influence of evil spirits, as the Scotch fairies are very fond of milk, and try to gratify their desires on “unsained” or unchurched women.[23] There is a case in the Indian Law Reports, where the knife thus placed near the woman was used to murder her.[24] Pliny advises that a piece of iron should be placed in the nest of a sitting hen to save her eggs from the influence of thunder. This is now done in Sicily, with the object of absorbing every noise which might be injurious to the chickens.[25] So, the Indians of Canada put out swords in a storm to frighten off the demon of thunder.[26] The common belief is that the evil spirit is such a fool that he runs against the sharp edge of the weapon and allows himself to be wounded.

The magic sword constantly appears in folk-lore. We have Excalibur and Balmung; in the tales of Somadeva it confers the power of making the wearer fly through the air and renders him invincible; the snake demon obtains from the wars of the Gods and the Asuras the magic sword Vaiduryakanti. “Whatever man obtains that sword will become a chief of the Siddhas and roam about unconquered; and that sword can only be obtained by the aid of heroes.”[27]

While a house is being built, an iron pot, or a pot painted black, which is good enough to scare the demon, is always kept on the works, and when it is finished the young daughter of the owner ties to the lintel a charm, which is also used on other occasions, the principal virtue of which consists in a small iron ring. Here is combined the virtue of the iron and the ring, which is a sacred circle. In India iron rings are constantly worn as an amulet against disease, as in Ireland an iron ring on the fourth finger cures rheumatism. The mourner, during the period of ceremonial impurity, carries a knife or a piece of iron to drive off the ghost of the dead man, and the bridegroom in the marriage procession wears a sword as a protection; if he cannot procure a licence from a magistrate to carry a real sword, he gets one made of lath, which is good enough to frighten the evil spirit. In this case he fastens an iron spike to the point. On the same principle the blacksmith’s anvil is used as a hail charm, and any one who dares to sit on it is likely to be punished for the contempt by an attack of boils. The Romans used to drive large nails into the side posts of the door with the same object. We have already noticed the value of iron nails for the purpose of laying the ghost of the Churel, and such nails are in India very commonly driven into the door-post or into the legs of the bed, with the object of resisting evil spirits. The horse-shoe is one special form of the charm. The wild Irish, we are told, used to hang round the necks of children the beginning of St. John’s Gospel, a crooked nail out of a horse-shoe, or a piece of wolf-skin.[28] Why the horse-shoe should be used in this way has been much debated. Mr. Farrer thinks it may be connected with the respect paid to the horse in folk-lore.[29] The Irish say that the reason is that the horse and ass were in the stall when Christ was born, and hence are blessed for evermore.[30] The idea that its shape connects it with the Yonî and phallicism hardly deserves mention. One thing is clear, that the element of luck largely enters into the matter; the shoe must have been found by chance on the road. Mr. Leland says, “To find and pick up anything, at once converts it into a fetish, or insures that all will go well with it, if we say when taking it up, ‘I do not pick it up,’—naming the object—‘I pick up good luck, which may never abandon me!’”[31] This, combined with the general protective power of iron, is probably a sufficient explanation of the practice. The custom is common in India. The great gate of the mosque at Fatehpur Sîkri is covered with them, and the practice is general at many shrines.

There is also a cycle of legends which connect iron with the philosopher’s stone and transmutation into gold. The great Chandra Varma, who was born of the embraces of Chandrama, the Moon god, possessed the power of converting iron into gold. Laliya, a blacksmith of Ahmadâbâd, made an axe for a Bhîl, who returned and complained that it would not cut. Laliya, on looking at it, found that the blade had been turned into gold. On questioning the Bhîl, he ascertained that he had tried to sharpen it on what turned out to be the philosopher’s stone. Laliya, by possession of the stone, acquired great wealth, and was finally attacked by the king’s troops. At last he was obliged to throw the stone into the Bhadar river, where it still lies, but once some iron chains were let down into the water, and when they touched it the links were converted into gold.[32]