Instruction in Witchcraft.
Writing of Italy, Mr. Leland says:[12]—“Among the priestesses of the hidden spell, an elder dame has usually in hand some younger girl, whom she instructs, firstly, in the art of bewitching or injuring enemies, and secondly, in the more important processes of annulling or unbinding the spells of others, or causing mutual love or conferring luck.”
So, among the Agariyas of Bengal, there are old women, professors of witchcraft, who stealthily instruct the young girls. “The latter are all eager to be taught, and are not considered proficient till a fine forest tree selected to be experimented on is destroyed by the potency of their charms; so that the wife a man takes to his bosom has probably done her tree, and is confident in the belief that she can, if she pleases, dispose of her husband in the same manner, if he makes himself obnoxious.”[13]
So, in Bombay, when a Guru, or teacher, wishes to initiate a candidate into the mysteries of the Black Art, he directs the candidate to watch a favourable opportunity for the commencement of the study, the opportunity being the death of a woman in childbirth. As soon as this event takes place, the candidate is instructed what to do. He watches the procession as the dead is being taken to the burning or burial ground, and takes care to see who the bearers are. He then takes a small tin box in his hand, and picking up a pinch of the earth out of the hind footsteps of the two rear bearers, he keeps the earth in the tin box. Then he watches where the dead body is being burnt, and goes home.
“Next day he goes to the spot, and taking a little of the ashes of the corpse, puts it in the tin box. Subsequently, on a suitable day, that is on a new moon or on an eclipse day, he goes to the burning ground at midnight, and taking off his clothes, he sits on the ground, and placing the tin box in front of him, lights a little incense, and repeats the incantations taught to him by his guru or teacher. When he has practised the repetition of the incantations, the spirit Hadal becomes subject to his control, and by her help he becomes able to annoy any one he pleases.
“Among the troubles which the witch or magician brings upon his enemies, the following are said to be the most common in the Dakkhin as well as in the Konkan. The witch causes star-shaped or cross-like marks of marking-nuts on the body of the person she has a grudge against. The peculiarity of these marks is that they appear in numbers in different parts of the body, and as suddenly disappear. The other troubles are the drying-up of the milk of milch cattle, or turning the milk into blood; stopping or retarding the growth of the foetus in cattle, and turning them into moles; stealing grain or other field produce from the farm-yards of the victim; letting loose wolves, jackals, or rats into the victim’s field; pricking needles or thorns into the victim’s eyes or body; applying turmeric to the eyes of a female victim, or putting lampblack into her eyes; or tearing the open end of her robe; and causing death to an enemy by means of a method of the Black Art, called Mûth, literally ‘a handful.’
“The Mûth generally consists of a handful of rice or Urad pulse (Phaseolus radiatus) charmed and sent by the witch against her enemy through the agency of the familiar spirit. It is likened to a shock of electricity sudden and sharp, which strikes in the centre of the heart, causes vomiting and spitting of blood, and may, if not warded against, end in the death of the victim. Practised experts pretend to see the Mûth rolling through the air, like a red-hot ball, and say that they can avert its evil consequences in two ways—either by satiating it, which is done so as to cause a little bleeding, and allowing the blood to drop on a charmed lemon, which is afterwards cut and thrown into a river; or by reversing its action and sending it back to the person who issued it, which is done by charging a lemon and throwing it in the direction whence the Mûth has been seen to come. The operation of a Mûth is most dreaded in many parts of Bombay, and especially in the Konkan. Cases of sudden illness, blood vomiting, or sudden death are frequently attributed to the agency of a Mûth or charmed handful of rice or pulse sent by an enemy.”[14]
We have here examples of the dread of the woman dying at her confinement, which we have already noticed in the case of the Churel, and the nudity charm is also familiar.