(10) If the illness be due to the influence of the evil eye of a woman, she is called in and asked to pass her hand over the child’s head.[19]
(11) In order to avoid the effects of the evil eye, when a child returns home from an outside visit, a bowl filled with water is passed thrice round its head and emptied outside the house before it crosses the threshold of the house.[20]
(12) The grains of Adad, twigs of the Thor (Euphoria nerifolia), salt and dust are passed seven times round the head of a person suffering from the effects of an evil eye, on the threshold of the house, and thrown away.[21]
(13) Grains of Adad, twigs of the Thor, salt, an iron nail and charcoal are put into an unused earthen pot and taken to the village boundary with a bowl filled with water. The person carrying the pot and bowl should not look behind either on his way to, or on his return from, the village boundary. The pot is placed on the village boundary, and water is poured over it seven times from the bowl.[22]
(14) A loaf baked on one side, with seven grains of Adad, seven grains of salt and seven cotton seeds placed over it, is passed seven times round the patient’s head and placed on a spot where two roads cross one another. The person carrying the bread should not look behind while carrying it.[23]
Those whose children do not live, or die in infancy, or who get children with difficulty, give them opprobrious names, as it is believed that objects so named, being considered of no value, are left unharmed both by men and by gods.[24]
Some people believe that children so named are considered impure by Fate or Destiny, and consequently not molested by her.[25]
It is believed by some that, as good names attract attention, giving opprobrious names averts the danger of the evil eye.[26]
Some people throw a newly-born child on a dung-hill and take it back, saying that they found it on the dung-hill, with the belief that a child of such low origin cannot be snatched away from them by Fate. Such children are named Punjio, Unkardo or Kacharo meaning ‘dung-hill.’
Some children are named Khoto, Amatho or Jutho, all meaning ‘false’, with the belief that children so named are considered to belong to gods or Fate, and hence cannot be taken away from their parents by the god of death.