EYE AGATES
Used as charms against the Evil Eye. East Indian.
Thou shalt wrap up a shubu-stone in white wool, and hang it on a white woollen cord, with four eye-stones (enâti) and four parê, and bind it to thy right hand.
A black ka-stone shalt thou enwrap in black wool, hang it on a black woollen cord, provide it with three eye-stones and three parê, and bind it to thy left hand.
Thou shalt wrap a white ka-stone in red wool, hang it on a red woollen cord, with four eye-stones and four parê, and bind it to the right foot.
An appu-stone shalt thou wrap up in blue wool, hang it on a blue woollen cord, furnish it with three eye-stones and three parê, and bind it to the left foot.
Seven eye-stones and seven parê shalt thou string on a black cord.
The enâti (eye-stones) here mentioned were most probably eye-agates similar to those still prized in the Mesapotamian region for their supposed magical virtues, and more especially for protection against the Evil Eye. There is, indeed, a bare possibility that some form of the cat’s-eye (known by that name to the Arabs) or one of the star-stones may occasionally be signified by this Assyrian name. The word parê, as it is not preceded by the determinative character signifying stone, may refer to some other material.
An immediate association of an animal eye with a turquoise, an example of the sympathetic magic to which we have frequently alluded, comes from Persia. During the celebration of the imposing ceremonies attending the great annual assemblage of pilgrims at the shrine of Mecca, it is customary to slaughter an immense number of sheep, and certain of the Persian pilgrims will secure possession of some of the eyes of their sacrificial victims, and will embed turquoises in them, firmly believing that in this way they have composed an infallible amulet against the Evil Eye.[[562]]
A Persian manuscript of a work entitled “Nozhat Namah Ellaiy,” written in the eleventh century by Schem Eddin, the transcription being dated 1304, asserts that the turquoise (piruzeh), though lacking in brilliancy, was esteemed to be a stone of good omen, and one that would bring good luck, since this was indicated by its name, signifying in Persian, “the Victorious.”[[563]]