The Mouth.
As might have been expected, Bhûts are very fond of entering by the mouth. Hence arise much of the mouth-washing which is part of the daily ritual of the Hindu, and many of the elaborate precautions which he takes at meals. This will be referred to again in connection with the Evil Eye.
Yawning.
Hence it is very dangerous to yawn, as two kinds of danger are to be apprehended—either a Bhût may go down your throat, or part of your soul may escape, and you will be hard set to recover it. So if you chance to yawn, you should put your hand to your mouth and say Nârâyan—“Great God!” afterwards, or you should crack your fingers, which scares the evil spirit. This idea is the common property of folk-lore.[18]
Sneezing.
So, sneezing is due to demoniacal influence, but opinions differ as to whether it is caused by a Bhût entering or leaving the nose. The latter view is generally taken by Musalmâns, because it is one of the traditions of the Prophet that the nose should be washed out with water, as the devil resides in it during the night. The sneezing superstition in India is at least as old as the Buddhist Jâtakas, where we have a remarkable tale about it, which describes how the future Buddha and his father Gagga went to pass the night in a place haunted by a Yakkha, or Yaksha, and were very near being devoured by him because they did not say the spell “Live!” when they sneezed.[19]
So, in Somadeva’s tale of Sulochana and Sushena, the spirit of the air says, “When he enters into his private apartments, he shall sneeze a hundred times; and if some one there does not say to him a hundred times, ‘God bless you,’ he shall fall into the grasp of death.”[20] It is needless to say that the same belief prevails in Europe. As Dr. Tylor says, “Even the Emperor Tiberius, that saddest of men, exacted this observance.” According to the Muhammadan rule, if a person sneezes and then says immediately afterwards, Al-hamdu li’llah, “God be praised,” it is incumbent upon at least one of the party to reply, Yarhamu-ka ’llah, just as among the Jews the sneezing formula was Tobkin Khayim, “Good life!”
On the whole, sneezing is considered auspicious, because it implies the expulsion of a Bhût. As a general rule, if a person sneezes when another is beginning some work, the latter stops for a while, and then begins afresh; if there be two sneezes in succession, there is no necessity for interruption. If a man sneezes behind the back of another, the back of the latter is slightly pinched. In Bombay, if a man sneezes during a meal, one of the party calls on him to name his birthplace.[21] The threshold in the folk-lore of all nations is regarded as a sacred place. It is here, according to the Scotch and Irish belief, that the house fairies reside. Sitting on the threshold is believed by Indian matrons likely to produce boils in children in that part of the body which touches it, and it is thought most unlucky to sneeze on the threshold. On the whole, one sneeze is ominous, while after two work may be commenced with safety. So it was in the days of Homer—“Even so she spoke, and Telemachus sneezed loudly, and around the roof rang wondrously, and Penelope laughed, and straightway spoke Eumœus winged words, ‘Go! call me the stranger, even so into my presence. Dost thou not mark how my son has sneezed a blessing on all my words?’”[22]