Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/22

14 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [January, 1873. the presence in a person of one of these demons vary in almost every case. One woman de¬ scribed what took place in this way. She was returning, she said, by herself, from her father’s house to her own village, when there came a Budden violent gust of wind: she got afraid and the demon that moment entered into her. After this she constantly had miscarriages. One night she saw in a dream the demon sitting by her, in form like a human being clad in a dark kamli, who reproached her with having left it so long hungry, and told her that in consequence of her neglect it had destroyed her children. In other cases the presence of the demon is shown by unaccountable illness and sometimes by deli¬ rium. When a person is thus affected, the first thing done is to send for a Bhopa or witchfinder. This is generally a Koli, a Wagri, or a Rawalio, and he almost invariably comes accompanied by a comrade who plays a peculiar kind of drum called the ddkla during the incantations. The Bhopa, as a rule, commences by enquiring into all the particulars of the case, and does not fail to ask whether there is any person who has had a quarrel with the sufferer, and who may be sup¬ posed either to have cast the evil eye on or otherwise bewitched the patient. The subse¬ quent proceedings vary according to the exigen¬ cies of the case and the habits and wants of the Bhopa. Sometimes a d 6 r d 6 or knotted silk cord of five colours is fastened on the patient’s arm, and balls called 1 a d u s, and in shape like the sweetmeat of that name, are made, a blazing cotton wick being placed among them. These are then waved solemnly round the head of the bewitched person and are afterwards placed out¬ side the village, the theory being that the demon will leave the person and go out to eat the 1 a d u s. At other times a goat has its throat cut in presence of the sufferer, the Deva being supposed to drink the blood while the flesh becomes the perquisite of the operators. In other cases a cocoa-nut is placed in the name of, and to represent God, and near it are placed a lota with a copper coin in it, some grain, and a brass saucer containing a lighted wick. The d a k 1 a is then played continuously and mono¬ tonously, the demon being loudly called on to declare itself, and the patient after a time gets tremendously excited, rocks violently to and fro with a measured motion (an action for which Gujarati provides a technical term—^^j^*),and at last speaks in a hollow voice announcing him¬ self or herself to be such and such a demon, who has been induced by others or has spontaneously entered into the sufferer, and who is only to be got rid of by certain ceremonies. Where no one is suspected of having bewitched the patient a cure frequently follows the per¬ formance of the prescribed ceremonies; and if it does not, a complaint is sometimes brought against.the Bhopa for breach of contract I A favourite and most efficacious remedy is immer¬ sion in the water of the river at Samlaji in Mahi Kan$a. When the annual fair at this place is going on, crowds of patients may be seen on the banks of the river in the morning rocking convulsively to and fro with the peculiar motion described above. They are then taken by their friends into the water, which at that season is icy cold, the demon is taunted and abused, and after several immersions the patients are brought to the bank invariably breathless and often cured. Should, however, any one be accused of having bewitched the sufferer, the consequences are often very serious, the death or mutilation of the accused sometimes resulting. Cases have been known of a reputed witch being burnt alive on the pyre with her sopposed victim; and witches sometimes have their eyes burnt out or otherwise destroyed to prevent their casting the evil eye on other unfortunates. PAPERS ON SATRUNJAYA, &c. Bt the editor. I.—Kdthidwdd and the Jainas. The peninsula of Kathiawad, or Surashtra, in Gujarat, is the Holy land of Western India. Among its sacred places Mount Girnar, the ancient Ujjayauta, must have been at a very early period a place revered by the Buddhists, who founded their monasteries on its summits, whilst their great patron Asoka—‘ the beloved of the gods*—engraved his celebrated edict of mercy and toleration on the rock at its foot. Somanath, on the south-west coast, where tradition says Krishna died, waB the site of the temple of SomeSwar, ‘ Lord of the Moon,’ the first of the