Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism ^\ 



on an offering of food in front of the image. A sheep is sacri- 

 ficed, its blood caught in a broken pot and mixed with rice. This 

 bloody rice is then sprinkled in the four corners of the room. 



The demon doctor now brings a thorn from the mimdlu muvishtu 

 tree,^ a rooster's spur, and two or three nails. He dips all these 

 into the blood and pounds them into the ground around the sacred 

 muggii. This is to prevent any interference with the ceremonies 

 by an evil eye or by another demon. 



After further ceremonies the doctor rubs out the muggu with his 

 hand, thus indicating that the demon has been removed. He then 

 places the image of dough, one lamp, and the head of the sheep, in 

 a pot, and the procession starts for the burying ground." Two 

 men carry this pot and two others follow with the pot containing 

 the bloody rice. After reaching the burying ground, they dig a 

 hole and bury both pots with their contents, performing the usual 

 burying ceremonies. After all is over another bloody naiF is 

 driven into the earth above the buried pots. 



The procession now returns to the house, believing that the de- 

 mon has been left buried. To be certain that it will not again re- 

 turn, the demon doctor now prepares a charm. After bathing and 

 reciting mantrams, he makes a small diagram of nine squares on a 

 a piece of palm leaf. He writes numbers in each square, anoints 

 the whole with saffron, and burns incense before it. He then ties 

 it up with blue and yellow thread into an amulet. 



These amulets are very common among the people. Often they 

 are made into a more permanent form, being placed in a small 

 silver cylinder. Almost all village children wear a small silver 

 image of Hanuman, the monkey god, suspended from a cord 

 around the neck, and on each side of the image of Hanuman 

 will be seen one of the small silver cylinders containing the 

 charm. 



5 Andcrsonia rohifaka, Rox. ii. 213. Also called rohitaka vrukshamu. 



^ The usual Indian burying ground is simply a piece of waste land outside 

 the village. It is unfrequented except from necessity, as it is supposed to 

 be inhabitated by ghosts. There is no order in the arrangement of the 

 graves, and it is unusual to mark them in any way. Burying is often care- 

 lessly done and jackals and other animals disinter the bodies. It is alto- 

 gether a gruesome place. 



'^ Iron is one of the best charms against evil spirits. 



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