224 ~=Journ. of the Asiat. Soc. of Bengal. [July & Aug., 1915. 
on the said nut. But zoologically speaking, there is no poison 
ous lizard found in India or the adjoining countries. It is 
only in Mexico that a poisonous lizard, known to the zoologists 
as Heloderma suspectum, exists. 
(c) Rama is invoked in the foregoing cure-charm because 
he is believed by the Hindus of Bengal to be a friend of the bear 
whose hair is worn, enclosed in an amulet, as a charm against 
attacks of fever. 
(d) The goddess Chandik& is an incarnation of the got- 
dess Durga or Devi whose victories over the demons or Asuras 
are narrated in the Chandi Mahatmya which forms a part and 
parcel of the Markandeya Purana. She is supposed to preside 
over spells and incantations. Hence the invocation to her. 
She has been invoked as ‘‘ the goddess Kalika (Chandika) of the 
”” because it is believed to be the favourite abode 
superstitious, between the cross-roads on the one hand and the 
gods and the malignant spirits on the other. Among the deities 
of the Hindu Pantheon, Rudra is one who made his dwelling 
place on the cross-roads and to propitiate whom offerings at the 
yearly sacrifices were generally taken to the latter place. Sim: 
larly those who are suffering from disease, are advised by the 
practitioners of folk-medicine to go naked to the cross-roads, 
make an offering of rice, recite some mantrams, and thet 
return without looking back. : 
_We further know from the evidence of folk-tales that, it 
ancient times in India, expiatory sacrifices were offered to the 
goddess Chandika for saving the life of a king. : 
hose who are interested in the study of folk-medidill? 
and jackals used invariably to resort to Gondalpara for re 
going this well-known method of treatment. The mode 
1 Vide my paper on The Bear ° Se See e s ual in the 
: in Asiatic and American Rit 
Bombay Anthropological Society’s Journal, Vol. VII, page 478- 
