180 THE LATE REV. P. DEHON ON 



piece of gourd, a blade of grass and a pice. He makes a small bundle of these which 

 he ties with a long piece of cotton thread. Another man is called to hold these in his- 

 hands, but lest the sickness should pass into his arm, his wrists are bound, not only with 

 a rope but with mantras. Whilst the jharna is going on the man, holding the bundle 

 both his hands, sits in front of the patient. Then after long mantras and incantations the 

 langhan is at last induced to pass into the bundle and with the greatest precautions carried 

 away from the house. They choose a small path which is not much frequented, place a. 

 peg on one side and the bundle on the other, and tie both together with a small string 

 crossing the path. Anyone touching the string with his foot is bound to get the 

 langhan. 



Whitlow. — They think the disease is brought on by the bite of either a lizard, a fish 

 called gorai, a praying mantis or a grasshopper. To cure this the nagmotia puts on the 

 ground four clods of earth representing these four animals or insects. The patient is 

 made to sit in front of these, at a distance of two feet, with his hand fiat on the ground 

 and his ringers stretched out. A stone is put on the hand and the jharna begins. After 

 the necessary mantras and incantations the sick-finger is irresistibly drawn to one of the 

 clods of the earth. They say that the disease, before going away, wants the sacrifice of 

 the animal represented by that clod of earth. Very few nagmotias have magnetic power 

 enough to bring this about 



Judu lagana — As has been said before, it is firmly believed that an ojha with his. 

 mantras can make a bhut sit, as they put it, wherever he likes, and a bhut sticks like a leech 

 to the blood that has been offered to him in sacrifice. When, therefore, anyone bears a 

 grudge against someone else, and wants to take his revenge, recourse is had to the ojha 

 who is asked to make a bhut sit (baithana) either on one of those small things which the 

 women stick on their forehead, and which look like wafers, or on a pice or on a singhi. 

 The man to whose possession that pice passes is sure to be possessed by the bhut that- 

 has been made to sit on it. 



The wafer is used when there is a crowd, as on a bazar day. The victim is spotted- 

 among the crowd, and, in passing, the wafer is attached to his clothes. This is a very 

 dangerous trick, as the victim, on seeing the wafer sticking to his clothes, thinks that he is 

 done for, and gets in such a fright that he at once becomes ill. The singhi is used to put- 

 in new houses either inside the mud walls or below the floor. This practice is so common 

 that the people, when building a new house, watch it day and night until it is completed 

 to prevent their enemies from sticking a si?ighi in the walls. This they dread above every 

 thing, as they believe that a singhi in a house is a continual source of misfortunes. There 

 is, of course, a remedy. When, after a series of misfortunes, for which they cannot account, 

 the ojha declares that there is a singhi buried in the house, and the ceremony called singhi 

 nikalna is performed. They call in the chief ojhas of the place who practise the ghosna 

 for several days and then pretend to find the singhi. But this is only a fraud. The 

 ojhas first bury the singhi and then pretend it is by their mantras they have found it. 

 The ojha who finds it is given either a bullock or a cow. 



The Uraons, like all other aborigines, are very superstitious. It would be tedious- 

 to record here all their superstitions, but a few examples may be given : 



