246 THE SUPERINTENDENT OP ETHNOGRAPHY, BENGAL, ON 



give evil spirits an opportunity of alighting. 1 A fire is also kept burning inside the 

 room until the Nikasan ceremony has been performed. The child's head and feet are 

 touched with various substances, such as raisins, sulphur, mustard, salt, chillies, turmeric, 

 celery seed, cakes of chaff or cowdung mixed with oil (oil is particularly hateful to evil 

 spirits), be I fruit, scorpions, snake skins, bones, pig's dung (to keep off Yogini), and 

 women's hair, which are then burned, so that the fumes may be inhaled by the child. 

 The mother must keep a piece of iron with her throughout the time, and must not get 

 out of bed without it. A pot of ashes, spotted with lime, a broomstick, preferably one 

 from the burning-ghat, a torn shoe, clay, reeds, straw, garlic, aich [Morinda citrifolia), 

 bach (Flacourtia ramontehi), and birsing {Erythrina indica) plants, deer's horns, a bag 

 of mustard-seed, boiled paddy, aromatic leaves, knives, spears, sickles, nut-crackers, or 

 the skull of a cow with the horns plastered with cowdung, vermilion and cowries, are 

 placed on, near or under the child's bed. The Kols plant an arrow with an iron head 

 pointing upwards near the babe's head, and leave it there for seven days. The Tamarias 

 put a twig of the castor-plant under the pillow. The Kurmis of Singhbhum use a 

 Kajalta 3 in a similar manner. Tigers' or leopards' claws attached to silver, copper or 

 astadhatu, crocodiles' teeth, twisted conch shells, pice or half pice, bits of broomsticks, 

 ritha seeds (Sapindus mukorossi) consecrated pieces of blue or white thread or jute, coral 

 (to avert the evil eye), a ring from a scorpion's tail, or a manusyamani, 3 are tied round the 

 child's waist according to the directions of the exorcist (who of course prescribes what is 

 to be done throughout), or roots and mantras on paper or palm leaves are attached to its 

 right arm or its neck. A favourite device is to fasten an iron ring round its left arm or 

 leg. Iron which has been used as prisoners' fetters is particularly desirable for this pur- 

 pose. A piece of rag torn from the cloth of a maternal uncle is sometimes wrapped 

 round the child's body, and lamp-black is applied to its forehead and eyelids, the palms 

 of its hands and the soles of its feet. The children of women whose other children have 

 been stillborn or have died shortly after birth are made to wear a maduli containing a 

 stone of an Antra (Spondias dulcis) fruit, plucked whilst the tree is in flower, and encased 

 in copper or gold. The flabby portion of the child's left ear is sometimes slit, or the left 

 nostril is slit or punctured. Should the child be attacked by cramp, it is touched 

 by a boy who has had it and recovered, or a partridge is put in the room and guns fired 

 outside it. Murttidkara, a disease in which the child changes colour rapidly from black 

 to red and white and back again, is regarded as the result of possession and is treated 

 by amulets which contain mantras. Weakness of children in the absence of any ap- 

 parent disease is transferred to others in the same way as barrenness. 



If the child is attacked by an epidemic, the exorcist blows upon it and recites 

 mantras. It is made to touch an earthen pot full of curry and rice and garlanded with 

 red flowers, which is then left at cross-roads outside the village. 



1 A similar superstition is observed at Hindu marriages. If anybody touches the roof or leans against the wall whilst the 

 bride is being turned round the bridegroom, it is believed that the pair will quarrel all their lives. 



2 A Kajalta is a spoon-shaped article on which soot is made to form by smearing mustard-oil upon it and holding it in the 

 flame of a lamp. The soot is used as an ointment for the child's eyes. 



3 A piece of pale-brown bone of the shape and size of a blackberry, which is said to rarely develop in the forehead of a fortu- 

 nate man. It shoots off with some force from the body when it is being cremated. 



