222 '• STATISTICAL SKETCH 



perambulates the villages in the vicinity of his residence. Though invisible to 

 the eye, his approach is indicated by the clattering of his massive courser : he 

 molests only females : should he, in his excursions, fall in with, and take a fan- 

 cy to any woman, her fate is assured : from that moment she is haunted by 

 him incessantly in her dreams, and gradually wasting away, she falls eventu- 

 ally a victim to his passion. Such is the ancient belief regarding Rmiia, and 

 an infatuated conviction of having become the object of his choice, is not 

 uncommonly attended with a fatal termination. 



The power of occasioning sickness, and even death, by means of incan= 

 tations, Ghat, is ascribed to those skilled in witchcraft. The Bogsa, or 

 Sorcerer, is further supposed to be capable of assuming the form of a wild 

 beast, (as the man- wolf of Germany,) for the purpose of destroying his 

 enemies. An old man residing near Srhiagar, and practising as a physician, 

 is a most notorious Bogsa, and is believed by his neighbours to be not 

 less than two hundred years old : the reputation of having devoured many in- 

 dividuals, under the form of a tiger, cost him the loss of his teeth, many 

 of which were extracted, by orders of the then R-ya, to render him less 

 formidable in his future metamorphoses. 



The evil eye has its effects here, as elsewhere, and many cases of sick- 

 ness are ascribed to its operation. In Gerhwal, a peculiar superstition exists, 

 which ascribes to inanimate objects the same effects as the evil eye. This is 

 called Bed,h Hona, literally " becoming a mark to ;" as where a new house, 

 from being built on an eminence^ or from its superior height, becomes a pro- 

 minent object to, and overlooks other houses, the latter, in respect to it, are 

 said to be Bedji Luga, or " struck," and the sickness or death of the in- 

 mates can only be prevented by the lowering or total removal of the obnoxious 

 building. This prejudice has no connexion with the jealous feelings regarding 

 privacy, common to the east, as similar effects are ascribed to houses, and even 



