52 



SPELLS OR CHARMS 



the word Eswah, which is a corruption of the Sanscrit term Swaha, 

 corresponding in meaning to Amen* 



The Charms or Mantra, as they are called, are generally in 

 Sanscrit, Tamil, or Singhalese, but a few are written in other lan- 

 guages, such as Arabic, Persian, Telugu, Malayalim, Bengali, and 

 others. Sometimes in one charm a mixture of many of these 

 languages is used. Sometimes no language seems to have been 

 used. In this last case, instead of any intelligible language, there 

 seems to be a collection of barbarous sounds without meaning. 

 Whether this is the Paisachi, which Colebrooke represents the 

 Hindoo dramatists making their demons speak on the stage, we are 

 not able to say.f It is however probable, that much of what now 

 seems to be no better than gibberish may at one time have been an 

 intelligible language, which, through its transmission from one 

 illiterate Cattadiya to another, through being transcribed from one 

 Ola into another by men not well acquainted even with their own 

 language, and from the peculiar pronunciation used in the recitation 

 of a charm, may have become so far distorted and changed from 

 what it was, as to be reduced to its present condition. We fear 

 we cannot give any correct idea of this peculiar pronunciation; 

 it consists in a very rapid utterance, in which guttural and nasal 

 sounds principally predominate, rendering for the moment even the 

 plainest of Singhalese charms quite an unintelligible jargon; and 

 to aggravate the evil still more, the recitation of a charm is 

 generally performed in a low under tone of voice, scarcely audible 

 to any one.J 



* Swaha is also a term, indicative of a certain Fire-Offering made to the 

 god of fire, alluded to in Sanscrit works. The wife of the god of fire is called 

 Swahache Hoctabukpria Amara Cosa. 



| Asiatic Researches Vol. VII. p. 199. quoted also by Turner, in his Intro- 

 duction to the Mahawanso. 



| One of the most remarkable facts, connected with Sorcery or Magic, is, that 

 in all countries and ages of the world, where the Black Arts have ever been 

 cultivated, the incantations to evil spirits have always been pronounced in a 

 low muttering voice, as is still the practice both here, and in continental Asia 

 and Africa. 



