<5S 



CHAPTER V. 



Hooniyan Charms. 



Codiwina or Hooniyan is the name given to evils of whatever 

 kind inflicted by the agency of charms. Hence the charms which 

 cause these have been denominated Hooniyan charms. There are 

 said to be 84000 of these, of every degree of malignity, most of 

 which more or less contribute to bring to an untimely death the 

 man affected by their influence, though that event may be deferred 

 for many years. Some Hooniyan charms have the effect of filling 

 a house or garden with so many demons, that the owner finds it 

 difficult to pass even a single night in the house, but if he take 

 heart to do so, it is most probable that he and his family will fall 

 sick, one after another, as if attacked by some contagious disease: 

 others frighten him by hideous night dreams, or by sudden appari- 

 tions, even in broad daylight, of large black dogs trying to bite him, 

 or of ugly monkeys grinning at him,* but who vanish the next 

 moment from his sight. 



Whatever may be the nature of the disease brought on a man by 

 Hooniyan charms, that disease always resists every attempt to cure 

 it by medicine, and invariably results in the death of the man, 

 unless other remedies be applied in time, viz., those which charms 

 alone afford. For although there are gods and god-worship (ca- 

 puism), and Buddhistical Pirit and Pirit Noolfi that hold out to 

 their votaries every protection against demons, and although these 

 gods are beings immeasurably superior to the demons in power, 



* These superstitions about demons assuming the disguise of monkeys to 

 frighten men seems to have been current in the time of Shakespeare. 



Caliban — " His spirits hear me 



" Sometimes like apes, that mow and chatter at me — 

 Tempest Act II. Scene II. 

 f Pirit is a certain Buddhist ceremony performed for the purpose of remov- 

 ing all sorts of demon influence; and Pirit Nool is a thread consecrated by that 

 ceremony, and used as an amulet for the same purpose. 



