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MAY, 1895.]
SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM.
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Breath.
The guardian's breath scares flends. In the Kônkan, when a child is bewitched, the exorcist rubs ashes on the child's forehead and blows into his ears.36 Among the Roman Catholic Christians of Thânâ, when a child is brought to the priest to be baptized, in order to drive the devil, or Inbred Sin, out of the child, and make him give place to the Holy Spirit, the priest thrice breathes upon the face of the child, saying "Exi ab eo, Go out of him."37 Kanphunkné, or ear-blowing, is a great ceremony among the Mhârs of Thânâ. The persons, whose children are to be initiated, invite caste fellows to the ceremony, and taking with them their children and camphor, incense, red powder, sugar and flowers, they go to their guru's or teacher's, house. The ceremony takes place at about eight at night. The teacher, sitting cross-legged on a wooden stool, worships his sacred book, and the whole company praise the gods with songs and music. The parents bring their children to the guru, and he, taking each child on his lap, breathes into both ears, and matters some mystic words into the right ear.38 The Kôrvi fortune-teller of Belgaum, when she is going to charm a female patient, covers the patient's head with her robe, and breathes on her eyes and into her ears.39 Among the Roman Catholic Christians of Kânara, at the time of Baptism, the priest breathes three times into the child's mouth to drive out the evil spirit and make room for the Holy Ghost.40 In 1624 the Lâmas of Tibet cured the sick by blowing on them.41 On the Thursday before Good Friday, the Bishop and twelve priests breathe over sacred oil. The Russian priest blows on the child's face before Baptism.13
Brooms. The béréśmá, or Pârsî besom, has special power over spirits. In the Kônkan, on the first of Kartik (October-November), called Baliraj, or the day of Bali, the ruler of the under-world, spirits are swept out of a Hindu house, and the sweepings are thrown into the sea. In Thânâ some old Hindu women, to cure a child affected by the Evil Eye, wave salt and water round its face, and strike the ground with a broom three times.45 Similarly among the Beni-Isra'ils of Bombay, when the midwife drives off the blast of the Evil Eye, she holds in her left hand a shoe, a winnowing fan, and a broom.48 To scare a demon out of a person, the Shânârs of Tinnevelly apply a slipper, or a broom, to the shoulders of the possessed.47 In Calabar, in West Africa, once in every three years, spirits are swept out of the village.48 On the other hand, the negroes of the Congo River, about 600 miles south of Calabar, after a death, do not sweep the house for a whole year, lest they should sweep out the ghost." For the same reason, the people of Tongking do not sweep their houses during the days when the spirits come to pay their yearly visit.50 So, too, the Romans used brooms, called ex verra, to sweep the house after a death,51 and at the Palilia (April 21) the stables were swept with a laurel broom. This, and the spirit's fear of a cane or rod, seem to be the reasons why in the Middle Ages European witches rode on broomsticks. The spirits of the air were afraid. and carried the witches wherever they wished to go. In England, spirits were believed to fear brooms. So we find in Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 254:-"Pales were filled, and hearths were swept against fairy elves and sprites."
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Canes. In fits, in swoons, and in seizures, beating with a cane restores the patient to consciousness; that is, beating puts to flight the spirit which has caused the disease or sickness. The cane is in Sanskrit called yogidanda, the ascetic's rod, and a decoction of its root was believed to remove bile caused by evil spirits.52 In the East Dekhan, the medium draws a circle round the possessed person with a cane, and when the medium threatens the spirit he holds a cane in his hand. The Ratnagiri Marâthâs say that when a person is struck with an
87 Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XIII. p. 210. 40 Op. cit. Vol. XV. p. 388.
36 From MS. notes. 39 Op. cit. Vol. XXI. p. 171. 42 Chambers's Book of Days, Vol. I. p. 412.
43 Mrs. Romanoff's Rites and Customs of the Greco-Russian Church, p. 68.
Bleek's Khordah Avesta, Vol. I. p. 64.
46 Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XVIII. p. 526.
48 Tylor's Primitive Culture, Vol. II. p. 176. 50 Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 455.
38 Op. cit. Vol. XIII. p. 194.
41 Kerr's Voyages, Vol. VII. p. 15.
45 Information from Mr. P. B. Joshi.
47 Caldwell in Balfour's Encyclopædia, article, Funeralia, Hindus. 49 Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 455. 51 Smith's Greek and Roman Antiquities. 62 Narsinha's Nighantaraj, p. 65.
