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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
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because the ancient Hindus have very curious names - apparently nicknames. Thus we find already in the Védas three men, called Sunaḥsepa, Sunaḥpuccha and Sunolângûla, i. e., "Dog's-tail," and Sunaka or "Little-Dog" is the progenitor of a very numerous race. Again a Kharijangha or "She-Ass'-Leg" is, according to a Gana in Pânini's Grammar, likewise the father of a tribe or family.26
March 31st, 1895.
316
NOTES ON THE SPIRIT BASIS OF BELIEF AND CUSTOM. BY J. M. CAMPBELL, C.I.E., I.C.S.
(Continued from p. 298.)
Lime. Spirits fear lime perhaps because lime is an early medicine. In Gujarat, lime is valued as a medicine by native physicians, and is considered a cure for colic. Amir Ali, the Thag, allowed a woman to put quicklime on his temples to cure a headache. The Ratnagiri Marathas, after bleeding, use lime and molasses to staunch the blood.3 Hindus eat lime with betelnut and leaves to quicken digestion. In Dharwâr, if much blood passes from flooding, some cement from an old building is finely ground and mixed in water. The mixture is kept in a pot for some hours, until the heavier parts are deposited at the bottom. The clear water on the top is then given to the woman to drink, and in two or three days the flood stops.5 The Dakhan Chitpâvans, at their weddings, touch the grindstone with lime in five places. In Gujarât, a woman in child-bed is sometimes surrounded by a line of white-wash. The Chino-Japanese spread on the coffin a layer of lime, sand and red-earth mixed with water or beer.8 Compare, in a fatal case of cholera the coffin should be lined with chloride of lime. The Velâlîs, a class of Poona Vaisyas, at their weddings, when they go to the boy's house, wave round the girl a plate filled with water, turmeric, and lime.10 Lime is used in preparing the sect mark of the Gôkalasthas, Saivas and Sâktas.11 The Motus of new Guinea use lime in chewing betelnut, 13 and the Chibchas of Central America eat the cocoa-leaf with earth like lime.13
[NOVEMBER, 1895.
Lifting. The object of lifting appears to be to lessen the risk of spirits entering the person lifted. So among the Pâtânê Prabhus of Bombay, when the bridegroom is bathed, his maternal uncle, throwing a cotton sheet over him, lifts him shoulder high and sits with him on the threshold, where four married women hold a shawl over the bridegroom's head and thrice drop rice into the shawl.14 Among the Pâvrâs of Khandesh, as soon as the wedding is over, the married pair are raised on the shoulders of their friends, with dancing and music.15 The Kâmâthis of Thana raise the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders and dance,16 The Nakrî Kûnbis of Thânâ lift the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders, and dance keeping time to music.17 The Sagar Gavandis, a class of Shôlâpur masons, lift the boy and girl and dance.18 As soon as the wedding is celebrated the Khonds dance, taking the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders.19 The Oraons carry the bride and bridegroom and set them on a curry stone.20 At the crowning
28 [For a discussion on opprobious names in modern India and the reasons for giving them to children, see my Dissertation on the Proper Names of Panjabis, 1883, p. 22 ff.; and on nicknames, p. 32 ff. Opprobrious names are nowadays given, roughly speaking, to scare away harmful spirits, and it appears to me to be likely that this custom, which we now find existing universally among the modern Indian peasants, has a history stretching back to Vedic times. ED.]
1 Information from Mr. Himatial. Information from Mr. P. B. Joshi. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XVIII. p. 124. Titsingh's Japan, p. 255.
* Confessions of a Thug, p. 119. 3 Information from the peon Bâbâji.
• Information from Mr. Tirmalrão. Information from Mr. Vaikuntram.
Student's Encyclopædia, Article "Small Pox."
11 Colebrooke's Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. I. p. 199.
13 Descriptive Sociology, Vol. II. p. 35.
18 Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. XII. p. 98.
10 Op. cit. Vol. XVIII, p. 258.
12 Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Vol. VII. p. 493.
14 K. Raghunath's Pâtâne Prabhus, p. 32.
16 Op. cit. Vol. XIII. p. 121.
19 Carmichael's Vizagapattam, p. 93.
17 Op. cit. Vol. XIII. p. 129.
18 Op. cit. Vol. XX. p. 99. 20 Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, pp. 252, 253.
