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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1898.
The teacher teaches him the mantras or incantations, which lo commits to memory. An ochrecoloured flag is tied to a staff in front of the temple, and the teacher and the candidato return to their homes. After this, on the first new moon which falls on a Saturlay, the teacher and the candidate go together out of the village to a place previously marked out by them on the boundary of the village. A servant accompanies them, who takes in a bag of wil, or Phaseolus ralliatus, oil, seven earthen lamps, lemons, cocoanuts, and red powder. After coming to the spot the teacher and the candidate bath, and then the teacher goes to the temple of Maruti, and sits praying to the god for the safety of the candidate. The candidate, who has been instructed what is to be done, starts for the boundary of the next village accompanied by the servant. On reaching the village boundary he picks up seven pebbles, sets them in a line on the road, and after lighting a lamp near them he worships them with flowers, red powder, and Phaseolus railiatns. Incense is burnt, and a cocoanut is broken near the pebbles, which represent Vêtål and his lieutenants, and a second cocoanut is broken for the village Maruti. When this is over, the candidate goes to a river, well, or other watering place, bathes, and without wiping his body or putting on dry clothes proceds to the boundary or vesa of the next village. There he repeats the same process as before, and then goes to the boundary of a third village. In this manner he goes to seven villages, in each performing the same ceremonies. All this while he keeps on repeating incantations. After finishing his worship at the seventh village the candidate returns to his village, and going to the temple of Maruti sees his teacher, and tells him what he has done. In this manner having worshipped and propitiated the Vêtals of seven villages he becomes a dé urusí or exorcist. After he has gained the power of exorcism he has to observe certain rules. On every eclipse day he must go to a sea-shore or a river-bank, bathe in cold water, and while standing in the water repeat incantations a number of times. After his daily bath he must neither wring his head-hair nor wipe his body dry. While he is taking his meals he should leave off eating if he hears a woman in her monthly sickness speak, or if a lamp is extinguished. The Mohamedan methods of studying exorcism are different from those of the Hindus. One of them is as follows:- The candidate begins his study under the guidance of his teacher or ustád on the last day of the lunar month, provided it falls on a Tuesday or Sunday, The initiation takes place in a room the walls and floors of which have been plastered with mud, and here and there daubed with sandal paste. On the floor & white sheet is spread, and the candidato, after washing his hands and feet and putting on a new waist cloth or pair of trousers, sits on the sheet. He lights one or two incense sticks, and makes offerings of a white cloth and meat to one of the principal Musalman spirits as Barhena, Hatila, Mehebut, and Suleman, This process is repeated for from fourteen to forty days.
As the course of magical study which a Hindu exorcist is required to follow differs in many points from the Musalmûn training, so the plans and procedure adopted by Hindu exorcists to scare spirits differ much from those adopted by Musalmans. The commoner forms of exorcism practised by Hindus are :-(1) Lemons are held over the fumes of incense, and charmed by repeating incantations over them. They are then kept under the pillow of the possessed person. (2) A small circular copper or silver box is made, and in it are put some charmed ashes, a medical berb, and a paper on which the names of Hindu gods and the name and the mother's name of the possessed and some mystic words are written, and its mouth is closed. The box, called taita, is then tied round the neck if the patient be a female, and round the arm if the patient be a male. (3) The exorcist charms some ashes, and rubs them on the forehead of the person possessed. (4) A fowl or chicken of such colour as the exorcist may require, and of the variety which has its feathers turned upwards, is waved round the possessed person, and is thrown away. In some cases & goat or sheep is waved round the face of the patient, taken to a spot mentioned by the exorcist, and there slaughtered. The flesh of the animal is cooked, a portion of it with some cooked rice is left on the spot as an offering to the spirit, and the rest is eaten by the exorcist. (5) Cooked rice and flesh, curds, eggs, cocoanuts,
