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292
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1902.
8. Sometimes the walls and roofs of houses faces. The sister site with her child clinging to are very low - just a little above the level of the her shoulder, with her veil drawn and her back ground. In such cases dogs will sometimes climb
towards her brother, who returns silently after upon the roof. This is looked upon by the performing the aforesaid ceremony, which is Hindus as a bad omen and as foreboding disaster called ddntón ki thaknd, or the charm of the teeth. to the occupants of the house. To ward off
Karnal Version. any calamity befalling them, the dog is deprived When front teeth of the upper jaw of a child of of its ears and tail. If, bowever, the dog evades either sex happen to come out first, it is a bad its pursuers, a Bråbman is called in, who omen to the maternal uncle. His sister (i. e., the performs & short ceremony. To see a dog bereft mother of the child) sends word to him of the event. of ears and tail is not an uncommon sight in those On receiving the message the maternal uncle parts of India, where there is a large Telugu takes a bronze cup of medium size, a quarter of a community.
seer of kasar or pañjfri (wheat flour baked in ghi 9. If a dog scratches a hole in front of a and mixed with sugar), and half a cocoanut in a house, it is considered bad omen. It means that pieco of red cloth (tharwd), and proceeds to his some member of that house is to die; and if a sister's house without informing her or any other member of that family happens to be ill at that person in the house of his arrival, which is kept time, so strong is the belief in this superstition
strictly secret. He goes quickly on to the roof of that all hopes of recovery are despaired of. The the house in which his sister is residing and puts patient himself will lose heart, if made aware the cup, eto., on it, or if there is no staircase he of the fact.
throws them on. After performing this ceremony 10. When a dog stretches itself fully on the
he silently retraces his steps without speaking to, ground or suakes its ears, people regard these
or seeing the face of, his sister, and returns home. actions as indicating some calamity to the
When it is known that the ceremony has been inmates of the house.
performed, the things are taken from the roof and
made use of without scruple. 11. Children sometimes amuse themselves by
Patials Ceremony. riding upon the back of a dog. Hindu parente,
This ceremony is performed in a different way however, will not allow this. They believe that by doing so the children are likely to get worms
in those villages which are situated in the neigh. in the stomach.
bourhood of Patiala. A time is fixed and a place M. R. PEDLOW.
appointed for the ceremony. The mother of the child goes to the place, wbich is always fixed
beyond the limits of the village, on the road to THE MOTHER'S BROTHER.
her brother's house. He starts from his own THE part played by the mother's brother in village and halte ' mile from the place to get many marriage ceremonies is well known, but information of his sister's arrival. He bringe no explanation of the following superstition with him an old three-pie coin (Manadrt paied) has been offered :
with an iron nail, but nothing else. When he is Hoshiarpur Account.
informed that every thing is ready, he proceeds to A child who first teethes from its upper jaw
the place. His sister takes up her child in her arms
80 that its face is towards the way her brother is is considered unlucky to its maternal uncle. The ceremony performed to remove the evil effects
coming, she herself standing facing the village
whence she came. The brotter comes silently and is this: the mother of the child goes beyond the
opens the mouth of the child, touches its teeth limits of her village on the path leading to her parents' house. From the opposite direction
with the paied and iron nail, without showing him
self or seeing the face of his sister, and burying comes the maternal uncle of the child bringing with him a white brass tray, 14 seer of rice, seven
these things on the spot returns to his village. pice, one yard of cloth and four iron nails. All
Note. these things, except the tray and the nails, are
Any further particulars concerning this, or any knotted in the cloth. The maternal uncle drives
similar belief, might be noted. Why should the the four nails in the ground in & square form and
mother's brother of all people be affected by touches the teeth of the obild with the tray and this particular occurrence Pls his fate bound up then puts the tray and the cloth, with the other with that of his sister's child in any other way P articles wrapped in it, within the square between
H. A. Rose, the nails and goes back to his house. The uncle
Superintendent of Ethnography, Punjab. and his sister neither talk nor see each other's I Simla, 27th July 1901.
* To ward off any calamity, the person who observes these movements in the dog, spits three times on the ground.
