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JUNE, 1928)
SOME NOTES ON MAGIC AND TABOO IN BENGAL
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Bilaspur district, with the same object in view, the body of such a child is placed in an ear. thenware pot and buried in the doorway or in the yard of the house16. In the same manner, in every phase of religious life we find traces of sympathetic magic. When a Brahroan has his initiation ceremony, he is made to tread with his right foot on a stone, while the words are repeated : " Tread on the stone, be firm like the stone "17.
Contagious magic18 is that which is based on the assumption that all things which have once been in contact with each other must always remain so. The most widely spread example of this form of magic is the sympathy which is believed to exist between a human being and the different parts of the body. Hair and nail in the folklore of every nation play an important part in magical rites!'. Similarly names are intimately connected with the body, and therefore, in Bengai, every care is taken to hide the real name of a person by giving him a nick-name, or a pet-name (adure nám, as it is called). If evil-disposed persons become aware of the real name, they thereby obtain a part of his soul, and may perform magical operations to the prejudice of the owner of the name20. Moreover, Hindus rarely call a woman by her real name; she is usually known as the daughter, wife or mother of such and such a person®1, as the case may be. The placenta is intimately connected with the body of an infant; therefore, on the birth of a child, the midwife carefully takes the placenta away in an earthenware pot, and hides it in a secure place or buries it somewhere away from human gaze. If some animal were to devour it, or if it were to be destroyed in some other way before the annaprasan ("the taking of the rice") ceremony, which is also the naming cere. mony, the child will fall dangerously ill, if not dies. An ancient Hindu magic rite is mentioned in the Kausika-sútra, a book of sorcery, where it is directed that, if you wish to harm an enemy, you should make cuts in his footprints with a certain leaf, then collect the dust from the footprint in a leaf of the Butea frondosa and throw it into the trying pan; as the dust gets hot, and it crackles, so will your enemy be powerless23. Here the footprint is supposed to be in reality a part of the man himself.
From the above examples the magical character of the ancient Hindu rites is clearly apparent. Dr. Caland justiy remarks on this subject that those who have been accustomed to regard the Hindus as a highly civilised people will be surprised to find evidences of savagery amongst them and the remarkable resemblance of their rites with the shamanism of the North American Indians24. In Calcutta, a well-known charm for stopping a downpour of rain is to make a first-born child roll a candle of cloth and burn it26. This is based on the belief that, since fire and water are enemies, and since water puts out fire, so, conversely, fire must also in some inexplicable way act inimically towards water, in this case rain. Various other people besides the Hindus have used fire as a charm against rain; it is known among the Australian tribes, the Toradjas of Celebes, the Arabs, and so on. Again, rain suggests Sears; the birth of a female child is a matter for regret among the Hindus, therefore, this also suggests tears. Hence, the logical conclusion follows that if it is raining at the time
18 (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Magic Art, vol. 1, p. 104 quoting E. M. Gordon, Indian Folk Tales, p. 49. 17 Grihya Sútras, tr. by H. Oldenborg, pt. I, pp. 168, 282 sq., pt. II, p. 188. 18 Seo above p. 108, n. 9.
19 Cf. LAI Bihari Day (De), Folk Tales of Bengal ; (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Golden Boughs, vol. I, pp. 367 89.: Biren Bonner jea, A Dictionary of Superstitions an? Mythology, London, 1928, pp. 116 89., 175 sq.
20 Ethnologie du Bengale, p. 83; Dictionary of Superstitions, p. 176. 21 Ibid.
33 Among the Khasis, so P.R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis, London, 1907, p. 124; for various superstitions about the placenta see (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Magic Art, vol. I, pp. 182-201 and authorities given there; ibid., The Golden Bough, 2nd edition, vol. III, pp. 350 sqq ; H. Ploss, Das Kind, vol. I, pp. 15 sq.; E. Crawley, The Mystic Rose, London, 1902, p. 119.
23 W. Caland, Altindische Zauberrituel, Amsterdam, 1900, pp. 162 sq. 24 Altindisches Zauberrituel, Introduction, p. IX.
26 Ethnologie du Bengale, p. 125, quoting North Indian Notes and Queries, I, (1891), p. 378; Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. VIII, pp. 290, 291.
30 Soo (Sir) J. G. Frazer, The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. I, pp. 252, 253.
