Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 182

MANTRAMS USED BY SORCERERS
142
Mid wives must also be acquainted with a good many
and they are sometimes called mantradaris, or women who
repeat mantrams
for there is no moment, according to
Hindu superstitions, when mantrams are more needed than
at the birth of a child.
Both the new-born infant and its
mother are peculiarly susceptible to the influence of the
;
;
evil eye, the inauspicious
combination of unlucky planets
and a thousand other unpropitious ele-
ments. A good midwife, well primed with efficacious man-
trams, foresees all these dangers and averts them by reciting
the proper words at the proper moment.
But the cleverest mantram reciters, and at the same time
the most feared, are the charlatans who profess to be
or unlucky days,
thoroughly initiated in the occult sciences, such as sor-
necromancers, soothsayers, &c. They have in their
possession, if they are to be believed, mantrams which are
capable of working all the wonders which I enumerated at
the beginning of this chapter.
They recite them for the
purpose of discovering stolen property, thieves, hidden
treasure, foretelling future events, &c.
In a country where
superstition, ignorance, and the most extravagant credulity
reign supreme, it is no wonder that impostors abound and
are able to make a large number of dupes.
The hatred which is felt for these mischievous sorcerers
is only equalled by the fear that they inspire
and that is
saying a great deal. Woe to any one who is accused of
having injured another by his spells
The punishment that
is usually inflicted consists in pulling out two front teeth
from the upper jaw. When bereft of these two teeth, it
is thought the sorcerer will no longer be able to pronounce
his diabolical mantrams distinctly.
If he mispronounces
the words his familiar spirit will be angry, and the mis-
fortune that he is trying to bring down upon some one else
cerers,
;
!
will, it is
thought,
fall
on
his
One day a poor man who
own
head.
lived near me,
and who had
punishment, came and threw
himself at my feet, protesting his innocence and begging
for protection and for advice as to how he could obtain
justice.
The unfortunate fellow certainly did not look like
a sorcerer, but as I had neither the power nor the means of
interfering in the affair, I could only offer him my sym-
just
undergone
this painful