Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 428

m
MAGIC MANTRAMS
hhoothams. or the elements, each of which contains a de-
structive principle. Then come the pretas or spirits of dead
bodies, the pisachas or pisasus
a term by which the
Native Christians designate the devil the female deities
called sakti
Kali, the goddess of destruction
and Marana
Devi, the goddess of death.
In order to call all these spirits into action, the magician
has recourse to various mysterious ceremonies, mantrams
and sacrifices. The sacrifices are the same as those already
For instance, the
described, with a few trifling differences.
magician must be stark naked while he offers up these
while, on the
sacrifices to Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu
other hand, he must be decorously clad when such sacrifices
are offered to Rama.
The flowers offered to the god invoked must be red and,
when the object is to produce the death of any person, the
boiled rice offered up must be stained with blood, for which
purpose a human victim, a young girl for choice, is some-
times slain 1
We have already spoken of the grand virtue of man-
but it is especially in connexion with magic that
trams
they are most effective. Mantrams have such an influence
over the gods, even of the very first rank, that they are
quite unable to resist doing, either in the heavens, or in
the air, or on earth, all that the magician requires of
—
;
;
;
;
;
.
;
them.
Among the said mantrams there are some, called the
fundamentals, whose effects are decisive and irresistible.
They are composed of various strange monosyllables, harsh
such as h'hom, h'rhum,
of sound and difficult to pronounce
sh'hrum, sho'rhim, ramaya, namaha. This last word signi-
;
fies
'
respectful greeting.'
The magician sometimes repeats these mantrams in a
humble and supplicatory manner, loading with praises the
god whom he invokes but he quickly resumes his im-
perious tone, and exclaims as though in a vehement rage,
If thou art
Begone
or Begone
Grasp it Grasp it
if not,
willing to do what I ask of thee, well and good
I command thee to do it in the name of such and such
Whereupon
a god, in the name of the feet of my guru
;
*
'
'
!
!
!
!
;
'
!
1
Such a thing
is
unheard
of
nowadays.
Ed.