OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF SOUTHERN INDIA. Edgar Thurston
account of their habit of standing on one leg, to lead to poverty. The temple or blue-rock pigeon is greatly venerated by Natives, who consider themselves highly favoured if the birds build in their houses. Should a death occur in a house where there are tame pigeons, all the birds will, it is said, at the time of the funeral, circle thrice round the loft, and leave the locality for ever. House sparrows are supposed to possess a similar characteristic, but, before quitting the house of mourning, they will pull every straw out of their nests. Sparrows are credited with bringing good luck to the house in which they build their nests. For this purpose, when a house is under construction, holes are left in the walls or ceiling, or earthen pots are hung on the walls by means of nails, as an attractive site for nesting. One method of attracting sparrows to a house is to make a noise with rupees as in the act of counting out coins.
There are experts who are able to interpret the significance of the chirping of lizards, which, inter alia, foretells the approach of a case of snake-bite, and whether the patient will die or not. The fall of a lizard on different parts of the body is often taken as an omen for good or evil, according as it alights on the right or left side, hand or foot, head or shoulders. A Native of Cochin foretold from the chirping of a lizard that a robbery would take place at a certain temple. In accordance with the prophecy, the temple jewels were looted, and the prophet was sent to prison under suspicion of being an accomplice of the thieves, but subsequently released. The hook-swinging ceremony is said69 to be sometimes performed after the consent of the goddess has been obtained. If a lizard is heard chirping on the right, it is regarded as a sign of her consent. It is believed that the man who is swung suffers no pain if the cause is a good one, but excruciating agony if it is a bad one.
If an “iguana” (Varanus) enters a house, misfortune is certain to occur within a year, unless the house is shut up for six months. The appearance of a tortoise in a house, or in a field which is being ploughed, is inauspicious. In the Cuddapah district, a cultivator applied for remission of rent, because one of his fields had been left waste owing to a tortoise making its appearance in it. If, under these circumstances, the field had been cultivated, the man, his wife, or his cattle, would have died. It was pointed out that, as the tortoise was one of Vishnu’s incarnations, it should have been considered as an honour that the animal visited the field; but the reply was that a tortoise would be honoured in the water, but not on the land.70
The sight of two snakes coiled round each other in sexual congress is considered to portend some great evil. The presence of a rat-snake (Zamenis mucosus) in a house at night is believed to bring good fortune to the inmates. Its evil influence is in its tail, a blow from which will cause a limb to shrink in size and waste away.
In a valley named Rapuri Kanama in the Cuddapah district, there is a pond near a Siva temple to Gundheswara. Those desirous of getting children, wealth, etc., should go there with a pure heart, bathe in the pond, and then worship at the temple. After this, they should take a wild pine-apple leaf, and place it on the border of the pond. If their wishes are to be granted, a crab rises from the water, and bites the leaf in two. If their wishes will not be granted, the crab rises, but leaves the leaf untouched. If, however, the person has not approached the pond with a pure heart, he will be set upon by a swarm of bees, which live in the vicinity, and will be driven off.71
If the nest of a clay-building insect is found in a house, the birth of a child is foretold; if a mud nest, of a male child; if a nest made of jungle lac, of a girl.72
1 “Gazetteer of the Nilgiris,” 1908, i. 338.
2 Bishop Whitehead, Madras Museum Bull., 1907, No. 3, v. 134.
3 Madras Museum Bull., 1907, No. 3, v. 139–40.
4 Malabar, 1887, i. 177–8.
5 Used as a fly-flapper (chamara).
6 “Malabar and its Folk,” Madras, 2nd edition, 99–100.
7 N. Sunkuni Wariar, “Ind. Ant.,” 1892, xxi. 96.
8 K. Srikantaliar, “Ind. Ant.,” 1892, xxi. 193.
9 M. N. Venkataswami, “Ind. Ant.,” 1905, xxxiv. 176.
10 “Gazetteer of the Godāvari District,” 1907, i. 66.
11 “Note on the Koravas,” 1908.
12 M. J. Walhouse, “Ind. Ant.,” 1881, x. 366.
13 “Manual of the Cuddapah District,” 1875, 293.
14 “Gazetteer of the Godāvari District,” 1907, i. 47.
15 M. J. Walhouse, “Ind. Ant.,” 1876, v. 21.
16 India, Trübner, Oriental Series, 1888, i. 182.
17 Rev. S. Mateer, “Native Life in Travancore,” 1883, 330–52.
18 M. J. Walhouse, Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 1874, iv. 373.
19 Voyage to the East Indies, 1777 and 1781.
20 Rev. J. A. Sharrock, “South Indian Missions,” 1910, 9.
21 See Emma Rosenbusch (Mrs Clough), “While sewing Sandals, or Tales of a Telugu Pariah Tribe.”
22 L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, “The Cochin Tribes and Castes,” 1909, i. 114.
23 “Ind. Ant.,” 1873, ii. 65.
24 F. Fawcett, “Note on the Koravas,” 1908.
25 S. P. Rice, “Occasional Essays on Native South Indian Life,” 1901, 95–6.
26 Jeypore, Breklum, 1901.