Omens and Superstitions of Southern India (Annotated) (ePub)

This is the Annotated Version of the Original book. This Book has lots of photos and pictures related to the book too. We had tried to annotate this version by adding a summary at the end of the book in red font. We had added approx. 50% to 55% of the Summary worth 48000 approx. words.

We had added a Table of contents for easy navigation.

As the Name Suggest this book describes all the omens and superstitions as well as culture, traditions, and lifestyle of some part in Southern Indian society. It is recorded,1 in connection with the legends of the Badagas of the Nilgiris, that "in the heart of the Banagudi shola (grove), not far from the Dodduru group of cromlechs, is an odd little shrine to Karairaya, within which are a tiny cromlech, some sacred water-worn stones, and sundry little pottery images representing a tiger, a mounted man, and some dogs. For instance, ashes, firewood, oil, and a lot of similar objects, are inauspicious ones, which will render him who chances to notice them first fare badly in life for the whole year, and their obnoxious effects will be removed only on his seeing holy things, such as reigning princes, oxen, cows, gold, and such like, on the morning of the next new year. In the Telugu country it is believed that a child who sneezes on a winnowing fan, or on the door-frame, will meet with misfortune unless balls of boiled rice are thrown over it; and a man who sneezes during his meal, especially at night, will also be unlucky unless the water is sprinkled over his face, and he is made to pronounce his own name, and that of his birthplace and his patron deity. Rice that, when smallpox breaks out in a Hindu house, it is a popular belief that to allow strangers or unclean persons to go into the house, to observe festivals, and even to permit persons who have combed their hair, bathed in oil, or had a shave, to see the patient, would arouse the anger of the goddess, and bring certain death to the sick person. In Madras, a story is current with reference to the statue of Sir Thomas Munro, that he seized upon all the rice depôts, and starved the people by selling rice in eggshells, at one shell for a rupee. If a person is obliged to anoint himself on Sunday, he should put a bit of the root of oleander (Nerium) in the oil and heat it before applying it. Sometimes, red and white flowers wrapped in green leaves are thrown in front of the idol, and the omen is considered good or bad, according to the flower which a child picks up. Towards the close of the marriage rites on the third day, the rice is examined, to see if it is in a good state of preservation, and its condition is regarded as an omen for good or evil. In other cases, it is believed that a child born with the cord around its neck will be a curse to its maternal uncle unless a gold or silver string is placed on the body, and the uncle sees its image reflected in a vessel of oil. 53 The birth of a male child on the day in which the constellation Rohini is visible portends evil to the maternal uncle, and a female born under the constellation Moolam is supposed to carry misery with her to the house which she enters by marriage. 3 When a tiger enters the dwelling of a Savara (hill tribe in Ganjam) and carries off an inmate, the village is said to be deserted, and sacrifices are offered to some spirits by the inhabitants. The Muduvars are said by Mr. Martin to share with other jungle folk the belief that, if an animal is killed by a tiger or leopard so as to lie north and south, it will not be eaten by the beast of prey. There is a further legend that, once upon a time, one of the gods, having compassion on the toddy-drawers because their life was a hard one and because they were constantly exposed to danger, left at the foot of a palmyra tree some charmed water, the value of which was that it saved from injury anyone falling from a height.