Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-10
BLACK ART In INDIA.
A COUNTRY WHERE WITCHES AND
SORcERERs LIVE AND THRIVE.

How Anxious Hindoo Mothers Try to
Bender Their Children Witch Proof.
The Great Occult Powers of sorcerers.
Brahmins Who Excel in the Black Art.
There is scarcely village in Eastern and
Southern India that does not possess its witch,
to whom terrible powers are attributed by |
the popular mind. The witches, they say, |
can suck the blood of healthy children; and |
the anxious mother, directly she sees the |
witch approach, catches up her child and |
mutters some charm to save the dear one from |
being sucked to death. OF course the best |
antidote 10 the occult influence of the dreaded |
hays is the gift of few copper coins or some |
sort of aims. But there are other means en- |
ployed to counterfeit their malignity. They |
are sometimes detected by salt being placed
on their heads, which causes them to turn
round and mutter incoherent syllables. Some
times the trembling mother spits on the head
of her child, or gently bites his little finger,
in order to render him witch proof. No
woman of the lower orders who lives in
village infested by witch would venture to
leave her house with her child until she had
made herself and her child safe by putting a
certain mark on his forehead,
TREATMENT OF THE BEwITcHED.
There are various modes of treatment for
persons supposed to be under the influence of
q witch. The forehead of child suffering
from illness brought on by a witch's curse Is
sometimes marked with burnt turmeric
Often the mother, muttering some spells,
sprinkles water over her child and rubs his
forehead over with burnt wicks of earthen
lamps fed with mustard oil Sometimes
branches of particular trees are waved over
the patient, who is made to chew the leaves
of plum trees. But should these simple RENE
dies fail, as they often do, to produce any
effect on the bewitched child, what would
happen then to the poor suffererl There is
no need to be in despair in this matter; for,
as tho dock grows side by side with the
nettle, so in India there lives close by the
witch the sorcerer, the practitioner of the
black art, who is always called in when the
simple remedies fail.
Like the witches, the sorcerers are believed
to possess great occult powers; but, unlike
| the former, they often use their skill for
beneicent purposes The common sorcerers
in India are people of very low caste, or
no caste at ALL belonging mainly to the
| aboriginal races who are still outside the pale
| of Hindooism. Their treatment, though
| often violent, does not in modern times result
| in death, as it did in some authenticated cases
which happened years ago. The sorcerer,
| taking his place in front OF his patient, with
flowers in his hand and lamp and incense
burning before him, gives burnt turmeric
and charmed mustard seed to the bewitched
person to smell, and dashes cold water with
violence upon his face. Sometimes the treat
ment of the patient at the hands of a sorcerer
| vigorously tortures the witch. Thus it is
said that i'll one instance, upon the sorcerer
squeezing the juice Of g certain plant into
the eyes of a bewitched child, the witch i'm
mediately complained of pain in the eyes,
which she lost and the child was cured.
METHODS OF BRAHMIN soRCERERS
By far the most formidable magic powers
are, however, attributed to class of Brah-
minis, who are par excellence the professors
of the black art in India The Brahmin sor-
cerers are verssd in the practice of the spells
and charms which, with the accompanying
rites, are described in the Sanskrit books,
called tantras. The keynote of these is struck
in a well known couplet, which, done into
English, runs thus: THE whole world is il
the power Of the gods, and the gods are in
the power of magic; magic is in the power OF
the Brahmins, and therefore the Brahmin is
himself the god" 1t must not be forgotten
however, that in spite of this oracular de
liverance, and the systematization Of thu
magical spells and charms in several San
skirt treatises and their commentaries, tn,
Brahmins themselves acquired the black ar
from the wild aboriginal races of India O
the six modes in which the Brahmin sorcere
can influence his neighbors, four are malig
nant, one is doubtful and one only is benefi
cial The four malignant operations are tn
causing OF death, the destruction of propert,
or mental capacity, the stoppage Of physica
. or mental action and the causing of feuds be
l tween friends. The art of bringing an ind
+ vidual completely under the control of tn
d expert is the neutral operation. The onl
Il branch Of white magic discussed is the powe
: Of relieving sufferer from disease q th
hostile Influences of the stars and othe
> heavenly bodies.
S A severe and prolonged probation must b
+ undergone before man is considered con
petent to commence the practice of the mag
art. He must go through a course of recits
ton of cabalistic words, consisting OF unil
o telligible Sansfrit roots, and of repetition
It the name of the deity to be conquered abor
n a million times. Special hours are assigne
% for the performance, special pastures OF Il
y body, special diet and specially appointe
l. space, beyond which the probationer is NJ
sr allowed to go until the process of initiate
n is finished. OF course, all OF this has to
8 accompanied with handsome offerings to Il
IL deities and the Brahmins and substanti
,e feasts to the latter. OF the six magical art
the one most frequently practiced in India
modern times is that Of the neutral subj
CATION Certain ingredients are prescrib-
IN for this operation. A small piece of d
ii frontal bone of man, the fruit of the po
"A onous plant dhatura camphor and honey a
"A to be taken in proper proportions and w
~ mixed together, and the forehead is to
y painted with the compound before the wear
III may bring under his influence and cont
nc the mind of any person whom he fears
r loves. Other nostrums similar to the ing
Id dients in the witches caldron in "Mf
t. BETH increasing in completely and gre
someness as the higher departments of
" black art are reached, are to be found in t
,al Sansi,rit treatises Standard.