The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-17
Devil-worship In NIalabar.

Rama, Chief among the powers that
extraordinary parsonage conferred on
the Malayalis are the salnantrams
and the durmantrams, or the good and
the malevolent mantrams. The latter,
1T is said, were given to a Nambudri
family residing in the vicinity of the
celebrated Guruvayur temple In South
Malabar Gradually the gift came to
be possessed by other local Brahmins;
then other castles also began to partic-
ipate in the valuable privilege; and
nowadays people resort more largely to
the lower caste mantraVadis when
they need to invoke the low genii in or
der to wreak evil on their enemies and
ill-Wishers, Brahmins being invariably
very loath to use their power of doing
harm in this way. A proficient dur
mantravadi is the possessor of many
evil powers Of witchcraft, sorcery and
magic, and has at his beck and call, as
1t were, good many low, malevolent
imps such as Chathen, Chamundi, Ko-
dankali, Karinkali, etc., but the ordi-
nary sorcerer is generally possessed of
control over the first-named alone, who
A' AAoNCNSlJ sto wall NC SGS1l, SuiIiClSiilly
dangerous and destructive to satisfy
the most cruel vengeance seeker.
Chathen, or Kutti- Chathen, as he is ia
miliarly called, from the fact that he is
said to be, by those privileged to see
him, demon of very drarfish stature,
is not easily brought under control.
The aspirant for this honor has to I'M
dergo very rigid course of mantrams,
based, l believe, on the Shastras, be-
fore he attains the coveted condition
known as pratiyakschum-the condi-
ton, that is, in which his very thought
has power to bring Cathen before him
to do his bidding.
Certain men possess vaSter powers
over Chathen than others, and if by
some mischance the two sorcerers
come in contact, the result is deeply in
teresting. 1t is related that Kutti-
Chathen was once carrying a man
across a stream on his back. Reach
ing mid-stream, they met boat in
which was greater one than he who
was being carried. And this greater
one said to Chathen, "You fool, why
are you so servile as that?' Where
upon Chathen dropped the lesser mas
ter into the stream and let him shift
for himself. Again, it is related that,
possessing all the spirit of the wild
schoolboy the little demon will, in his
masters absence from home, go there
and start playing havoc by throwing
about the cooking-pots and chattels,
destroying them wantonly. On such
occasions some one in the house has
merely to say, Just wait till the mas
ter comes, and see If / don't get you in
trouble for this ''-which is an effectual
way of causing the imp to leave off. 1t
is also believed that If this demon, in
response to some ones invocation,
makes himself obnoxious to the people
of a place where there are no magi-
clans Of greater power to terminate
the nuisance, the victims write or go to
some other town and arrange to bring
some one up; and should circum-
stances prevent the mantravadi from
going up expeditiously, he writes anote
on an ola (palm-leaf) to Chathen
briefly setting forth the charge against
him and enjoining on him to desist
from further mischief until he (the
MANI can come up and make the ne
cessary pujah to appease the intruder.
This note would have to be taken and
placed In some named spot in the
haunted house, and as soon as this is
done the annoyance ceases Kutti-
Chathen Is sometimes enamored of the
fair sex. He viii under these eireun1-
stances display his preference for. the
woman in various ways, and she can
command him without undergoing any
preparatory pujahs, If she be married,
he will use every devilish device to
keep husband and wife apart. He may
abandon her after a time, but if he
stays on and deliverance from his I'M
appreciated amours is desired, some
devout mantravadi's services are re-
Questioned. The sanctity of the man
should be particularly seen to, for in
the event of the exercising ceremony
turning out to be a. fiasco Chathen will
surely make himself very unpleasant.
He will rub charcoal, with an invisible
hand, on the cheek of the woman; or
fling stones among the holy pujah sub
stances. Occasionally he will relieve
the monotony by precipitating a fresh
catfish (yeta) into the midst of the pu
jah. Besides, the substances he filings
will appear and disappear mysterious
ly It may be that, in some cases, our
volatile friend chooses of his own ac-
cord to desert the woman; in that
event, the chances are pretty equal
whether he will go peaceably or do the
woman some parting injury. Chathen
has his abode, as a general rule, up
either nux vomica or a tamarind tree,
in undisturbed possession of which it is
very prudent to leave him, for, should
the tree be indiscreetly cut down, he
will cause no end of misery and dread
to the hapless offender.
The outward and visible signs gene
rally employed when Chathen is being
exercised are somewhat thus: Aneffi-
gy is made out of a particularly kind
of wood, mantramas are recited over It,
it is then wrapped round in some spec
ial kind of cloth and buried in a certain
spot. Sometimes a lamp is lit and the
devil is asked If he will dare to return.
Through the mouth of a victim he
swears on the lamp that he will not
Sometimes the sanctified effigy, ETC.,
are taken to Chathen temple and de-
posted there. When the exorciSm is
from a house the ceremonies are as
above, but when it is from the body of
person the latter has to give few
hairs of the head. These are ham
mered with a nail into the effigy and
then the ceremony is performed.
Round the reputation of such an adj
ventTrol1s and mischieyous god If is No