Eternal India Encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

Eternal India

encyclopedia

the chirping of

ehikren

, a particular species of small bird, is

considered a good omen by Tangkhul Nagas. To meet a snake

and kill it is generally regarded as a good omen, otherwise it is

Bad. Omens are also observed in dreams. Thus, for example,

the Garos believe that if one dreams of catching lots of small

fish, it means that one will get money, but if the catch is a

single large fish, a death in the family is indicated.

Most

omens

are,

however,

negative

bad.

Almost

universally members of the tribes of Madhya Pradesh believe

that a vulture or a crow alighting on the roof of a house is a

warning of sickness or death in the family. Among the Ao

Nagas, if a cultivator or a businessman meets or dreams of a

pig, failure of crops or business is indicated. If the cock crows

at an unusual time there will be trouble among the Mundas. If

a pregnant Oraon woman meets a barren woman her child will

be either still-born or will die shortly after birth. For the Sema

Nagas, to drink rice beer in a dream foretells rain, while to kill

a snake or monkey indicates victory over enemies.

While an omen conveys a message without human beings

doing anything, in divination, the attempt is made to find signs

through animals or plants or other means. Derived from the

Latin word

deus

divus,

divination has literally to do with

what the divine (god) reveals to human beings. These

procedures, too, are not confined to tribal people, but are

universal phenomena found everywhere.

Among many tribes throughout India, but especially in the

Northeast, divination by strangling a cock and observing the

position of the legs and entrails, by splitting a bamboo and

examining the fibres, or by egg breaking and watching the flow

are common methods. In fact, prior to all undertakings of tribal

people in North east India, strangling a cock, splitting a

bamboo, breaking an egg or listening to a dream, to discover

what is in store, is virtually imperative.

Among Tanghkhul Nagas, for example, divination by a cock is

effected by strangling the fowl, and when it dies examining the

position of the legs and the way the excreta comes down. If

the right leg is placed over the left and the excreta comes down

to the right side, the indications are good; but if vice-versa, the

signs are bad. If the legs are in parallel positions and the

excreta has emerged, it is also not a good sign. However, the

worst portent is when the position of the legs is disorderly or

unnatural.

Necromancy, or divination through communication with the

dead is generally done by a medium in cases of prolonged

illness. The medium, customarily a woman, is called and all

the preparations are made, with such things as food for the

medium, tobacco fluid, and a white cock. It is usually in the

dead of night, when there is complete silence, that the art of

necromancy is performed, in which the medium, using the

various objects in esoteric ways, goes into a trance, during

which time she communicates with the ancestral spirits. After

she regains complete consciousness, she will inform the

family members about the ancestral spirit responsible for the

sickness and what should be done. Sometimes she will say

that by doing what the spirit of the dead instructed the patient

would be well; or she might say that the sick person's spirit

has been retained by the ancestors and nothing can be done for

the patient, who will eventually die.

Magic

: While the term 'magic' has been defined in various

ways, it may be generally understood as the attempt through

the utterance of set words, or the performance of set acts, to

control or influence cosmic powers in accordance with human

will. It was James G. Frazer, in his book

The Golden Bough,

who First suggested that magic is based on a sympathetic

relationship between things, persons and events, and that it

functions according to two principles — the "law of similarity"

and the "law of contact." The first Frazer termed "imitative

magic" and the second "contagious magic."

(a)

Imitative Magic

: Most magical practices may be

designated as imitative. These are precise formulae used

by the magician to achieve specific ends by imitating them,

and include both "white" or socially benevolent magic, and

"black" or socially malevolent magic — also termed

sorcery and witchcraft. Black magic is used to effect

torture, illness or death of an enemy. The black magician

may shoot a dart or an arrow in the enemy's supposed

direction, or may thrust a dart at a clay image of the enemy.

The magician might, alternatively, catch a grasshopper or

other insect and pierce it with sharp needles or hang it over

a fire so that the enemy will suffer and/or die in the manner

imitated by the magician. The belief is that whatever is

done to the image by the magicians will happen to the

enemy. Black magicians are extremely careful in the

practice of their art as there is always the danger of the

effects missing the intended person and rebounding on

some members of the family or the domestic animals.

Sometimes when the magic is countered by a more

powerful magician, the spell will effect the original

magician who might even die.

In white magic, sometimes called "love magic," the

magician symbolically caresses or fondles the beloved

person represented by the image. Here the behaviour of

the love-sick person, overwhelmed by passion, is imitated

by the magician. Instead of arrows and darts, various

scents and flowers are used in white magic. Though white

magic is not harmful in the manner of black magic, there is

a potentially anti-social element involved, in that an

unwilling person may be forced to accept another. This not

only infringes the personal freedom of the individual, it

may contravene accepted social custom of the community.

Another common imitative magic is that performed for

rain. For example, among several Naga tribes the head of

huluk

ape is put in the water of the local watering hole

and a stake is driven into the ground saying "Tsuga

tsunali; tsuna tsunari," or "Rain, rain, fall." The group

leaves the spot singing a song sung by children playing in

the rain. The Lotha Nagas often catch a land crab and tie

it by a leg in a small irrigation ditch, putting an egg beside

the crab. The crab's role is to call the rain spirit and the egg

is to entice the spirit's co-operation.

(b)

Contagious Magic:

Contagious magic is based on the

principle that any part of a person, including anything that

has been associated and is now separated, such as

clothing or ornaments once used, hair, teeth or nails,

placenta or umbilical cord, even footprints or names, and

so on, can be used by a magician to affect that person. Any

of these can be used in the manner of black or white magic,