A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.64

c12.64

Valuable hints on popular beliefs and customs are scattered among the poems. There was much faith in omens and astrology; one song mentions the portents which preceded the death of ‘Śēy of the elephant look’. A woman with dishevelled hair was a bad omen. There were fortune-tellers who plied a busy trade. Children were provided with amulets for warding off evil; and rites were practised which were supposed to avert the mischief of demons (pēy), to bring about rain, and produce other desired results. The banyan tree was considered to be the abode of gods, while eclipses were held to be the result of snakes eating up the sun and the moon. Crows were believed to announce the arrival of guests, and particularly the return of the absent husband to his lonely wife, and were fed regularly in front of royal palaces, as well, perhaps, as in every household, Mass feeding of the poor was also known.