Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.259

v3.c42.s2.t1.259

Zālim Singh and Witches.—We have already mentioned his antipathy to the professors of " the tuneful art "; and he was as inveterate as Diocletian to the alchemist, regarding the trade of both as alike useless to society : neither were, therefore, tolerated in Kotah. But the enemies of the regent assert that it was from no dislike of their merit, but from his having been the dupe of the one, and the object of the other's satire (*vish*). His persecution of witches (*dakini*) was in strict conformity with the injunction in the Pentateuch : " Thou shall not suffer a witch to live " (Exod. chap. xxii. ver. 18). But his ordeal was worse than even death itself : handling balls of hot iron was deemed too slight for such sinners ; for it was well known they had substances which enabled them to do this with impunity. Throwing them into a pond of water was another trial ; if they sunk, they were innocent, if they unhappily rose to the surface, the league with the powers of darkness was apparent. A gram-bag of cayenne pepper tied over the head, if it failed to suffocate, afforded another proof of guilt ; though the most humane method, of rubbing the eyes with a well-dried capsicum, was perhaps the most common, and certainly if they could furnish this demonstration of their innocence, by withholding tears, they might justly be deemed witches . These Dakinis, like the vampires of the German Bardais, are supposed to operate upon the viscera of their victims, which they destroy by slow degrees with charms and incantations, and hence they are called in Sind (where, as Abu-l Fazl says, they abound) Jigarkhor, or ' liver-devourers.'¹ One look of a Dakini suffices to destroy ; but there are few who [588] court the title, at least in Kotah, though old age and eccentricity are sufficient, in conjunction with superstition or bad luck, to fix the stigma upon individuals.