The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s3.28

v2.c32.s3.28

In many other cases the plan is adopted of the transfer of the evil to some other person or thing. The principle is at work in the case of the scapegoat, of which the classic example is to be found at the final bath of the horse sacrifice. The bride's garment after marriage is hung up on a tree or post, so that the evil influence in it may be disposed of. Similarly the cloth with which she is wiped is given to the guardian of the maiden, who puts it in a cowstall or hangs it up in the wood.³ The Vrātyas at the end of the festival, by which they are admitted to the Brahmanical community, hand their apparel and utensils to other Vrātyas, or an inferior Brahman of Magadha, who bears away the defects inherent in them. A cow which is unfit for a fee is given to an enemy. After a miscarriage the woman is taken to three different huts: she is made to stand on lead and washed, her dark garment is taken off, and the hut burned.⁴ The sufferer from a headache goes out with a turban on and scatters grains: when an attack comes on, he deposits the turban, the winnowing fan which he has used, and a bowstring: apparently the demon is to come out of the head into the turban and to make for the grains, when he will be attacked by the bow.⁵ To avert a bad omen a hook is tied to the foot of a black bird, a cake attached, and it is sent away to hang on to the enemy as the hook hangs to it. Sleeplessness is banished to Trita Āptya or to an enemy. An offering is prescribed, by which it is possible to prevent two enemies transferring to a third person their mutual hatred. For a person who is possessed of an evil spirit various devices are combined: fragrant substances are mixed together and burned, the person concerned stands against the water of a stream, and water is poured over him, an offering is hung up on a bird-frequented tree, in each case to take away the evil.⁶ Fever is banished to the distant people of Gandhāra and the Mūjavants. A ceremony is prescribed by which when a man is thirsty in illness he transfers the thirst to another man.⁷ The disease jaundice is transferred to birds of appropriate hue, like the thrush or parrot. Fever is transferred to a frog by pouring water over the patient and putting a frog under the bed;¹ the connexion of the frog with the disease may be very old. An interesting means of finding out the presence in a house of a demon like a Piçāca is to hang up in the house kindling wood, and the strew for the sacrifice: if they are moved, the presence of the spirit is certain.²