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The work presents a systematic ethnographic survey of northern Indian popular religion and folk-lore, recording beliefs, rituals, and everyday preventative practices. It examines the evil eye and its remedies, tree and serpent cults, totemic and fetish practices, animal worship, witchcraft and black art, and seasonal rural festivals, drawing on local testimony and observed customs. The account describes naming taboos, protective marks and charms, sacrificial and ceremonial forms, and the social logic that underpins ritual responses to misfortune. Chapters conclude with bibliographic references and an index to aid further study.
Young kites do not open their eyes till they are shown a bit of gold. The best cure for weak eyes is to apply to them antimony mixed with the yolk of a kite’s egg, a good instance of sympathetic magic, because the kite is the most long-sighted of birds. When sweepers suffer from rheumatic pains, they kill a kite on Tuesday, cut up the bones, and tie them to the affected part, which brings about an immediate cure.144