Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/154

PARAIYAN Vishnu. He has Lakshmana to the left, Rāma to the right, Hanumān in front, Rāvana behind, and all around, above, below, everywhere he has Srī Narayana Swaha. Mayst thou watch over or protect me."

The Paraiyans are notorious for the performance of marana kriyakal, or ceremonies for the killing of enemies. They resort to various methods, of which the following are examples: — (1) Make an image in wax in the form of your enemy. Take it in your right hand, and your chain of beads in your left hand. Then burn the image with due rites, and it shall slay your enemy in a fortnight.

(2) Take a human bone from a burial-ground, and recite over it a thousand times the following mantra: — " Oh, swine-faced goddess! seize him, seize him as a victim. Drink his blood; eat, eat his flesh. Oh, image of imminent death! Malayala Bhagavathi." The bone, thrown into the enemy's house, will cause his ruin.

Odi or oti cult (breaking the human body) is the name given to a form of black magic practiced by the Paraiyans, who, when proficient in it, are believed to be able to render themselves invisible, or assume the form of a bull, cat, or dog. They are supposed to be able to entice pregnant women from their houses at dead of night, to destroy the foetus in the womb, and substitute other substances for it; to bring sickness and death upon people; and so to bewitch people as to transport them from one place to another. A Paraiya who wishes to practice the cult goes to a guru (preceptor), and, falling at his feet, humbly requests that he may be admitted into the mysteries of the art. The master first tries to dissuade him, but the disciple persists in the desire to learn it. He is then tried by various tests as to his fitness. He follows his master to the forests