Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/56

PANAN Paradēvatha, the queen of demons. The sorcerer makes offerings of toddy, beaten rice, plantains, and cocoanuts, and soon turns oracle, and, as one inspired, tells what the deity wishes, and gives information as regards the departure of the demons from the body. It is now believed that the patient is free from all demoniacal attacks. The buried man is exhumed, and allowed to go home. "In the Palghat tāluk, the following form of sorcery is practiced, which is believed to relieve persons from demoniacal attacks and disease. If, in the house of any casteman, it is suspected that some malign influence is being exercised by demons, a Pānān is sent for, who comes in the evening with his colleagues. A hōmam is lighted with the branches of the trees already mentioned, and into it are thrown six kinds of grains, as well as oil and ghee. As this is being done, Kallatikode Nili, the presiding archdemon, is propitiated with songs and offerings. The next part of the ceremony consists in bringing a bier and placing a Pānān on it, and a measure of rice is placed at his head. He is, as in the case of a dead body, covered with a piece of new cloth, and a small plantain tree is placed between the thighs. At his head a sheep and at his feet a fowl are killed. He pretends gradually to recover consciousness. In this state he is taken outside the compound. The Pānān, lying on the bier, evidently pretends to be dead, as if killed by the attack of some demon. The propitiation with songs and offerings is intended to gratify the demons. This is an instance of sympathetic magic. "Some among the Pānāns practice the oti (or odi) cult, like the Parayas. The following medicines, with the aid of magic, are serviceable to them in enticing pregnant women from their houses. Their preparation