Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/351

 OCCULT POWERS OF HEALING IN THE PANJAB.

BY CHARLOTTE S. BURNE.

Mr. H. a. Rose, on his last visit to England, handed over to the Folk-Lore Society a number of miscellaneous notes on folk-medicine collected for him by his Indian correspondents. It was suggested that I should classify and arrange them for publication in Folk-Lore, a proposal to which Mr. Rose readily assented. He has read the manuscript and added explanatory footnotes.

The leading feature of the collection is the idea of the " virtue " of certain persons, places, and formulas in the cure of disease.

This virtue is inherent, not merely in certain individuals, but in whole families, or in the whole of the natives of certain villages, to whom it has descended from some eminent ancestor, or has been communicated by some friendly saint or Fakir ; and contact with some person or persons so gifted is the essential feature of most cures. It is found sufficient by itself, without the aid of charms, medicines, or ceremonies. Thus, we are told that : —

"The Bhagwani Machhis (fishermen) of Rajanpur are said to have inherited the power of curing a throat disease called gal pere by touching it with their hands thrice. They read nothing, and use no medicine. They are said to have possessed the power for eight or ten generations."

" The Bhuttas (a Jat tribe) of Rajanpur can cure galpera and saiighri, (both diseases of the throat), by merely touching the