Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/371

 Occult Powers of Healing in the Panjab. 333

paper, and an iron nail twisted into the form of the Arabic letter ^ain (^) which occurs in the word shamaon^ is driven through the piece of paper, and the formula written on it is repeated seven times. This cures the toothache. The rite is called dant kadard bdndhnd, i.e. binding the pain of tooth." (Jhelum.)

Written charms are of course a development from the spoken formula, combining in themselves the virtue of a charm and the convenience of an amulet. Here is another : —

" At Pakpattan in the Montgomery District is the kd?ikdh of Baba Farid where the mujdwirs have the power of facilitating childbirth in cases of arra, or lingering labour. The following tdwiz is written, and the patient is ordered to tie it on her right thigh with a thin thread : —

Marra jd shud kharam ra wiz jd shud Zane Dehkan zdyad ya na zdyad.

"She gives birth to the child at once." (Lahore.)

Another shows belief in the mystic povi^er of numbers. The figures are so arranged that, whichever way they may be added together, the total is fifteen, — a not uncommon form of charm : ^^ —

" Fazal Din Shah Sayyid of the Hazari well in the village of Basti Arain, Dera Ghazi Khan Tahsil, is said to cure epilepsy by the following charm : "

8

I

6

3

5

7

4

9

2

In the following case the charm seems to be used for the protection of the operator, — (for once there is some ration- ality in the remedy), — not for the benefit of the patient: —

" At Godhri in Tahsil Jhajjar is a sweeper who cures snakebite by drinking oil and then sucking the wound and throwing the poison out of his mouth, reciting a charm at the same time. A sweeper at Birohar has the same power." (Rohtak.)

26 Cf. vol. xiii., p. 190.