Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/270

 26o The Rosary in Magic and Religion.

facets are also sometimes thought to stand for the five faces, or the five distinct aspects of Siva.^ The wor- shippers of Vishnu favour smooth beads, especially those made of the tulasi, or holy basil {Ocimum Sanctum). The Saktas use no beads but count to lOO on the three joints of each finger on the right hand, each ten being marked off on the joint of one of the fingers on the left hand. When they have gone through lOO recitations in this way, they place that number of millet grains before them. This is repeated till the required number is reached. The Atiths of Bengal break up their rosaries into separate parts which serve them as ornaments also. They wear a string of beads from the elbow, a wristlet with five beads, while hanging from each ear is a pendant of three beads, ^ Among the Jains the laity generally use the rosary when repeating the navakar mantra, to which great sanctity is attached. The materials vary according to the use to which they are put, and the wealth of the owner. The poor Jains generally have to be content with rosaries made of cotton thread and sandal-wood ; their richer co-religionists using beads of red coral, crystal, cornelian, emerald, pearl, silver and gold. In this sect there are two special uses of the rosary when rosaries of five different colours are used, viz., red, yellow, green, white and black. They are used on some occasions for the repetition of certain mystical formulae and incantations to appease and propitiate certain deities on special occasions. They are also used for the repetition of mystical formulae, charms, spells, and incantations, with a view to obtaining certain benefits from the deities. They may, moreover, be used for harmful purposes — to injure hostile or obnoxious people, or to disable them, to make them ill, to kill them, to subdue them, to obtain their affections, to make them inert or to summon them.^

^ Monier-Williams, Modern India and the Indians, p. no.

^ W. Crooke, Things Indian, p. 409.

^ North Indian Notes and Queries, iii. {1S93), 84.