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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
JUXE, 1878.
jio, or live long or a hundred years. If a man sneezes while he is standing on the threshold it is considered very dangerous, and water is poured on his head.25 In Dhawar, if A sneezes once when B is beginning some work, B stops fors time, and then begins a fresh; if A sneezes twice together, B goes on with his work without stopping; if A sneezes on B's back, B's back is slightly pinched; and if A sneezes during a meal, some one of the party calls on him to name his birth-place.30 The Siamese wish a long life to the person sneezing, for they believe that one of the judges of bell keeps a register wherein the duration of men's lives is written, and that when he opens this register, and looks upon any particular leaf, all those whose names happen to be entered in such leaf never fail to sneeze immediately. When the king of Mesopotamia sneezes, acclamations are made in all parts of his dominions. At Dahomey if the king eneezes, all courtiers turn the back, and slap the thigh, and all women of the court touch the ground with their forehead. In Madagascar, if a child anvezes, the mother says: "God bless you." 30 In Florida (1542), if the chief moezed, the people said: "May the sun guard you ; may the sun be with you; may the sun shine on yon, Aristotle he problem why sneezing from noon to midnight was good, but from midoight to noon unlucky, 13 St. Austen says that the ancients were wont to go to bed again if they sneered while they puton their shoe. Among the Romans and other Europeans, when a man sneezed, there was a custom of saying "God bless you," or otherwise to wish him well. To the inqwiry why people say "God bless you" when any one sneezes, the Britisk Apollo, Vol. IL No. 10 (fol., London, 1709). answers :- "Violent sneesing was once an epidemical and mortal distemper from whence the custom specified took its rise. 36 In Langloy's abridgment of Polydoro Virgil, fol. 189, It is wid there was a terrible plague whereby many as they sneezed died suddenly, whereof it grow into
castom that they that were present when any man sneesed should say "God help you." ** The early Christian Church denounced omens from speezing. In Germany, if professor sneezes, the students cry good bealth.se
Yawning. - The general belief about yawning is that a spirit jumps down the yawner's throat. So when a Hinda yawns, he snaps his finger and thumb, apparently the remnant of the elaborate old Pârst plan of driving ont & spirit, and repeats God's name. In South India, when a Brahman yawns, to drive away demons and giants, he cracks his fingers to the right and left.3: The Persians applied yawning to spirit-possession, and the Masalmáns thought Satan leapt into the open mouth.co
The Hand. - Spirits were believed to enter the body by the hands. The PÅrets believe that unclean spirits enter through the nails. They think the druklus nasus, or spirit of corruption, passes from the corpse into the nails, and so Pars bearers always draw bags or fingerless gloves over their hands. The Hindus attach much importance to the band and forearm. The hand and forearm are in Gujarat and the Bombay Dakhan carved on sali stones that is, stones raised in memory of a widow who has been sacrificed, - and the forearm of a woman who has died in child-bed is a most precious possession both to Hindu and to Mexican sorcerers. In the Konkin, sometimes the medium takes hold of the little finger to see whether it is a jakhin or some other bhút that has taken possession of a man, and among the Dakhan Ramosis when an exorcist is called, he squeezes the patient's finger. The hand is a sign of blessing. Compare the Sati's hand and the hand on the wedded Musalman's back. The Poona Uchlâs or pocket-slitters
* Information from Mr. P. B. Joshi. 26 Dharwdr Gazetteor, p. 50. * Op. cit. Vol. III. p. 124. * Sibroe's Madagascar, p. 285. * Op. cit. p. 119. * Tylor'. Primitite Culture, Vol. I. p. 101. * Op. cit. Vol. L p. 125.
Dubois, Vol. I. p. 465. 11 Block's Avata Vendidad, p. 22. 43 Bancroft, Vol. III. p. 364.
# Information from Mr. P. B. Joeli. 17 Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. p. 124. # Burton's Visit to Dahomey, Vol. I. p. 240. H Henderson's Folk-Lore, p. 187. # Brand's Popular Antiqnities, Vol. III. p. 119. » Op. cit. Vol. I. p. 135. 37 Henderson's Folk Lore, p. 6. Op. cit. p. 137.
Tylor's Primitive Culture, VOL I. p. 102. 63 Op. cit. Pp. 22 and 13.
