Research source

Cain that the Koyis of the Godavari district "assert that the death of every one is caused by the machinations…

Date of account: Published 1912
Source: Omens and Superstitions of Southern India
Reference: Omens and Superstitions of Southern India · selected passage 77
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

Cain that the Koyis of the Godavari district "assert that the death of every one is caused by the machinations of a sorcerer, instigated thereto by an enemy of the deceased, or of the deceased's friends

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

It is recorded [330] by the Rev. J. Cain that the Koyis of the Godavari district "assert that the death of every one is caused by the machinations of a sorcerer, instigated thereto by an enemy of the deceased, or of the deceased's friends. So, in former years, inquiry was always made as to the person likely to have been at such enmity with the deceased as to wish for his death; and, having settled upon a suspicious individual, the friends of the deceased used to carry the corpse to the accused, and call upon him to clear himself by undergoing the ordeal of dipping his hands in boiling oil or water. [331] Within the last two years, I have known of people running away from their village because of their having been accused of having procured by means of a wizard the death of some one with whom they were at enmity about a plot of land."

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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