"The Mûth generally consists of a handful of rice or Urad pulse (Phaseolus radiatus) charmed and sent by the…
- Date of account
- Second edition published 1896
- Source
- The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2)
- Reference
- The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. 2 (of 2) · selected passage 144
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-25
Record summary
"The Mûth generally consists of a handful of rice or Urad pulse (Phaseolus radiatus) charmed and sent by the witch against her enemy through the agency of the familiar spirit
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"The Mûth generally consists of a handful of rice or Urad pulse (Phaseolus radiatus) charmed and sent by the witch against her enemy through the agency of the familiar spirit. It is likened to a shock of electricity sudden and sharp, which strikes in the centre of the heart, causes vomiting and spitting of blood, and may, if not warded against, end in the death of the victim. Practised experts pretend to see the Mûth rolling through the air, like a red-hot ball, and say that they can avert its evil consequences in two ways--either by satiating it, which is done so as to cause a little bleeding, and allowing the blood to drop on a charmed lemon, which is afterwards cut and thrown into a river; or by reversing its action and sending it back to the person who issued it, which is done by charging a lemon and throwing it in the direction whence the Mûth has been seen to come. The operation of a Mûth is most dreaded in many parts of Bombay, and especially in the Konkan.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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