As soon as it is ascertained that a man is possessed by an evil spirit, somebody catches hold of the top-knot…
- Date of account
- Published 1914
- Source
- Folk Lore Notes. Vol. I—Gujarat
- Reference
- Folk Lore Notes. Vol. I—Gujarat · selected passage 84
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-25
Record summary
As soon as it is ascertained that a man is possessed by an evil spirit, somebody catches hold of the top-knot of the man or ties it into a knot
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 onlyAs soon as it is ascertained that a man is possessed by an evil spirit, somebody catches hold of the top-knot of the man or ties it into a knot. Next he is lashed with a whip or chain until the ghost in him cries out "Please don't beat me. I shall leave the body and shall never return." Then the ghost is told that it is a liar, that it said a thousand times that it would leave the body and not return, but it did not do it. No faith, therefore, would be put in its word. After a haggling dialogue of this kind and on the ghost's confirmation of its offer never to return by some satisfactory oath or assurance, the top-knot is unloosed and the ghost disappears.
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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