Research source

A witch has dirty habits and observances

Date of account: Published 1915
Source: Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan
Reference: Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan · selected passage 76
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

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

A witch has dirty habits and observances. The chief sign for detecting a witch or chetakin is a foam or froth that appears on the lips of her mouth when she is asleep. The only means to guard against her witchcraft is to remain on friendly terms with her, and not to hurt her feelings on any occasion. People generally keep a watch over the actions of a woman who is suspected to be a witch, and if she is found practising her black art, and is caught red-handed, people then pour into her mouth water brought from the shoe-maker's earthen pot or kundi. It is believed that, when she is compelled to drink such water, her black art becomes ineffective.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This 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 only

Lattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.

Investigate related details with Anomaly Graph’s account-based search, or read how matching and provenance work.