Research source

In the Kolhápur District, when the people come to know of the existence of a witch in their village, they take…

Date of account: Published 1915
Source: Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan
Reference: Folk Lore Notes. Vol. II—Konkan · selected passage 79
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

In the Kolhápur District, when the people come to know of the existence of a witch in their village, they take special precautions at the time of harvest

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

In the Kolhápur District, when the people come to know of the existence of a witch in their village, they take special precautions at the time of harvest. They arrange to harvest a different kind of grain to the one selected for harvesting by the witch. After some time they go to the field of the witch, and discover whether there is a mixture of grain in her field. If they are convinced of the fact, they take further precautions. In order to avoid being troubled by the chetak, they keep an old, worn out shoe or sandal and a charmed copper amulet under the eaves at the main door of their houses, or make crosses with marking nut on both sides of a door. At some places chunam spots or circles are marked on the front of a house, the object being to guard against the evil effects of the chetak's tricks.

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.