Averting the evil eye

[deponti]

Here's a picture that is quite familiar to Indians, but would be something rather intriguing to non-Indians:

Comments

[anonymous]

'bloody significance'

*giggle*
I like the not-so-obvious puns anyday :D

[deponti]

thanks...and you are...?

[joylita]

Me. I just realised I hadn't signed in.

[deponti]

Will be calling Bangalore Mirror and asking them about the story, so let me know which date it came out on, please?

[deponti]

No...actually, the lemons are crushed for the "avoiding evil" effect, and further crushing is supposed to enhance that effect, at least, in my community. It's another matter that we side-step it as we don't want lemon-juicy sandals.

[mamtanaidu]

Very informative Deepa! I can use this as my reference sometime later if some foreigner asks me what it means ;)

[shortindiangirl]

I wouldn't take it as gospel. As I've written above, I have a different understanding of the aarathi. Reinforced by documentation in "Why do we..." a little cultural book on what Hindus have and perform many daily rituals and cultural acts.

[deponti]

Well, *I* think that the book you mentioned has a great many unproven theories masquerading as gospel. It's easy to build up a nice theory to suit the facts and just because it is printed in a book, we tend to think of it as correct...it may not be... Certainly, some of the interpretations of the symbolisms in the book differ materially from what I have been taught. But I know you like the book, so I have left it at that.

[asakiyume]

It's a great photo and does look like the lemon is bloody!

I think that urge to offer blood is very deep indeed. I've felt it myself when I've been so grateful for collecting maple sap or wild fruits of some sort: I've wanted to offer back some of my own blood to say thank you for what the tree has given of itself.

[deponti]

Oh my goodness when I finally come to visit you I don't want to see all the barks of the trees all blood-stained....;-)

[asakiyume]

Oh, I'm too chicken to do any serious blood sacrifice. But I think about it...

[deponti]

chicken...so maybe you can offer up a giblet or a drumstick as a sacrifice! ;-)

[debbieann]

I love information like this. Here is a photo of the 'scarecrow' (not my photo).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meredithgreen/214040426/

They are a little scary to me - they look a lot like a lynched person.

All the evil eye things are fascinating to me. In Jewish culture people spit three times to ward off the evil eye.

Oh another thing we see on babies is sharpies used to put fake sort of beauty marks to mar the beautiful baby - another ward off evil eye instance.

[deponti]

Well, I must say, the scarecrows are not usually "hanged to death" like that!! They are more likely to be sort of stood up on the scaffolding.

But you get the idea...just when you may be feeling envy and jealousy about the rich guy who is building that house...you go "yeughhhh" about the scarecrow, and your negative vibrations get dissipated....

I haven't even touched upon the subject of NAMES to ward off the evil eye. If a child is suffering from a serious illness, the parents change the name to something like "Pichai" (alms, presumably from God),"Vemban" (one with the bitterness of the Neem tree) or Karuppan (Black One) or some such unattractive name, in the hope that the gods themselves will spare the child in disgust...