it in highly dramatic rituals. This is totally different from a form of
modern "pagan" religion that calls itself "witchcraft" and takes inspi-
ration from popular European ideas about witches, giving them a
more positive twist. What I am talking about here is only the negative,
fantastic witchcraft that is found the world over.)EVIL EYES AND ANGRY GODS
Witchcraft beliefs are only one manifestation of a phenomenon that is
[194] found in many human groups: the interpretation of misfortune as a
consequence of envy. For another example of this, consider the wide-
spread beliefs in an "evil eye," a spell cast by envious people against
whoever enjoys some good fortune or natural advantage. Such beliefs
are found in many places in the world, although in varying degrees.
In some human groups it seems that anydifference is likely to attract
the evil eye, so that people need to be forever on their guard against
possible attacks. In his description of a Gujarat caste in North India,
D.F. Pocock gives a detailed account of such a situation. The najar,or
curse from the envious, is a constant threat. People can cite hundreds
of cases. A friend of Pocock's is distressed because her infant has got a
bad rash. After a few days of inquiries, this is finally connected to an
uncle's visit just after the baby's birth. This uncle had commented on
how lively the child was, how he seemed to understand what was hap-
pening around him. So the jealous uncle must have cast the evil eye
on this precocious child.
In some cases the effects of najarare even more direct: "A man
bought a new hookah of the portable kind and was walking back from
the town with it. A passer-by asked him where he had bought it, and it
broke at once. A woman had a child and another asked to see it. It died."
The fear of the evil eye ruins the simplest pleasures. A man complains to
the anthropologist that he cannot buy apples in Bombay for his children
because other children do not receive such delicacies and this difference
would certainly attract a curse. Indeed, this is perceived as almost auto-
matic and that is why people generally accept that one can cast a spell of
this kind without realizing it. The perception of difference automati-
cally triggers envy, which triggers the evil eye even though the origina-
tor of the curse may not be aware of what happened.^15
In many places, people also explain illness, bad crops, accidents
and other catastrophes as the direct action of the gods or spirits. This
RELIGION EXPLAINED