+Cure

from: Vijay B
provenance: first hand account

My older brother and I were cured of jaundice some 35+ years ago by a vaishya woman. She was around 70+ even then. I was asked to stand in direct sunlight. Then holding some arugampul in her hand, she showed it to the Sun and chanted a mantra. Then she showed the grass to me and drew it from top to bottom (like drishti-removal) and said ‘some-choo-choo-choo’ and dropped it into the water. She did this a few times. Supposedly the water turned yellow.

Apparently this is an age-old practice for jaundice removal. My grand-mother has seen it many times in her life and when we didn’t know of a local practitioner in Secunderabad, she inquired and identified this woman. When asked if her children knew how to do it, she replied that she has not taught it to anyone else including her own children. The woman is likely not alive anymore but my father apparently knows of a grain-stone owned by the son locally.