GETTING RID OF THE EVIL EYE

I noticed a bowl of Chrysanthemum flowers in water placed at an Indian restaurant in Old Town Ipoh when I was having lunch with some of my friends a couple of weeks ago. My Indian friends told me that the Hindus would place such a bowl of flowers at the entrance to their homes to ward off the evil eye.

WHAT IS THE EVIL EYE?

You might ask what is the 'evil eye' as I did when I was told about it. Well, the evil eye is a belief that the envy elicited by the good luck of fortunate people may result in their misfortune. The perception of the nature of the phenomenon, its causes, and possible protective measures, varies between different cultures. In some forms, it is the belief that some people can bestow a curse on victims by the malevolent gaze of their magical eye. The most common form, however, attributes the cause to envy, with the envious person casting the evil eye doing so unintentionally. Also the effects on victims vary. Some cultures report afflictions with bad luck; others believe the evil eye can cause disease, wasting away, and even death.

In most cultures, the primary victims are thought to be babies and young children, because they are so often praised and commented upon by strangers or by childless women. In India the evil eye, called "drishti" (literally view) or "nazar", is removed through "Aarthi". The actual removal involves different means as per the subject involved. In case of removing human evil eye, a traditional Hindu ritual of holy flame (on a plate) is carried out in which the plate is moved in a circular motion around the person's face so as to absorb the evil effects. Sometimes people will also be asked to spit into a handful of chillies kept in that plate, which are then thrown into fire. For vehicles too, this process is followed with limes or lemons being used instead of chillies. These lemons are crushed by the vehicle and a new lemon is hung with chillies in a bead to ward off any future evil eyes. The use of kumkum on cheeks of newly weds or babies is also a method of thwarting the "evil eye". Toddlers and young children are traditionally regarded as perfect and are likely to attract the evil eye. Often mothers apply a spot of kohl on their children's cheeks or on the forehead to make the child imperfect and ward off evil eyes.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_eye