Against Witches 1 (Rudrākṣa Seed Recitation)

This recital, according to Karṇa Vīr, is applied at the beginning of every ceremony for protection against witches. The text itself, however, does not have much to do with witches, and is a more general invocation of deities enlisted to protect the body. It suggests considerable influence of Kānphaṭa yogis, beginning with invocation of nāth deities and then a description of a Kānphaṭa, while the rudrākṣa seeds are extremely important to the yogins. (NSOTI:note683) The shaman Karṇa Vīr Kāmī is from Ciurī Village, Lahã, Jājarkoṭ. The full transcription and translation is published in NSOTI:191-194. REFERENCE: Maskarinec, Gregory G., 1998, Nepalese Shaman Oral Texts I, Harvard Oriental Series volume 55, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, Harvard University Press. [V1.3.3]