See also abhicāraḥ.
E. abhi before cara to go, and ghañ aff.
or spells for a malevolent purpose.--The Shaḍvinśa-Brā-
hmaṇa names as such purposes: killing an enemy and de-
priving him of his cattle or property; it gives an account
of four sacrifices which are performed for the attainment
of these objects, (see śyena, trivṛdagniṣṭoma, saṃdaṃśa and vajra)
and describes the manner in which the mantras are to be
recited at these sacrifices; (see viṣṭuti).--The Tantrasāra
(as quoted by Rādhākāntad.) names six purposes of incan-
tation, viz. causing death (māraṇa), mental aberration (mo-
hana), stoppage of the bodily functions (stambhana), hatred (vi-
dveṣaṇa), ruin (uccāṭana) and submission (vaśīkaraṇa). [Comp.
e. g. also the following passage from the Skanda-Purāṇa:
kuśairvā dūrvayā devi āsane śubhrakambale . upaviśya tato devi
japedekāgramānasaḥ (scil. gurugītām) . śuklāsane vai śāntyarthe
'vaśye raktāsanaṃ priye . abhicāre kṛṣṇavarṇaṃ pītavarṇaṃ dhanāgame .
uttare śāntijāpyasyāvaśye pūrvamukhoditam . dakṣiṇe māraṇaṃ
proktaṃ stambhane paścime mukham . mohanaṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ bandhamokṣakaraṃ
param . devabhūpapriyakaraṃ rājānaṃ vaśamānayet &c.]--Suśruta
speaks of a variety of fever caused by incantation (see a-
bhicārajvara and comp. abhiṣaṅgajvara), the symptoms of
which are, according to the Nighaṇṭa Prakāśa, thirst,
mental aberration, abscesses, delirium, fainting, anguish,
excessive heat &c.--Manu (likewise Viṣṇu &c.) when
speaking of incantations (9. 290.) makes a distinction between
abhicāra, mūlakarman and various kṛtyā; the former com-
prises, according to Medhātithi and Kullūka as well incan-
tations founded on vaidik writings (vaidika or śāstrīya,
such as the Śyena &c.), as those founded on vulgar super-
stition (laukika, such as taking the dust of the feet, digging
in needles--sūcīnikhanana in the E. I. H. Mss. of Medh. being
apparently a better reading than mūlanikhanana in the present edd.
of Kull.--&c.) for the purpose of causing death; mūlakarman is,
according to both comm., subduing a person by means of
mantras, drugs &c. (Kull.: mantrauṣadhādinā; Medh.: mantrā-
dikriyayā); the kṛtyā are, according to Kullūka, incantations
for the sake of causing ruin, making sick &c., according to
Medh., for the sake of causing ruin, animosity between friends
or relatives, working wonders &c. (uccāṭanasuhṛdbandhukalahavici-
trīkaraṇādihetavaḥ).--Manu fines a person who employs
charms two hundred Paṇas (9. 290.), classes in another pas-
sage abhicāra and mūlakarman amongst the Upapātaka (11. 63.)
and makes the expiation of an abhicāra depend on the per-
formance, thrice repeated, of the penance called Kṛchchhra
(11. 197.). But as these clauses would jar apparently with
the vaidik texts which impliedly sanction the employment
of charms by regulating the sacrifices Śyena &c. performed
for incantatory purposes, Kullūka qualifies the definition of
Manu 11. 63. by commenting that abhicāra is an upapātaka, if
it causes the death of an innocent or unoffending person (śyenā-
diyajñenānaparādhasya māraṇam), while Medhātithi seems merely
to lay stress on the fact of death itself (although the death
be that of an enemy) and perhaps too on the condition of
death being caused by a vaidik kind of incantation (Medh.
to 11. 63.: abhicāro vaidikena śāpādinā mantraprayogeṇa śye-
nādiyāgena vā śatrumāraṇam, or to 11. 197.: vaidikena japaho-
mādinā śatrormāraṇamabhicāraḥ); for the same reason, pro-
bably, both comm. agree in giving to the penalty clause
(9. 290) the additional sense: ‘if the incantation does not
cause death’, and qualify, in the clause 11. 197., the incan-
tation as one ‘directed against a person who ought not to have
been brought under the spell (i. e. an innocent or unoffending
person)’; some however, as results from Medh.'s discussion
on the latter verse, give it a different bearing, for they supply
the preceding word yājana at abhicāra and subject thus to the
penance Kṛchchhra, not the yajamāna or the person who
institutes an incantatory sacrifice, but the ṛtvij or the
priest who performs for him such a sacrifice. But in spite
of these efforts of the commentators to establish a harmony
between Manu and the Veda, it will seem that another
possibility alluded to by Medhātithi is more plausible, viz.
that Manu did not attach any scriptural authority to such
voluntary rites, as the incantatory sacrifices, and, there-
fore, did not consider himself at variance with the Veda,
when he interdicted incantations in an unqualified manner;
(Medhātithi: nanu ca kāmyānyapi niṣiddhāni . kāmātmatā na praśa-
steti . yattasya viṣayaḥ . sa tatraiva vyākhyātaḥ). E. car with
abhi, kṛt aff. ghañ.
+ a, m. Incantation, making charms
for mischievous purposes, Man. 11, 197.
m. (-raḥ) Magic for a malevolent purpose, the spells and
diagrams of the Atharva Veda and some of the Tantras, supposed
to produce mental aberration, love, hatred, loss of feeling or
paralysis, and death.
E. abhi before cara to go, and ghañ aff.