ABSTRACT
The Nandi believe that certain men and women among them have the power to kill or injure people by means of spells. For these men and women they have one name. ponik (sing, ponindet), a word derived from the verb pan, from which come also the terms ponisiet denoting the practice, and pondit, the materials used in casting a spell. Ponisiet is worked either through direct speech, or through indirect speech accompanied by the use of material objects (pondit). Neither in terminology nor in method do they recognize any difference between practitioners; there is only one category of ponik, and they employ all kinds of ponisiet irrespective of sex or position in society. An artificial distinction of terms, like ‘witch’ or ‘sorcerer’, is not needed, because no difference exists; and to translate the Nandi terms, therefore, the most suitable English words are those based on ‘witch’: pon-indet, witch; pon-isiet, witchcraft; pan, bewitch; leavingpon-dit to be rendered by ‘witch's medicine’ or the like. (’Sorcerer’ is less convenient because there is no corresponding verb in English—’ensorceF has never become naturalized.) Ponisiet is primarily a craft, a skill, not a substance innate in a person, and it has nothing to do with the evil eye. The possessor of the evil eye, sakutindet (from sakut, cast the evil eye), has an innate quality which causes him or her to harm others merely by looking at them, even though they may have no wish or intent to hurt. It is true that some may turn their disability into an asset by using it from motives of spite or greed; but this does not make them ponik, and the wearing of amulets (kerichek) is believed to protect against the evil eye. But against ponisiet amulets are of no avail.
