ABSTRACT
In South Asia, and especially in Hindu traditions, diseases are typically depicted as deities. But in the magic tantras, a disease can be an affliction cast by a human ritualist upon a victim. A knowing sorcerer can deploy disease as a weapon. Magic rituals spread illness as quickly as any contagion, fueled by the hatred and jealousy of the ritualist for his/her client. This chapter describes rituals that inflict disease found in magic tantras belonging to Hindu Śaivism. The Uḍḍīśatantra, a generally Śaiva source, and related texts in the so-called Uḍḍ-corpus contain mantras and rituals to inflict and remove a range of disease deities, but sources also present antidotes that confer supernatural health and vigor. Overlap with witchcraft lore and medicine, as well as Ayurveda, are noted throughout. This discourse is dominated by maliciously casting disease upon the unsuspecting, but it also presents a surprising glimpse of positivity.
