How to remove Drishti (Dishti / Drushti / Buri Nazar / Evil Eye)

From my childhood when ever I was lethargic and had body pains, the instant diagnosis my Mom, Grand Mom, all the ladies in the family would arrive at is drishti, referred also as dishti, drushti, Buri Nazar(Hindi) and Evil Eye. So what it means that if some people who have evil eye, bad intentions and are jealous of something that you possess they may cause little bit of harm which affects your health with the above mentioned symptoms.

Drishti Removal Process

Removal of drishti is practiced in two forms: Pro-active and Re-active.

• Pro active defense/immunity is provided on auspicious occasions like Marriage, House Warming, New Vehicle etc. Here a plate full of water mixed with Kumkum (Vermillon Powder) is used and is turned round and round thrice in anti-clock wise direction on the face of the candidate(s). Another popular means is to apply katuka (Kajal) on the chin and on the foot. Its also suggested to wear black bands, just above toe, biceps and also as a chain over the neck.

All of the above methods are also followed in re-active manner if the person is already affected by drishti .

• Now coming to the usual re-active methods, depending on the level of drishti the measures vary/increase:

Level 1 Dristi

Normal drishti with few yawns is treated with a fist full of sea salt, circled around the face of the candidate in squat position, facing east direction. Its done thrice in anti-clock wise direction. The formality of spitting into the salt is also done. Some sort of mantra or normal words like ‘let the drishti done by bad neighbors, next lane evil neighbors and the rest of the evil forces in the world be removed…’ are chanted/murmured during the process.

Level 2 Dristi

If some giddiness is observed along with basic symptom of yawning, then in addition to the above, broomstick and chappal also come into picture. The same steps are followed with these objects as was done with Sea Salt to cover the intensity of the drishti . After this the candidate is advised to go in front of the house, as if challenging the evil people that now you are now free from drishti and they can’t do anything to you :). After this the candidate has to wash his legs and can get back to his routine.

Level 3 Dristi

Even after performing Level 1, 2 measures if the drishti doesn’t go off and the symptoms persist or aggravate then the ultimate option of cloth drishti is deployed. Here is the process:-

Take fist full of sea salt, 3-4 red chillies, a small long cloth teared from an old waste cloth, preferably white in color. Sea Salt, Red chillies are to be placed on a plate. A calm, serene place to be found outside the house, preferably in the balconies or facade. Now the cloth has to be placed across a small rod or steel spoon just above the red chillies and sea salt on the plate. Fire has to be lit from downside of the cloth so that chillies and salt start burning slowly due to the fire from the cloth. This has to be continued till the entire cloth gets burned onto the chillies and salt.

Usually its very hard to withstand the smell of red hot chilli while cooking, so when 3-4 chillies are burnt in front of the candidate he should ideally get suffocated and unable to bear the intensity of chillies. However its believed that when there’s serious drishti there will be no effect of the chillies. This is a proof that there was heavy drishti and it got removed. So the bottom line is it has to be tried when there’s serious drishti otherwise you and the performer might face severe cough and suffocation.

After the act is done, the black ash is used to apply on the sindoor position on the face and also on the left foot. As usual the candidate has to go out of the house for a while, show his face to others and come back and wash his legs.

Conclusion – The whole rationale behind Dristi removal

It might sound superstitious and I’m not aware of the logic around how the above mentioned measures can cure some heath conditions like yawning, dizziness. I wouldn’t recommend the severe measures of heating a broken glass bangle and punching on to the hand of the candidate to remove drishti . I had experienced it in the childhood.

However with my personal experience and till date following of these procedures, I strongly believe that the harmless techniques mentioned above work really well. Not sure why ! There’s nothing to lose here as all are home-made and easily available things. You may try it for yourselves to check the results.

You may read How to remove Drishti or Disti for Babies or Young Children 

Any other methods that you can think of ?