Nazar and drishti
South Asian words for the evil eye: the harm believed to follow envious or admiring looks, and the customs that turn it aside.
Also: nazar, buri nazar, drishti, nojor, nazar utarna
In Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, nazar means sight, and buri nazar is the evil look. Drishti, the Sanskrit word for sight, is used in many other Indian languages, such as Telugu, Kannada and Marathi. The belief is that praise or envy, even unspoken, can bring illness, spoiled food or business failure. Common customs are a black dot of kajal on a child's cheek, a string of lemon and green chillies hung at a shop door, a black thread, and a gesture of waving salt or chillies around a person, said to remove the look. The idea runs from Morocco to Bengal, and similar customs are found in many places, from southern Italy to Mexico.