One of the traditions that has silently crept into the culture of Adilabad is the ‘dishti bomma' from Tamil Nadu. The bomma or image in question is the fearsome face of a demon on a squarish metal plate meant to be displayed prominently on the premises where the object that needs protection from ‘dishti' or ‘evil eye' is located. The fear of evil eye making things go awry has given rise to the tradition of efforts towards warding off the evil eye. Every place has its own traditional methods of going about it.
In Adilabad, people used to tie five green chillies, a lemon, a few cowries or small shells on the new houses or economic ventures or new vehicles that are to be protected from the bad influence. A black spot, usually of kohl, is made on the cheek of a new born baby for the same reason. About two decades back, the gummadi kaya or pumpkin fruit came to be hung from the facades of newly built houses as a measure of warding off the evil eye. This is slowly being replaced by the seemingly easy-to-handle drishti bomma from Tamil Nadu. Since the last five years or so the green face of the demon is being displayed prominently at the entrances of cotton ginning factories. Perhaps the Coimbatore connection of cotton business facilitated the new tradition coming to Adilabad.
