Apamarg plant is widely used in Tantrism. Strange and varied uses are made of apmarga in occult practices. Yogis and seers remain without food for days together by consuming its seeds cooked with milk and clarified butter. Sorcerers and wonderworkers apply the juice of the plant to their fingers to catch live scorpions without fear of getting stung.
Tantrics believe that one can acquire hypnotic powers by
regularly applying a tilaka (auspicious mark on the forehead) made of the paste
of apamarga roots; gain premonitory powers by brushing one’s teeth with its twigs
of six months and observing a vow of continence; and insure oneself against
hostile spirits by just keeping its root in the house.
It is said that if a white cotton thread, that has been tied to apamarga for at least 24 hours, is wrapped around the left arm of a person ailing from fever, it will cure the illness. The fresh root of apamarg folded in red cloth is also used for the same purpose.
Apamarga is sometimes hung at house doors to ward off the
effects of the evil eye. Tantriks and spiritual healers serve the ash of the
plant to sterile women or tie its talisman around their waist so that they may
be blessed with children.
Besides being a protective, apamarga is a potent weapon in
the armory of tantrics, who hold that if the roots of apamarga and baheda
(terminalia belerica), after being consecrated with the prescribed mantras are
thrown into the house of an antagonist, he can surely be subjugated.
Tantrics suggest that in order to derive full benefit, the
apamarga plant should be bathed and worshiped with incense and incantations on
a Saturday evening and dug out in the dark before sunrise the next day without
using any iron instrument. One must not look behind or speak to anyone after
digging it up.