A Nazar Battu is an icon, charm bracelet

Charm bracelet

A charm bracelet is an item of jewelry worn around the wrist. It carries personal "charms": decorative pendants or trinkets which signify important things in the wearer's life.-History:...

, tattoo

Tattoo

A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...

 or other object or pattern used in North India

North India

North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...

 and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 to ward-off the evil eye

Evil eye

The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...

 (or nazar).

Forms of Nazar Battus

A nazarbattu is often an intentional blemish or flaw that is introduced to prevent perfection. For instance, a black mark might be made on the face or neck of a loved one. In houses, a deliberate flaw might be included in the otherwise-perfect physical appearance of the house. In expensive items such as carpets or saris, a deliberate coloring or stitching flaw is sometimes created. Amulet

Amulet

An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...

s - some resembling the Turkish nazar boncuğu

Nazar (amulet)

A nazar is an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye . In Central Asia, during the ages of Tengrism, people held similar superstitions like horseshoes, garlic, wolf's tooth, dried thorn, lead, stones; but the crystal blue eye has always been the most popular one.It is common in...

 and others which are threads, sometimes with a taveez attached (a small cylinder that contains a prayer verse) - are common in the region. Some nazar battu amulets are region specific, for instance silver-mounted leopard nails which are used in the Chamba district

Chamba district

Chamba is the northwestern district of Himachal Pradesh, in India, with its headquarters in Chamba town. The towns of Dalhousie and Khajjhiar are popular hill stations and vacation spots for the people from the plains of northern India....

 of Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...

 state.

Although it doesn't involve a specific nazar battu, it is customary in the region for mothers to lightly spit at their children (usually ritualistically to the side of the children rather than directly at them) to imply a sense of disparagement and imperfection that protects them from nazar. Excessive admiration, even from well-meaning people, is believed attract the evil eye, so this is believed to protect children from nazar that could be caused by their own mothers' "excessive" love of them.

Satirical usage in popular culture

In North India and Pakistan, the term nazar battu can be used idiomatically in a satiric

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 sense to allude to people or objects which are undesirable but must be tolerated. For instance, when it appeared that former military ruler Pervez Musharraf

Pervez Musharraf

Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...

 would insist on being accommodated institutionally as Pakistan made the transition to democracy with the 2008 general election

Pakistani general election, 2008

A general election was held in Pakistan on 18 February 2008, after being postponed from 8 January 2008. The original date was intended to elect members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the Majlis-e-Shoora...

, some press commentators alluded to him as the nazarbattu of Pakistan's democracy.