Dear Dr Jacob Schmidt, 

> I wonder if it would be considered inauspicious to pick them up, or whether they would already have served their ritual purpose (whatever exactly that might have been)?

As per the occult beliefs around such occult practices, there is no harm such objects inflict on the person who collects them. 

Warding off of the evil (ill fate in this case) which is intended in such practices is done through two kinds of rituals. 

1. Transfer of evil

2. Desruction or  throwing away or washing off 

In the method #1, the objects used for the removal of evil eye are believed to collect evil eye into themselves and are believed to transfer to the person crossing them over. 

In the method #2, the objects used to for the removal of dosha are thrown into flowing water or any such nature form that can destroy, take away or wash off the dosha. 

The objects found in the present instance belong to method #2 . So, as per the belief system of their users, the flowing river waters would have washed off the evil (in this case , ill fate ).  

On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 4:59 AM Jacob Schmidt-Madsen via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
The grids on the sides of the cubes are indeed magic squares. Every row
of numbers, whether read orthogonally or diagonally, adds up to 36,
which identify the magic squares as associated with Rāhu. This is also
borne out by the inscriptions at the bottom which read: "aum rāhave
namaḥ".

A quick search online reveals several reports of circular and triangular
tokens with magic squares of either Rāhu or Ketu turning up in rivers in
England, America, Canada, and New Zealand. E.g.:

[1] http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=20365.0

[2]
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/286825-lead-elephant-coins-lead-bull-squares.html

A poster on the latter forum states that: "I saw this a few summers ago
in St. Louis MO. There was a whole family beside the river and two were
throwing these type coins in and a few other items. Didn't ask anything
as you could tell they were trying to keep it private."

I did not find any reports about cubes, but the circular tokens can, for
instance, be bought here:

https://www.nanubhaiindia.com/products/283-rahu-yantra-coin.aspx

I wonder if it would be considered inauspicious to pick them up, or
whether they would already have served their ritual purpose (whatever
exactly that might have been)?

Best,
Jacob

Jacob Schmidt-Madsen
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Copenhagen
Denmark

Richard G. Salomon via INDOLOGY skrev den 2020-05-14 00:30:
> How strange! I wonder if these are "magic squares," which Allen
> Thrasher studied years ago (but I don't know if he's on this list).
>
> Rich Salomon
>
> On Wed, May 13, 2020 at 1:58 PM Valerie Roebuck via INDOLOGY
> <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Intriguing. However, not the River Thames, but the River Sowe at
>> Coventry (the city in the MIdlands where Lady Godiva took her famous
>> ride).
>>
>> Valerie J Roebuck
>> Manchester, UK
>>
>>> On 13 May 2020, at 20:31, Charles DiSimone via INDOLOGY
>>> <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear friends,
>>>
>>> Is anybody familiar with the lead cubes in the attached picture?
>>> These were intriguingly found in the Thames River recently. The
>>> story from a local periodical is here:
>>>
>>
> https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/mystery-60-peculiar-cubes-inscriptions-18232422
>>>
>>> I imagine these were deposited in the river rather recently, but
>>> maybe someone knows more. I’m curious what the ritual
>>> surrounding depositing such items in a body of water might be.
>>>
>>> All my best,
>>> Charles
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Dr. Charles DiSimone
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Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.


Director,  Inter-Gurukula-University Centre , Indic Academy
BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra
BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala
BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.
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Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies, 
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education, 
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