Indian Witches

 

   

Picture Source:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/13/in-germany-a-400-year-old-witchcraft-case-gets-a-retrial/
http://atheism.about.com/od/christianityviolence/ig/Christian-Persecution-Witches/Witch-Burned-Stake-Witchcraft.htm

 

Witch-burning and witch-hanging. The frenzied shouts of a hysteric crowd that “She’s a witch!” The shrieking and writhing of the alleged victims of witchcraft in the courthouse.

Found yourself in 1692, Salem, Massachusetts? Or perhaps 15^th century Europe? With media depictions and references ranging from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, it is likely that many of us have heard of the infamous witch-hunts in history.

They are a thing of the past, are they not?

Or so I thought. Imagine my bewilderment as I unsuspectingly came across the article, “The truth about witches” on the Times of India website. As they often do in my dismay or disorientation, my eyes narrowed to a squint while scanning over the first few lines: “With witch-hunts a reality in many Indian states, activists say Bollywood’s portrayal of daayans as evil personified needs to change (Sharma).”

Whoa, hold up there. Witch-hunts in India? What is going on here?

After much research, here is what I’ve gathered about the situation:

- Witch branding of women, especially widows, is a commonplace attack in many states of India, with as many as 218 lynching of accused women occurring in the state of Andhra Pradesh alone between 2003 and 2008 (Arora). Witch-hunts occur more frequently amongst tribal populations (Chaudhuri).

- Many of the witch-hunts can be described as “calculated attacks”, in which the accusers have a motive such as settling scores over personal conflicts or gaining property (Chaudhuri).

- Communities in which witch-hunts occur hold superstitious beliefs, including that the evil spirits in daayans (witches) must be eradicated. Once a witch doctor confirms a woman as a witch, she is promptly punished (Roy). The forms of punishments are atrocious and varied, and include ostracizing, torturing, and killing of the accused (Times of India).

You can find many reported cases of witch-hunts on Times of India:

· Woman lynched in Garhwa after witch slur

· Woman branded ‘witch’, daughter harassed in Ajmer
· Nephew kills woman branding her a witch

Witch-hunts have also been discussed by:
· The Independent: The dark side of India, where a witch-doctor's word means death
· The Guardian: Witch hunt
· The Women News Network: India: Protective Laws Fall Short for Women Charged with Witchcraft

Nowhere in Monsoon Wedding, Malgudi Days, or The Artist of Disappearance did I come across any mention of daayans or witch-hunts. First, the intermingling of western and Indian culture, and now tribal communities. Once again, India has surprised me with her richness in diversity and culture. All the more understandable after the historical overview of the country last Thursday…

Come to think of it, India is a lot like China in that respect, at least in my limited vision of the world. China’s population is also varied, with many different ethnic groups; I’d seen a tribe myself in a travel documentary. The witch doctors of India also remind me of the shamans in my own (Korean) culture, called mudang (무당).

 
▲ Korean shaman performing
Source: http://image.pressian.com/images/2010/08/02/50100802032537(0).JPG

Some may label India as backward in contempt upon reading about the witch doctors. I have mixed feelings. Certainly, people should be protected from any physical, psychological, or material harm brought about as a result of superstitious beliefs (case in point: 'Witch doctor' gets death penalty for beheading boy). However, when it comes to those that do not cause harm, can one justify forcing away the beliefs upon which someone’s identity or reality is built, for his supposed sake? Is it modernization or ideological hegemony? But that’s another story.

Back to the article that started this cascade of research, learning, and discovery.

What sparked the article was anger over the recently released Bollywood horror film, Ek Thi Daayan.

▲Theatrical release poster of Ek Thi Daayan
Picture Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ek_Thi_Poster.jpg

In it, a daayan is a haunting villain. Some are protesting that the film’s negative portrayal of daayans as evil beings serve to aggravate the problem of witch-hunts in India. One such protestor is the publicly-declared witch and social activist named Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, who works to curb witch-hunt-related violence and help the victims (Chakraverti; Sharma). She is a curious character herself, and worth reading about.

▲Wiccan priestess, writer, and social activist, Ipsita Roy Chakraverti
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipsita_Roy_Chakraverti

But, before I digress as before, why don’t you check out her thoughts on this film in the article I’ve been referring to? There, you will also find others’ responses and an overview of the witch-hunt problem in India.

As my final words, I want to state that modern-day witch-hunting is not a phenomenon unique to India. Here are just a few examples for those who are interested:

· Papua New Guinea: It’s 2013, And They’re Burning ‘Witches’ (From the Globe and Mail)
· Gambia: Witch Hunts and Foul Potions Heighten Fear of Leader in Gambia (From New York Times)
· Congo: Congo witch-hunt’s child victims (From BBC News)

So, what are your thoughts? Feeling incredulous? Angry? Don’t hesitate to share your response; I welcome it.

 

Works Cited

Arora, Kim. “Many cases of women branded as witches still go unreported: Report.”

Times of India [Mumbai]. 22 Jan. 2013. NewsBank. Web. 18 May 2013.

Chakraverti, Ipsita R. “Biography.” The Wiccan Brigade. Web. 19 May 2013.

Chaudhuri, Soma. “Women as Easy Scapegoats : Witchcraft Accusations and Women

as Targets in Tea Plantations of India”. Sage Publications 18.10 (2012): 1213-

1234. Medline. Web. 18 May 2013.

Roy, Puja. “Sanctioned Violence: Development and the Persecution of Women as

Witches in South Bihar”. Development in Practice 8.2 (1998): 136-147.

 

JSTOR Arts & Sciences VII. Web. 18 May 2013.

Sharma, Purnima. “The truth about witches”. Times of India Crest Edition 20 Apr.

2013. Web. 16 May 2013

Times of India. “Women facing atrocities as 'witch' still prevalent in Rajasthan”. Times

of India [Mumbai]. 15 Jan. 2013. NewsBank. Web. 18 May 2013