MYSURU: Just over 100 km from India’s IT capital Bengaluru lies the region’s black magic hub — Kollegal in Chamarajnagar district.
On full moon and new moon days, black magic practitioners get busy. Their clients range from politicians and real estate businessmen to love-lorn individuals. The reputation of the sorcerers is such that people who want to win over women and end illicit relationships too seek their help.
Rationalists may rubbish black magic, but ‘clients’ of sorcerers appear to have immense confidence in them. This was evident from politicians who queued up at the doorstep of occultists during the last local body elections.
The services of black magic practitioners who perform a ritual called ‘maata’, which is believed to ward off evils, are not cheap. Sources close to an occultist said the charges range from `10,000 to a whopping `1 lakh, depending on the cases or wishes of the clients.
If some cases cannot be tackled by local occultists, they are taken to their ‘seniors’ in Kerala.
However, a black magic practitioner said people with problems in their love lives and in illicit relationships have been visiting him in good numbers in recent days, but they have no solutions.
A few noted sorcerers regularly hold special pujas on new moon and full moon days and other auspicious days in the name of top politicians and VVIPs living in the national capital and Bengaluru.
Sources said a couple of Union ministers and members of Parliament held special pujas for advancing their political careers at Dodda Sampige and K Gudi forests of B R Hills recently.
However, the ‘occupation’ is on the decline. The number of occultists has come down over the years mainly due to the deaths of the aged ones and improving literacy rate, accoding to rationalists. Better employment opportunities have also played an important role.
According to Govinda, a resident of Kollegal, a few people have brought “disrepute” to Kollegal by cheating innocent people in other towns and cities. This also dented the beliefs of people in occultists to a certain extent, he said.