“Superstition is born of ignorance and fear, and thrives the most when reason is asleep” - Zarathushtra, the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism.
“Be strong, get beyond all superstitions, and be free” - Swami Vivekananda, spiritual philosopher, author and religious teacher.
BENGALURU: Superstitions are beliefs or practices considered irrational and attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown, and at odds with scientific knowledge of the world. These prevail across communities, castes and sects and remain unshakeable, unless rationality prevails.
Last month a one-month-old infant, who along with her mother, was forced to live in a makeshift tent as part of an age-old custom of the Kadugolla community at Mallenahalli Gollarahatti, died. As per their customary tradition, the new mother was living separately, outside her house along with her infant, when the baby fell sick due to respiratory infection caused by exposure, and later died. The police registered an FIR against the infant’s father and maternal grandfather under the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017.
The practice of forceful quarantine of menstruating and postpartum females among the Kadugollas (also prevails in some other communities in varying degrees) is born out of fear of consequences of not following the tradition. Fear of earning the ‘divine wrath’ is the single most important factor that allows superstitions to thrive from one generation to the other in all societies, across the world. One can find girls and women staying inside a makeshift shack when they are in their menstrual cycle or have just gone through childbirth in Kadugolla hamlets, also called Gollaradoddi or Gollarahatti.
In the absence of a shack, many menstruating females spend the first three days of their menstruation cycle under a tree and are allowed inside the house on the fourth day of their period.
The ‘belief’ that a woman is “impure” when she is menstruating has been perpetuated from primitive to modern times across societies, globally, and is at the core of women’s oppression and feminist debates.
From a ‘rationalist’ perspective of allowing her rest from household chores to keeping her “safe” from male physical encounters during the period, “women’s bodies have been used by communities and society to maintain culture and purity,” says Dr R Indira, visiting professor, Dr BR Ambedkar Research and Extension Centre, University of Mysore.
Menstrual taboo is one among several such superstitions – a set of beliefs or practices that are not based on facts or reality – that continue to thrive in Karnataka despite the ban. These have been passed down from one generation to another, largely through “folklore” under the threat of the ‘forseeable’ consequences should one dare to break them.
Superstitions are not typical to one religion, caste or community. They are part of societies across the world and have nothing to do with literacy, education and one’s socio-economic holding. “The lure of the divine in the middle of uncertainty surrounding life is what feeds superstition. It works like mental medicine for people gripped by fear,” says eminent writer, thinker and linguist Prof Ganesh Devy.
From the upper caste offering food mixed with hair and nails to the Koaragas for the most dehumanising ‘Ajalu’ practice despite the Karnataka Koragas (Prohibition of Ajalu Practice) Act, 2000 to ‘Sidi,’ animal sacrifices etc, some of these practices persist in the state’s hinterland. Koragas fall under the particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) category.
Susheela Nada, president of Federation of Koraga Development Associations, Karnataka-Kerala, informs TNIE that Koraga tribal people are still the most deprived lot in the region. “Though Ajalu practice where Koragas are made to eat leftover food from upper caste households mixed with hair and fingernails is banned, there are still incidents of the inhuman practice followed in the interior parts of Dakshina Kannada district. But those instances do not come to light as the victims are old and uneducated. The government should continue to educate the tribal people against victimisation,” she says.
Sidi, another such ritual, is still performed in many rural areas despite the ban. It is a dangerous practice wherein a person is hung by a rope with a hook attached to it piercing thick portion of the skin in the middle-back. The other end of the rope is tied to a long wooden pole. The pole is placed on a higher ground while the lower end of the pole is kept swinging back and forth for some time. This is done to fulfil vows. Recently, a 55-year-old woman of Tamba village in Indi taluka, Vijayapura district fell to her death when the rope she was tied to, snapped. She died after falling from a height of over 50 feet.
The woman had reportedly made a sacred vow at a village temple that she would perform Sidi, if her son got a government job. When her son did get the job, she decided to fulfil her vow. The district administration has issued a show cause notice to the temple committee for organizing the banned ritual.
Animal sacrifice made to appease gods is a widely held belief in Hassan rural district along with fire walks during religious festivities and cart festivals. Social activists hold a section of religious heads responsible for manipulating gullible people and forcing them into such practices for personal gains. Burying differently-abled children in neck deep compost for hours during solar eclipse with a belief that the mud treatment would cure them was until recently prevalent in Kalaburagi district of north Karnataka.
“There are ignorant people who are exploited by some religious heads, who make them believe in black magic. There should be legal awareness among the people, especially the village leaders, who force people into such superstitious beliefs,” says Purushothama, a rationalist.
Besides exploiting human weakness, superstitions victimise the most vulnerable, from women and children to the lower caste people, who are made the means of divine deliverance.
“While one expected that modernity and advancement would wean people away from such rituals, paradoxically, they have become the means to achieving those advancements,” says noted sociologist GK Karanth. The state has done its best to “abolish (sic) superstitions but, sadly, it is something that cannot be abolished for there are many elected representatives, who make animal offerings as sacrifice and alter their offices to gain and stay in power. The fear of ‘just in case’ drives superstitions,” he says. “Bidtu, bidtu, bidtu, (leave it, leave it, leave it) just in case, what I said was blasphemous or sinful for I don’t want any ill-luck,” he concludes.
(Inputs from Hirehalli Devaraja/Tumakuru, Prakash Samaga/Udupi, BK Lakshmikantha/Mysuru, Firoz Rozindar/Vijayapura, Udaya Kumar BR/Hassan, Tushar Majukar/Belagavi)