Someone needs to make a Bollywood movie about this; to naive me, that’s the fastest way to reach the masses and start a dialogue about ignorance regarding “black magic”. Somewhere between a jarring, music video-like interlude and a montage of Swiss images, let a flat-screen TV show a fake news story about this, after which Aishwarya turns to Abhishek and says,
“My God, that is terrible!”
“When will people realize black magic is not real?”
“And that doing something like this is murder!”
Etcetera, etcetera. I’m not trying to make light of what I’m about to post, but I do wish there was an immediate way to communicate how heart-breakingly wrong the following is, to the maximum number of people possible…via Reuters and the “Oddly Enough” feature at the top of my GMail inbox:
An elderly Indian husband and wife were burnt to death after villagers accused them of practicing black magic, tied them together on a pyre and set them on fire, police said Thursday.
“The aged couple died screaming for help,” said police superintendent P.V. Sunil Kumar.
Well, where the hell were you Superintendent Kumar?
Sayanna, 70, and his 61-year-old wife, Pochamma, were set ablaze after being doused with kerosene.
Both were farm laborers near the southern city of Hyderabad who also practiced traditional medicine. Police have arrested six villagers for the incident.
At least there is an attempt at justice. And now, for some cringe-inducing words…
Belief in black magic is common in some parts of rural India, despite the country’s robust economic growth and cutting-edge high-technology industries.
Hmmm. Belief in misguided, hawkish jingoism is common in some parts of America, despite the country’s robust educational system and cutting-edge technology industries. (Yeah, like THAT will ever get printed.)
Siddhartha covered this almost exactly a year ago:
Dozens of women are murdered each year after being accused of witchcraft.
The following reminds me of the bible story about Abraham and Isaac, though there was no mercy, divine or otherwise for this little boy.
Last year, a barber in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh killed his four-year-old son by slitting his throat with a razor after the man started seeing visions of the Hindu goddess Kali demanding a sacrifice.
Abraham and Isaac
ANNA: As a vegan, I would have thought you would not find this story appealing, as it has directly led to the annual holocaust of sheep and goats.
I hate to say this but rural India isn’t the only place responsible for fearing and belief in black magic. The belief is alive and well in most of India and even in major cities. Black magic or “Jadu tona” is something I heard of so commonly when growing up. Sure we don’t set people on fire for believing in it but then we match horoscopes and wed trees and other such nonsense in order to weard off ‘evil’.
Acts like this are highly common in the rural parts of India. Unless there is a drastic improvement/rehaul of the education system, which gets to the masses, things of this nature are never going to stop. Literacy plays a big part in all of this, is my opinion. I do not know what is going to wake up the government and make them realise that their lives are not the only ones worth something.
AMfD, I am not a vegan. I am a vegetarian. There is a huge difference. I consume dairy etc. And my family is anomalously vegetarian because we are fasting (i.e. a permanent Lent), not because of mindfulness of animals or their suffering. If I were vegan, I wouldn’t wear so much leather.
I forgot that happened on Eid, so I’m glad you commented. I don’t think G-d needs or requires animal sacrifice. Slaughtering camels and goats in memory of Abraham’s willingness to submit to G-d’s will makes me want to cry.
Last year, a barber in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh killed his four-year-old son by slitting his throat with a razor after the man started seeing visions of the Hindu goddess Kali demanding a sacrifice.
That would be the Andrea Yates trial all over again if this had taken place in the US.
The belief is alive and well in most of India and even in major cities.
I am fine with people believeing what they want, as long as it not imposed on anyone else or affects anyone else in a direct manner.
Thats well and fine, they can practice whatever they want and fear what they want. However, incidents like these where people are punished/burnt for practicing the same happen more in the rural areas (though sometimes they happen in the towns and cities too). I think primarily due to a more homogeneous nature of a village which results in a greater fear of things which are not the norm. Also, the close knit social structure of a village results in a greater occurrence of a mob mentality.
While this is certainly reprehensible and unacceptable, let’s not throw in the towel on India being part of a “Sick, Sad World.” Things are improving in India and it will take time, this kind of thing will gradually decrease with heightened literacy rates etc.
So Anna (A N N A!) it’s good that you published this but how about a less despairing and more empowering title for the post, like “This Must Stop” or something?
just a suggestion! Thanks for posting.
Yeah.. It is a shame that things like this still happen in India in 2007..
I was considering moving back to India myself and I guess I will have to give the image of being a good hindhu if I want my kids to get the best opportunities or else if I do not practice hindhuism people may discriminate against my family in subtle ways.. I am really not hindhu but agnostic..
Nada, “Sick, Sad World” is a pop culture reference to a show within a show on the cartoon “Daria”. I don’t think it’s meant to evoke despair.
To #8 Nada: It is a sick, sad world when things like this happen at all (the Salem witch trials being a great example) and, as Anna notes, “belief in misguided, hawkish jingoism is common in some parts of America, despite the country’s robust educational system and cutting-edge technology industries (Yeah, like THAT will ever get printed.)”
Also, the belief in black magic is alive and well in our very own United States – it’s called voodoo and is quite popular in my part of Amerika Uber Alles. Of course, we don’t burn witches here but don’t give the fundies any new ideas.
WOW. Stories like these make me nauseous.
If anyone in that village was watching this and not doing anything to stop it, then they are just as responsible.
Oh, I haven’t seen Daria so I didn’t get the reference.
I didn’t mean to irritate anyone. I think the story just bothered me so I was trying to find some positive spin, but maybe there isn’t one.
[last years post]
Is the above what happened here? It’s just sucky and horrible.
I’m sure you’re not the only one. I don’t even know if “Daria” is still on, so it might be very obscure at this point.
Doubt that you did. But if you get the chance to see “Daria”, do. It was funny.
Stories like these make you appreciate Prof. Shyam Manav’s work even more. I have attended one of his seminars. Over the period of 20 odd years he has exposed many godmen and annoyed fundies of all stripes. Link. Don’t know much about IHEU, but Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samiti is doing, er, god’s work.
We don’t even have to jump to “misguided, hawkish jingoism” for the American analogy. The people who burn Harry Potter books or use public shaming to get little kids to convert to Evangelical Christianity are very real. If we didn’t have such a strong rule of law in this country (and civic organizations like the ACLU to kick that rule of law into gear even when it’s unpopular) I have no doubt it would be happening in America too. Hell, I have no doubt that your local mandir or mosque would be one of the first targets.
India has never had that kind of externalized, consistent rule of law. It’s always been a goal, and it’s certainly developing, but lots of local communities still place custom and religious identification over that (and that’s as true of poor neighborhoods in big cities as it is of rural communities). ANNA’s question about where Superintendent Kumar was is a good one, and it’s key to understanding why this happens.
Btw, I think the “Sick, Sad World” reference here isn’t just in the fact that this happened, but also in the way it was presented. It’s not a “real” news story to Reuters, but just an “Oddly Enough” — just some weird shit happening to people who don’t “really” matter. It’s for a wealthy audience to recoil and take pleasure in how far they are from those people. Just like the show on Daria was…
Well, if it’s any consolation (?), here in Canada a sizeable portion of the population believes that misguided, hawkish jingoism is common in ALL parts of America.
I will note, however, that the last little blurb seems a bit gratuitous. Again, one doesn’t have to look far in the Christian world to find mentally ill people who murder in the name of God. I know it was in the original article too, but it’s tonally HUGELY different than the “villagers sacrificing people over black magic” issue. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but it came off as more of a slam on Hinduism to me, especially when juxtaposed with the mob behavior above.
I loved Al Chutiya’s response at #5:
Sooo true.
A woman was murdered a couple of weeks ago in Guyana after being accused of witchcraft. It’s been big news there, in the local press. Her name was Radika Singh and she was accused of being an “Old Higue.” This is how it happened, and here is an interesting column by a Guyanese professor in the U.S. commenting on it, including this element:
“Black magic,” “witchcraft,” and other terms are usually cover for baser motivations to murder–jealousy, passion, rage, retribution, theft. There’s no way to know what the real story is. Villagers are more sophisticated than you think, and they know that “witchcraft” is a useful term. The press loves it, and trying to dig beneath it would be pointless.
The couple would not have been murdered, for example, if their “witchcraft” were perceived to be doing the village some good.
Villagers’ turning on one of their own, in an act of savage violence, is one of humanity’s oldest stories.
My read was that the last blurb was meant to counteract any notion of an intention to malign a faith by reflecting on the sacrificial underpinnings of the author’s own religion.
Witchcraft is often an excuse.It is quite possible that there was another motive behind this. Often old helpless widows are victimised in order to grab their property.
Siddhartha, that merits a post of its own. The Stabroek article is worth a read (tragically and unfortunately).
after the superstitious to the max wedding rituals that little b and ash subjected themselves to (she being manglik had to undergo varioius ritual acts of purification. he is also manglik, but apparently ritual purification is only for ex-miss worlds) including marrying a tulsi tree etc. etc. I would imagine them being the last people to plump for aforementioned campaign. I can more likely imagine them saying that the wife was probably manglik and the husband should’ve purified her beforehand …
“Witchcraft is often an excuse. It is quite possible that there was another motive behind this. Often old helpless widows are victimised in order to grab their propertyâ€.
Agree, evil eye, nazzer and all that, are used as excuses. People have ulterior motives, and most of the time it is stupid like increasing status. This may sound minor compared to the stories above but once I went to a wedding where the eldest bhabi was not allowed to give her blessing to the bride and groom because she was a widow. This was in the UK a year back.
Attitudes need to change but I agree with one of the statements that it would take time. But it would only change if their education system in all areas improves.
I don’t know if this was discussed in other threads – if so sorry about the redundancy- but can someone give me a quick explanation of “maglik”?
Preston #22:
My thoughts exactly.
What I would like to know is: Did these couple own any land? Was that land coveted by anyone else? Was that land in the way of someone else’s access to river water? Did that land sit on a water pocket?
Secondly, I’m not even sure this story is true. Many western news agencies are notorious for making up stories like these to satisfy the demand for such garbage in their target markets. The Deccan Chronicle, which is a Hyderabad based newspaper, does not carry this news. Neither does any Telugu daily. If someone can find a link, I stand corrected.
Conclusion: I don’t believe this.
Black magic is when you target someone else. Horoscope/Marrying trees are actions that target only yourself. They have no resemblance to each other.
M. Nam
M. Nam, which part do you not believe, the murder itself or the black magic as motive? As for the lack of coverage in India, unfortunately the murder of an elderly rural couple, regardless of the circumstances, isn’t big news.
Preston: I doubt that this incident occurred at all. I think Reuters made up the story.
A search on “Sayanna Pochamma Sunil Kumar” gives the exact same story in papers in Mideast, NewZealand(!!), blogs discussing this story, and Online edition of Express India which gets its news from Reuters.
Looks like you don’t watch local TV. The crime-beat section of local language news in extremely good in India nowadays. They actually get to the scene by helicopter within an hour and start interviewing people. Their sponsors demand juicy stuff, so the newshounds have a hyena’s hunger for stuff like this. Sitting here in New Jersey I sometimes see news where “A man kills his brother suspecting an affair with his wife” in rural Maharashtra. I mean, the news team actually gets there while the guy is still bleeding and the body is still warm!
M. Nam
a) the witchkilling and economics thesis was persuasively documented by ted miguel (for tanzania and uganda I think) and is available at http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~emiguel/miguel_witch.pdf . It essentially shows that the number of witch killings in the study areas are strongly correlated with rainfall (and hence income) so that there are strong economic incentives at work presumably. his take is that in lean times witch killings afford communities a way to eliminate some community members (the elderly, the infirm etc.) although he does discuss individual property based motivations as well (not sure if his data is good enogh to find evidence for that)
as for manglik: from wikipedia: “Mangal Dosha is an astrological condition that occurs if Mars is in the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, or 12th house of the Vedic astrology lunar chart. A person born in the presence of this condition is termed a manglik.
This condition is believed by some to be devastating for marriage, causing discomfort and tension in relationship, leading to separation and divorce, and in some cases, it is believed to cause untimely death of one spouse. This is attributed to the “fiery” nature of this planet. If two mangliks marry, the negative effects are believed to cancel each other out. However, Mars is not the only planet in Vedic Astrology that is supposed to affect the relationship and these effects should be seen in a broader perspective of overall astrological compatibility.
There is also a belief that the negative consequences for a single-manglik marriage can be resolved if the manglik first performs a ceremony called a kumbh vivah, in which the manglik “marries” a banana tree, a peepal tree, or an icon of Vishnu.[1] However, this belief is also seen by some as perpetuating untouchability, contrary to India’s constitution.”
mrinal pande has a nice piece about the bacchan wedding but I can’t find the links …
Janeofalltrades Belief in black magic is common in some parts of rural India, despite the country’s robust economic growth and cutting-edge high-technology industries.
I hate to say this but rural India isn’t the only place responsible for fearing and belief in black magic. The belief is alive and well in most of India and even in major cities. Black magic or “Jadu tona” is something I heard of so commonly when growing up. Sure we don’t set people on fire for believing in it but then we match horoscopes and wed trees and other such nonsense in order to weard off ‘evil’.
So true, not to mention how important black magic is to soap operas not only the indian ones (addiction of my mom and many other indian aunties out there, thanks to Ekta Kapoor) but also ones here in the US.
“wed trees” >> lol, now I look at that with a whole different perspective
thanks for defining Manglik – how bizarre –
not to mention how important black magic is to soap operas not only the indian ones – yes, Passions in the US comes to mind…and yes that does mean that I’ve watched that horribly campy but entertaining show
by far the best example of modern day witch trials in America were the rash of ritual child abuse cases during the 1980’s, as chronicled by dorathy rabinowitz and katryn lyon.
its all there: mass hysteria, pseudo science (recovered memory syndrome), religious like idoeology (victimology feminism), and political oppourtunism (janet reno in the frank Fuster Miami day-care case and Scott Harshbarger–who went on to head Common Cause in the amirault case.)
and of course real victims who spent many years in jail until the hysteria blew over. it just goes to show, often the most sophisticaed among us are the most primative.
What could have been printed though is that belief in the only true God leads some in the U.S. to hack homosexuals to death. Sorry, couldn’t resist feeding the troll.
Alas, as educator and humanist Robert Coles once remarked, pointing out that Hitler’s inner circle included some of the most highly educated men of the time, “Education is no immunization against hatred.”
They did not, you can find some more info here
Telugu news papers covered this under District news. According to Eenadu.net (its in Telugu), there is caste angle to this incident.
I dont think Bollywood would deal with serious issues like this, but there are couple of Telugu Movies about Black Magic and “Child sacrifice“.
Anukokunda Oka Roju , a critically acclaimed Suspense Thriller about issues like Black Magic, Drugs and God men. Danger, again a Suspense Thriller covering Child Sacrifice
indianoguy,
I stand corrected. The villagers need a vet, for crying out loud.
M. Nam
RE: Belief in black magic, witch hunts, witch trials, etc. This is a “human” pattern/problem…found in segments of every culture throughout history…