Recently, six persons of a tribal family in a village of Champua sub-division in Keonjhar district were killed purely on suspicion of sorcery.
The case is not remote in Odisha. The writer served in major parts of the tiger lands of the State and knew how the tribal inhabitants pracitsed witchcraft. There used to be witch-doctors, who cured diseases by invocation of their gods and goddesses through organising Puja. Although it is all nonsense, large sections of people of State, whether tribals or non-tribals, rely on the system even as the healthcare has advanced a lot and the Government has been making lots of efforts to provide best healthcare in the remote and interior parts. Even in urban areas, most educated people believe in black magic.
The old ladies are always suspected to be practising witchcraft for both good and evil purposes. It is only when misfortune befalls on somebody in a miraculous way like family members dying one after another in quick succession of an incurable disease, or in accidents, that the victim gets berserk suspecting that all that was happening because of the ominous influence of a sorcerer and he kills him/her out of vengeance.
There is no dearth of snake charmers and sorcerers in the tribal Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts. The Santal Pragana of Odisha – Jharkhand provinces has a dubious distinction for it. The writer, when was beginner in the forest service and posted at Kaptipada range ofUdala sub- division in Mayurbhanj, a woman missing case was reported under Sarata police station. A boy came to the police station complaining that his grandmother was missing. The police registered a case but could not trace the old lady for weeks. The boy was frequently coming to the police station and seeking help. It was a challenge before the police. The then SP of the district Gokulananda Mohanty himself came there to conduct an investigation. Mohanty had started his career from the post of a constable and rose up to become the SP because of his diligence. He along with the SI and other police personnel went to the woman’s village and conducted an inquiry.
Everyone was clueless and making the disappearance of the old lady somewhat mysterious. Then an idea dawned upon Mohanty. He asked the village chaukidars to fan out to all the graveyards in the vicinity and collect samples of the ashes of the bodies. The process continued until one came up with a key along with ash of a body from a place. Soon, the boy recognized the key to be her grandmother’s and it paved the way for nabbing those who killed and cremated her. A few villagers had committed the crime on a simple doubt of the lady having practised witchcraft.
The people and animals of tropical lands are more prone to various diseases than the people and animals of cold countries. Particularly, in tribal hinterlands, the services of Health Department are very poor. No formal education makes the tribals more apprehensive about evil spell of sorcery.
There is another experience of the writer, when he was posted at Kashipur forest division of Kalahandi district. The writer was working at Jayapatna range and was on a tour to Mahulapatana forest section for the first time. The local staff and the people of told him not to go to Champachua village, as the villagers were notorious for black magic. This was in the year 1959. But the writer insisted his people and staff to stay at Champachua in a camp. The motto was to collect cess for grazing of cattle.
The villagers reared cows on share basis. Each herd was known as Adhar. The owners used to be rich landlords and upper caste people like the Brahmins and Gountias but the tribals took care of their cattle. One Adhar consisted of more than 100 cows. The owner of the cattle collected only fixed amount of ghee from the villagers every month while the rest of the benefits were enjoyed by the people in charge of cattle. The cow dung was collected by the owner also. Similarly, goats and buffaloes were also reared on the same basis.
Illegal transportation of cattle was taking place in the tribal hinterland to Madhya Pradesh. No Government servants and police ever dared to venture into the village being afraid of witchcraft the villagers were proficient of using against their enemies. The writer stayed in that village for a day and a night just for collection of revenue for the financial year. When night fell, the writer started cooking. A number of caterpillars were flying around. So the cooking was stopped for the night, and the writer removed the cot and bedding outside and took rest in the open yard. A bonfire was lit to provide warmth to the camp bearers. The campers took dry food. In the morning the writer thoroughly surveyed the area. There were many drumstick trees around. The caterpillars were widely noticed in the morning on the trees. The writer arrived on a conclusion that when the cooking was stared last night and bonfire was lit, the whole atmosphere was hot, which caused the caterpillars to come down from trees and swarm over the entire area.
The area reported cases of child and cattle lifting by leopards. During those days there were lots of leopards in Mahanipatana – Theamulrampur – Karlapat areas. These areas were also famous tiger hubs. If a cattle or a boy was lifted by the leopard, the villagers believed that it happened due to an evil spirit. The economy of the village entirely rested on domesticated cattle and farming on a few hectares of un-irrigated land, besides forest produce. These people mostly remained half- fed. Poverty was writ large. Even now these people sacrifice male goats, buffaloes and cocks to satisfy the evil spirits. The writer realized that there was nothing to be feared about the local black magicians. They were as helpless as any other tribal inhabitants— poor, uneducated and deprived of bare minimum amenities.
Animal sacrifice is most filthy trend in the tribal belts of Odisha next to witchcraft. lots of animals and birds are sacrificed to appease evil spirits or village goddesses every year to get rid of one or the other misfortune. It is sheer nonsense. Devotees also sacrifice lakhs of animals before Goddess Manikeswari of Bhawanipatana of Kalahandi as it is done in other seats of goddesses across Odisha.
There is administrative mechanism of State Government like police, Forest and Revenue which can be used in remote areas to bring about changes among the local people.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)