The ghosts and evil spirits in dry Bihar have turned teetotaller. If the village ojhas and tantriks are to be believed, the evil spirits who enter the human bodies are vanishing without demanding liquor.
The favourite drink of these ghosts has always been red wine and chicken but now they seem satisfied with desi murgi because the liquor is not available. However, these ojhas and sorcerers are lamenting the absence of liquor from their agenda. The ten-day long Ghinahu Brahm mela at Natwar village in Bikramganj district, held every year during Durga Puja, passed off without alcohol. In this mela, hundreds of evil spirit-struck people, mainly women, visit to get rid of the ghosts haunting them.
There are a number of self-proclaimed sorcerers roaming in the mela who claimed to treat such victims through their tantra vidya or black magic. Usually they demand bottles of red wine, desi murgi or goat. With their patients expressing their inability to provide wine, the tantriks told them that the evil spirits have agreed to go off with a condition that they should be provided wine once the prohibition is lifted.
last fortnight in a village in Masaurhi block of Patna district, witch doctors failed to revive a dead girl. The girl died of snake bite and the ojha promised to revive her. He did a lot of tantric practice but to no avail. later on he said she could not be revived due to lack of wine.
The fair of ghosts is held twice a year, during Durga Puja and Chaitra Navratra at many places in the countryside in Bihar. On both occasions this year, the evil spirits could not be served wine which the sorcerers say is a must for their tantric process.
The Bihar Government on the other hand took Dussehra as a opportunity to propagate its prohibition policy. At several puja pandals had theme to promote prohibition. Shri Sevadham Samiti at its puja pandal in Purnia had big cutouts of popular liquor brand bottles with slogans “Sharab nahi yeh zahar hai, isko peena kahar hai.” This pandal was inaugurated by Purnia SP Nishant Tiwary. In Patna, one of the puja pandals was dedicated to prohibition and its positive effect particularly in villages.