Groups of women have started worshipping ‘Corona Mata’ to eliminate the effects of Coronavirus not only in the rural pockets but also in several parts in the urban areas across the Coal and Steel belt of Jharkhand. Branding the Coronavirus pandemic the wrath of ‘Corona Mai’, women started ‘seven days worship’ in a bid to appease the goddess and escape the wrath of the virus. On Saturday, several groups of women found worshipping at the bank of the canals, rivers and ponds in many spots across twin cities in Dhanbad and Bokaro.
Ranju Devi (48) along with her three other friends rushed to Two tank Garden Lake to worship the Corona Goddess. “Sharp at 7.35 am we rushed near the lake for worship, to conciliate Corona Mai,” she said.
“We also offered Laddu, Phool, Akshat, Lowang (cloves) to the goddess and later buried in a small ditch on the bank of the lake. We prayed for normalcy and end of the pandemic,” added Laxmi another woman.
Binod Ojha a resident of Nirsa said, this belief originated and spread out from Chapra (Bihar) village.The story, a cow grazing in a field suddenly turned into a woman at Chhapra district, now going through many districts of Jharkhand after Bihar. This rumour has now started taking root in the urban areas like Dhanbad and Bokaro too, he said. “Instead of considering corona as a disease, women are starting to consider the outbreak divine,” he added.
According to the rumour, Corona Mata told the people that, do not be afraid of me, worship me, I will leave on Friday, said Ojha adding “even through WhatsApp messages, this story is being spread and the method of worship is being told.” Influenced by this rumour such practices were also spotted in several parts of Dhanbad, Hirapur, Katras, Sindri, Bermo, Nawadih, Chandrapur and in Chandankiyari too. Dozens of women also offered prayers there and then put nine laddus, nine cloves, hibiscus flowers and other worship material along with them in a one-foot deep pit in the ground near the water bodies.
It’s worth mentioning that superstition, rumours and largely unscientific nature have continued to dominate people after the outbreak of the Coronavirus virus. Social media pages were flooded with videos claiming the pandemic was nature’s revenge on mankind for eating non-vegetarian food.
Instead of observing precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, some performed pujas. In Agra, prayers were offered to the Yamuna River, which according to Hindu mythology is the sister of Yama, the god of death. There were also reports of a puja where an effigy of the virus was ‘fed’ halwa puri to satiate its hunger.
Meanwhile, some religious preachers, in clips circulating on social media, claimed God sent the Coronavirus to punish and destroy his enemies.