In India, a gathering of ghost
busters By Shuriah Niazi
BHOPAL - Last week in the village of
Malajpur in India's Madhya Pradesh province, an
ancient and unique ritual concluded its yearly
three-week run. It's an otherworldly event - part
supernatural carnival, part mental health clinic -
known as the bhooton ka mela, or "the fair
of the ghosts".
From its ominous opening
night under the full moon of the Indian month of
Magh until Vasant Panchmi, the Hindu
festival for Saraswati, the goddess of
knowledge, which is celebrated on the first day of
spring - the spiritual bazaar may constitute the
largest gathering of ghost-busters in the world.
As many as 10,000 afflicted "patients"
will arrive to receive exorcisms; to save
themselves or loved ones from evil spirits, curses
and ghosts. Villagers travel to Malajpur from
across the
sub-continent, especially from the
rural states of Rajasthanm, Gujarat and
Maharastra, where old beliefs run deep. The
bhooton ka mela is believed to be the only
fair of its its kind in India, and its fame has
been fanned by both centuries of word-of-mouth
and, more recently, the media. There is no fixed
fee for an exorcism; people pay as they can and
many simply offer donations of jaggery - an
unrefined brown sugar made from palm sap - at the
temple.
In rural Indian society ghosts and
tales of the supernatural have played an important
role for many centuries. Despite the advent of
modern technology, they continue to do so today.
Because of long-held belief systems passed on from
older generations, and a dearth of education, many
rural Indians continue to attribute abnormal
behavior and mental illness to spiritual
possession, evil spirits and ghosts.
There
is a religious component as well. Some Hindus
believe a person must live through 8,400,000
reincarnations, with one of them being a ghost.
Ghosts and bodiless spirits are thought to be
souls that refuse to be "recycled" because they
have unfinished business to complete.
In
some Indian villages, change can be difficult and
modern practices are non-existent. Although
television and movies have reached some, old
traditions and superstitions persist. The "ghost
fair" of Malajpur is yet another salient example
of India in intense transition - a country
striving to balance the ancient and the
ultra-modern.
Ghost busters
bazaar The temple in Malajpur is a
shrine to its founder, Guru Maharaj Deowiji, a
legendary cleric from the 18th century believed to
have the ability to exorcise ghosts. The devout
believe that his power has been passed on to the
temple's priests until today.
Guru Maharaj
Deoji, it is said, performed miracles. According
to local histories, he turned water into
ghee, the clarified butter with which
Indians cook, and once made candy out of dust to
charm village youths. One legend has it that he
threw open the village grain storehouse and fed
birds. When villagers complained, he told them to
take what they needed from the one remaining sack
of grain. However much they took, the sack never
ran out.
He is said to have given sight to
the blind. In colonial times, legend holds that a
cocky British officer told the guru to tote his
bags for him. The offended guru threw the luggage
into a tree and it stayed suspended overhead. The
legends say Guru Maharaj Deoji had no shadow.
In his early days, the guru had no
attendant priests for the temple so he chose four
"soldiers", who he trained in the art of exorcism.
Today's priests are the descendants of those
"soldiers" - and the skills of exorcism have been
handed down from generation to generation.
Festival-goer Shailendra Yadav is a
longtime devotee. She believes in the miraculous
powers of Guru Maharaj Deowiji and claims that not
only could he turn water into ghee, but
also could transform sand into jaggery.
"People come here with lot of expectations," said
Shailendra Yadav.
This year, Shrikali
Singh made the long trek from her remote Gorakhal
village along with her sister Bhagirath. Both
sisters were believed to have been possessed by
ghosts. Shrikali's husband Santosh Singh said,
"She is possessed by a ghost. You could find her
weeping and shouting at home. She needs to be
cured. We have come here for the first time. I
believe she will be cured here at the temple."
Singh's brother-in-law Kunal says his wife
is also suffering from these symptoms of spiritual
possession. Bhagirathi suddenly started to cry
when Asia Times Online spoke to her husband. "We
face a lot of problems because of her," Kunal said
of his wife. "She is possessed by a ghost and we
want her to be free from evil spirit." Neither
sister has been taken to a medical doctor as their
relatives believe this not a medical problem.
To start the exorcism, the family joined
hands and began to encircle the temple. According
to custom, those who come for treatment circle the
temple in one direction, while those who come to
offer obeisance circle it in the opposite
direction. A large number of childless couples
make the pilgrimage to Malajpur. It is believed
their wishes for childbirth can be granted here.
After the worshipful procession, the young
couples are brought before the high priest, who
promptly asked Shrikali, "Who are you?" She
replied, "I am a ghost."
Taking this in,
the priest then set about beating the woman
mercilessly with a long-handled broom. During and
after the thrashing, the priest recited mantras
and sprinkled holy water on Shrikali. After a
sufficient period, the priest announced, "The
ghost has left her. You can take her," he
concluded and called her sister forward.
Beating the "possessed" heaps insult on
injury. Being beaten with a broom is a great
dishonor in Indian culture and brooms are
considered "untouchable". But, interestingly, it
is the ghost that is threatened with the shame of
the beating, not the person whose body it has
possessed. The "ghost" leaves the body to avoid
humiliation.
Sanjay Arya, who comes to the
ghost bazaar regularly, told Asia Times Online,
"No one returns from here disappointed. Whatever
be your wish, it is fulfilled. Besides, you don't
have to give anything here. When your wish is
fulfilled you may come here and offer only a
kilogram of jaggery."
He points out
that it is the ancient guru's magic that keeps
houseflies and ants from the piles of
jaggery given as offerings. It is his
miracle, Yadav asserts.
Jagdish Nayak has
been coming from Maharashra's Nandurbar for many
years, and first came seeking treatment for
himself. "Several years back, ghosts had possessed
me," said Nayak. "I had already received different
treatments but didn't benefit from any of them.
Once a Malajpur priest visited my village. He
asked me to come here. I stayed here for 15 days
and after that I was totally cured. Now I come
here every year."
Most pilgrims come with
little, if any, knowledge of modern health care or
the psychological sciences. In India it's common
to find people claiming to be possessed by evil
spirits. It is believed that, in general, women
are more susceptible to malevolent or mischievous
spirits.
Ram Charan Malviya, a retired
teacher, told Asia Times Online it's easy to
distinguish between a person possessed by spirits
and a truly insane person. "Once a person is
obsessed by some evil spirit, then that person
starts behaving like an abnormal being, forgetting
her real personality, and does whatever the evil
spirit wants her to do. Such a person may not
recognize her relatives even. Some get full of
supernatural energy and show irrational behavior.
These [people] who are obsessed by some evil
spirits behave like mad women. Look at how many
such women can be seen in this fair shaking their
head up and down with great energy. This is the
evil ghost inside of them."
Mental health experts
groan Psychologists spoken to by Asia
Times Online described the ghost fair as nothing
more than superstition. According to Gyanendra
Gautam, professor of sociology in Barkatullah
University, many people who come to the fair may
be suffering from actual mental disorders. "These
people should consult doctors first, " he said.
Gautam is of the view that psychological
factors contribute to so-called spiritual
possessions and ghost sightings. People exaggerate
their own perceptions, he said, either when
visiting a place they believe to be haunted, or
when visiting a site where unpleasant historical
events have occurred.
Other Indian
psychiatrists have expressed fears that many of
the "possessed" who come here seeking to be
exorcised are in fact suffering from medical
conditions, such as epilepsy, or psychiatric
illnesses such as schizophrenia or clinical
depression. But in the rural villages, no one has
heard of such conditions and possession by a ghost
is the assumed diagnosis.
There is another
theory. As the British Broadcasting Corporation
reported in 2005, a very high proportion of the
"possessed", as much as 90%, are women. According
to the report, some psychologists have suggested
this stems from the powerlessness of most women in
Indian village society, where women are relegated
to household chores, and are often largely
ignored. In a desperate bid for attention, they
refuse to do the housework, or start to behave
strangely. The men believe that they have changed
because they have been possessed by a ghost.
The head of the department of psychology
at the Bhopal-based Barkatullah University, K N
Tripathi, has an explanation for the large annual
turnout at Malajpur. Tripathi told the BBC, "The
majority of clients are rural women. They often
feign being haunted by ghosts to abuse their
husbands and in-laws. This is almost an outlet for
their pent-up frustrations. Being possessed is
also a form of attention-seeking. Once possessed,
you are cared for. Your wayward behavior becomes
excusable."
Local government officials in
Madhya Pradesh are more pragmatic. "If people have
faith in something, who are we to interfere?" said
one district official.
Shuriah Niazi is
a freelance writer based in central India.
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