Dip: Superstition itself is ominous

In 997 I was editing a literary feature, the alveolar narrator for that issue. Dhirubhan Patel wrote a story called 'Jawal'. The dark theme of the story is clear in its very first paragraph. Dhirubhan wrote: 'Though it was noon outside, the middle room of Javal's dilapidated house was pitch black…darkness that was barely dimmed by the light coming from the door.' This dim light is the life of Javal, who has been thrown out of the village by the people of the village as a witch. Many years ago, Javal's young son was suffering from unbearable stomach pain. He was crying all night. Javal went to the border last night to get akada leaves to treat her son. Two men who had gone to the lot saw him breaking the leaves of the akada. At the same time, he spread the word in the village that 'Javal is lustful and Moo's eyes are lost – save the boy. From that day on, the whole village went mad – Javali Dakan, Javali Dakan'. People threw him out of the village. He lives in a vagrant's den. Except Javal's married daughter Manki, none of his children come to meet him. On the day of the incident in the story 'Jawal', Manki comes to Javal in hiding and asks him to leave the village and run away. The village chief's son is very ill. Manki says to Javal: 'Mukhi's chiyane chonk thiin then gomwara' will not leave you alive. The death of Mukhi's son will fall on the 'witch' Javal. Javal says that he has not spoiled any of the Mukhi or the villagers, but I have been harassed all my life. This animal's body has been removed.' Manki Mandmand convinces Javal and prepares to escape from the village only to find that Mukhi's son dies and a mob comes to attack Javal. To save his life, Javal goes down to the kothi of his house, but the snake inside bites him and without Javal, Vanke dies. This is the story, even in real life incidents of injustice to many women by believing them to be witches still happen today. Superstitions like declaring a woman a witch need no rationale. The psychological reasons behind the spread of superstitions are difficult to understand. People believe patterns behind certain events to be true and devise deceptive ways to avoid them. People who encourage superstitions nurture baseless beliefs for selfish reasons and ignorant people are led away by them. A deep study of oral literature of the tribal and Bhil people of Gujarat, Dr. As Bhagwandas Patel has noted in his book 'Bhilo no Bharath' published in 1997, there are hundreds of instances of witch belief being traditionally rooted in the ignorant and naive tribes living around Bhopas. Due to this belief of Bhils, important female characters in Ramayana, Mahabharata and other stories of Bhils have also depicted features of witches. According to the details recorded by Bhagwanbhai, if a man of the village does not recover from a chronic illness, a ritual is performed to the bhopas who believe that he has come under the influence of a witch. If the seeds thrown in the ceremony catch the effect of the witch, the atmosphere of fear spreads among the women of the family. Doubts grow darker as to which woman Bhopa will target and declare as a witch. At this time, the name of the suspected woman is called. If one of these women's name comes up repeatedly, Bhopa declares her a witch. The fear of the witch becomes the whole belt. Hakota people and Bhopas take the woman to the village witch-leader. 'Chilli are crushed and stuffed into the eyes of a woman who has been declared a witch. After this, Bhopa, with a short cut of his chaniya, hangs him upside down on a banyan branch in the air. When a woman confesses herself to be a witch of fear, she is taken down from under the head and a dowel is put on her forehead, so that she forgets witchcraft.' Even the so-called bright people are not behind in calling a woman a witch or a witch. Superstition prevails in many countries of the world. Among Native American peoples, whistling in the house is considered inauspicious. Many people do not put the left foot first while leaving the house. In Japan, it is believed that cutting nails at night shortens life. According to the book-loving people of Iceland, keeping a book out of the house at night brings bad luck. Spanish people eat twelve grapes at midnight for good omen. In Greece, it is believed that spitting on a newborn baby will make it blind. A great golfer would keep a certain golf ball with him even when he was not playing. Napoleon, who did not have a word like 'impossible' in his dictionary, considered the black cat to be ominous. There is no remedy for thousands of such superstitions, unless people reject it themselves. Superstition is the greatest evil. }