HISTORY, LEGENDS & MYTHOLOGY

Devotees here indulge in bizarre superstitions

     Bhagwanpur (UP): Like every year, hundreds of devotees are congregating at Devi Temple in Bhagwanpur, a remote town in Uttar Pradesh, to participate in bizarre religious practices on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Navratras. Banging and swaying their heads, or just lying about semi- conscious, these people resort to black magic and prayers to cure diseases. Proponents of the practice believe that it is faith in the God, and not mere superstition that attracts hundreds to the temple.

     "Since this is a backward area, people here are a little superstitious. But after coming here, they have realised that with mystic powers, they get cured. If somebody has some physical problems, they get rid of them. There is no "ojha" or tantrik here. They get cured on their own, after coming here," said Ram Narayan, a priest at the Devi Temple. Devouts also said they had full faith in the "healing" practice, their physical agony notwithstanding. "I came here to get my daughter cured. She used to fall unconscious, and behave strangely, every now and then, but after coming here, she seems to be alright," said Subhawati, a devotee. Jokulal Gupta, another devotee, said: "I was very unhappy and troubled, because people in my family used to fall sick very often, and even I used to get extremely irritated, for no reason at all. After coming here, however, I have started feeling much better."

     Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for 17 percent of the country's total population, is one of the country's most backward states. Literacy rate is abysmally low at just 45 percent, as compared to the national average of 62 percent literacy rate.
-March 26, 2004    

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