SOCIETY

Orissa family hoping for miracle to revive dead son

     Bhejapadar (Orissa): An Orissa family that lost its son to a snake bite a few days ago is trying hard to revive him with the help of sorcery. The incident happened last week in the Bhejapadar Village of Orissa's Kalahandi district, when Arun, a young child, went into the jungle to collect firewood. He was bitten by some poisonous snake and died on the spot. His family took his body to the doctor who declared him dead on arrival. The relatives buried the body in the jungle and left for home. But three days later Arun's mother claimed to have seen an image of her son with a snake standing near his grave, as if protecting the child. She interpreted the dream as something that indicated the child cannot die and was prematurely accepted as dead. She started believing that her deceased son could be retrieved. But led by illiteracy and superstition, the mother along with her husband approached a local witchcraft hunter for help. "We believe in the Ojha (or, the witchcraft practitioner) and have taken the body out of the grave for him. We want him to exorcise it and bring it back to life," said Bibhisan Majhi, the dead boy's father. "He has been exorcising for the last two days and I am sitting beside my son waiting for him to come back to life," said According to the witchcraft practitioner, the revival of the dead is possible by treating the snake bite. "Somebody in Arun's family had a dream after his death. That time his body had already been buried for three days. The family came to me and I told them I would try and treat him. They took out the body from the grave and I have been trying to treat it since then," said Natabara Sahu, the witchcraft practitioner. Sahu has been trying to treat the snake bite for over two days. He is still optimistic about the dead child's recovery.
-May 31, 2007    

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