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N Sayeeram
CHENNAI, SEPT 16: The world may be stepping into a new millennium with enormous achievements on all fronts that mankind can boast of but a section of people are unable to shed the age-old superstitions and their belief in black magic.
If a woman of about 30 years who was subject to inexplicable physical cruelty in Marina beach in the name of exorcism evoked a sense of horror among the passersby, it also shed light on the frailty of human beings who fall prey to superstitions.
The cruel episode of beating the woman with a whip by a black magician began exactly at midnight on Sunday in the open sea shore under the pretext of driving away two spirits which were said to have embarked on the lady. The sorcerer covered her eyes with a black band and his associate began beating a udukkai.
Excited over the noise produced by the udukkai and the eerie atmosphere around her, she started dancing in great speed. The black magician told the relatives of the woman who were sitting there stricken with aweover the ongoings that the demons in her started responding to mantras he was uttering in an unknown language.
The woman withstood the whip lashes from the exorcist for about 20 minutes and then fell under his feet. Later the words from her mouth confided that two spirits, one who died in a road accident and the other was a young lady who set herself ablaze due to some family quarrels, possessed her as they wished to remain in the world for some more time.
Both the demons asked him to stop the beating but demanded liquor and fish curry as their pre-conditions to leave her body. The relatives were much pleased to offer the demands immediately. After consuming liquor and fish curry she swooned.
She was later taken to have a dip in the sea on the chilly night. After finishing her bath, she was again forced to dance by using the same methods. But this time she was possessed by Goddesses Periyapalayathamman and Karumariamman. The exorcist asked the Goddesses when they would leave her body. But as noreply came forthwith from the lady he asked them to leave her in three months.
An informal chat with her husband who is working as an office boy in a software development firm in Teynampet revealed that he had no other option than approaching the black magician who is a renowned exponent of sorcery in Triplicane area as her behaviour was abnormal in the last six months. The magician agreed to drive away the demons in her for a hefty sum of Rs 5,000.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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