Combating superstition

Combating superstition
Manjiri Kalghatgi

Superstition is ingrained in the Indian psyche. It knows no urban-rural boundaries and cuts across the socio-economic and religious divisions of the Indian diaspora. A number of superstitious beliefs are harmless. For instance, it is commonly believed that one should take a few steps backward if a cat crosses one's path. The cat's crossing is a bad omen and will ensure that the task you set out to accomplish will remain unfinished. It is amusing to watch people actually reverse cars in honor of cats, but such beliefs can safely be ignored.

At the same time, superstition is known to cause grave social problems. Cases of people going thirsty as they refuse to drink from a ``haunted'' well or take a detour as evil spirits visit a certain hill are common. Like the annual ceremony in a village in Maharashtra in which a man is hung by a hook pierced through the skin of his back, superstition assumes gruesome forms. In its extreme, it has lead to criminal offences like human sacrifice.

Anti-superstition movements like the one led by the Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti are striving to make a difference -- mainly by creating awareness about the scientific explanation for seemingly inexplicable phenomena. It has been found that these efforts have met with criticism, even from educated sections of society. This is mainly because powerful elements in society commonly use superstition for personal gain.

One of the criticisms against the movement is that it chooses to highlight blind beliefs in Hinduism alone. The movement has been accused of ignoring superstitions in minority religions. Despite the fact that most other religions discourage idol worship, superstitious beliefs are manifest in them as well.

However, superstition need not necessarily have a negative effect on society. The Shani Shingnapur deity in Maharashtra is supposed to ensure that a thief remains trapped in the boundary of its village. This belief is so strong that no doors exist in this village. Another deity in western India reportedly cures alcoholism. Given the fact that in most cases, superstition is closely associated with religion, dispelling these myths often leads to politically sensitive situations.

Superstition has its roots in encouraging healthy habits, good behavior and cleanliness. A classic example of this is that clipping one's nails in the evenings will bring evil. The logical explanation behind this is that visibility is low after sundown and it would be easy to cut oneself. But with electrical lights, it is easy to dismiss this as blind belief. Or else, children are told not to stretch themselves during meals as it would ensure that they would be reborn as donkeys. Children are also warned of rebirth as a frog if they refuse anyone a drink of water. Obviously bordering on the ridiculous, these can safely be dismissed as age-old attempts at instilling good manners in children.

The issue was addressed in a thought-provoking Marathi play titled òf40óJyaacha tyaacha prashna (To Each His Own) a few years ago. A son of an aetheist, groomed for academic brilliance, experiences a temporary memory loss during his board examinations and submits a ``blank'' Marathi paper. When the results are out, he is shocked to have scored a distinction in the subject. He deduces that his fortune is a result of certain lucky numbers -- a magical combination of the date of the fateful exam paper. The revelation pushes him toward gambling, firm in the belief that his lucky number can get him anything. It takes the aggressive skeptic father to investigate the path of that blank paper. He produces an examiner, who, having misplaced the bunch of papers, had randomly graded students in order to cover his guilt.