Sadhvi
Pragya and Black Magic
SEPTEMBER 5, 2019
Indians and Pakistanis may
differ from each other in most aspects, but many of them fervently believe in
black magic. Sometimes, they may be so different from each other that
foreigners would be forgiven for thinking they are from different planets. They
may hate the sight of each other, but both believe that their fortunes can be
changed by black magic.
In both countries, many people attribute their failures to
someone having done black magic on them. If a man is sacked and becomes
jobless, he instantly assumes that his rivals have used black magic. If a
couple divorces only six months after marriage, they are convinced someone has
done black magic on them, even though it should have been obvious even to a
dunce that the marriage would never have worked; she may have been very
beautiful and intelligent, while he may have been a suspicious, jealous
drunkard.
Then there is the belief that sickness is also caused by black
magic. Among the poor, kidney infections and stones are very common. The
illiterate ones go to shrines and bathe in the ponds nearby to get cured. I
know some men who say they got rid of kidney stones after immersing themselves
in lakes adjacent to shrines. These places are well known to ward off the evil
effects of black magic.
Then there are those whose wives fail to conceive or give birth
only to daughters. They go to holy men-there are thousands-who guarantee that
such women can be made fertile or give birth to sons if only those who are
affected by black magic agree to pay handsome amounts to the pious ones.
You can see banners and
wall-chalkings proclaiming the greatness of the holy ones. Now they even have
websites. Recently, such a one in Gujranwala was able to convince a Malaysian
woman to pay him two million rupees for getting rid of whatever she suffered
from. But this time he wasn’t so lucky, as he first thought. The woman
travelled all the way to Gujranwala, obviously after the black magic didn’t
work. And after he asked for more money, she had him arrested. It should be
interesting to see what the authorities do in this case.
Most people who believe in
black magic are also highly superstitious. The Great Khan, before he came to
power, was known to retreat to the mountains up north for days. One assumes
that he was advised to do so to ward off the evil effects of black magic. We
once had a political leader who used to head in the opposite direction, to the
sea, whenever he felt the need to protect himself from those who wanted to cast
a spell on him.
As I said, in both the
neighbouring countries, belief in black magic is widespread. So I wasn’t
surprised when that fanatic Indian Hindutva woman and prominent politician,
Sadhvi Pragya, claimed that three BJP stalwarts had suddenly passed away due to
the effects of black magic perpetrated by the party’s opponents. I should have
thought that if any black magic was responsible for the three deaths, one would
have suspected Kashmiris, seeing how they have been treated by Modi in recent
days.
Sadhvi still thinks there is a lot of black magic around, and
has warned Narendra Modi to be careful. She should come to Pakistan, where
thousands of specialists abound, all of them claiming to save people from the
evil effects of black magic. In fact, here she will find many who will cast a
spell on her political opponents. I am sure it will be a pleasant experience.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/459809/sadhvi-pragya-and-black-magic/
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