Night time is fright
time in Tripura. That shivering leaf, the droopy branch of a tree,the
soft dropping of a pebble in a pond may just be a sign that the daain
or the daaini is lurking in the dark. So pervasive is the fear
of the evil witch, especially in remote tribal hamlets in South Tripura,
that Reangs bolt their homes tight. The witches can, after all, enter
from even the smallest crevice.
At night,
Reang tribals say, witches swarm the countryside and anyone who comes
across them meet with a painful death. That was the mistake Malyaram
Reang of Tainani village made. Unable to take the heat, he had ventured
out of his home one night in June. As fate would have it, he crossed
Kosharam Reang’s path. Kosharam, known to be a witch in the village,
was there, just standing. Malyaram rushed back to his home but it was
too late. The next morning he was down with severe stomach pain. He
soon died, vomiting blood and writhing in pain till his last breath.
Not that
Kosharam was left alone. Malyaram’s two sons, Chhagendra and Tapjirai,
beat him to death. This was after a Reang panchayat had fined the ‘witch’
Rs 4,000. “We suspect there were others also in the attack on Kosharam,”
said Pinaki Samant, the Udaipur sub-divisional police officer who had
raided the village to nab the witch hunters. Usually police don’t
get anywhere in such cases. Villagers remain tight-lipped.
Witch
hunting is a common occurrence in the interiors of Tripura.People here
are certain there are witches and they need to die. “Of course, there
are witches. I have myself experienced a witches spell,” said Shyamacharan
Tripura, the state’s most prominent tribal intellectual and veteran
politician. Nobody takes Tripura lightly.
“As
an MLA, 1 have said in the state assembly that witches exist. It’s
not a superstiion.
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BE
CAREFUL WHAT YOU EAT IN TRIPURA. IF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD DAAIN TAKES
A FANCY TO IT, YOU MAY JUST END UP DEAD. |
Witches are of two
kinds, male and female. While female witches are called daaini,
the males are called daain.
At night witches send their heads to look for. leftovers in the kitchens
of people,” says Tripura. “But if anyone sees the witches eating,
it can be fatal. They don’t like it.” There was a time when a senior
leader told Tripura during a lunch meet that he should not eat the food
that was laid out in front. “I am a witch, the man told him, and I
like the food. If you eat it, you may fall ill and even die.” Tripura
didn’t touch the food. No one takes any chances with witches here.
55
tribals were branded as
witches and killed in the past
four months in Assam. |
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The Week - Sep 25th, 2005 |
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