BOY MARRIES DOG
‘One-year-old boy married to dog in Orissa
This was a news item on the net.
The report went on to say as follows
‘ Driven by superstition, the family of a one-year-old boy married him off to a dog to keep him free from diseases all his life in Orissa’s tribal-dominated Jagatsinghpur district’..’ The infant groom was identified as Sipu, son of Radha Mohan Singh and the six-month-old canine bride was named Moti. The dog was attired in a yellow saree, while the groom was sitting next to her.A tribal priest performed the rituals in the presence cheering villagers.’‘The boy’s father said he decided to marry off his son to a dog in the belief that this would ensure disease free life of him.A visibly happy groom’s mother Gita Singh said that she would feed her bahu (daughter-in-law) like a child”The female canine will ward off all evils from my son,” she said.
If you were a city guy you might dismiss this story as relating exclusively to tribals . If you are my friend Prof. Macarthur of a University in Washington D.C. you may say that you expect nothing better from a superstition ridden India. If you were an official of the British TV regulatory authority you might say - what else can you expect from a Hindu society that in Britain sought to advertise on BBC TV a Ganesha pendant which when worn on one’s neck would ward off evil. This ad was disallowed though I am not sure if a similar rigorous standard is applied to evangelists who make even more outrageous claims –more about that later.
I could not but draw my professor friend’s attention to the several TV programmes on TV in the US every morning and sometimes all day, that show evangelists introducing people who were paralyzed waist downwards but then decided to petition Jesus through the evangelist and lo and behold the paralysis afflicted person began to dance and run for the first time in decades.
The pastor then tells you to send in your prayer requests to him [presumably with a cashier’s cheque attached] and he will draw up a petition to Jesus on your behalf and presto you will be rid of your ailment no matter that doctors hold our no hope whatsoever .My Prof friend cringed when I told him this. ‘Do you mean to say that these things are actually appearing on US TV?’
‘Every day’ I assured him. I added for good measure that over 70% of Americans are superstitious and more than that percentage actually read the daily forecast on Astrology columns in the papers and also –this really shocked him—the world’s highest paid astrologer was not an Indian but an American, Marjorie Orr !
There is this evangelist Benny Hinn who is very popular in the US and who makes frequent visits to India where in front of lakhs of people including celebrities demonstrates cures to blindness, cancer diabetes etc. The Rationalists Association seems to be reserving its contempt only to Hindu godmen.! What this association has not done but has been done by a Hollywood movie called ‘LEAP NOF FAITH’. See this movie please. Few even in the US ask Hinn or his followers why have hospitals , doctors or a medicare system at all if Jesus would cure all ailments.
Prof Macarthur—a scientist- asked me what made people believe in superstitions.
My limited knowledge of human behavior tells me that whenever we are faced with uncertainties and fears—which is almost always—we try to make sense, to try and control our lives, to seek refuge in certainties, to seek an anchor and finally to seek the assistance of some force bigger and more powerful that we are. This has been mankind’s attempt through the ages. We are not able to concede that random events which are not in our control rule over our lives. Our pattern making tendencies take over and inexorably impel us to make sense and grapple with what is essentially totally random. Enter God, enter evangelists and godmen , enter Gurujis or Matajis, enter astrologers and soothsayers.
As for curing diseases there is the placebo effect and also a lesser known phenomenon called automatic remission.
More about that in another blog.
Meanwhile may the stars favour you !Step out of your house with the right foot first. Do not walk below any ladder, wait for a few minutes if a cat crosses your path and God or an evangelist/godman save you if the cat happens to be black!
K.R.RAVI
USA.
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