In August
of this year, residents of a village in Jharkhand state, India were subjected
to fatal abductions from their homes, and severe beating. These residents, five
women, were all accused of practicing witchcraft and were then blamed for
unlucky accidents that occurred throughout the village.
Superstitious
beliefs fueled these attacks, and prompted the death of these women. The beliefs
of those we’ve studied throughout the semester also – coupled with economic
problems, political unrest, and a plethora of other factors – were victimized
and suffered as a result of their actions, and of accusations thrown against
them. Through our studies, we’ve seen women accused of witchcraft for poor
weather patterns, illnesses, reduced crop growth, and many other qualms that
still occur today.
With the
arrest of fifty villagers involved in the attack, this would appear to be a
larger incident in a smaller village. We’ve seen mass prosecutions occur, such
as in Basque and Wurzburg, which make these numbers seem like drops in a bucket
in comparison, they are still lives that have been taken too soon, and taken
forcefully by others.
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It is tragic what has happened to these women in India. Lets hope with state opposition to these types of events these numbers will stay low in India. Hopefully at some point through education these types of events can be eliminated and misfortunes be no longer treated as supernatural events.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good post. It is terrible what happened to these people however there are some very interesting comparisons to what we studied through the semester and this case study. Especially in terms of Roper and her concentration on witch-hunts and gender compared to this instance of solely women being accused.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. Its fascinating to see that similar issues play into incidents such as these, in the twenty-first century. Reading your post, I was wondering if the Indians' religion came into play regarding these witch persecutions? Having taking a course that touched on Indian society and its religion, I was intrigued to hear about these events. Thanks again!
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