How do superstitious beliefs affect Indian society?

How do superstitious beliefs affect Indian society?

"To believe blindly is to degenerate the human soul. Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly." - Swami Vivekananda

Even though science and technology have enhanced tremendously, a majority of Indian society has been stuck with superstitious beliefs. The superstitious beliefs in India unswerving to tragic complications in Indian society. Extremely, human sacrifices also are being occurred by theia mania in the name of religious or spiritual pursuits.  Well-educated people in Indian society also are being trapped by the impact of superstitious beliefs in India.

A superstition is a belief or practice typically resulting from ignorance, a misunderstanding of the science or causality, a belief in fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown.

As a result of superstitious beliefs, four human sacrifices happened in India recently as shocking news. All four murders were held by their own mothers on the impact of religious or spiritual superstitious beliefs. Apart from this, there might be several cases recorded from different parts of the country. Sometimes, it might be happened by relatives, neighbours, strangers even human trafficking for the sake of superstitious beliefs.

A mother killed her two daughters using dumbbells in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh which is one of the states in India. Later the mother advocated that her daughters will come alive in the next pooja. Their superstitious belief in tantric rituals and reincarnation was the cause of this murder. Her husband also accompanied her to this couple murder. The accused persons are well educated and have worked in schools as principals. Furthermore, the two victims are 22 and 27 years old and well educated.

Badly, the girls also believed that they will raise after death and so cooperated with their parents for the sacrifice. When the neighbours heard strange noises and cries from the house, they called the police. The couple resisted the police to enter their house and they argued that pooja is going on in their house. The police entered the house forcefully and recovered the bodies which were covered with red cloths from pooja rooms.

Another shocking incident occurred in the Palakkad district of Kerala state. A pregnant woman wanted to please god by sacrificing her 6-year-old son. After the murder, she herself reported the incident to the police and she admitted that she sacrificed her son to please god through a sacrifice.

When the incident happened her husband and three other children were sleeping in another room. She called the police emergency control around 3 am and was waiting for the police officials at the gate. After the arrival of the police officials, the family members came to know the brutality. The police officials found the body of the 6-year-old boy in a toilet in the house with deep injury on the neck and legs tied together. This lady also well educated and had worked as a teacher in school. The police arrested her and registered a murder case.

The recent incident occurred in the middle of April 2021; a mother sacrificed her six-month-old daughter to god to free her from evil spirits in one of the Indian states Telangana. The misfortune is the accused lady educated and graduated with B.Sc. and B.Ed. Moreover, she was preparing for the job of a police officer. The India Today news reporter stated that the lady had started watching a lot of spiritual videos on YouTube recently. After a break up of a family relationship, she got second marriage and had a daughter. She sacrificed her daughter to god by slitting her throat. The family members found the girl dead and immediately approached the police and the police arrested the accused mother and registered a case against her.

Additionally, there are many incidents published in media in the past few years. In 2018, 11 members of a deceased family found hanging from an iron mesh in the ceiling in Burari in North Delhi. Their suicide notes stated they had committed suicide as part of a religious or superstitious belief. In September of the same year, three members of a family were found dead in Ahmedabad’s Naroda area. According to the online resources, the father poisoned his wife and 16-year-old daughter then he hanged himself. The wife’s suicide note said that the evil spirits of her husband’s ed-girlfriend forced the family to take the extreme step. On 31st January 2018, a couple beheaded a baby girl as part of a human sacrifice ritual during the super blue blood moon in Hyderabad. A cab driver performed a black magic ritual along with his wife on the advice of a tantric. The baby girl was abducted while she was asleep beside her parents on a footpath. A seven-year-old school girl was hacked on the occasion of Diwali by a neighbour in November 2020. Since it was believed that eating the organs of the deceased child would help the childless couple to conceive a baby, they went to extract the liver and other organs of the girl.

As we all know education can change the world, we believe that the educated people wouldn’t trap with superstitious beliefs. But there are many cases that happened by educated people. There is room to enlighten society about reality and superstition.

We can see several superstitious beliefs in India such as a black cat crossing the road symbolizes bad luck. These are just common superstition in India. Shamelessly Indian political and religious leaders poured cold water on a modal globe to control global warming. This is an example of the Indian community’s worst condition because of superstitious beliefs.

superstitious beliefs in India

During the covid 19 outbreak, the prime minister of India asked the people to bang utensils, ignite diya and candles as a mark of gratitude to the frontline works. A majority of people from north India understood coronavirus will be abolished if they would bang utensils and ignite diya. Instead of keeping distance many gathered in streets, roads, yards and playgrounds and started banging utensils and chanting the slogan “go corona go”, "go corona go".

superstitious beliefs in India

These immature activities made shame to India globally. Most of the time these incidents happen by the inducement of astrologists and self-declared human gods. This is vital to concern this matter. Now, this is the responsibilities of the rulers of India to correct the people and enlighten them about the reality. And a mandatory bill should be passed against the superstitious belief in India to save society and future generation. The data of human sacrifice cases are recorded on the NCRB site.