Belief in black magic and witches in India

Belief in such primitive superstitions as “black magic” is promoted and encouraged by Sathya Sai Baba (see here documentation from his books authorised by him and sold in his bookshop) .

One related belief system is a cause of major social problems and murders. “The Great Indian Witch Hunt“, is an award-winning documentary film hosted by noted playwright, writer and actress Sohaila Kapur (sister of director Shekhar Kapur) and directed by Filmmaker Rakhi Varma. It was part of the 12 episode series “It happens only in India” launched by The National Geographic channel – each episode focusing on an aspect of “real India” until now unexplored in detail.
“The great Indian witch hunt” looks into likely causes of accusations against single and widowed women for being witches. It describes the ostracism they suffer from society. and not seldom with awful consequences. Set in Jharkhand, the film portrays a woman, Mania Mardi, who was killed by her nephew Gurudeo. He believed she was a witch who had caused the death of his father and brother.

In the early part of the narrative, Varma interviews so-called Supposed ‘witches’ who have been tortured by villagers and even forced to eat human excreta are interviewed by director Varma. She focuses on Baba Ramashankar, who claims to possess supernatural powers that can cause the death and destruction of anyone he might choose to unleash his wrath on.

For the murder trial, Sohaila Kapoor carries out an on-camera inquiry questioning Gurudeo’s real motives and arrives at the conclusion that he had wrongly assumed that his relatives had died as a result of a spell. Medical records prove that they had contracted tuberculosis.

Witchcraft is still widely believed in and ‘practiced’ in many backward parts of India, involving killings, 500 cases reported in Jharkand alone in the 1990 and this continues. Until the 17th to 18th century, up to. 40,000 women were  burned at the stake or killed in Europe.

Read a summary of the film here
Police are lax in acting to protect persons wrongly persecuted for witchcraft. This is shown by the petition (by a person wrongly accused of witchcraft) in the High Court at Mumbai -see also on above link.

Book reveals ‘secrets’ of Sathya Sai Baba

In Smt. Vijayakumari’s book “Anyathya Saranam Nasthi” we read about Sathya Sai Baba’s literal belief in disincarnate demons, no less!

“Do  demons really exist, Swami?” he replied “Yes! Those who committed suicide,  those killed in accidents, those who met with an untimely death, all these  will be roaming around like ghosts.“

Sai Baba also promotes the belief in black magic as a reality, which is bound up with widespread beliefs in India about witchcraft, the evil eye and leads to horrendous killings of supposed ‘witches’.

See full coverage of his statements here.

See on the right scan from the book with her shocking testimony about Sathya Sai Baba as a
child abuser, which she – his own mother – accepted because she believed in the gross superstition that there must be some ‘evil power’ being driven away from him!

Also read: more on Sai Baba’s beatings of her son

and Sathya Sai Baba’s narcissism
The English title of the book (in English) is ‘Refuge other that you I have none’ Vijayamma’s e-mail was  <asn_vijayamma@hotmail.com> & address W/o K.S. HemChand, Opp. Brooke Bond, Main Road, Whitefield. B’lore. 560066.  Karnataka. The printers are Sai Shriram Printers, Ekkattuthangal, Chennai.