Swayed by superstitious beliefs, almost all the villagers of Maruthinagar, a hamlet of Edulapuram gram panchayat, located barely 4 km from the district headquarters, left the village en masse and spent time in a nearby fruit orchard from dawn to dusk on Tuesday adhering to the advice of a fortune teller to escape the wrath of evil spirits.

Deaths in village

The death of more than five villagers in a short span of less than a fortnight due to different reasons prompted the village elders to approach a fortune-teller a few days ago. The soothsayer reportedly attributed the deaths to evil spirits and asked them to stay away from the village for a day to ward off trouble (keedu).

More than 200 families of the village, who constitute around 90 % of the total households, locked up their houses before dawn on Tuesday and moved to a nearby mango grove along with utensils, grains, vegetables and other essentials. However, a few villagers, considered ardent proponents of rationalism, stayed back.

An overwhelming number of villagers of Marutinagar cutting across age, education, socio and economic status camped in the orchard till late in the evening and returned to their houses only after sunset. A few mothers carried cradles to the orchard for the comfort of their babies. Octogenarians took shelter under the shade of mango trees till dusk.

We voluntarily complied with the decision taken by our village elders to stay away from our houses from dawn to dusk in the interests of our village, said Radha of Marutinagar.

We had Vana Bhojanam in the mango orchard and followed the instructions of the fortune-teller meticulously to avoid keedu, said another woman.

I did not venture out of my house despite the en masse exodus of most of our villagers, said a villager, who did not wish to be identified. It is an irony that superstitious beliefs are still persisting at a time when our space scientists heralded a new era in space exploration by sending a record 104 satellites, he rued, lamenting that the local school remained closed due to the absence of schoolchildren.

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P. Sridhar - The Hindu - The Hindu