A Woman, A Widow, and A Witch

If

• you're a woman
• and a widow
• and belong to a lower caste

you could be

• stripped
• garlanded with shoes
• paraded through the village streets naked
• and accused of being a witch

should you attempt to enter a temple.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Widow_paraded_naked_for_entering_temple/rssarticleshow/2927206.cms

There's much to be said about the abuse of people from low castes. There's just much to be said about discrimination against women in general and widows in particular. But I'm not going to say it here. I'm going to focus on the fact that, in this case, this one woman was, of all things, accused of being a witch.

It happens. Say something you're not supposed to say. Stand up for yourself. In an urban setting, you'll probably be called either a slut or a ball-breaking bitch but chances are, you won't be called a witch.

The rationale behind the reactions in urban and rural settings is very similar though -- to denigrate what you cannot control hoping, in the back of your mind, that the self-confidence and assertiveness in the woman will disintegrate. And at the very least, if that doesn't happen, that you'll scare other women enough not to have them act similarly.

Witch-hunting is still prevalent in various parts of the world including some Indian states such as Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Between 1991 and 2000, over 522 cases of witch-hunting were registered in Bihar alone.

What's frightening though is that nowadays, being branded a witch is often just a device for people to do such things as settle property disputes and ensure that women do not stand up for their political and other rights. That seems to have been what's happened in this case: a woman who's three times as vulnerable because of not only being a woman but also a widow and a member of a lower caste was targetted when she entered a Kali temple in Dhanbad.

The persecution of so-called witches is sometimes due to Shamans who encourage such acts and due genuine ignorance and superstition while at other times, as I suspect is the case here, it's due to the need for a covert and 'socially acceptable' means of keeping women from asserting their rights.

It ranks among the most ignored crimes against women in Indian society today but many social activists say that legislation alone is unlikely to do much to help solve the problem unless there is a change in the attitudes of the people. And until attitudes do change, India will continue to have the dubious distinction of being, as someone once put it, 'a Nuclear Power engulfed in a Black Magic frenzy'.

References:
In the name of the witch : frontlineonnet.com/fl1723/17230870.htm
I've also quoted from an article I wrote ages ago here.