http://ravi-k-r.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/11/superstition-in-the-21st-century-india.htm. He goes on to say, 'This is my 13th blog. Wish me good luck! ' Talk about superstitions!
In a shocking incident, a daily wage labourer named Afizuddin Ali married his teenage daughter and made her pregnant, citing "divine sanction" at Kashiajhora village in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal recently.
A rickshaw puller in Chennai committed suicide so that his eyes could be used to restore vision to his blind brother. Tragically it was found out after his death that his eyes could anyway not have been used on account of medical reasons.
A woman psychiatrist killed her elder son in order to use his blood for transfusion into the body of her younger son so that the latter could become as intelligent as his [ now dead] brother. The father who looked on at the horrendous and bizarre operation was a doctor himself. All this was done at the behest of a swamiji.
One can submit any number of such macabre but true stories in support of the contention that we are a superstitious nation. I have done some research into such bizarre stories in the media and found that this cuts cross boundaries of religion, caste economic status, and even nationalities. Even in the US some superstitions abound thereby suggesting that educational and material progress alone may not eliminate this problem.
Scientists are also prone to having their untenable beliefs despite their eminence in their field of specialization.
The dividing line between superstition and mistaken beliefs based on racism etc is not clear. Thus a Harvard dean announced that he believed women were genetically inferior to men in the study of mathematics. Even as this raised a storm another eminent American scientist said that Africans were genetically inferior and as such Africa could never progress.
The highest paid astrologer in the US and maybe the world is not an Indian but a woman called Marjory Orr.
ma'am superstition according to me means anythin related to our blind beleifs or things tht cannot be explained away by sceince....the example you took of the rickshaw puller ws a tragic mistake of sceince...tht had nothin to do wid superstition as it ws sceince nt executed properly....if in tht example a baba wud hve been involved telin the rickshaw puller tht if he kills himself the next day his brothers eyes wud miraculosly reappear! tht wud be superstition!
ReplyDeleteZac the incident I have quoted is given by K. R. Ravi from USA in his blog on Superstitions. Sometimes there is a very thin line between religious sentiments and superstitions. Many a times gory incidents take place in order to satisfy religious demands imposed by impostors or traditions blindly followed by generations.
ReplyDeleteMa'am...i agree with zac in case of rickshaw puller but other cases are tragic!!!!india's main reason for not succeeding are these pity things and enormous usless beleifs only!!!also as popular quote says"one man’s belief is another man’s superstition"so in these cases u cant really help and in a diverse country like india....u cant do anything!!!All barriers are broken when it comes to superstitions. All you need is a panditji or a swamiji or a fakir to tell one that his mars is strong or bad period (shani) is reigning over him…that’s it! The person would leave no stone unturned in performing all the rituals that are required to be performed to set off the good period in his life.Indians have the tendency to rely a lot on astrology and charts when it comes to important matters in their life.and sometimes ma'am u have to believe this as not only one or two but millions of it are doing this.....i am one them but same questions sets me thinking....we can't really draw a line between truth and supestions.....
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