BOUDH (ODISHA): The superstition that a dead man can be ‘made’ alive through tantric puja still continues to prevail in remote pockets of Odisha. Such a bizarre incident was reported on Wednesday from Sanabankapada village under Harabhanga block in Odisha’s Boudh district, nearly 250 km from here.
According to the reports, 10-year-old Shrabani Kanhar, the daughter of Gopabandhu Kanhar of Sanabankapada village under Harbhanga block was admitted to the district headquarters hospital on November 29 as she remained ill for over a week.
Later, upon doctor’s advice, they shifted her to a Bhubaneswar-based private hospital. However, Shrabani was again shifted from the private hospital to the state government-run SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
She breathed her last on December 7. As the girl had reportedly died of chicken pox, the family members – according to local custom (it is believed that chicken pox symbolises manifestation of mother goddess in human body) — did not perform the last rites. They abandoned the body near huge rocks on the banks of river Mahanadi after covering it with neem leaves to prevent pest attack.
When the family members on Tuesday discovered that the body did not undergo putrefaction even after seven days of death, they believed that the girl was very much alive and sought the help of a Phulbani-based tantric.
The tantric gave some holy water to sprinkle on the body to revive her. Besides, the person, claiming to have supernatural powers, has lit an akhanda deepam (non-stop lighting of lamp) in a temple at Phulbani to infuse life in the dead. On the other hand, the family members are performing puja, around the body hoping their beloved to wake up again.
