Superstition still rules roost in Odisha; Puja, traditional dance performed to make dead man alive
By Kishore Mohapatra
Nayagarah, April 6: With a vain hope that a dead man can get back his life, villagers in Odisha’s Nayagarh district on Sunday performed puja and traditional Dandanacha for hours. However, the body of the deceased which had undergone post-mortem following an unnatural death was finally consigned to the flames after all their efforts proved futile.
Incidentally, the village – Singarpur – is just around 95 kilometres away from Odisha capital Bhubaneswar.
The deceased, identified as Rabi Nahak, had taken part in traditional Danda Nacha (also known as dance of penance) two days ago. As per the ritual of the dance, Rabi had not eaten anything since then.
The rituals of Danda Nacha involve painful rituals while paying obeisance to Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva for 21 days. Generally, the rituals begin 21 or 13 days before Maha Bisuva Sankranti or Pana Sankranti.
The ‘Danduas’ or Danda dance performers offer prayers on behalf of the people who want their wishes to be fulfilled.
On Sunday, Rabi fell ill while performing a penance ritual following which he was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH), Nayagarh.
However, the doctors declared him brought dead.
Rabi’s body was later handed over to his family members following an autopsy on the same day. The doctors said that Rabi had died due to dehydration and sun stroke.
When the bereaved family of Rabi was preparing for the cremation, the villagers convinced them that they should conduct a puja to resurrect the deceased.
Subsequently, the villagers allegedly took the body and performed rituals for several hours yesterday. The villagers gave the body a bath with dozens of pitchers of water and conducted kirtans and chanted mantras in an attempt to bring him back to life. However, all the attempts to resurrect Rabi went in vain.
Later, the Sarankul Police intervened after receiving the information and convinced the villagers of the reality. The mortal remains of Rabi was finally consigned to flames.
Inspector of Sarankul Police Station, Bimal Mallick said that the villagers believed that since he was a Dandua he might come back to life.
“Even after performing rituals for several hours when the miracle did not happen, the last rites were finally conducted in the middle of the night,” added the inspector.
