THE TELEGRAPH (Calcutta, India) 03 August 04 Prayer, not pill, after bite
Asansol: Superstition shoved science to the waste bin in one of Bengal’s most literate districts as an eight-year-old boy bitten by a poisonous snake was rushed to a witch doctor and administered charms instead of anti-venom serum yesterday.
Sunil Yadav died the same day. After medieval efforts to “revive” him, the rotting body was today set afloat in a river.
At Dhadka in the heart of Asansol town, about 220 km from Calcutta, many believe this is the way to dispose of the body of a snakebite victim .
Sunil’s parents were influenced by neighbours after they discovered the tell-tale marks of a snakebite on his right leg.
There was a bid to invoke the goddess of snakes and when Sunil appeared to be sinking, the local ojha (witch doctor) was summoned to perform the “rituals of revival”.
The snake bit Sunil around 3 am yesterday. “It escaped after biting my son. He woke up from sleep immediately and complained of pain in his right leg. We found the marks of a snakebite,” said the father, Gopal Yadav, a milkman.
Narayan Bagdi, the witch doctor tried to work his magic on Sunil to extricate the venom. He was declared fit around 8 in the morning.
“But within an hour after Bagdi left, he started convulsing and fainted,” Gopal said. His neighbours then advised him to take Sunil to a hospital.
At the Asansol Subdivisional Hospital, Sunil died around 11 am. Hospital deputy superintendent Subrata Roy said: “He could have been saved had he been brought in earlier. We had the anti-venom serum.”
The family, however, was not convinced about the doctor’s declaration that Sunil was dead. His body was taken home and the ojha was called back. Bagdi reassured that Sunil was still living and started a second set of rituals.
The body was laid on the verandah and water poured on his head for hours. Prayers to the goddess continued. “He is alive and well,” Bagdi declared.
This morning, the stink of a corpse began to spread. The family had to believe that Sunil was dead. Rituals did not stop there though.
A bamboo raft was made and the body was set afloat at Disherghat.
Prayer, not pill, after bite