LITERACY AND SUPERSTITION

The death of the 10-year-old boy in Badalgama who had to breathe his last on February 7, allegedly due to the superstitious beliefs of his parents will soon be forgotten, if it has not already been forgotten. He would sometimes be remembered only after a similar tragedy which might again claim another life.                                                                            

The postmortem of the boy which was conducted on last Saturday (Feb. 12) had revealed that he had suffered from phlegm blockage, fever, as well as COVID 19. His parents had kept the sick boy at home for about a week, praying for his health instead of seeking medical advice. According to reports, the family members had prayed for another three days, following his death, hoping for a potential wakening of the boy from the death bed, apparently as in the mystical stories they had heard.  

The police had arrested the mother, father and the grandmother of the child over the incident and they were produced before Negombo Magistrate’s Court on Friday after which the boy’s mother was remanded till next Friday. Other two suspects were released on bail.  

It has to be recalled that a nine-year-old girl in Delgoda in the Gampaha District died in February last year after she was repeatedly beaten by a female exorcist in the presence of her mother in an attempt to drive out what her mother believed were evil spirits.  

These are two of many stories about faith healing we have been hearing from Sri Lanka for the past several decades. The number of such stories that have been unreported might be larger than the number reported, given the widespread belief in sorcery and exorcism in the Sri Lankan society.   Are we to scold or curse the parents of the above two incidents or have pity on them for their irresponsible idiocy? There is no doubt they did not want the children to die, they certainly might thought that they were giving the best treatment to cure them. Their trust in superstitious methods seems to be stronger than that in medical treatment – Western or indigenous.   
However, it is unimaginable that a mother or a father can watch their child so suffering in pain while there are treatment methods that are accepted by all around them. These parents too would have been treated in hospitals and recovered from various illnesses so many times before they began to believe in these faith healing methods. Yet, they have been so blinded by mystic stories that they had been able to forget how they were treated when they fell ill years ago and watch their own children suffering and dying little by little before their very eyes. This shows how powerful these beliefs are.   

Clearly, these people do not resort to these kind of healing methods spontaneously. They are not alone. They have relationship with like-minded men and women who are sometimes organized as a sect or a cult. Usually these methods are in practice among various groups in the society, rather than being practiced individually. Some are remotely connected to the deviations of major religions which in fact do not promote such methods. Sometimes unscrupulous elements hoodwink the unsuspecting gullible people to believe that they have supernatural powers or they are possessed by mystic powers such as the Hindu Goddess Kali.   

One should not be surprised to see this trend to continue for decades in the light of the attitude of the so-called educated people and the leaders of successive governments in the country towards mystic powers. It was the ministers of the government who promoted recently a potion against COVID-19 produced by person who claimed that he was possessed by Goddess Kali. Some weekend newspapers carry a large number of advertisements about sorcerers, exorcists and mystic healers. Some advertisements refer to prescriptions produced by the ancient Rishis for various diseases centuries ago. Some prescriptions are said to have been brought from the Himalayas. Stories about so-called miracles are used to promote certain political parties during elections. The promoters of these stories either believe them or want to make the others to believe. All these are justified sometimes in the name of freedom of thought or religious freedom, despite the great founders of major religions having not promoted these kinds of mystic treatments.   

The breakdown of trust in the official health system is a reason to a section of people turning to alternative treatment methods including faith healing. Hassles, insults and embarrassments at State hospitals and the exorbitant charges in private hospitals push the ordinary people towards unfounded notions about miraculous traditional methods. These beliefs prevent people sometimes from differentiating the faith healing from the real indigenous medicine.   

Ours is a country that has a 92% adult literacy rate and around 99% youth literacy rate. Nevertheless the gap between the literacy and the sensible understanding of the world seems to be very wide.