Indian witchdoctor beheads 5 year old girl

By Atheist |

Friday, July 31, 2009

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Another example of religious fanatics from India,

A rural Indian witchdoctor beheaded a five-year-old girl as part of a bizarre ritual to help a villager produce healthy male heirs, police have said.

Vandana Kumari was murdered on Tuesday (local time) in Lakhimpur Kheri district, 200 kilometres from the Uttar Pradesh state capital Lucknow, police officer Ravi Srivastava said Thursday.
Occult practitioner Mewalal Chauhan recommended the "human sacrifice" when the child's neighbour Ram Niwas came to him for help, Mr Srivastava said.
"Ram Niwas had sons but none of them survived infancy. His brother too was ailing. The 'tantrik' Chauhan said a human sacrifice was necessary to get rid of these problems," he said.
The witchdoctor, his male assistant and Niwas lured the little girl into a field where Chauhan cut off her head after prayers and rituals, the police officer said.
Police said they recovered the child's headless body after her mother reported her missing, and had detained the three men.
Belief in black magic is common among superstitious rural Indians.
Many families in India value male heirs for their breadwinning potential, and sons are needed to light their parents' funeral pyres under Hindu rites.
- AFP

Naked girls plow fields for rain

By Atheist | 0 comments

Yet another stupid Indian practice.

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their
unmarried daughters to plow parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the
weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on
Thursday.
Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state plowed the fields
and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly
village women helped the girls drag the plows.

"They (villagers) believe
their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would
ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council
official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town.

"This is the most
trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this
practice until it rains very heavily."

India this year suffered its
worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some
states.

(Writing by Bappa Majumdar Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Hindu ritual of jumping into thorns

By Atheist |

Saturday, July 18, 2009

0 comments

Hindus believe that their gods bring happiness and prosperity to them if they suffer in the name of god.
Walking on a fire pit is a very usual ritual at festivals.
But,jumping into a mass of thorns is something wierd.

Silly Hindu superstitions

By Atheist |

Friday, July 17, 2009

17 comments

Being born in a Hindu family, i know about most of the superstitions that are practiced by Indian Hindus. Most Hindus believe that there are ancient meaning for these superstitions,but no one seem to remember any such explanation for them.
If anyone reading this text can explain any of the superstitions,you are welcome.

- It is bad to ask "where are you going" to anyone going out of home.Indians dare to ask their relatives or family members this question because it brings bad luck to the person going out.Moreover it is considered that harm will come to the one who is being asked that dreaded question.

- It is bad when a cat crosses your path or road.If that happens, people mostly return to their homes or pray to god and proceed on their path.

- It is also considered bad to see a widow face to face while going out.And, the worse part is that widows are unwelcome at any functions like marriages.

- It is bad to drop a cut finger nail inside the house,even in the dustbin. It is believed that nails brings economic damnation to the house.

- Mirrors should not be shown to children,because it makes children to become dumb, that is infants seeing mirror at very young age will fail to speak.

- Taking photos reduces ones lifetime.So,indians avoid taking photographs of their infants.

- Menstrating women are forbidden from entering temples,or even to pray at home,since menstruation is a sin.

- The month named "Aadi",that is the first month of windy season is forbidden to perform any functions like house warming,marriage or starting anything.

- Dreams in the early morning are expected to come true.So if anything bad happens in a dream, people will meet with certain religious men and perform poojas to prevent the dream from coming true.

-When a coconut is broken in the temple, it should part in to two regular and equal halves and not break at tangent in to the eyes of the coconut. A decayed or rotten coconut foreshadows serious mishap to the devotee .

- After sneezing, people exclaim 'Shiva', 'Rama ' or 'Krishna'or whatever god they pray to.

- It is not good to give money to anyone after sunset.If anyone does that,all their money will go away from them.So,when the newspaper/current/mobile bill collector knocks after 6:00 PM,it is a waste of their time.And,it is strictly forbidden to lend needles or oil after 6:00PM.

- When faced with dilemma, instead of considering merits and demerits, villagers put colored flowers in a temple and see which colour falls first due to wind.The colour of the flower which falls first determines their action.

- Nothing should be started on a Tuesday.Wednesday is the best day for important ventures and is as 'good as gold'.

- When the first tooth of a child falls out the fallen tooth is carefully placed in a lump of cow dung, and thrown over roof in the belief that such action will hasten the re-growth of the child 's teeth. (this one is a sort of related to tooth fairies i suppose,but practiced by parents instead of children)

- It is a bad sign to place hands behind the head when trying to relax,since it can cause the death of parents.

- The sound of door hitting the wall should never be made by children,since it causes fights to happen between the parents.

- A lizard falling on head can cause death.

- The cawing of a crow in one's house foretells the coming of guests.

- If a lizard makes a sound when you make a statement, it shows that what you said is true.And if a bell rings or even if a mobile phone rings,its also considered that what is told is truth,or it will come true.

- If anyone kills a snake,he has to goto a snake nest found in most temples and place eggs and milk to prevent the snake from taking revenge.


The fact about this list is that these superstitions are still believed throughout India,in villages as well as cities.

Dedicated blog for Atheism

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This blog welcomes the dawn of atheism upon our civilization.
All efforts will be taken to debunk religious superstitions and promote rational principles and reasoning.