Witch Please!
By: Shristi Chhajer
Tags: Patriarchy, India, Witchcraft, Witch Hunt, Women

As I walk through the street, the darkness engulfs the day. I feel the cold air raising goosebumps along my body like someone raking their hands all over. Feeling exposed and eyes watching, the uneasiness crawls its way through. The darkness of the street consumes my very being, while my ears catch mesmerising and hallucinating music. The music calling my name guides me through the darkness, as I reach a peepal tree. The leaves rustle with the wind. The music stops, and the cogs in my mind start to work again. I have to escape before the black magic consumes my mind. I am led into the witches’ abode. Would she eat me? Sacrifice me? Control me? Be the cause of my death? Or use me as her slave? Was she a cunning, old woman or a beautiful illusion that traps me with her eyes? The one that hunts souls to stay robust — how do I know if it is a she?

Oh, wait! Patriarchy exists.

The sudden movement of the peepal tree grabs my attention and reels me back to reality. I start to recite a mantra without knowing what it means, only because it comes with a guarantee of protection. I came to a sudden halt — a woman with long hair stands before me. When she spoke, she sounded seductive and ready to kill. I looked down at her feet, and they sure were ulte pair (turned legs).

Was she here to have a conversation because she felt lonely on that tree? No one will ever know. All we will remember is to run from the witches or burn them. They create havoc.

Evolution of Witches

Magic is termed as either good or evil. The evil trope is often showcased as a means to gain power and control via voodoo dolls, potions, spells, hypnosis or possession of souls. The duality often leads to stereotypes regarding what is good and evil. We acquire such distinctions and character sketches through the help of fairy tales, books, movies, myths, folklore, oral stories, and so on. These forms have all told us that witches possess supernatural power and often use dark magic. On the other hand, in Greek mythology, magic was a considerable aspect and showcased a witch that was neither good nor evil. For instance, Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, is the one who would use her magic to harm someone only if they have wronged her and would use the same magic to help someone if they have pleased her. So the idea of witchcraft developed not as something right or wrong, rather just as a neutral quality or characteristic.

As we navigate through history, it can be noted that around 1400 AD, the idea of witches drastically changed. This was because women started owning their autonomy, trying to break free from the patriarchal setup. Women wanted to have control over their desires and sexuality or do what was predominately allowed only for men. Hence, the fear of women taking control of their lives led to the identification of them as witches. Due to this, mass witch-hunts took place in the name of taking out manipulative witches who propagate evil and rot society. The outcome for such women who were suspected of doing witchcraft was being burnt at a stake, stoned or even being hung . One such example would be Joan of Arc, a woman who dressed as a man to fight for her country. The outcome of this patriotism was being termed as a witch and being burnt at stake in front of a large audience.

Art by Anindita Doshi

Another important series of trials are the Salem Witch Trials that took place in 1672. After years of the trials, the ones who caused the hanging of these women and a few men apologised for their misunderstanding. This misunderstanding arose as there was no explanation at the time for the erratic behaviour of some of the people and children in the town. Hence, a lot of historians believe that Ergot poisoning was rather labeled as the doings of a witch. But, nonetheless, the witch-hunting had taken place and sowed its seeds far and wide.

India and its Dayan

While this takes place on a global sphere, India has also created a prototype of what signifies a witch through its oral stories and myths. Words like dayan, chudail and dakkan are often used to term a woman as a witch in India. But, this isn’t just a practice of the past. This is still very prevalent in the country. On average, approximately one woman is killed every day due to witch trials in India. According to the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau), approximately 2500 women were killed via witch-hunting between 2000 to 2016. However, these statistics are claimed to be incomplete as many states don’t list witch-hunting as a murder motive. Thus, there is no concrete data on how many women are killed due to witch trials every year.

Women are often called witches as it is a convenient way of explaining the natural calamities taking place or the sudden death of individuals (mainly children) in the village. It is an easy way to blame women for situations that can’t be controlled or for which people don’t have an answer. Some accusers would blame them for their own profit, such as to acquire her land or to get rid of her. Therefore, a woman’s wealth and marital status often helped identify her as a witch. There were witch doctors in the village who would often point out the witch in the village, leading to their hunting and trials. It is important to note that all these decisions were mostly taken by the men in the village. There were methods to identify who is a witch; these tests were done by the ‘Ojha’ (a witch doctor). Some methods used included giving each woman a bottle with some potion that would identify them as a witch. One of the potions had poison and the woman who drank the brew with the poison would get ill and be recognised. Another method was writing the names of women on tree branches. Whichever branch wilted, that woman was declared as the witch.

In March 2017, The Logical Indian wrote an article about a woman from a lower caste who was labelled as a witch. She was made to eat human faeces, and her children were also called witch’s children. The ‘Ojhas’ claimed that she was the reason for a death in the village. Therefore, she was hunted down and put on a trial. In Jharkhand witch-hunting is a common practice, and Adivasi and Dalit residents of the regions face this horrific incident that is also subjected due to their caste. Men in the village conduct a witch hunt as they believe that they are the justice bearers. Through this superstition and folklore, patriarchy subdues women in several parts of India. The identity ascribed to these women as witches, in many cases is done so based on the caste that they belong to.

Media and its Witch-trials

Media plays a vital role in instilling this idea further. The most significant example of this right now would be the trial by the media in the case of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. In this case, Rhea Chakraborty was branded as a witch, who had used her witchcraft to take Sushant Singh Rajput’s life. Some media stories didn’t directly brand her as a witch, while they did insinuate the same. While some news channels straight up called her a witch, or that Sushant had been “addicted to her”. She was categorised as someone who took the life of a man to gain power. The modern version of the witch trial had taken place, upholding the social misogyny.

Depiction of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death on a mainstream news channel (https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/08/01/sushant-singh-rajput-something-is-rotten-in-the-state-of-tv-news)

Pop Culture and the Outline of a Witch

Pop culture has also been a source of this idea for many years. The cunning vamp is often looked out for and hunted by the “good”. The character of these vamps is represented to suit the idea of a witch and thereby helps further the framework of these stories. We have come across the good-evil duality in shows like Shararat or Son Pari. These shows portray the notion that witches can be good and often battle evil. These good witches have a different set of framework for their characters and add to the idea of who an evil woman is, and who isn’t. For example, the storybooks portray Maleficent as arrogant woman, who talks back, reminding everyone that she has a voice and was classified as the evil source in the story.

Hindi serials have always loved to be dramatic. They portray an evil and cunning woman with extra music, manipulative eyes, and standing tall all by herself. She is always the evil one since she isn’t the damsel in distress. Shows like Dayan, Nazer and Vish amongst many others have propagated this prototype of a witch.

While Hindi movies too uphold these stereotypes, they also have content like Bulbul and Stree portraying a feminist angle of the chudail prototype. The movie Bulbul showcases a woman who was wronged and takes justice in her own hands, while also taking the life of every man who had wronged any woman in the village. She kills them and takes their lives, while all the men try to hunt her down and burn her. Stree is another important feminist movie that showcases a world where men are locked up in the fear of a haunting female soul.

Witch of the Patriarchy

While there are laws that are created to fight these witch huntings and murders, where even terming a woman as a dayan, chudail or practising witchcraft is unlawful, the fight is prolonged. Still, many are unaware of the atrocities faced by many women in large parts of the country. Our media needs to be held accountable for the same as well. In a modern society, having to see and read such stories of women facing these problems is heartbreaking and makes us question the development of our society and country.

This idea of witches can be seen as a common story across place and time. To a patriarchal setup, the witch has always been the one to disrupt society and make it dirty. To them, an opinionated, independent, assertive and beautiful woman who owns her sexuality is dangerous because she challenges patriarchy and damages the backbone of the very structure that allows men to have power and dominate the narrative. A witch who breaks free from shackles of the rules and outside control over her life is truly a feminist icon.