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Medications that Aruna Ghimire of Thali, Kathmandu, went through a couple of months back was no less than a miracle, at least for herself, her family and neighbours. As doctors and experts of medical sciences were reportedly unable to identify her ailment, the 17-year-old continued to lose consciousness and faint over two times a day for the past more than seven months.

Helpless, as suggested by relatives and neighbours, her family finally decided to take Aruna to a faith healer in Bouddha. By virtue of a “magic touch” of the faith healer she slowly started recovering as a healthy teen. She, now, no more faints, neither is she an unhealthy girl.

Krishna Nepali, 32, of Basantapur, had a similar problem with his five-year-old son last year. “My son was showing unusual symptoms,” he said. “He would fall sick and lose consciousness whenever there was a puja at home or during festivals.”

After doctors of renowned hospitals failed to diagnose the ailment of the boy, Nepali, otherwise disbeliever of faith healing, took his child to a jhakri (faith healer) in Patan. Miraculously, as Nepali claims, his son got better, and is given a clean bill of health.

“I don’t know what it is exactly,” he said. “I have started believing in all these things after that incident. Still, the healing of my son was extraordinary.”

The stories of Ghimire and Nepali are only a case in point. Faith can move mountains is what a large chunk of the Nepali society believes in. As the world has made a quantum leap in scientific innovations, what lures this considerable number of people into the so-called superstition continues to remain as an unsolved mystery.

From the horse’s mouth

Dwarika Mahat, 39, popular with the name of Bandevi Mata (Goddess of the forest) claims to have cured the ailments of hundreds of people in her 14-year-old career in faith healing.

“I can see the victims’ ailments in the rice grains put in a sacred copper plate,” said Mahat, who lives in Thapagaun, in the Capital. “Soul of the goddess enters me at that point of time, and I suggest the victims the best possible remedy.”

She, however, does not like it when anyone calls her a professional faith healer. “I don’t call it a profession, as it is a service in the name of the goddess.” Nonetheless, Mahat charges a certain amount of fees in exchange of “divine” remedies she offers to her clients. The fees usually depend on the class of the client and the severity of his/her ailment.

According to Mahat, there are two kinds of disease— medical and supernatural. “There are ailments that medicines and science can’t heal. These are usually caused by the spell of bad spirits, which can be cured with the help of divine power.”

Ailments of Ghimire and Nepali were perhaps of the second type. Reportedly, while a “bad spirit” had caught Ghimire, Nepali’s five-year-old son was under the influence of the spirit

of his own great grand father, who himself used to practice faith healing in his village in Kailali district.

The other side of the coin

Despite a few examples of those who claim faith healing has done them good, the other side of the coin is that there are many sad stories too.

Incidents of assaults on the pretext of witchcraft often makes headlines, bringing forth the worst face of superstitious beliefs in the present day society.

On March 22 last year, a 40-year-old woman Sunita Pudasaini was assaulted by her own siblings for allegedly practicing witchcraft. Pudasaini’s own younger brother and sister blinded her by stabbing her in the eyes with a sickle. It was later known that a faith healer from Banepa had earlier accused that her “black magic spells” made her brother’s wife infertile.

One of the most abominable incidents reported in the Capital largely depicted the low-rung set of mentality among a section of people in the Nepali society. Similar incidents, usually in the name of witchcraft and other black magic spells, are frequently occurring in other parts of the country as well.

According to police data, altogether 116 women have been tortured in the name of witchcraft in the last four years. The record shows that the number has gone increasing every year. In 2009, the total number of assaults were 11. The number fell to four in 2010, but the following year showed scary figures, with 39 women being tortured in the name of witchcraft and 35 women in 2012. Nepal Police spokesperson DIG Keshav Adhikari said public belief in superstition and faith healing are the main reasons behind these unfortunate incidents. “Prosecution of the culprit is not the right solution to this problem,” he said, adding that the lack of awareness is the major cause of the public’s unending belief in superstition and faith healing.

Besides, torture in the name of witchcraft and other accusations concerning black magic spells, people, heeding advices of faith healers, have wasted a lot of money in a bid to please the gods and complete the required rituals said to rid one off his/her problems.

A psychiatrist’s say

Psychiatrist Dr Saroj Ojha views superstitious beliefs as part of culture. According to him, it is the mindset among public transferring from one generation to another that continues to drive people towards faith healing and other superstitious practices. “However, there aren’t any logic behind the treatment given by faith healers,” he said. “It is just that a few diseases are psychological that can be cured by removing away one’s fear or changing his/her living environment. Faith healers just tend to do the same.”

Apart from that, experts also claim the widespread rumours that promote the positive results of faith healing and success stories related to them are the other factors that lure the public towards the “divine healing”.

“These things are being practiced since times immemorial, so we can’t just discard them,” he said. “Initially, the positive and negative practices should be demarcated, thereby discouraging negative practices through public awareness. If such happens, people’s beliefs in supernatural practices will fade away over a period of time. Given the degree of its penetration in Nepali society, change, however, is not possible overnight.”