Bhapur: Driven by superstition, the relatives of a 66-year-old leprosy-affected man performed his death ritual though he was alive.
However, the man died out of shock a day after the observance of the fake ritual. The poor family would now have to repeat the ritual again, this time in reality. Their condition is so impoverished that they have to sell their properties to perform the ritual, it was learnt.
The shocking incident took place Tuesday in Manapur, a tribal hamlet under this panchayat in Nayagarh district, just 60 km from the state capital, but came to light Friday.
Kantia Nayak, a hardworking man of Manpur, lived on cultivation and tending cattle. A few years back, he suffered from leprosy but it was not a big issue with his wife and son.
Two months back, Kantia consulted doctors of a local hospital as a wound on one of his legs got aggravated. However, the hospital authorities allegedly didn’t attend to him properly and asked him to go for advance treatment instead. But he couldn’t afford it and continued treatment at the village.
Meanwhile, some villagers spotted some maggots on his wound and termed it as an inauspicious sign for the entire village. To prevent further ‘damage’, they asked his son Paikara to perform Kantia’s death ritual after leaving the latter in a leprosy colony. Following the diktat of the villagers, Paikara had to put his father in a leprosy colony at Janla in Khurda before arranging a community feast Tuesday as part of the ‘death ritual’.
“I had to incur a loan of about `60,000 to meet the feast expenses,” Paikara said.
Shockingly, Kantia died at the leprosy colony Wednesday after learning that his death rituals have already been performed. Worse, the villagers buried the body at the village cremation ground saying leprosy patients’ bodies are not cremated.
Meanwhile, Paikara who would perform the death ritual of his father for the second time Friday alleged his father didn’t get proper treatment at Bhapur hospital.
“I have to sell land for repeat performance of the ritual,” he added. PNN
