EARTHWARD
Synopsis of HUMAN Activities
Turn your vision earthward –
'Tis we must lend a hand.
Samuel P. Putnam
Case studies on alleged witchcraft practices in Nepal.
Superstitious practices and belief have dominated the socio-cultural lives of the people from time immemorial. Witch-Hunting, Shamanic practices, Para-normal doctors and healers, Divine and God-men claims are the commonplace phenomena not only in the illiterate and ignorant rural community of Nepal but also in the urban centers. The superstitious practices of various kinds have dehumanized the people at large and their community, they have taken the lives of many innocent and ignorant individuals.
Just after the establishment of Humanist Association of Nepal (HUMAN), it conducted case studies and complied information on alleged witchcraft practices in 45 districts of Nepal. The case studies revealed how severely superstitious and the irrational practices have victimized the innocent and credulous people, particularly women in different parts of the country. The publication consists of two parts: the first part consists of the articles on humanism and the second part consists of the case studies of the victims, the individuals accused for practicing witchcraft practices...
Action/Study on Witch Identifying Rituals
HUMAN, recently conducted on-site investigation of the so called "Witch Identifying Ritual" held on 14th August 2001 in the district of Mahottari in which hundreds of women including Marani Devi were humiliated and physically tortured for allegedly practicing witchcraft in the villages. The fact finding committee of HUMAN had prepared detail report on the case and submitted to the office of the speaker of the parliament in Nepal and UN high Commissioner through IHEU.
HUMAN conducted on site investigation of the most grotesque event of 14 August 2001 in the Simardahi VDC of Mahottari district of Nepal where more than 2000 rural Nepalese women were tortured and inhumanly treated, several of them were seriously injured and thousands were insulted, humiliated, and abused in the name of so-called "witch identifying ritual" in a single event. Simardhai case is just one of the hundreds of cases that occur every day in rural Nepal and do not come to the notice of civilized world. This reflects the existing social reality of Nepal where poor, ignorant and innocent women in the rural villages have to put off with all kinds of social injustices as inhumanly grotesque as being charged with witchcraft practices. Physical torture leading to the deaths, forced feeding of human excreta and excommunication from the village in the name of witchcraft practice is the commonplace phenomena poor women in rural Nepal face and encounter everyday...
Study Report on Kumari Worship, the Child Dehumanizing Cult
Humanist Association of Nepal (HUMAN) strongly condemns the practice of Kumari worship and considers it as a child dehumanizing cult practice rather than a cultural heritage that should be respected and preserved. HUMAN considers that Kumari Cult originated from superstition, the belief produced by irrational fear in supernatural power and sanction.
The different categories of superstitions, magic and religion are associated with the fear of hostile forces and the fear of supernatural sanctions respectively. In the case of magic, the emotional factor has been defined as a fear of hostile forces and likewise in religion, it is the fear of supernatural sanctions. One of the significant mental processes both in religious beliefs and in many forms of magic is the anxiety associated with repressed guilt fillings. The externalization of the conscience in the case of religion leads to the creation of cult heroes, saints and gods. Therefore, the creation of the cult in the religion is basically a defense mechanism to dispel fear, the very cause of the irrational belief itself. The consequences of superstitions beliefs are devastating as they tend to restrict human liberty and happiness, tend to facilitate the exploitation of the credulous, and frequently tend to become the cause of cruelty and terror often leading to the dehumanization of the people at large and their community.
Such practices have taken the lives of many innocent and ignorant people. The study report on Kumari provides the description of one of the most celebrated cults of Kathmandu valley, the Cult of Kumari worship that depicts the pathetic tale and the story of young and innocent girls who are deprived of liberty, freedom and humanly life. The report concludes that the life of Kumari is, indeed, a dehumanized life that is celebrated in the pride of century old superstition that sustains on fear and irrational and that such cults need to be deconstructed and debunked in order to free, liberate and let live the innocent female childs a dignified humanly life.