Rituals and Diseases Bengals Folk Deities in the Distribution and the Prevention of Sickness

Name of Author : Thakurdas Jana

Abstract: In the recent times, it has been often reported that different rituals are being practiced and many deities are being worshipped to ward off the Covid-19 pandemic when the human beings are facing disorder and uncertainties and the large medical institutions are failing to invent vaccine as soon as the world demands. It has proved the claim of Victor Turner and Arnold van Gennep that rituals arise and become popular at the time of disorder, uncertainty, and anxiety. The practice of religious rituals of different deities to prevent illness and disease has also been very prominent still in the 21st century in the areas deprived of timely and advanced medical facilities as found in the different parts of West Bengal, India. In Bengal, many folk deities like Shitala, Olabibi, Ateshwar, Babathakur, Basalee, are worshipped to get rid of the diseases like smallpox, cholera, diarrhea, infertility. This dependency of the folk people on gods and goddesses to get relief from illness has shaped the cultural activities of the Bengalis as Ernesto de Martino defines culture as „result of the victorious struggle of the health of the pitfalls of disease?. This paper aims to argue how „disease?, „illness?, and rituals have been intertwined for a long period, and find out how many deities, some of them having no human form, have been worshiped since the pre-medical times to achieve a disease-free life in Bengal. It also seeks to explore how a different culture has been formed with the rituals.

Keywords : Ritual, Disease, Sickness, Bengal, Folk Deities, Culture

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