Superstition — A Bane in Modern India

Bhavish a.s
Sep 8, 2018 · 5 min read

Life in India is suffused in superstition of various kinds, from the most bizarre to the innocuous. It’s fascinating to know how some of them are still living amongst us and are actively in practise.

Oxford Dictionary describes superstitions as “excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural”. Basically, a widely held but irrational belief with supernatural influences, especially as leading to good or bad luck, or a practice based on such a belief.

Let’s walk through a few of them to understand the origin of these superstitions and their relevance in today’s technology savvy world.

Black Cat crossing your path leads to bad luck

This belief dates back to ancient times when people used to travel by carts that were pulled by domesticated animals. Many a times these animals would be startled to see a cat flashing its eyes at them in the pitch darkness. It is normal for these animals to act chaotically when they see any wild cats considering they could be leopards, cheetah’s or tigers.

But needless to say following this today would be ludicrous.

As Groucho Marx once said, “If a black cat crosses your path, it signifies that the animal is going somewhere.”

If a mirror breaks it brings bad luck

Have you ever broken a mirror and been convinced that the next few years are not going to be so good? Fear not!

In olden days, mirrors were extremely expensive and also of very low quality. To avoid carelessness when handling them, the years of bad luck was used as a scare tactic. They also believed that the reflection in the mirror was the person’s soul itself and that it takes seven long years for a broken soul to replenish itself.

But today this explanation sounds too far fetched as there is no logical explanation behind this.

Do not cut your nails after sunset

Cutting your nails after the sun goes down is not right, at least that is what your elders tell you. But before wringing your hands in despair, the logic behind this goes back to before the advent of electricity, people were advised not to cut their nails after sunset as they could hurt their hands due to lack of light and visibility.

The tradition has continued into the 21st century, but the logic behind it has long been forgotten.

Do not get a haircut once it is dark

This one is a no brainer too with the same reason as the previous one. Like every other superstition this one has been brought into our times sans all the logic behind it.

Hanging a lemon and seven green chillies

Ever seen a lemon along with chillies, seven to be precise, hanging from the doors of shops, houses or from the bumpers of cars? As weird as it seems, there is an explanation behind this one too. The cotton thread that passes through the lemon and the chillies absorbs the acids, vitamin C and the other nutrients present in it. Then, by slow vaporization, it is released into the air. This is said to have significant health benefits and our ancestors made it an essential part of ceremonies to increase its use. But sadly, though all these remain to be claims and there is no hard evidence to say there are any significant health benefits from this.

These days it has turned into a superstition that it keeps the god of misfortune, Alakshmi, away from the shops.

Do not sleep with your head facing the north

The most common explanation is that the earth’s magnetism causes the iron in the body to accumulate in the head if your sleep with your head in the North. These magnetic fields have a direct relation with the human body’s fields which are known as bio magnetism.

Now, iron in your blood isn’t the same as elemental iron. Not only is it in a different oxidation state (+2) and bound to hemoglobin, thus having fewer unpaired electrons, it also lacks the many iron neighbors required for ferromagnetism. As a result, iron in your blood is para-magnetic, and when hemoglobin is oxygenated, it is diamagnetic.

If this myth happened to be true, the blood in our veins would explode during an MRI. So, earth’s magnetic field cannot disturb it as it is much weaker than an MRI scan. Hence, solely from a scientific standpoint Earth’s magnetic field, is too weak to affect the iron in your blood.

On keen observation we notice that most if not all these superstitions were created by our forefathers in ancient times, to satisfy their needs at the time. One could even go so far as to tell these explanations could even be apt for their times. But today all these beliefs are blindly inherited to our generations, where most of these claims are blatantly wrong and following them today sounds very ignorant and ignominious. These notions of irrationality and beliefs are instilled in people mainly because superstitions thrive on silencing dissent.

Some of this peculiar behaviour can be attributed to Pascal’s Wager. A theory suggested by the French mathematician in the 17th century. It suggests that that following these superstitions could be cumbersome but not following them could have a greater risk associated with it. But, this line of thinking displays a kind of befuddled thought, which ought not to be seen in a life of a person who adheres to logical reasoning.

But it’s not surprising that Superstition is so widespread in India considering only about three fourths of the population is educated. Education is definitely a step in the right direction. But todays approach to education is partly the reason why we are headed towards an ignorant society. Our schooling has been reduced merely to memorization of facts and procedures, not to forget to ability to regurgitate the facts by rote learning in examinations. The emphasize must move towards conceptual learning and its applications.

Most importantly we need to learn to develop scientific temper. It is imperative to instil critical thinking in the initial stages of a young and budding mind. Questioning is key. The moment kids are taught to blindly do as they are told logic goes out the window. Having said that, things are definitely not going to change overnight. Changing the way, we think can only happen with considerable and conscious time and effort. It is paramount that as a country we need to move ahead from these petty beliefs and notions. Only then can we experience the full benefit of the revolution from Science and technology.

Bhavish a.s

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Striving liberal. Cosmic wonderer. Resident of a pale blue dot