The Bargain at Baya In the 1980s, dense forests with thick bamboo undergrowths surrounded the village of Baya, fostering rumors of ghosts and spirits among its residents. One such resident was Kefayat, who was no ordinary villager. He was a Kabiraj , a healer of ailments, well-versed in tantra mantras or ancient incantations, and possessed a strange power to command spirits. For him, spirits—or jins, the villagers called them—were invisible pets—neither fully hostile nor quite tame. But for everybody else in the village, the spirits were terrifying. One afternoon, while the summer was in full swing and when Baya's marketplace was in its busiest state, a shock was spread among the people. A murmuring, jostling crowd trembled with puzzled faces. People traveling through the bamboo forest path had begun to encounter gruesome incidents of death. Stories of ghostly bamboo, which moved as though with its deadly will, sent shivers down the spine of the village. The ...
Comments
Post a Comment