'Spirits and demons are only projections of man's own emotional impulses.'
– Totem and Taboo, Sigmund Freud (1913)
Failure in Love, Evil-Eye of the Enemy, Lack of Progeny, Loss in Business, Alcoholism of Husband, Dispute of Property, Daughters' marriage, Neighbours' Envy …All Problems Solved! Contact the Famous Tantrik Mia Abu Hasan aka Bangali Baba! In Town Just for Ten Days.
Pamphlets, wall writings and megaphone announcements like this are fairly common, not only in small moffusil towns and villages across the Subcontinent, but in the big cities too. In India, the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954, undoubtedly enacted as a result of the pernicious Western influence, today lies unremarked in a corner. From all accounts, babas, tantriks and pirs are flourishing, as people flock to seek solutions to their ailments, real or imagined. It is not just the ignorant who flock, either; physicists, doctors and professors can be found performing pujas during eclipses, pleading for Shani (Saturn) to release the moon.
Jawaharlal Nehru's vision of modern India, with its famous reference to dams as modern temples, is reflected in the fundamental duty of every citizen to develop a scientific temper and spirit of enquiry under the Constitution. Dozens of engineering colleges, science institutes, IITs, medical colleges and research bodies are today scattered through the length and breadth of the country, along with temples, mosques, dargahs and gurudwaras. Mythology and history coalesce in secular India – at times, archaeological evidence looks like a bit player in comparison to the power of legend.