My Grandma's Tale - Brahmadaitya

This is a story that my grandmother had experienced at her young age... In childhood. If you have read my previous story of the "Death Bird" you will know that my father and I do not believe in the supernatural, ok save a few mini-superstitions- but my dad is a staunch atheist! My Grandmother (maternal) is a firm believer in ghosts and the Paranormal, not to mention superstitions- in fact she claims that her belief in paranormal happenings stems from real-life experiences. She had narrated two of the vivid experiences she had had as a child, one as a 11 year old, the other, when she was a teenager of 13 to me and a couple of my cousins a few years ago of which I am going to share the Latter.

My grandmother had lived in the village of Baharu (South 24 pargabas) in West BENGAL. It is a growing fairly prosperous village rather a "mini-town" if we could see it now, but at my grandmothers time it had been a totally remote and small village. There is a popular belief in India that the hour of 3am is an inauspicious one, especially during a Full Moon. Ghosts and spirits are reported to be restless at that hour. The day I'm talking of is the night of the "Purnima Titihi" (full moon).

My maternal grandmother's family had been preparing to perform a "puja" (worship) of Goddess Laksmi. For the uninformed, a main ingredient of this puja is the "Durba" grass... (A type of grass. I don't know the corresponding English term)...this durba grass needed to be collected at Dawn on the day of the puja itself. Near my grandmother's home in her village about a few kilometers away was a deep wood, at the edge of which this Durba grass grew. Nobody frequented the woods much during night. Now to get down to the actual incident. My grandmother, her mother and her aunt were the main people in charge of making preparations of ingredients for the puja festival to be organized in the House. So my Grandmother and her aunt decided to go into the woodside early in the dawn to get the grass. They did not have alarm clocks at that time, so a maid of the house was assigned the task of waking up my granny and her aunt at 4 next day. However, this maid was not very bright nor sincere; she had her own puja preparations to do at her home, so she intentionally woke up my granny and aunt at 3am (2 hours before the stipulated time)

My Grandmother and her aunt, oblivious of the one-hour difference, walked into the grounds to set out for collecting the grass. The moonlight was shining brightly, and streams of light flooded the ground, the gardens and the Woods. As the two of them proceeded, they saw a faint figure in the distance, at the edge of the Woods they were walking towards... As they got a bit closer, they saw it clearly (as my grandmother said) - a man, wearing a dhoti and a poite (sacred thread worn by Brahman caste) across his chest, standing with his back to them. He seemed to be busy with something. My grandmother and aunt were not surprised, at this time, they thought, it was natural for people to come here since the Puja was celebrated by every household in the village... So they took him to be a village man. However, they had never seen him before in that neighbourhood, so they wondered a bit. But they decided to walk towards him and ask to strike a conversation. They proceeded...however, after a while, they felt that they had crossed nearer to the woods, but still the man seemed afar. They went nearer and nearer... To their amazement... The figure... Standing static seemed to move further and further away! They had crossed over a metre, and yet nowhere close to the man! They were a bit surprised, and maybe a little bit spooked too by this time...however, at ONE point, he (or it) suddenly swung around to face them... And as he did so, my granny's face coiled in Horror! The man had no features! He had a smooth skin-ball...no features, just smooth skin! My Granny swears to this day that that's what she saw because although it was midnight, the moonlight was clear and bright- and everything within that distance was clear to be seen!

My granny and her aunt stopped dead for a moment, and then, finding feet, her aunt, mustering ALL her might, snatched my granny's hand and dragged her away as fast as she could- (my granny gets shaky while narrating this part- she says her aunts quick thinking saved their lives)...they both ran until they were at the door of the house, and just as they reached the door, they both fell down and fainted.

The next one week, my granny was unable to remember, because she says that she was down with high fever at the time... Both my granny and her aunt were down with high fever, constantly shaking and muttering "it's there, it's coming to get me"...in their sleep...

The Puja celebrations were, obviously cancelled- and a priest was called to perform "Puja" on my granny and her aunt... After doing the puja for four days, both recovered.

Grandmother doesn't remember much after this, only that she got told by the priest that she was under curse from a "Brahmadaitya" (Brahmanic Demon) and that it had left after the blessing rituals.

After that incident, my grandmother's family had a Room in the house dedicated to the Brahmaditya, to please him with offerings on full moon nights, to keep it from further tormenting anyone of the family. My granny says that it is what has kept her safe from it, ever since.

The introduction on the Brahma-DAITYA:

In the Brahmanic caste religion of Hinduism, there is a ritual that every Brahman male has to go through upon attaining the age of 13 or 14- it is called the "Poite". It involves chanting of some incantations and wearing of the Sacred thread 'Poite' by the boy, whereby He is officially inducted into brahmanhood. Legend has it, that if a Brahman male dies by accident within a week of having his Poite THEN HIS SOUL WILL TAKE ON THE FORM OF THE Brahmadaitya or (Brahma Demon)...such demon are believed to be very powerful negative entities and is even believed to cause Death, by Old Village Folks.

I don't know what to make of this one (Lol!)...but, I have once been to my grandmothers Village property, and had seen the room.