“How to ask a woman whether she has been called a daayan?” This was the first question that came to the minds of 46 women who were assigned the task of surveying those who have been victims of witch-hunting in Bihar. In the state of Bihar, as in Assam, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha, witch-hunting is an open secret.
Phulesara’s husband dies within one year of marriage and then she finds a new constant companion: fear. Tune into this special feature of Bolti Kahaniyan: ‘Phulesara Bahu ki Aankh’.
“Baba, how does one become a Bayen (witch)?” Bhagirath asks his father Malinder near the dead lake as the shadow of his estranged mother looms over him. The recollecting of who his mother was and how she was ostracized as a witch from the Dom community in this story by Mahasweta Devi, is the unfolding of the myth of Bayen and the reality of witch-hunt.
