It is less conspicuous to keep some wild animals’ body-parts for good luck than to house a live wild animal because that’s not allowed. For example, star tortoises and turtles are gifted or bought because they are considered lucky. Few realise how unlucky and extremely cruel it is for the creatures to be kept in small tubs cooped up in apartments, walking on tiles, instead of earth.
Each and every body-part of wild animals, birds and reptiles, ranging from big cats to owls, to boas, are in demand for some ritual or another. They are converted into talismans or good luck charms upon being sacrificed.
Some buyers in Kerala believe that having a tiger skin, claws or teeth in their prayer room brings them prosperity.
A white owl is considered a companion and vahana (vehicle) of Goddess Lakshmi – the goddess of wealth – and therefore a harbinger of prosperity. Sellers successfully convince the gullible that owls are lucky and by worshiping them, they will get wealthy.
Owls are sold mainly during religious melas because that’s where customers are easily found. Owls used for black magic are killed. The sacrifice of nocturnal owls and bats on auspicious occasions, particularly on amavasya of Diwali, seems to be increasing because tantriks are recommending pujas consisting of different body-parts of owls, and state that owls with ear-tuffs (although called ear-tuffs they are actually feather extensions on the head) have greater magical powers! Blood and feathers of owls are offered as aahuti/oblation in Havan Samagri. So-called cures are for overcoming financial difficulties, infertility and absence of a male child, illness, nazar/evil eye, and to even develop power over targeted individuals.
Owls are normally sold for Rs 20,000 but cost up to Rs 2 lakhs for sacrifice on the amavasya of Diwali. Tantriks earn between Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakhs because they claim to have the power to capture and transfer the soul of the owl they kill, into a taviz/talisman.
In the 1980s owls without eyes were being peddled outside railway stations. The birds’ eyes had been removed to make tavizes. Every conceivable body-part of the owl is precious for believers, and it is felt that possessing a taviz consisting of owls’ eyes or a particular organ, has magical or medicinal powers for the wearer, keeper or user.
But, how can an organ or limb of a tortured and/or killed creature impart such powers, more so when the acquisition has subjected a dumb, innocent animal to suffering and maiming?
These humans need to ask themselves whether the owl is really foolish, or whether they themselves are the foolish ones because they believe in superstitions. The Ela Foundation survey found that 40% Indians associate owls with black magic and consider them to be bad omens. Ulloo is the Hindi word for an owl and when a human is called so, it implies foolishness and stupidity. On the other hand, in the English language the owl is considered a wise old bird; owl-like is a person having a solemn manner; and, a night-owl is one who is active late into the night just like the bird.
It was therefore great to know that a couple who wanted to dispel myths surrounding owls, in 2017 got married with the picture of an owl on their invitations. They wanted their family and friends to realise that although owls are mostly found in graveyards and are nocturnal birds, they should not be associated with death or considered inauspicious.
Targeting the Gullible
Sand boas known as two-headed snakes or do-muha (their raised tails look like their heads when they are coiled) are supposedly sold for any thing between Rs 5 lakh to 1 crore (in South India) which is a great incentive to poach them from the wild. The cost varies depending upon the customer’s ability to pay and reason for purchasing. Some buy for black magic: it is believed sand boas have supernatural powers resulting in prosperity and destruction of enemies. Or if kept in one’s house, whatever one wishes materialises. Others believe they have medicinal value.
The Slender loris is a small nocturnal primate, having large and lovely eyes too. These animals are found only in India and Sri Lanka. So since many have, and are, being caught from the wild for black magic, their numbers continue falling. Often they are found barbarically maimed or even killed because it is believed that what ever is inflicted upon this animal will happen to the inflictor’s enemy. For example, in 2023 a young Slender loris which was found abandoned and brought to a rescue and rehabilitation centre in Karnataka had pinpoint burns on her nose bridge, thumbs of both forelimbs and the big toe of her hind limbs. Some believe their gouged out eyes kept near children while asleep imparts good eyesight; while others make the animal bite a coin and the child wears it as a charm.
Sanda oil is claimed to be an aphrodisiac and good for massages. Decades ago, the oil from freshly-killed lizards used to be extracted on the roadside with large groups of gullible men watching the cruelty while waiting to buy the oil.
Talking of lizards, the colour, spots, stripes, chirping, or twittering of a lizard, when it falls on a person’s body, is believed to predict the future. This can often be a good omen. And if one hears a lizard on the ceiling or wall while a discussion is going on it is a good omen letting one know that the other person is truthful.
Between Holi and Rangpanchmi, villagers of Wadangali in Sinnar tehsil (40 km from Nashik) organise a 150-year old traditional donkey ride for a javai/son-in-law of the village and garland him with footwear. They believe that such a procession ensures ample rain.
In 2021 the residents of Sangvi and Pimple Gurav of Maharashtra were in a predicament because of a superstition that whosoever mishandled the 50+ Osmanabadi goats seen roaming and being aggressive in their village, would face misfortune.
Parrot Astorology
Pet parrots are not only seen caged in houses, but also accompany road-side fortune tellers. For a price, they are trained to pick cards which are then “read” to the client. Since parrots (and munias also trapped from the forest and trained) are being confiscated under wildlife laws, they have in some places been replaced by caged guinea pigs that have been similarly trained for the purpose of so-called future prediction.
Killi josyam or parrot astrology is famous in Tamil Nadu but has spread to other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Puducherry. Most of these fortune-tellers hail from the Kambalathu Naicker community and worship goddess Jakkamma. Way back in 1999-2000 the fortune-tellers of Goraguntepalya in Tamil Nadu were raided and 160 parakeets were confiscated from them but they did not give up practicing killi josyam. During the breeding season they themselves poach parrot fledglings from forest nests and train them to pick cards.
A man typically sits on the footpath with a cage containing a poached and trained parrot. He has a pack of 27 tarot like cards (depicting deities) which he spreads out in front of him. When some one asks for his/her fortune to be told, the man takes the parrot out from one of the compartments of the cage which is very little bigger than the parrot itself. He then instructs the parrot to pick a card which it does at random and hands over to the fortune teller who then based on the image on the card “reads” the fortune of the person!
To the misfortune of parakeets, roadside fortune tellers or parrot astrologers have not stopped keeping them. Despite the birds which are always found in a very poor condition, being confiscated by the police and taken to rescue centres, the activity some how continues. For example, in December 2013 the forest department personnel caught 11 rose-ringed parakeets (a protected species under the Wildlife Act) at Bengaluru’s Sajjan Road Circle fair. Confined to tiny cages, they were dehydrated, their wings (including primary feathers) had been clipped, and the claws and feet of some had been amputated.
On being informed that parrot astrologers were operating on Suffren Street, Saint Ange Road and Bharati Park areas of Puducherry, in 2018 Beauty Without Cruelty first approached the Forest Department and then the Lieutenant Governor, Puducherry UT, requesting a crack down on killi josyam which involves the illegal use of parrots.
In 2019 BWC also wrote to the Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change to direct that immediate action be taken to stop parrot astrologers from operating in Puducherry. A copy of Compassionate Friend (spring 2019) which covered the subject in detail along with pictures was also sent.
In April 2024 a video of a parakeet predicting victory for a politician went viral on social media. This led to the Forest Department seizing 4 parakeets and the arrest of 2 fortune-teller brothers in Tamil Nadu.
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