This story is about a haunting that happened in my neighborhood 70 years ago to a family who stay near to my house and are also my relatives. I heard this incident from my grandfather who was not directly linked to any of it but heard it from people who were associated with it.
I had already mentioned in my previous post that people from my caste stay near to temples as livelihood is earned by doing work in temples. There was a priest who used to perform poojas (prayer) at the nearby temple who was a part of the above mentioned family. In Hindu religion only Brahmans can become priests and only they have the right to enter the srikovil (it is the main dome inside a temple where the god/goddess idol is situated) and perform poojas. Brahmans need to have good knowledge in Vedas, Upanishads and other pooja mantras (ancient Hindu literature and prayer rituals) as they perform prayer for the well being of the whole universe. Apart from that they follow a very strict and disciplined life by avoiding intoxicants and other unsocial activities. They are vegetarians and during those days it was a rule that people from other casts maintain a distance while the priests are in temple premises so that the priest's holiness is not lost. If lost the poojas offered to the god/goddess would have no or less effect. So in short the Brahmans are considered as scholars and holy people.
The mentioned priest was an old man of 70 something. He was a scholar and also had done college which was kind of super cool during those days. He had lived happily with his family making a living by performing pooja at the nearby temple of goddess Karthika devi. But one day his family noticed some that the priest was having some kind blisters all over his body and also fever. So they rushed him to the village doctor who said he is suffering from a deadly disease known as Smallpox.
Smallpox was an incurable disease during those days. Only 1 out of 10 used to survive this disease. Now it's eradicated by giving proper vaccinations to infants. Thank god. There has not been a case of smallpox diagnosed in the past 50 years or so in India. Whoever survived would have lifelong scars on their body and some would go blind. In the starting stages there would be high fever and blisters (kind of real huge pimples) all over the body, even in eyes and tongue. These blisters would later burst and the patient would bleed to death. Believe me its real bad, and the worst thing is that this disease can spread easily so during old days a person who had this disease would be kept isolated. They would be placed in a separate house and servants would provide them with food and water. Apart that practically there was no care or treatment given to the patients.
Sadly the same thing happened to the priest. He was kept isolated in a hut near to his house and was looked after by servants. His children never went near him. He had very bad blisters in his eyes which made him blind. There were blisters in his tongue and throat so he was not able to eat or drink easily. He suffered in that condition for more than 2 weeks and then he died. The servants found that he is dead after 2 days as no one had gone near him for many days. Since his body had decayed he did not get a proper funeral that a Brahman should get. His body was wrapped in clothes and later burnt. Nothing happened for a week's time but later there were some abnormal happenings.
The family had cattle which were healthy, started acting mad. They would start making noises during odd hours. And they started dying one after another without any reasonable disease. Apart from that the family members could hear growling noises all around their house at night. The eldest son had taken up the responsibility of performing poojas at the temple after the priest's death. He used to go to the pond before sunrise to take bath but he would see water marks on stones near the pond. As if someone had taken bath, which was a surprise as the pond was a private property and he was the first to wake in family after his father's death. Then slowly cattle of nearby houses started dying which really stirred up a talk that the priest s soul is not at rest and is very unhappy with the kind of funeral he got. This was confirmed by an incident when one of the family members found marks in the shape of human feet (larger than normal human feet) near to the house. The scary thing was that the leaves lying near to these marks were half burnt.
The whole neighborhood was scared and they called an astrologer to find out the reason behind all these things. Astrologer noticed the marks and later he did some prayers and meditation and understood that this was done by the priest's soul which was not at rest. He said that the priest had become a Brahmarakshas. Usually when a Brahman dies an unnatural death, his soul becomes a Brahmarakshas. These entities are very powerful as they were priests when they were alive. They have a specific pattern of travel or path. It is said that if someone comes in the path of a Brahmarakshas and looks upon him in his eyes he would burn to death. Also they attack and kill cattle's. That explains the death of cattle and the footprint near to their house. The astrologer said that it's not easy to pacify a brahmarakshas but he would try his level best.
Later he performed some poojas and gave a proper funeral to the deceased. They made a Samadhi, a Hindu tomb stone placed after performing proper funeral for the priest and the astrologer asked the family to light a lamp in the Samadhi in the evening before sunset on a daily basis. After that there were no troubles but the astrologer said even though the soul is at peace and would never harm anyone or cause any trouble to cattle unless someone crosses its path. It's said that still now the brahmarakshas walks in a particular area near to its Samadhi. So after a particular time at night no one goes near to that place. Even after so many years his great grand children light a lamp on the priests Samadhi.
Hope you guys liked my story, comments would be awesome. Cheers and take care.
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