Taboo Tourism to Cast Spell on World Outside

By Naresh Mitra

In the days of yore in Mayong, a sleepy little village in Assam, there lived a sorcerer by the name of Chura Bez. Word of his magical powers had spread far and wide, and with good reason. Chura Bez was known to be able to disappear into thin air just by muttering the ‘Luki Mantra’ .

“I was a young girl then, but my grandfather’s stupendous feats are fresh in my mind’s eye. Now you see him, now you don’t — we would rub our eyes in disbelief as he suddenly became invisible,” says his 75-year-old granddaughter, Nareswari Devi.

Although he lived a long time ago, the village is still abuzz with lores of his wondrous feats.

The invisibility trick displayed the lesser of Chura Bez’s powers. He had knowledge of the potent ‘Baagh Bandha Mantra’ by invoking which he could sedate an angry tiger. Nareshwari is brighteyed with excitement as she narrates how her grandfather tranquilised a big, ferocious cat in front of a huge crowd at Teteliguri, a cluster of houses in Mayong, in the 1960s. “When his mantra started working on the animal, it simply lay down on the ground like a tame cat,” she says.

Chances are you have never even heard of Mayong and its magicians. But the village, which is situated just 50 kilometres from Guwahati, is famous for its sorcery and exorcism, inspiring both awe and curiosity in the outside world. Legends, anecdotal accounts and magical texts abound in its history . Its very name comes from the word ‘maya’ and it is purported to be the ‘land of illusion’ .

But those who move in enchanted circles are well aware of Mayong and its power. The country’s first family of magicians, the Sorcars, has a deeprooted connection with the mysterious hamlet. Sorcar senior, the ‘Jadusamrat’ or ‘emperor of magicians’ as he was known, lived here for a while and studied magic.

Sorcar junior vouches for the credibility of the claim. “My father stayed with magicians in Mayong and learnt a lot from them. I visited Mayong several times in the 1960s. The village is a rich repository of magical practices and the practitioners here are experts in the use of applied psychology and the application of various chemical substances in the art. I’m indebted to them for teaching me many aspects of magic I did not know,” says Sorcar Junior.

However, present-day Mayong is just a foggy reflection of its celebrated past. Cauldrons bubbling with mysterious potions and magicians muttering hexes and charms have been replaced by magicless realism of ‘muggles’ and by symbols of progress.

The village boasts of a high school, a college, a healthcentre and a police station. The residents are predominantly dependent on agriculture and the use of diesel-powered water pumps is common, even though stories from the past abound on how magic was used to summon rain during times of drought.

But the people of Mayong do not want to give up their enchanted heritage. Almost every household takes great pride in possessing manuscripts of mantras and treatises on sorcery and exorcism. There are many magic practitioners who use the art to cure common ailments.

And residents, especially youth, have realised that tourism could be the best way to keep their inheritance alive.

Utpal Nath, an economics teacher and a researcher in folk medicines at the village college, elaborates on how the villagers plan to attract tourists. “These days, many people are turning to alternative medicines and faith-healing . Our practitioners have been doing this for generations, and we can use this as our USP to woo tourists. We also plan to showcase scriptures on sorcery and rituals associated with magic,” he explains.

Mayong Village Museum and Research Centre (MVMRC), a local body engaged in preserving its heritage, has submitted a tourism plan to the Assam government. The state tourism minister, Rockybul Hussain, said that the government has already submitted a project to the Centre about it. “Preservation and promotion of sorcery practices is a part of our tourism promotion plan for Mayong. We plan to showcase the magical heritage of the village to attract tourists,” he says.

MVMRC is also engaged in compilation of various folk medicines and collection of artifacts used in sorcery. Last year, the organisation documented the sorcery performances of 50 practitioners in the village. Eighty-year old Upasing Nath is one such expert whose exorcism rituals and traditional healing methods were recorded. Although he cannot perform awe-inspiring feats like Chura Bez, he uses his magical powers to cure common ailments. “To promote tourism in Mayong, we can put up magic shows and offer treatments for various ailments through our traditional folk medicine ,” he says.

The Mayong hills nestle the Pobitora wildlife sanctuary which has in the world’s highest density of one-horned rhinos. It draws nearly 50,000 visitors every year. MVMRC plans to set up a museum near the sanctuary along with a folk medicine centre. “Today, most of the tourists visit Mayong for Pobitora. But we want to promote Mayong for itself. If we add some magic to its rich past and heritage, it will throw open a brand new tourism opportunity in the area,” says Nath, who is also the secretary of MVMRC.

The king of Mayong, Taruni Singha, who was coronated in 2005 as a successor to his father Ghanakanta Singha, feels that the involvement of the youth could be a potent factor in reviving the occult tradition of Mayong. “There has to be active involvement from the young people if we are to revive our ancient magical practices and showcase it to the outside world,” says Singha. Kishore Bhattacharjee, a folklorist at Gauhati University, observed that Mayong has always drawn attention for its tradition of witchcraft, “The attention the village has got for its magical practices has inspired local inhabitants to reposition it as a place of magic and traditional healing.”

With the people’s efforts and a sprinkling of magic, this dream should soon become a reality.