Mawanella youth imprisoned in clay-hut for 21 days without food

Mawanella youth imprisoned in clay-hut for 21 days without food ....

on exorcist's advice .. meets with untimely death!

Though 21st Century has dawned, those who worship such superstitious beliefs have still not

got rid of them.

A youth of 31 years who was imprisoned for a period of 21 days because of god's punishment imposed upon himself, gave up his life ultimately. This news was reported from Mawanella all because of the faith he and his home-people entertained such a belief. The incident of this unmarried youth E.A.R. Prasanna Priyalal of Wehanthale, Mawanella meeting with death is as follows:

A ritual had been performed some days ago at the house where this youth had been living. The exorcist (kattandiya) who was in charge of this ritual was a 16 year old young man. It was also understood that he was a relative of the deceased youth. On the morning of the day the said ritual was performed, Prasanna had not been in the house. He had been coming home almost at midnight after going to see a friend in Colombo. When he was coming home the ritual was already in operation. Prasanna who was approaching the house had fallen unconscious as soon as he got close to the house while everybody was watching. On that occasion the householders had tried to bring him back to normal by sprinkling water on his face.The exorcist who approached him to find out matters from him had asked, "didn't you eat meat?" When Prasanna replied in the affirmative, the exorcist responded saying "god has punished him. Nobody can come to a place like this after eating meat," thus explaining matters for everybody to hear.

Whatever it is, after the ritual was over, when the following day dawned, Prasanna's situation became worse, the householders understood. He had also said that he was not in a position to take any food or drink. Prasanna who had undergone heart surgery previously had been taking medical treatment for it. Members of his house had not thought as to whether it had any connection with this sickness. The exorcist had said that there was no purpose in going to hospital for this ailment and had further remarked that until god's anger would be appeased in a few day's time it would be better to keep him at home. As a result the householders had not taken him to the hospital.

It was in this manner that this sick person was kept in the house for over 21 days listening to the exorcist's advice without taking him to the hospital. When he was physically deteriorating day by day they had summoned the exorcist and asked for instructions from him when the latter had seriously warned them saying, "can't do things the way each and every person instructs .... do as I say. Don't let outsiders come here .... there'll be defilement. Keep him under confinement where he is. Fix aluminium sheets (takaran) to cover him from others".

Exactly as he said, the householders carried out his instructions and believing that their child would recover they had adhered to their superstitious activities. Ultimately when the patient collapsed where he was imprisoned, he was admitted to hospital after 21 days but it was not possible to keep him alive thereafter. Deceased Prasanna's father's elder brother who was staying in an adjoining house, Mr. Podibanda had been against this activity; however Prasanna's parents had made no change in their stand. This is what he said: "It was because of the fault of the parents that this death took place. The villagers were not permitted to come to this house ... saying that the place would be defiled. How many times I told to get some treatment for this child. In the end, after having been told that this boy will be cured in 7 days ... 21 days, he died. During the last few days the neighbouring villagers had heard him murmuring. The law should be properly enforced on things like this".

What the Examiner who conducted the post mortem in this case said was that the death had occured because of not having given proper treatment for the sick condition. Further inquiries are being conducted.