Source: TW
Will be a long one so wont do it in one go though. Dheere Dheere darr ko badhana hain, hadd se guzar jaana hain. For entertainment purposes only. Usual disclaimers apply. Ready?
So this is a story that happens in a 3 BHK house in Mumbai, around the 80s. The family consisted of a father, mother, two sisters, and their grandmother (mother’s mother). Granny was very old and virtually bed ridden. The daughters were between 14 and 17 years old. Granny spent the entire day in her room lying on the bed and chanting some mantra that no one could really make out. The younger daughter used to bring lunch and dinner for granny everyday and sat chatting with her till she finished. Sometimes the elder daughter did this.
Both loved her very much but the younger was clearly more attached. As is inevitable,the granny passed away one day and the household went into mourning. The 13th day passed.The family was very progressive so they didn’t do all the rituals properly, did some, pooh-poohed some. You know, the usual. But they did keep Granny’s room as is, as no one had the heart to throw her things away. Her bed remained as it was, in fact they didn’t even make it after she had passed.
Now a strange thing happened. One night, the younger daughter got up to use the bathroom. As she passed the door of granny’s room, she saw the figure of her granny sitting up in the way she used to sit for food. By the time the half-asleep girl realised, she had passed the door. So she came back to do a double take and there was no one. Just the same unmade bed, and complete silence.
Now curiously, this started happening every night. At around 1:30-2:00 the girl used to feel the urge to pee, and everytime she passed granny’s door the same thing used to happen. Everytime she used to make a mental note to a) tell parents in the morning and b) stop and take a look before passing by. But everytime she forgot in the morning. And the cycle repeated.
Then the next new moon’s night (coincidentally?) she was able to remember b) as soon as she woke up to pee. So she went in front of granny’ room and lo behold, there was granny sitting there! She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her beloved elder sat there in the dark smiling at her, she could even make out the gold tooth’s slight glint in the faint passage light.
After staring at each other for a few seconds, granny raised her hand and beckoned her inside. The girl went in and as she was about to call out to her parents, granny kept her finger on her lips to tell her to be quiet. The girl had tears in her eyes as she sat near her granny’s feet and they chatted like they used to for so many years, over so many meals. At about 3.30AM the girl fell asleep on granny’s bed.
Next morning, when her parents woke her up at 7AM, they asked what she was doing here. The girl remembered that Granny didn’t want to tell everyone so she said she missed her a lot and hence slept here. The family completely understood and let it go. The girl’s nightly trips to Granny’s room continued. However, this time her granny used to tell her around 3.30-3.40 that she is now old and tired, so needs to sleep and send her back to her room. So for all practical purposes, the parents didn’t know this had continued. Apart from from red eyes and tiredness in the morning, life continued.
A few weeks into this, granny told the girl. You know how you used to bring food for me? That used to be the high point of my day. How much fun we used to have, we used to play little games. But now you don’t bring me anything. I love meeting you, touching you, but I am very hungry. How many days we are meeting but you have stopped loving me. You don’t bring me any food.
The girl felt so ashamed. She had completely forgotten her daily ritual! Oh, the guilt! She told her granny, I am very, very sorry granny. Wait, I will bring something right now. The girl tiptoed into the kitchen. Opened up the fridge and saw that there was Chapati, some left over mutter paneer, and Dal. There was also Lemon pickle that she knew her granny loved! She quickly heated the food making as little noise as possible. Put everything nicely on a plate & came back to grannys room.
But to her utter surprise, her granny was enraged! Her eyes narrowed and she rasped out, what leftover have you brought for me. I don’t eat this food.The girl was shocked and took a step back. It took her all to not drop the plate after seeing a granny in such a vicious avatar. Seeing her scared face the granny mellowed and said, Sit next to me beta, but first keep the plate far away from me. The girl put the plate just outside the room entrance and sat near her beloved granny.
Granny said,
beta after I have passed my tastes have changed. I cannot stand lemon aachar at all now. In fact, don’t ever bring me anything with lemon on it. Also, I now prefer rice to chapati, and if you can get me mutton and chicken instead of dal and vegetables, I can really enjoy that dish and feel satisfied.
The girl was very surprised. The family was vegetarian, so the question of bringing non-veg food never arose. Her granny also used to eat only vegetarian dishes for as long as she could remember. What happened?! The girl herself could not stand the smell and sight of meat! But not wanting to displease her beloved granny, especially after seeing her surprising rage, she told her:
Ok granny I understand. But you know we don’t cook non-veg in the house so how can I bring?
The granny said, you can bring from some hotel beta. The Girl replied,
but wont that food become very cold by the time I bring it to you, I know you like hot food. Granny said, no beta, I prefer only cold food now. In fact don’t bring me anything hot.
So from the next day onwards, the girl started walking to a road side dhaba every evening amidst stares of their regular patrons to pack mutton curry rice and bring it back. She made sure to tell them not to pack the customary sliced lemons with it.
This being the 80s pocket money wasn’t a thing,& so she had to sneak into her mothers purse, or fathers wallet to get money for the daily mutton curry.She used to hide the packet in some plants outside their house, and every night fetch them before going to the granny’s room.+
The stone cold food she used to serve her granny which was relished by her. In the meanwhile it was all the girl could do to keep from gagging from the smell. The goings on continued thus for several weeks.
Then something unexpected happened. On the ground floor of their building another family lived with their son being a couple of years younger than this girl. He was facing difficulties in mathematics, and this girl was very good at this subject. So his mother requested if she could come once a week in the evening to teach her son.And as the neighbourly thing to do, the girl and her parents agreed. It was decided that the girl would go every Thursday between 6 and 8 in the evening to take stock of the child’s progress.
That house also had an elderly granny who every evening during sandhya used to chant something in front of their devghar. The girl’s family being progressive, she wasnt aware of what the exact chant it was, but she felt very soothed by the faint chanting…
The chant went something like this…dhyayedhajanubahum, dhrutasharadanusham, baddha padmasanastham, peetam vaso vasanam, navkamaladala…something like this.
the lilting melody, the frail voice reciting it, felt like a cool gentle breeze to this girl.
But she didnt pay any special attention to it. She came back home, had her dinner, and went to sleep by 10. Again at 1.30 she woke up as usual, got the cold mutton rice from the shrubs outside, and went into the granny’s room who again relished the food. and back to bed.
The next morning however, the girl woke up with a terrible headache. She felt very nauseous and even while in school was listless. She didnt know what was wrong. Her elder sister who was in the same school was called by her teacher and asked her to take her to the toilet.
Once inside the toilet, the younger sister couldnt control her nausea any more and put her head inside the bowl and started puking. The girls never had any breakfast before school, just a glass of milk. But this was quite a violent, almost projectile vomiting. The elder sister started gagging herself but somehow controlled her reaction and brought the sister back out. The school let them go home early. The younger sister was very weak, but recovered in a few hours. It was the weekend anyway and she was largely back to normal.
The rest of the week went eventful, the younger sister continued to take her of her granny as usual unbeknownst to they rest of the family. Then Thursday night classes, with the same background music “dhyayedhajanubahum…” The next day, again the girl woke up with a nasty headache, and it was replayed all over in school. But this time the girl couldnt hold herself in and started puking just as she entered the toilet, soiling the entire floor with her vomit.
The elder sister was the unfortunate witness to these vulgar ongoings. And this time despite her revulsion and gagging she saw that what her sister had thrown up, seemed to be chunks of meat. This made no sense. None of them ate non veg at home at all! She looked at her sister with her big sister eyes hoping that the girl would confess, but barring being pale and frail the sisters eyes betrayed no guilt. Like she hadnt eaten meat at all. The girls were again let off early. But now the elder one’s antennae were active.
The next night, the elder sister decided to sleep with one eye open. At around 1:30 she saw her sister wake up. At first she thought the young one was sleep walking. But she saw as the she made her hair into a bun, pulled decent pajamas one, and only then stepped out of room.
The elder one did not dare move, but she heard faint noise of the door opening, and closing, then something going on in the kitchen, and then someone walking towards their granny’s room. Her curiosity was piqued. She mustered the courage to wake up, and tip toed through the passage, which was dark, odd, had her sister turned off the passage night light? but this helped her, as she could make out the faint form of her sister sitting on granny’s bed. What the heck was going on?!
On the bed she saw her sister sitting and with her full hand she was stuffing pieces of mutton rice into her own mouth. He mouth was open like at a dentists and she was simply swallowing the meat without pausing!!! It was horrific! After this revolting act was over, the sister sat back talking to herself, or like someone else was in the room with her. The elder sister was completely terrified and unable to utter a sound. Somehow she managed to go back to her room and lie down as if asleep.
She saw her sister coming in and wondered if she was still in that state in which she saw her. but her sister seemed normal. She came in, took her long pajamas off, loosened her hair and went to bed.
The next morning it was all normal, and school went off without a hitch. The elder sister didnt tell her parents anything, because what could she tell?! The entire incident was all so fantastic. Then again came the Thursday night class, and then Friday school. This time the school principal had to get involved since this was the third time the girl was being sent home early. So he called the mother to come to the school and advised her to take the daughter to the doctor and send her to school only if fit.
When they got home, the elder sister looked very scared and confused. The mother asked her what is wrong and the girl gesticulated that she would tell her later after her sister had gone for her nap as she was exhausted from throwing up.
That evening, when the father got home, the elder daughter narrated the entire incident to her parents. To their credit they heard her out entirely despite not really believing what was being said. They however could not deny the facts.
- Their daughter wouldnt lie to them.
- Every Friday, for last 3 weeks the younger one had become terribly sick in school and had been left early.
- Why would the elder daughter make up this fantastic story, especially about meat being thrown up, and eaten at night?
Being logical, the first thing they inferred was these incidents were happening every Friday, which was the morning after the girl had gone to take tuitions of the boy on the ground floor. So was she eating meat there? The elder daughter knew this didnt make sense but went along just so that her parents would be left with no other option but to believe her eventually. The parents went to the house on the ground floor and rang a reticent bell.
The family who lived there was a simple Sattvik family. A couple, a grand mother, and a son. They were the daily rangoli and toran types, that usually were looked down upon by progressives there. But unfailingly sweet to everyone and hence well loved. After broaching the topic with hesitation, they were surprised with the understanding they received. The family assured them that the girl doesnt even have tea at their place, and shes very focused on teaching their son. They sit right next to the pooja room in plain view.
The girl’s mother, much to the chagrin of the father, decided to come clean about what was happening. The family suggested that they take the girl to a doctor first thing next morning. But then added, why dont you stay awake and cross check what your elder says tonight? Hmmph, said the father and walked away, as the mother cast a semi apologetic look to the family as she walked away. But in her mind she was determined to get to the bottom of this. At home, she decided to make a little plan.
She told her elder daughter, that the next time the younger daughter wakes up at night, you fakr cough 2 times and then turn over and continue to sleep. I will peek outside and verify what is happening. The father too reluctantly agreed.
And as clockwork, that night it happened again. The mother stood horrified looking at what was going on, and at once felt scared and guilty for disbelieving her elder daughter. She also felt guilty that they had not made an environment at home that would have allowed the elder daughter to come to her immediately. There was something about the entire ongoing at night which made both the parents feel actually scared of interfering. It was horrific.
The next morning, action had to begin. They contacted their neighbours on the ground floor and sheepishly confessed what was happening. Despite being rationalists they could not explain the fear they felt that night that prevented them from just barging in. if there is no one else there, why were they scared?! The family was very receptive to what was happening and said that you please take your daughter to the doctor today. We will talk to someone we know, who knows about certain things and come back to you by the evening. That day was spent in the girl waiting at the clinic, then consultation, then tests, then back at the clinic etc. When they finally got home at about 5PM, the mother saw the grandmother on the ground floor subtly beckoning her from the balcony.
“All of you go ahead”, the mother said. “I’ll just come.” Saying this she went to their neighbours home.The grandmother stated matter of factly:
You do not believe in all this I know. but treat it like this senile lady’s silly wish, and hide this small pudi that we got for you anywhere inside your granny’s old room, but NOT in her bed. And then bring it back to me tomorrow morning.
The next morning, the parents came down to meet the ground floor granny again, with the pudi in hand. Where did you hide it she asked?
- I put it in my purse, and left the purse in that room, in the opposite corner of the bed.
- Good. Did you open it, or has anything spilled?
- No we havent and no it hasnt spilled.
- Good. Now, come with me. They all stepped out and went to the local Hanuman temple. There they were met by someone the granny knew.
A jet black man, with a tiny bright saffron teeka on his forehead. Wearing a dhoti that had the light brownish tinge of being old and dusty but washed very often, and a short saffron kurta. There were no rings or rudrakshas on him. Just a big kada in his left hand, and around his left ankle.
He greated them with a smile, and said come lets sit. They all went in. The parents did a cursory namaskar to the hanuman vigraha but not much else and then the 4 sat down in a circle in the courtyard. The man, or as panditji the family would later address him as, took the packet from the old lady, and did something totally unexpected. He opened it up and poured its contents on the white marble floor of the temple. It was a few spoons worth of black til that scattered.
As the father started to say something, the granny silenced him abruptly and told him to just watch. The pandit kept looking at the scattered til on the white marble floor. It was almost like someone looking at a kundali or studying the pattern of the scattering.
After a while, the panditjis smile had turned into a grave demeanor. He looked up to the parents and said that your daughter in grave danger. How long did you say this has been happening?
A week or so panditji.
No. This has been going on for over a month at least.
The tils dont lie. You may have noticed it now. But over the last month, your daughter has been under targeted attack from a pisaccha that is extremely powerful, malevolent, and very angry with your family.
In fact I am surprised that the tils show that she can still be saved. because after 3-4 weeks of what is happening, the influence of the entity is irreversible, even death cannot undo it. But here even after well over a month, your daughter still seems to be protected.
The parents were flummoxed. First of all they didnt know what entity he was talking about, and second why would something they didnt even know be angry at them!?
Panditji said, there is now no more time to waste. I will come to your house tonight. It starts at 1AM, I will wait outside your house because I need that daughter to open the door for me. If your other daughter has reached puberty, I would advise you to keep her away today. The granny said, “yes, she is the older one. She can stay in our house tonight. We can make some excuse.”
“Excellent”, said panditji. He said to the parents, do not worry. If your daughter is still protected after months of assault, Hanumat must want her to be saved.
Saying this, he drew a red sindoor square around the tils that were spilled on the ground, and then pouring some oil, he lit them on fire.
“These tils if left unpurified can cause havoc now”, he said as they all got up.
At night, everyone was in their bed but no one was asleep. The elder sister sat with granny in the ground floor pooja room. The granny’s soothing voice, “dhyayedajanubhum…” steeling their nerves from what was about to happen.
Upstairs the parents wide awake in their white sheets, with white faces. Not knowing any protective chant, they just decided to keep repeating “hanuman…hanuman…hanuman…” again and again in their head. Then they heard their daughter get up.
They could hear the soft rustling of their daughter as she got ready to open the door to pick the mutton up. The daughter went outside, bent down and from behind the flowerpots took out a packet of mutton. Except it was no longer cooked, but raw smeared with blood and fat.
As she picked it up as if in a trance and stood up, she saw the jet black figure of panditji, wearing no shirt. His massive stomach, and the pristine white of his janeu standing out against the black of his skin. He looked terrible, except for the compassion in his eyes.
As soon as she saw this figure, her face immediately contorted from that of a sweet, beautiful, 14 year old girl to one filled with malice and a twisted, lopsided smile that would have broken many a resolute heart.
Before she could do anything else, panditji extended his arm, faster than a bullet, to grab her by the top of her head. His thumb resting on her Agnya chakra. His hand was as white as chalk being smeared in bhasma. He pushed her inside the house, and shut the door behind him. He said,
you have opened the door for me, now you cant turn me back. This is no longer your kshetra. The girl was seething with rage, saliva dripping down her mouth. Her hands tightening around the white thin film plastic bag of mutton. Squishing it, tearing it as the pieces and juices flowed down her hand. She was pushing against his hand with all her might, but simply unable to budge it.
Panditji secured his grip on the girls head, his natural reach keeping him out of reach of her swinging hands. He then grasped the sacred knots of his janeu, and started chanting something. The chants were fast, sharp and came in spurts. His body had now broken into a sweat. As an act of defiance the girl started stuffing her mouth with the mutton chewing loudly, spitting at panditji, even as he stood steadfast and focused only on his chants. After about 5-6 minutes of this impasse, the girl let out a very loud, and vile hissing sound.
The noise was loud enough to cause the parents to come running out. When they came out, they saw that the girl had run into her granny’s room and was sitting on her bed with her legs drawn close to her and head resting in between. She was breathing hard and shooting arrows with her eyes at her parents, even as the pandit was very quickly surrounding her with small nails he had carried in a paper packet with him. After this was done, he put the light on, and sat down in front of her.
How did you fool the girl?
She loved her grandmother, and I hated her. It was easy to fool her by becoming her granny.
Why did you do it?
I hated that old bitch. She managed to escape me for now, but I will get her also. Till then I though I would have fun with this one.
But why? Things like you (panditji never explicitly clarified what it was ever after) dont live here. Who brought you here?
That old bitch brought me here.
What do you mean? The grandmother?!
“Yes, who else”, the girl was now growling and snarling in a alien voice.
That old bitch, liked visiting fisherman’s bastis when she was young. There she met a man who used to torment things like me. Used me for unspeakable things. Ensured that my yoni forever remains this.
He fell in love with her, that old fool. The old bitch was very comely then. And in exchange for a night that meant nothing to that wretched woman, he handed me over to her. To use as she pleased.
Then when she was getting married, she got rid of me, but that old fool never taught her how to protect herself. When she begged him to save herself from me, he gave her a mantra to keep me at bay, in exchange for a few more hours of fun.
The wretched woman kept chanting that mantra till the very end. I was here but couldn’t touch her or people she was close to.
She managed to escape for now. But I will have my way with this girl. So I caught her.
By now it was like a tumultuous sea had calmed. The Pandit had tears in his eyes, and the parents had folded their hands in fear in front of their daughter, who was no longer their daughter. She continued:
Every night when I was strongest I lured this little one here, and forced her to eat food with my vasanas in them. It was a matter of a couple of weeks for me. One morning they would have seen their daughter was missing and would never know what happened.
I would use this girl the way I liked, just like her grandmother, and the old fool before her used to do to me.
“So, what took you so long?” Panditji asked.
That Rama of yours! Every Thursday night he purified her.
Huh?
The parents interjected:
Our daughter used to do to the ground floor family. They chanted Ram Raksha stotra which my daughter heard parts of.
Yes, the same one. The girl continued with renewed anger and vigor. Every Thursday night, I felt his arrows pierce me, his light blind me, his presence scorch me. All for this little bitch who happened to be in the same room overhearing 2 lines of his mantra! If it wasnt for him, your daughter would be mine.
“Enough”, said the pandit ji. “It is enough now. You have tormented the girl enough. Let her go, you have no quarrel with her. You can go after the grandmother and when you find her do as you please.”
What will I get in return, the entity asked through the girl.
“You will get nothing.” Look at me. “See who I am. I allow you to look inside me, said the pandit ji.”
After a pause,
now you know what I am capable of, and powerful as you are, you know eventually I will win.
The girl growled. “Ok. I will go.”
You will not torment this family again, promise me.
This time the Panditji thundered in a voice that scared everyone in the room,
I promise.
Panditji added,
what happened to you was wrong. These tantriks who misuse the science, are a blot on dharma. I do not blame you for wanting revenge. But, You tell me know is revenge more important to you, than going out of this yoni? Do you want to be born again and move out of your current state, yes or no?
The girl was quiet for several minutes, and finally said,
Yes. I am very tired. I havent rested for centuries.
Ok then.
The Panditji then unexpectedly stood up, and removed the scattered nails. He went close to the girl and bringing his mouth close to her ears, muttered a few syllables. He said,
outside Ratnagiri, there is a Surya temple in so-and-so village. Outside the temple there is a neem tree to the north east. Go and live in that tree, and chant the mantra I gave you for 24 crore times. This will allow you to move out of your current state.
Do not fall prey to any temptation, and do not torment anyone else there, even the children who climb that tree. Stay like family to the birds who nest in that tree. and remain fixed on this mantra. And you will be free.
Suddenly the lights flickered and he girl fell faint on the granny’s bed. The father gently picked her up, and took her to her own bed, and tucked her in.
When he came outside, the ground floor family, and the elder daughter were already in the hall.
The Pandit ji said,
its already late but I know you are all curious to know what transpired. I will tell you what I am allowed to because I would rather you did not investigate such things on your own. I can’t tell you want sort of an entity it was. Lest assured it was not something that you come across in even the most occult conversations. I find it hard to believe that someone so given to temptations of flesh could have managed to leash this. The old man, the girl’s grandmother had a dalliance with most likely inherited it from someone who gave him the most cursory information about it. The karma of such imprisonment and use is grave and explains why your granny was bed ridden for so long.
Somewhere she knew she was wrong, and in the masti and hormones of youth did things that children of cultured houses should not do. The old man’s mantra that protected him was not a free for all. The moment he taught it to your granny, the mantra failed him, and he died an extremely horrific death soon after. In fact his soul is still wandering.
Either your granny mustve known this, or our of shame, she never told you what happened and never passed the mantra on to you. Its protection ended with her.
Her tryst with the occult resulted in her raising her children with zero spirituality. The entity found easy access to your house. But surely your daughters have come with purva punya from an earlier life, it is not for nothing that daughters are considered Lakshmi of the house.
Your daughter accepting to go to another house on Guru-var at a time when Ram Raksha is chanted with devotion is nothing else that Rama himself standing guard for you. Even listening to part of it in passing was enough to greatly negate all the bad influence of the week.
I appreciate that yours is a family of rationalists. But you tell me, is it rational to think that in thousands of generations of your lineage, only you were intelligent enough to negate the divine? Was every past generation of yours stupid? There are things beyond our knowledge and control. This time you were saved by multiple coincidences, but it could have well turned out very differently. But thanks to Bajrang Bali, he guided Rama’s protection to you and yours.
But what about the entity, Pandit ji?
For that I will only say two things:
- Dont go in search of things you have no idea of without adequate knowledge and protection
- That entity will complete the chant in about two generations, and will attain a human birth…in your family. It will be born as a girl, with one blue eye, and one red. That entity should receive a lot of love from your family, and pamper her. What a young foolish girl from your family did, smart grandmothers (he looked at the daughters), will undo. .