Witchcraft Beliefs Among the Bodos of Assam

Bodos, like many tribal and non-tribal groups, believe in witchcraft and fear its practitioners. Witchcraft, defined as the art of using magical power for harm, is a common concept globally. In Assam, witches are known as 'dainií' and 'bhutuni', while among the Bodos, they are called 'daina' or 'daini'. Unlike the general Assamese perception where witches are typically older women associated with darkness, Bodos believe that young women and men can also practice witchcraft. Witches are thought to have spirit animals, knowledge of herbs for concocting spells, and supernatural abilities like shapeshifting, flying, and being in multiple places simultaneously.

Bodos believe that witches use magic to harm specific individuals, often by inserting small objects into victims to cause illness and death, unless counter-magic is applied. Witches collect personal items like clothes, hair, and nails from their intended victims, mix them with other ingredients, and bury them at the victim's homestead, leading to their decline. It's also believed that new recruits to witchcraft must prove their allegiance by causing the death of a close relative. Witches are also thought to be able to send pests like caterpillars, grasshoppers, or insects to destroy crops or enter a victim's body.

To avoid being bewitched, individuals might regulate their lives to make themselves less vulnerable, including moving away from areas believed to be infested with witches or refusing to live near suspected witches. In Assamese tribal societies, the fear of witches encouraged neighborly conduct. Another precaution was to cut off all contact with suspected witches, avoiding borrowing or lending objects through which magic might be worked, and refusing gifts from them, as these were believed to bring misfortune.