When Superstition Shuts A Village: Belief In Angry Deity Grounds Life In Gadaba Guda, Koraput
Unexplained deaths of young men in a tribal Koraput village of Odisha have triggered an eight-day ritual worship and social lockdown in Gadaba Guda.
Published : November 5, 2025 at 12:38 PM IST
Koraput: Gadaba Guda, a tribal village in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district in Odisha has shut itself off from the outside world by erecting barricades. No one is allowed to enter or leave. The reason, villagers believe, their local deity has unleased Her wrath and only through worship and ritual can peace be restored.
Superstitious as people are in the interior pockets of the state, the villagers said that a series of untimely deaths over the past two years in the village, mostly young men, in road or tree-fall accidents made them realise there was something wrong. “It is the goddess who is displeased with us. To calm her anger, we have to conduct some rituals for which any outside contact will not be permitted. All people have to stay in the village till everything turns normal,” says a villager Prahallad Sirka.
So the entrance to Gadaba Guda is now sealed. A bamboo barricade marks the boundary and every household has tied mango leaves near their doors as a purification ritual. Villagers take dips in the nearby river many times and offer prayers under the supervision of the priest while women are made to sing and dance throughout the day and offer their services to pacify the goddess.
The rituals began on Sunday while another is scheduled for next Monday. Until the week-long ritual concludes no one is allowed to leave or enter the village. Even daily needs are being managed through barter system internally. "We believe people from other religions are doing black magic on us. So we called the shaman (Gunia in Odia) and started taking his advice to purify the village and appease the goddess," Sirka adds.
While many see this as a matter of faith, the others express concern about the superstitions that rule the roost in these areas where education is least of the priorities. The district administration has not yet commented on the situation, but social workers believe such practices based on fear, highlights how deep-rooted traditional beliefs remain alive even today.
“Faith in village deities is integral to tribal culture. But it should not be encouraged any more particularly when such restriction could prove costly in case of medical emergencies,” say activists in the district.
Instances of superstitious beliefs and their repercussions are not only reported from Koraput, but from across the state. Recently. in a Kendrapara village, women participated in a ritual where they placed burning resin on their hands and heads to appease the village deity, raising serious safety concerns. Similarly in another area, a family conducted a ritual with the belief that it would bring a dead child back to life.
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