Three days after Hasna Begum, 58, died from a venomous snakebite in Sakhipur, Tangail, a traditional healer (ojha) tried to bring her "back to life". After digging a little at one side of the grave and sniffing it, the healer claimed that if the body had not begun to decompose, she could be revived through incantations. The incident has caused curiosity and much talk in the area.

Hasna Begum lived in her own house in the Hateya-Bhatkurachala area of Sakhipur upazila. Her father was the late Wajed Ali. She had been abandoned by her husband.

After she was bitten by a venomous snake on Thursday, 13 August, relatives took her to the emergency department of Sakhipur Upazila Health Complex, where the doctor on duty carried out an ECG and declared her dead. She was buried in the family graveyard next to the house of her daughter, Khaleda Begum, in Chatalbaid village of the upazila.

Locals said that on hearing of the snakebite, a healer named Gazi Mia from Kailanpur village in Basail upazila came to the area and claimed that Hasna Begum had not died. On Saturday, 15 August, he dug a small tunnel-like hole at one side of the grave and sniffed it, then claimed he could smell oil. Several curious people also went to the grave and tried to smell it.

The healer told Khaleda Begum that he would return to the grave on Tuesday, 18 August. If there was no foul smell then, he said, the body could be exhumed and the venom drawn out by incantations to revive her; if the body had decomposed, it would no longer be possible.

Khaleda Begum said: "On Saturday I had hope. I was waiting in the hope of getting my mother back alive. But half an hour ago the healer phoned me and said that while meditating at night he saw that my mother is not alive. Now my hopes are dashed."

The healer's incantations and sniffing at the grave spread on social media on Saturday, sparking wide discussion and curiosity in the area.

Gazi Mia said she had been alive the previous day but could no longer be saved as she had gone. He declined to say anything more.

Sakhipur Upazila Health Officer Rehena Parvin called it unimaginable. A doctor examined the woman and declared her dead, and she was buried; the claim that she would come back to life is laughable and unthinkable, she said, adding that the healer should be handed over to the police.

She said there is no scientific basis for reviving by incantation someone who has died of snakebite and been buried. Rather than being misled by such claims, people should take snakebite victims to hospital quickly and follow doctors' advice. She added that Sakhipur Upazila Health Complex has sufficient anti-venom.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.