Where sleeping on a bed is taboo
The Hindu
Tribals in remote Odisha village shun comfort due to superstitious beliefs.
Septuagenarian Sundar Chinda does not know the comfort of a bed. For him, comfort means sleeping on the mud floor of his house. Not that he cannot afford a bed, but he has no inclination to possess one. And there is a reason for this, which may sound strange, even incredible. Mr. Chinda is bound by an unknown fear of the curse of the presiding deity. The curse, the villagers believe, is that one may fall to death from the bed in which one is asleep. Mr. Chinda is not the only one to believe this. The 80-odd families of the Chinda Bhunjia tribe living in Kotgaon village in Nuapada district of Odisha have not used a bed in their entire lives for the same fear.
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