What were the circumstances under which the poet's mother was stung by a scorpion? How did the villagers take it? What did they do to cure her?
Answers
Ten hours’ of steady rain had filled the scorpion’s hiding place with water; saving its life it hid under the sack of rice in the kitchen. When the poet’s mother went to the kitchen, it accidentally stung her.
The villagers reacted unscientifically to the scorpion bite. They gave their own superstitious, philosophical and religious interpretations for the incident. They believed the scorpion bite was universe’s plan to cure the mother of her previous birth sins. They believed it would purify her flesh and soul.
They did nothing except philosophizing or lecturing. They just sat around the writhing mother and gave their opinions.
Explanation:
It was raining heavily outside therefore to find shelter, the scorpion came into the house and stung the poet's mother. The villagers believes in superstitions so they tried many illogical ways to cure her like searching the scorpion and keeping it still as they believed that with the movement of scorpion, the poison also spread , they also chanted the name of God , used fire etc. As poet's father wasn't superstitious he used his knowledge to cure her he put fire and applied necessary ailments .