Bokshi means witch or a woman who practices black magic.
I have never believed in those stuffs but it is funny how things come up.
I have been sick the last few days and for the last few weeks, I am having nightmares. I really can’t remember them much but I know they were bad dreams as I remember running or falling and waking up in the middle of the night, panicked. I tried everything to get a better sleep but with no success.
I think I am having bad dream because I am stressed out. So much is happening around me that some nights, I am half sleep and I feel that someone is talking to me. Then the other day I saw this bruise on my thigh. It was oval shaped and dark blue in colour. I couldn’t remember bumping into anything but I have a bruise and it hurts.
So, when I showed that to AS, he said it looks like something they call Bokshi’s bite in Nepal.
In Nepal, people believe that a bokshi sucks blood of other women to harm them. People still hold to the myth that such blue patches are marks after the bokshi has bitten and sucked their blood. Accordingly, the patches seem like a bite, kind of like a hikey. The mark of upper and lower teeth remains for a couple of days and it hurts as well.
I am sure it is nothing like that but hearing those things, we are always reminded of myths like that. I wonder how these things come to exist but doing further research, this is what I found.
According to a doctor, blue patches are frequent amongst women who are anemic. Accordingly, such patches develop often if there is any kind of deficiency in blood components or the person’s blood itself – for instance, in anemia. Generally, women in their fertility period get the patches. Such condition is known as bruises, bluish discoloration of skin, or ecchymosis.
A woman’s body is in need of blood as there is a heavy loss of it during menstruation. Thus, the blood capillaries burst in specific areas, causing bleeding under the skin. Besides, such bluish bruises also occur in women who have had their menopause, or are in that phase, as changes occur in the blood-clotting factor, which also affects the colouring factor of blood. And similar is the case in girls who have just reached their puberty. In the meantime, if there is deficiency of Vitamin C, then such bruises occur frequently.
As an early treatment, the doctor suggests taking iron capsules since it boosts hemoglobin. However, if this does not help, it is wise to have a blood test.
Furthermore, the doctor explains, the second layer of body skin has the most blood veins among the three layers. So if there is any kind of pressure on the capillaries, then bleeding can occur in the second layer of skin. But there can be no superficial bleeding. Blue patches appear more often if it is aplastic anemia. Usually, in this type of anemia, there is superficial bleeding and a continuous one, such as from the ears and nose.
Bluish discoloration of the skin can be related to many diseases. For instance, liver disease, scurvy, abnormal functioning of the kidneys, eye diseases, hormonal disorder, problems in circulatory functions, and lack of blood platelet, which helps in blood-clotting.
Unlike women, men don’t lose blood from their bodies so such patches are rare in them. If it appears then it’s serious. The patches might develop on men with liver cirrhosis or hormonal disorder. Men with hemophilia, a genetic disorder, also get such patches.
Explaining the shape of the patch which appears like a bite mark, the doctor says, It’s hypnotism. Because everyone has been repeating the same thing, we also feel that it’s a tooth mark. But actually, it’s the path of blood vessels, which can vary.
So here is the explanation for Bokshi’s bite on my leg. I don’t believe in black magic and divine power. If a person possesses divine power then why don’t they use it to make their life better than selling it to other for money? I really think there are so many things we can’t explain in this universe and that is why we give them different names.
I believe that everyone has a darker side, some darker than others. Therefore, when someone calls a person bokshi (witch), it is just a stage when that person has a personality disorder or a mental illness. So we need to help these people get proper medical treatment to make them better.
Do you believe in black magic? If you have any interesting story please share.
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I am doin PhD in physics in kolkata n I m from darjeeling..but since that incedint hpnd to me i started believing in witches cz like the medical science doesn’t say anything about the teeth mark….moreover m not anemic….N wen it hpnd to me i was not even in periods….N moreover this didnt happened to me when I was in my nepali society it is happening me since i shifted to kolkata….frequently i am seeing this marks now n then in my leg…..I dnt kno what to do cz this place is really near my university so I dnt wanna leave this place…but this bites r bothering me alot……
Nicely written. I found this about witch bite and thought this is relevant – https://www.meroswasthya.com/2017/10/witch-bite-medical-perspective.html
This might be the actual cause but regarding Bokshi bruises and all that stuff, I want to share something and that’s all going on right now. Recently I shifted to a new place and I came to know that the owner of the house, a short and a fat women of age around 65 years is a wife of a Jhakri who left this world back 3 years ago.
My girlfriend works in the same town and we used to stay at my place most of the time. Then at one morning she had these green blue bruises on the thighs continuing other day on the arms hands but didn’t notice that much because we didn’t know anything about it. Then after few weeks she left for home and I asked if the marks are still appearing but she was all ok at home, no more bruises.
And now it’s been some days she’s back but from past three days it’s all starting to appear on forearms knees and I am wondering and confused.
I heard about witches from childhood. Some educated people says not to believe. And many other local people point out who the witches is and some just assume in their mind. Here the local people says whoever is boksi (witches) and during the day time if we make them unhappy or fall in argument they will come night and make us aithan(half awake and half asleep) my mother usually falls aithan. and the same thing happened to me very often but I don’t have the clear picture of Witches . a lady who is pointed out boksi indirectly if that lady ask to do some favor for her or if we make her angry then she will come night to attack. Last night the same thing happened to me so I surfed in google just to check if witches is real and if they have some weakness . whenever I fall aithan it seems like somebody is blowing from behind and my body start moving slightly and I wake up. And sometime i will be awake Lying on bed it makes me to feel that somebody is tickling me and I’m unconscious about a couple of min or less.
Same prob wit me ..whn i woke up i got similar bruise like u below my knee
This is all superstition only
🙂
I sometimes get these marks too and think about such myths I used to hear during my childhood! good old bokshies don’t seem to stop following us even overseas lol
There are so many myths like this in Nepal 🙂
M! Sometimes we go to sleep with random thoughts on our mind therefore we get some crazy dreams I do too! Try to relax take a nice bath before going to bed with some warm water also drink Chamomile tea it helps you sleep 🙂 Take care
Ps. Crazy myths right? I have heard some scary ones too
I know I am alright when I am not stressed and I love long bath before bed. As it is winter here these days, been bit lazy for bath 🙂 . Thank you so much gal for the ideas. Take care.
Do share some crazy myths 🙂
I dont have any personal stories related to this but I clearly remember boksi stories when I was Nepal. I am so glad you wrote about this, I have no idea about all this supernatural power and all that and refuse to believe anything but science but its often very hard to explain grand parents and older folks. Hope the trend with boksi and all will reduce someday and women would get actual medical treatment rather than physical verbal abuse.
I really hope this will stop because I read a news recently that a women’s eyes were poked with stick because people thought she was bokhsi , how cruel 😦
I don’t believe in supernature power or anything like ghost. Because, all the instances of ghost have some reasonable answer which can be scientifically explained and what we think is ghost is nothing more than a dillusion. I am teaching Biochemistry in medical college. So, what you have explained here is truely medically and scientifically correct.
If you try to correlated those instances happening to someone, you will find it usually happens to women and during those instances: during menopause, during puberty and those who are in the fertility stage and have lost lots of blood. Being anemic is true and again it has different conditions which might vary depending on the person.
So, nothing to worry, I guess. 😉
I am just glad that we can explain some of these but there are so many things we can’t explain…
Take care of that leg.
My great grandmother eight generations removed was accused of being a witch and hung for the offence, 19 July, 1692, in the notorious Salem MA witch trials. It is an accusation to which I am particularly sensitive given the blood connection.
OMG that is outrageous …
Hehe, I don’t believe in anything supernatural. However, when we went to Kasauli last weekend, we were staying at a friend’s house which is actually a huge British era property which has multiple cottages. They were all drinking in the front garden when I went to our cottage to go to the bathroom (all the way at the back). I kept hearing these weird noises so I ran back to the front garden. It was creepy! This is probably the first time I’ve been afraid of ghosts (or what have you) since I was 11.
That sounds so creepy. I don’t think I have ever seen ghost but I am so scared. I never watch horror movie, I am too chicken 🙂