It wasn’t very long ago when a seemingly normal, well-functioning family of 11 members was found dead, hanging from an iron grill, in their very own home in the suburbs of Burari, India. The case shook the whole country with its bizarreness and left it unsettled. The Netflix docuseries, House of Secrets, brings back the memories of the emotionally-laden case through interviews of those involved in the investigation closely.
What was initially suspected to be a case of murder baffled investigators as they started suspecting mass suicide instead? This was after they discovered 11 diaries, scribbled with notes, detailing the situation. Hand-written notes revealed that Lalit (aged 45 years then) used to be ‘possessed by the spirit’ of his dead father, and imparted what the family should be doing. His words became the word of law for the Chundawat family, so much so that no one dared to question the ‘messenger.’ According to the instructions from one such episode, the family attempted a ‘bad puja,’ a religious ceremony aimed at invoking the banyan tree, by hanging the family members like the branches of the tree.
The case raised many questions about different aspects of humanity, but ultimately the biggest conundrum remains: how can one man (i.e., Lalit) hold so much influence over the family to be able to convince them to perform a ritual with such drastic implications? How did 11 members of one family, spanning three generations, hang themselves at the same time, blindfolded, mouths taped, hands tied with wires, with the hope that the spirit of their dead grandfather would come to save them? What drives a 14-year-old, a Sociology postgraduate, and a Delhi University graduate with a job at an MNC to go along with something like this?
While the whole incident seems eccentric at face value, omnipresent psychological principles lie behind these visible facts. Bowlby’s (1980) theory emphasizes humans’ intrinsic biosocial propensity to seek security through connection with an attached figure, often parents. Cicirreli (1993) further added that children seek to protect their primary attachment figures, in part, to help them maintain a sense of emotional security that comes from having attachment figures alive and available for support. Sometimes this longing can lead to erratic behavior like delusions, as experienced by Lalit in this case.
Lalit probably didn’t face any opposition from the family as the incident benefitted them too. If people find the first hallucination pleasant, they typically want it to happen again. For the Chundawats, this first extraordinary feat was Lalit regaining his voice after it being non-functional for more than a year from the trauma. As time gradually passed by, the conviction of the whole family in the ‘possessed spirit’ strengthened as they accrued from following Lalit’s alleged father’s instructions. Any faith that endures has to offer its adherent tangible benefits, and for the Chundawats, it came in the form of improved financial situation and blooming social relations, among other things. When the family followed the instructions, they made significant growth that bolstered their belief in it so much that whatever instruction was given to them, they were compelled to follow it. It had been an upward spiral for them, until the final downfall.
Another reason why faith still prevails in humans to such a large extent is due to our hardwired tendency to be guided and let ourselves unhook from the burden of being held responsible for our actions. In a typical Indian family, there is likely to be one individual, often a patriarch, who would be responsible for all the decisions of the family, big or small. The family, which is habituated to being guided about such decisions, can come crashing down by the sudden demise of that figure. This creates absolute chaos and a vacuum, which requires a kind of generational transition; wherein an adult child often makes the transition to becoming the ‘standard bearer’ for the family, putting the child under emotional and mental pressure. The exhaustion can manifest itself in various forms, impacting psychological well-being and in rare cases, delusions, as in the case of Chundawats. The death of Bhopal Singh (Lalit’s father) was a shock to everybody, but it had the worst impact on Lalit who started having delusional dreams of his father.
Psychoanalysts explain the belief in supernatural powers in terms of the projection of unmet needs of an idealized parental figure. Zuckerman, author of Society without God, stated that “humans need comfort in the face of pain and suffering, and many need to think that there’s something more after this life, that they’re loved by an invisible being.” This explains why the Chundawats chose to believe that Lalit ‘possessed’ the spirit of his father. The messages from the spirit that was instructional, conversational, and even strict sometimes, provided a bulwark of psychological support; Lalit became a medium for the spirit of his father. Faith frees humans from the fear of death and living, and this faith probably led them to believe that even depriving themselves of oxygen would do them no harm and that they would be saved by the spirit of deceased Bhopal Singh.
As satisfactory as it would be to think that the family of Chundawats was one of its kind, the biting reality is that they are eerily similar to a conventional Indian family. As rightly pointed out by Rachana Johri, one of the psychologists interviewed for the series, the Chundawats are “an extreme version of what we are in most families.” To keep ourselves from becoming that version, we need to learn from the mistakes that blur the line between faith and delusion.
Establishing a more adhocratic family structure, where the responsibilities are shared in an equitable manner, can help in taking the load off from one person and also encourage others to put forth their opinions. While traumatic losses and events can be overwhelming, it is important to talk about them, and even seek therapy if needed, rather than leaving the issues unresolved.
Shreya Kedia
