Primitive humans were bewildered by the phenomena they observed around them. Hence, they reasoned that there must be some power, some yatu, that is, magic. They felt it necessary to worship this power. This was how magic-religious beliefs originated. (Yatu later became ‘jadoo’ or ‘jadu’ in colloquial speech). Yatu kriya—magic-religious rituals—performed for favourable and promising outcomes, like adequate rain, plentiful crops or several sons, are called ‘shukla yatu’ or white magic; while those performed with wicked intentions, like getting hold of a neighbour’s stock of grain through magic,
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