Conclusion

In 1894, in an article in a well-known Bengali medical journal, Chikitsa Sammilani, the author recounted a story of the goddess of cholera’s visit to a village: One night as a saint sat under a tree deep in meditation he heard a lone woman entering the village. Surprised at the sight of a woman all by herself so late at night the saint asked her who she was. The woman said that she was the goddess of cholera and that she was heading to the village to end the lives of three men who resided there. The pious man told her to be extremely cautious so that she did not end up killing anyone else in that village. The cholera goddess assured him. But instead of three, three hundred villagers died during the visitation. As she was leaving the village the saint confronted her and expressed his anger at the goddess for failing to keep her promise. The goddess responded that she had only extinguished three lives; the remaining two hundred and ninety seven lives were lost because they were too fearful. The writer ended the essay with the recommendation that while panicking unnecessarily during a cholera outbreak might not be helpful, unqualified gallantry is foolhardy as well. He also reiterated the importance of emotional tranquility and cheerfulness even when an epidemic is ravaging the village. The more a person gives in to negative emotions like fear, grief, sadness, and anger, the author suggests, the stronger will be the assault of the disease on him or her.2

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