NPR: India TV's Great Tantra Challenge

India TV's Great Tantra Challenge

Filed under: News

Listen to Rachel's interview with Sanal Edamaruku

A little over a month ago, a local politician in India claimed her political opponents were trying to harm her using Tantra. You've probably heard of tantric love, but Tantra is a lot more than that. BeliefNet defines it as, quote, "an ancient, esoteric Indian spiritual tradition, common to both Hinduism and Buddhism." But it's also been linked with nefarious acts of so-called black magic.

So after that politician's accusations, a major national television network there, India TV, had a discussion about "Tantric Power Versus Science." They invited a well known tantric named Pandit Surinder Sharma and the president of Rationalist International, Sanal Edamaruku.

At one point the tantric claimed he could use his powers to kill people, to which Sanal basically responded, "OK, prove it. Kill me right here and now." The tantric took up the challenge and began chanting. What followed was something few Indians had ever seen. The event became such a big deal that India TV broke through the next show and splashed a Breaking News banner on the screen. Then they continued the showdown that evening, on another Breaking News special.

In the end Sanal survived, but the tantric's reputation took a major hit. And people in India are still talking about it. We interviewed Sanal on the show today. (Click the listen link at the top of this page to hear the interview. And read Sanal's full story if you want all the details.) Highlights of the encounter have been posted on YouTube:

BONUS: How A Pitch Becomes A Segment. This segment actually began as a bizarre story pitch I made in the daily BPP staff pitch meeting. Initially nobody knew what to do with it, so we essentially recreated a pitch meeting on the air, where I repeated the pitch. Today's interview with Sanal is the result of that on-air meeting. So what do you think? Did the process work?

See more YouTube clips of India TV's Great Tantra Challenge, including the so-called spell for ultimate destruction, after the jump...

Dan Pashman

7:44 AM ET | 04- 3-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

My favorite thing about this clip may be the ultrasinister music.

Sent by Sarah Goodyear | 10:59 AM ET | 04-03-2008

Totally, the music makes it. Does India TV just have the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" question music on standby?

Sent by Dan Pashman, NPR | 11:31 AM ET | 04-03-2008

It shows that some fools (so called "pandits") live in India.

Sent by tom george | 4:17 PM ET | 05-04-2008

Send a Comment

Comments are reviewed and edited by NPR prior to display. All comments will be read, but not all will be posted.

NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.

E-mail this Page

Recipient's e-mail address:	» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Your e-mail address:
Your name:
Personal message (optional, 600 characters max):
Your NPR member station:
Are you a member of your local NPR station?	Yes No
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)	Yes No
Please send me updates from NPR.	Yes No

(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)

Host

Alison Stewart

Welcome to 'The Bryant Park Project'

The Bryant Park Project started as a blog in the summer of 2007 and ended as a radio show and online community in July 2008. Read our frequently asked questions and discussion rules.