The incident of the scorpion bite at once proushed the collective, situalistic response of the village community and the peasants desunded upon the victim's home like 'swarms of files'. They chanted the name of god several times and performed sites to alleviate her suffering.
The religion superstitious interpretation of the villagers is, of course, the consequence of the centuries of influence imposed by the preachings of Hinduism. By itself. Hinduism is a sophisticated philosophy. But interpreted by the unsophisticated, it takes on macabre dimensions.
As the scorpion was construed to be the manifestation of evil, the villagers reasoned- "With every movement that the scorpion made/ his poison moved in mother's blood......" It is to be noted that the narrator's mother became 'Mother' to the crowd. That was because the victim was seen not just as a flesh and blood mortal. Her suffering was appreciated by the rural folk as a ritual imposed by some vaster cosmic machination. Then again, the Hindu belief in the transmigration of souls as well as the concept of 'maya' are suggested in pheases such as 'next birth' and 'unreal world'. The vicitims suffering, the choric 'they' hoped, would shed her of her fleshy desires and materialistic aspirations.
It was in that manner, that the community depicted its involvement in an individuals misfortune.