Give a short description of the superstitious beliefs of the peasants revealed in "Night of the Scorpion"

In the poem "Night of the Scorpion" by Nissim Ezekiel which is taken from the book of poems, "The Exact Name"(1965), the poet gives some examples of superstitious beliefs of the common and ignorant people of a villege of Mumbai, in which the poet was born. These superstions are described here nicely -

              Firstly they believed that with the movement of the scorpion, the movement of the poison should be there in the blood of the mother. So they want 'to paralyse the Evil one' by praying ' the name of God a hundred times'.

              Secondly they thought that in the previous birth, if the mother of the poet committed some sinful acts or crime activities, then these crimes were purified by the pain -
           "May be the sins of your previous birth/ be burned away tonight, they said."
             
                Again the neighbours said that the misfortunes and sufferings of the poet's mother's next birth were decreased by the pain which was created by the stung of the scorpion -
            May your suffering decrease/ the misfortune of your next birth, they said."

               They also believed that the pain helped to balance the 'sum of evil' and 'sum of good',committed by the poet's mother.

                Again the neighbours blindly believed that the pain of the mother helped to diminish the high ambition and excessive desire which are the causes of degradation of a man -
             "May the poison purify your flesh/ if desire, and your spirit of ambition,/they said."

               Thus the poet gives a pen picture of the villege people full of superstitious beliefs. This poem is rich to show these very clearly through the ractions of the peasants who gathered at the poet's home hearing the cry of the mother stung by a scorpion.