What does one say to someone who has lost everything in a single night? Words of sympathy have no meaning for Rabindranath Pradhan, whose house in Gadragam village was destroyed by rioters. After the destruction, the fires began to burn. Every Christian house in the village was torched. Pradhan is in tears.

“Most of us ran to the nearby forest to save ourselves. But my handicapped brother couldn’t escape. The rioters caught hold of him and poured petrol on him. When he started burning, they began calling out for me, challenging me to come out of hiding and save him. I could do nothing — I was helpless.” He says he’s heard his brother’s “burnt corpse is still lying there, rotting where it fell”.

This is just one of many horrific stories that come spilling out of the anguished victims of the carnage that followed the VHP leader’s death. It’s chilling to hear case after case of destroyed churches, burnt homes and murdered people.

In Bakingia, a 500-strong mob gathered around the local church. When Pastor Samuel Naik intervened, his throat was slit. At the Bargarh orphanage, a nun was burnt alive and the orphanage razed to the ground. In Nuagaon, a nun was gangraped.

The stories never stop. Many believe Orissa has brought religious hatred in India to a new low. Asit Mohanty, regional coordinator of the Global Council of Indian Christians, which is helping with relief work in the area, describes it as “the worst-ever attack on the Christian community in the history of independent India.”

The virulence of the hatred leaves its survivors cowering in fear. “How can we ever get over it?” wails Dayadhar Nayak of Barakhama village. “The miseries are over for those who’ve died. But those of us who survived have been scarred for life. We don’t know if we can ever go back to our villages and resume our lives.”

At least some of this despair stems from a deep mistrust of the administration. Pradhan says the police did nothing when their village was burning, though they had asked for protection when news of the swami’s killing broke. This is why he and others are sceptical about assurances that they’ll be given police protection if they go back. “Even if the government provides 200 security men, what can they do against a mob of 5,000 that is determined to kill?” Moreover, ask Kandhamal’s fearful people, what will happen when the police leave?