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After a break of about close to a month, I am back with the teerth Yatra. So lets once again start our journey of visiting all the temples all over the world. Today we will be visiting an amazing temple of Rats--Yes, you read it right!! Rat Temple!!
In Rajasthan state of India, there is a small village known as Deshnoke, which is 30 miles south of city of Bikaner. There is this temple known as Karni Mata Mandir, worldly famous as ‘Rat Temple‘. This is simply the strangest temples of India because 20,000 rats live in the temple on regular basis making it their home. Not only they live on the sides of the temple, but everywhere, even inside the main entrance of temple, on steps, in the passage, everywhere.
In the 14th century, Goddess Karni is said to have lived and performed many miracles during her existence. Karni Mata was a mystic, who led a virtuous life committed to the service of the poor and the oppressed of all communities. The goddess is said to have laid the foundation of Deshnoke. As per the stories, once when her youngest son drowned, Goddess Karni asked Yama (the god of death) to bring him back to life. Lord Yama replied that he could not return her son's life. Thus, Karni Mata, being an incarnation of Goddess Durga, restored the life of her son. At this point of time, she announced that her family members would die no longer; in fact they would incarnate in the form of rats (kabas) and ultimately, these rats would come back as the members of her family. In Deshnok, there are around 600 families that assert to be the descendants of Karni Mata.
This 600 year old temple is dedicated to Karni Mata, a famous mystic of her times, believed to be an incarnation of goddess Durga.It was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. The striking façade of the temple is wholly built in marble. Inside the temple complex, one can see a pair of silver doors before the main shrine of the Goddess. These solid silver doors were donated by Maharaja Gaj Singh, on his visit to this temple.
[Silver door on right side of main entrance (somewhat distorted by the lens: the left side should be straight)]
[Karni Mata surrounded by rats and a pigeon,from silver doors of shrine]
[Ganesh with rat feeding from dish, from silver doors of shrine]
The temple has around 20,000 rats that are fed, protected and worshipped. Many holes can be seen in the courtyard of this temple. In the vicinity of these holes, one can see rats engaged in different activities. The Rats can be seen here eating from huge metal bowls of milk, sweets and grains. To make the holy rats safe, wires and grills are sited over the courtyard to avoid the birds of prey and other animals.
Like any other temple in India, all the devotees entering this temple have to be barefoot.
Visitors say that most of the time - in the heat of the day, anyway - the temple compound isn't obviously heaving with rats, except in the inner courtyard. At first glance you see only a few: but the more you look the more there are, and every shadow is full of eyes and tails.
[Charan priest with rat relatives, sitting in the left side of the antechamber of the inner shrine]
It is regarded auspicious, if a rat (kaba) runs across one's feet. Even, a glimpse of kaba (white rat) is considered promising and fruitful. Twice a year, a festival is celebrated in the honor of Karni Mata. A grand fair is organized during this time and people come here to seek the blessings of the Goddess
Catching a glimpse of a white or pale fawn rat is particularly prized - said to be a good augury for spiritual progress, and a promise of life-long luck. Some temple guides say that the white rats are reincarnations of Karni herself. It's difficult to see how this would work, since there are several white rats at any one time: perhaps they mean only one of these rats is Karni or, conversely, that since she is believed to be an aspect of the goddess she can be in several bodies at once.
Many devotees go to the temple hoping to see such a white rat before undertaking some important project - perhaps a reference to the rat's association with Ganesh, Lord of Auspicious Beginnings, even though Lord Ganesh's own rat-mount is portrayed as dark grey. Even just having a normal-coloured rat scamper across your bare foot is believed to be lucky - though some pilgrims get rather more contact than that, as an on-heat doe and 15 ardent suitors skid across the marble floor at breakneck speed and swarm up and over them as if they were mobile trees.
The rats are fed milk and coconut (including the fibrous husk, which they presumably use as bedding), fruit, oatmeal and grain, sugar and Indian sweetmeats.
Pilgrims touch the ground where the rats have walked and bring them offerings of food: and those whose prayers are answered bring silver and gold.
They not only feed the rats, believing it lucky to have a rat eat from their hand, but also themselves eat some of the food which the rats have already nibbled, or sit down and eat with them from the same dish - considering it blessed to share a meal with the "little children" in this way.
They seem to do so with genuine affection: not just because they hope Karni Mata will bless them. After all, if the pilgims are from the local area then they believe not only that the rats are their own dead relatives and neighbours, their ancestors and their own children who died in infancy, having a "holiday life" between human incarnations; but that they themselves were rats before they were born, and when they die they will come again to spend a few years as a rat among their past and future comrades, the "little children" of Shri Karni Mata.
At the shrine itself they are offered grain on the altar and, in front of the altar, a plate of yellow, globular, garlic-pod shaped sweets called laddus or modakas, the favourite sweet of Lord Ganesh, and similar sweets made of white paste. Rats being rats, they probably supplement this purely vegetarian diet by knocking off the occasional pigeon on the sly.
The sanctum sanctorum of the temple depicts Karni Mata resplendent in her arrogance after slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. Her inverted trident depicts the head of the demon impaled at one end."
This militant statue is elsewhere described as being the work of a blind sculptor and being 2ft tall or a little over, standing on a 3" platform. Actually a bas relief panel rather than a free-standing figure, it is dark orange-red and shows Karni Mata adorned with earrings, with a garland round her neck and wearing a strange tall crown, narrow at the forehead but with a wide brim around the top, capped with gold. In her right hand she carries a trident, points upwards, with the severed head of the buffalo-demon impaled on the butt end; from her left hand the severed head of a manlike demon dangles by the hair.
This 600 year old temple is dedicated to Karni Mata, a famous mystic of her times, believed to be an incarnation of goddess Durga.It was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. The striking façade of the temple is wholly built in marble. Inside the temple complex, one can see a pair of silver doors before the main shrine of the Goddess. These solid silver doors were donated by Maharaja Gaj Singh, on his visit to this temple.
[Silver door on right side of main entrance (somewhat distorted by the lens: the left side should be straight)]
[Karni Mata surrounded by rats and a pigeon,from silver doors of shrine]
[Ganesh with rat feeding from dish, from silver doors of shrine] The temple has around 20,000 rats that are fed, protected and worshipped. Many holes can be seen in the courtyard of this temple. In the vicinity of these holes, one can see rats engaged in different activities. The Rats can be seen here eating from huge metal bowls of milk, sweets and grains. To make the holy rats safe, wires and grills are sited over the courtyard to avoid the birds of prey and other animals. Like any other temple in India, all the devotees entering this temple have to be barefoot.
Visitors say that most of the time - in the heat of the day, anyway - the temple compound isn't obviously heaving with rats, except in the inner courtyard. At first glance you see only a few: but the more you look the more there are, and every shadow is full of eyes and tails.
[Charan priest with rat relatives, sitting in the left side of the antechamber of the inner shrine]
It is regarded auspicious, if a rat (kaba) runs across one's feet. Even, a glimpse of kaba (white rat) is considered promising and fruitful. Twice a year, a festival is celebrated in the honor of Karni Mata. A grand fair is organized during this time and people come here to seek the blessings of the Goddess
Catching a glimpse of a white or pale fawn rat is particularly prized - said to be a good augury for spiritual progress, and a promise of life-long luck. Some temple guides say that the white rats are reincarnations of Karni herself. It's difficult to see how this would work, since there are several white rats at any one time: perhaps they mean only one of these rats is Karni or, conversely, that since she is believed to be an aspect of the goddess she can be in several bodies at once.
Many devotees go to the temple hoping to see such a white rat before undertaking some important project - perhaps a reference to the rat's association with Ganesh, Lord of Auspicious Beginnings, even though Lord Ganesh's own rat-mount is portrayed as dark grey. Even just having a normal-coloured rat scamper across your bare foot is believed to be lucky - though some pilgrims get rather more contact than that, as an on-heat doe and 15 ardent suitors skid across the marble floor at breakneck speed and swarm up and over them as if they were mobile trees.
The rats are fed milk and coconut (including the fibrous husk, which they presumably use as bedding), fruit, oatmeal and grain, sugar and Indian sweetmeats.
Pilgrims touch the ground where the rats have walked and bring them offerings of food: and those whose prayers are answered bring silver and gold.
They not only feed the rats, believing it lucky to have a rat eat from their hand, but also themselves eat some of the food which the rats have already nibbled, or sit down and eat with them from the same dish - considering it blessed to share a meal with the "little children" in this way.
They seem to do so with genuine affection: not just because they hope Karni Mata will bless them. After all, if the pilgims are from the local area then they believe not only that the rats are their own dead relatives and neighbours, their ancestors and their own children who died in infancy, having a "holiday life" between human incarnations; but that they themselves were rats before they were born, and when they die they will come again to spend a few years as a rat among their past and future comrades, the "little children" of Shri Karni Mata.
At the shrine itself they are offered grain on the altar and, in front of the altar, a plate of yellow, globular, garlic-pod shaped sweets called laddus or modakas, the favourite sweet of Lord Ganesh, and similar sweets made of white paste. Rats being rats, they probably supplement this purely vegetarian diet by knocking off the occasional pigeon on the sly.
The sanctum sanctorum of the temple depicts Karni Mata resplendent in her arrogance after slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. Her inverted trident depicts the head of the demon impaled at one end."
This militant statue is elsewhere described as being the work of a blind sculptor and being 2ft tall or a little over, standing on a 3" platform. Actually a bas relief panel rather than a free-standing figure, it is dark orange-red and shows Karni Mata adorned with earrings, with a garland round her neck and wearing a strange tall crown, narrow at the forehead but with a wide brim around the top, capped with gold. In her right hand she carries a trident, points upwards, with the severed head of the buffalo-demon impaled on the butt end; from her left hand the severed head of a manlike demon dangles by the hair.
IN SHORT , A NORMAL HUMAN BEING WILL BE ABSOLUTELY SCARED OVER THE THOUGHT OF THE NUMBER OF RATS .(THEY LOOK LIKE A RAT, BUT ACTUALLY THEY ARE NOT RATS) THAT EXIST BUT THE OUTSTANDING FACT IS THAT THESE KABA’S ARE HARMLESS AND PLAY AROUND IN THE TEMPLE WITHOUT DISTURBING THE DEVOTEES, RATHER THEY SIT ON THEIR LAPS, SHOULDERS, HEAD, HANDS WHICH THE DEVOTEES THINK TO BE THE DIVINE SPIRIT AND BLESSINGS OF THE GODDESS.ONE WOULD SURELY WONDER WHEN HE WILL COME TO KNOW THE FACT THAT WHEN THE KILLER DISEASE PLAGUE SPREAD OUT IN SURAT (GUJRAT) IN MID 90′S PEOPLE FROM SURAT AND OTHER AFFECTED AREAS WENT TO THE TEMPLE TO TAKE THE MILK AND WATER DRUNK BY THESE RATS AS MEDICINES TO GET THEMSELVES CURED.
THE BEAUTY ABOUT THESE KABA’S IS THAT, DESPITE BEING INNUMERABLE IN NUMBER, THEY NEVER COME OUT OF THE TEMPLE BOUNDARIES. MOREOVER WITH THE BLESSINGS OF SHRI KARNI MATA THEY GET THEIR FOOD, SHELTER, LODGING AND THEIR LIFE CYCLE CONTINUES INSIDE THE TEMPLE ITSELF.
THE MIRACULOUS FACT IS THAT NO DISEASES RELATED TO RATS HAVE BEEN FOUND TILL DATE. NIETHER THE TEMPLE STINGS OF FOUL SMELLS NOR IT IS DIRTY ANYWHERE. INFACT EVEN THE OFFERINGS LIKE MILK, SWEET, CEREALS, WATER AND GROUNDNUTS ARE FIRST OFFERED TO THESE HOLY KABA’S AND THEN DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DEVOTEES, WHICH IS CONSUMED BY THEM AS A HOLY PRASAD. ESPECIALLY, THE WATER WHICH THESE KABA’S DRINK IS CONSIDERED VERY HOLY AND AUSPICIOUS.
THERE HAS BEEN NO TRACE OF HOW THESE KABA’S ARE REPRODUCED, INFACT IT IS BELIEVED THAT THESE RATS HAVE THEIR OWN VIP MATERNITY HOSPITAL WHICH TAKES CARE OF THEIR DELIVERY. MOREOVER THERE HAS NEVER BEING A TRACE OF BABY RATS. ALL THE KABA ARE OF A STANDARD SIZE AND WEIGHT WITHOUT ANY CHANGES DOWN THE AGES.
THE BEAUTY ABOUT THESE KABA’S IS THAT, DESPITE BEING INNUMERABLE IN NUMBER, THEY NEVER COME OUT OF THE TEMPLE BOUNDARIES. MOREOVER WITH THE BLESSINGS OF SHRI KARNI MATA THEY GET THEIR FOOD, SHELTER, LODGING AND THEIR LIFE CYCLE CONTINUES INSIDE THE TEMPLE ITSELF.
THE MIRACULOUS FACT IS THAT NO DISEASES RELATED TO RATS HAVE BEEN FOUND TILL DATE. NIETHER THE TEMPLE STINGS OF FOUL SMELLS NOR IT IS DIRTY ANYWHERE. INFACT EVEN THE OFFERINGS LIKE MILK, SWEET, CEREALS, WATER AND GROUNDNUTS ARE FIRST OFFERED TO THESE HOLY KABA’S AND THEN DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DEVOTEES, WHICH IS CONSUMED BY THEM AS A HOLY PRASAD. ESPECIALLY, THE WATER WHICH THESE KABA’S DRINK IS CONSIDERED VERY HOLY AND AUSPICIOUS.
THERE HAS BEEN NO TRACE OF HOW THESE KABA’S ARE REPRODUCED, INFACT IT IS BELIEVED THAT THESE RATS HAVE THEIR OWN VIP MATERNITY HOSPITAL WHICH TAKES CARE OF THEIR DELIVERY. MOREOVER THERE HAS NEVER BEING A TRACE OF BABY RATS. ALL THE KABA ARE OF A STANDARD SIZE AND WEIGHT WITHOUT ANY CHANGES DOWN THE AGES.
May Karni Mata bless us all and purify our souls by showering her grace upon us.
Baba's Charity of Feeding the Hungry
Whenever Baba wanted to serve food to others, He himself used to arrange for everything from the beginning to the end. He would lit fire in the open space before the Masjid and prepare food. He had two vessels. The bigger one was meant for cooking food for a hundred, while the small vessel was sufficient for fifty persons. Sometimes Baba would cook sweet rice. At times, He would cook mutton biryani. While preparing soup, He would drop flat bread of wheat flour into it. He would grind all spicy items well before adding them to food. He would make every effort to cook and make the food tastier.Sometimes, Baba would cook porridge. He would not hesitate to dip His hand into the boiling cauldron to test whether it was properly cooked or not. There would be no sign of fear in His face or scars of any burns on His hand. As soon as the food was cooked, Baba would bring it into the Masjid and ask the moulvi to offer it to God. Only after sending some sanctified food to Tatya and Mhalspathy, He would distribute the rest to the satisfaction of the poor and hungry. Baba gets immense pleasure in feeding His children. Those who were fed with the food cooked and served by Baba's hand were indeed virtuous and fortunate souls. Let us cherish in our memory Baba's charity of feeding the hungry and the poor and emulate Baba.
"Shri SaiSatCharita ---> Leads you in Sai's unique Path"
Baba's Charity of Feeding the HungryWhenever Baba wanted to serve food to others, He himself used to arrange for everything from the beginning to the end. He would lit fire in the open space before the Masjid and prepare food. He had two vessels. The bigger one was meant for cooking food for a hundred, while the small vessel was sufficient for fifty persons. Sometimes Baba would cook sweet rice. At times, He would cook mutton biryani. While preparing soup, He would drop flat bread of wheat flour into it. He would grind all spicy items well before adding them to food. He would make every effort to cook and make the food tastier.Sometimes, Baba would cook porridge. He would not hesitate to dip His hand into the boiling cauldron to test whether it was properly cooked or not. There would be no sign of fear in His face or scars of any burns on His hand. As soon as the food was cooked, Baba would bring it into the Masjid and ask the moulvi to offer it to God. Only after sending some sanctified food to Tatya and Mhalspathy, He would distribute the rest to the satisfaction of the poor and hungry. Baba gets immense pleasure in feeding His children. Those who were fed with the food cooked and served by Baba's hand were indeed virtuous and fortunate souls. Let us cherish in our memory Baba's charity of feeding the hungry and the poor and emulate Baba.
"Shri SaiSatCharita ---> Leads you in Sai's unique Path"
Shree SatChidananda Sadguru Sainadh Maharaj Ki Jai
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