By Antony Kuriakose
India is home to seven major religions. And spread over the vast sub continent are nearly quarter million shrines of these faiths. Innate piety and complete belief in God is the hall marks of these holy edifices.
But in far flung towns of our land, we find very strange beliefs and happenings, which are contrary to normal logical reasoning’s.
Let us take the case of the shrine of Vadakkunathan, Thrissoor, Kerala. The most striking feature about the presiding deity lord Vadakkunnathan is that it is always covered with a thick and solid coating of ghee.
No matter how hot and humid the temperature may be, the ghee never melts. For days, months and years, the ghee remains in place but it never emits any offensive smell or become rancid. Nor can one find any insects or ants which are normally attracted by the presence of ghee. This odorless, always solidified, ghee is considered to possess great curative value.
For five centuries now, on the fifth day of the Hindu month of Chaitra, the dargah at the village of Mouje Musti, 27 km from the town of Solapur in Maharsshtra, has been following a ritual that would seem horrific to most, but is a matter of faith for those, who undertake it.
At the village’s shrine of Shaikh Umar Saheb, parents gather in the thousands every year to climb a 40-foot tower and throw their infants in a free-fall drop onto a mattress held below.
The ritual is said to safeguard the child’s health in the years to come. And, dangerous though it seems, villagers claim that not a single casualty has been reported so far. The devotees’ belief is so strong that even the police force deployed to control the crowds at the event, does not intervene.
There is no any official record of when the shrine was built, its architectural style points to the 12th century. "Shaikh Umar Saheb was a Sufi saint in the 12th century and had a large following. He took samadhi (left this world) on Panchami (the fifth day) of Chaitra and the ritual takes place on that day every year," says one of the devotees. Besides the Muslim khadims (caretakers) of the dargah, two other Hindu families have been traditionally involved in the ritual. The Ghatge family places the child in a special wooden cradle and takes it atop the shrine. Then the Hare family takes over to drop the child.
Appaji Shankar Hare (78), a retired soldier who has fought in two wars, says "Even when I was posted on the Jammu-Kashmir border, I ensured that I returned to his village to perform my duty every year. My son Pappu now carries on the tradition." All these devotees accept no monetary consideration for their efforts. It is a matter of faith for them.
The next on the list is the 500 year old Karni Mata Temple at Deshnok village around 30 km from Bikaner. It is the only temple of its kind in the world where rats are revered, fed and allowed to roam freely and the devotees are warned to be careful so as not to crush one under their feet. If you crush one, the only penance is donating a rat made of silver or gold.
The tradition is that Karni Mata is an incarnation of Goddess Durga and the rodents are her blessed ones. The rats never venture out of the temple boundary. Seeing a white mouse, which is a rarity among the temple rats, is considered lucky. There is an elaborate arrangement for boarding and lodging of rats. No diseases associated with rats have been reported ever in this shrine. The prasad is first offered to the rats and the water that the ‘sacred’ rodents drink is considered auspicious.
Then there are also a couple of mazars (tombs) of rival Sufis in the spiritual town of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. One is dominated by scorpions while another is the playground of donkeys. But neither do the scorpions harm any devotee nor do the donkeys’ desecrate the mazar or its campus. Both the mazars are situated a few furlongs apart and have a strange tale behind them each. One of them is the mazar of revered Sufi-saint Shah Wilyat Amrohi, popularly known as ‘Dada Shahwilayat’, and the other is that of Hazrat Khwaja Geso Daraaz.
The history has it that Shahwilayat migrated from Wasti (Basra in Iraq) in 1252 AD, to India to spread the message of God. He had a desire of finally settling in a place where mango and rohu fish could be found.
He finally reached this place where he found mango and rohu in abundance. The place was thus called Aam (mango)-Roha (rohu fish) or Amroha. However, his decision to settle down there was objected to by Khwaja Nasruddin or Hazrat Khwaja Geso Daraaz, a Muslim saint already residing in the city.
He sent a bowl overflowing with water. The message was clear: this place was already spiritually full and there was no scope for another Sufi. Shahwilayat smiled, put a rose in the bowl and sent it back to Khwaja Nasruddin indicating his presence would be as light as the rose. In anger, Khwaja Nasruddin said "Stay here… but your shrine would be dominated by scorpions". Shahwilayat sent back the message "Let it be, but they wouldn’t hurt my devotees."
On the other hand, the Shahwilayat conveyed to Khwaja Nasruddin that his shrine would be a playground of donkeys. Khwaja replied, "Yes, but they wouldn’t desecrate the shrine." Till today, the declarations of the two Sufis are ‘honoured’ by the scorpions and donkeys. MF
