Today we left Bikaner for a return to Jaipur. On the way we visited the Holy Karni Mata Temple in Deshnok. The temple is famous for housing and feeding their most honored guests...cute little rats! There are a couple of different stories about how these rodents were elevated to a place of such high esteem. One popular version tells of Karni Mata, an incarnation of thr goddess Durga, negotiating with Yama, the god of death, to bring back to life her youngest daughter who had recently drowned. This was done only with the agreement that future members of her family would be reincarnated as rats. Thus the people of Deshnok respect these rats as members of their family. It is auspicious for one of these rats to run over your bare feet. None of us were fortunate enough for this to happen but we sure came close.
4 comments:
Happy New Year to my good friends Cynthia & Jonathan. Love Les Hyatt. PS I am going to be a Grandma in June. Hip Hip Hooray. (Pigginblog)
Sounds cool. I like the story, sort of from lemons let the family make lemonade. Speaking of which, I think it's time for an auspicious scotch and some cheese. Mmmm . . . yes. Very auspicious.
Vinnie & Stella,
Happy New Year. Enjoy the scotch. Stella we are looking forward to your show,
M&C
Hi...
Happy New Year! You are brave with the rats and all!
Hoping you enjoy the remainder of the trip. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Ann
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