Holy Rat feces: disgusting or spiritual delicacy?

Rats- Do you like them? Do you like them enough to eat their spit? Check out the clip and check out some people who do at the Karni Mata temple near Bikaner.

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image from horizon

So the story goes like this:

How The Rats Became Holy

The story goes that Karni Mata once tried to restore the dead child of a storyteller back to life but failed because Yama, the god of death, had already accepted his soul and re-incarnated him in human form. Karni Mata, famed for her legendary temper, was so inflamed by her failure that she announced that no one from her tribe would fall into Yama’s hands again. Instead, when they died, all of them would temporarily inhabit the body of a rat before being reborn into the tribe. Therefore, the rats are considered to be incarnations of storytellers and are much revered.The image below shows the special holes around the courtyard that facilitate the rats’ movements throughout the temple. It is said that if you spot a white rat, you will have good luck.

info and image from link

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A clip on the Rat temple from the travel channel’s Culture Shock series

1 Comment(s)

  1. Comment by Veldidore on February 7, 2008 3:01 am

    Hi,
    Is everything fine? Any news?

    ——————
    Restaurante en Costa Rica

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