Temple with Rats!

Trip Start Nov 06, 2010

Trip End Mar 18, 2011

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Flag of India Bikaner, Rajasthan, India
Sunday, December 19, 2010

We read about this temple in the guide books and it sounded like something you needed to see to believe, so we went! (Note: If you are afraid of rats do not watch the video.) They make you take your shoes off, but they give the tourist little cloth boots to wear in the temple.

The Karni Mata temple in its present form was completed in the early 20th century. Throughout the year, pilgrims from around India come to pay religious tribute to Karni Mata . According to a local legend, Karni Mata, the 14th century mystic and an incarnation of Hindu goddess Durga, implored Yama, the god of death, to restore to life to the son of a storyteller. Yama refused, and Karni Mata incarnated the dead son and all of the storytellers as a rat, under her protection.

Now there are about an estimated 30,000 or more living in the temple. If one of the rats is killed, it must be replaced with one made of solid gold. Sighting a white rat amidst hordes of black rats is considered specially auspicious.

We did not see a white one, but many others!

Slideshow