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Superstitions and blind faith have not yet relieved gullible people but a recent incident at Kollankodu Village at Kanyakumari district was not only bizarre but was also blood curdling. It happened at Badrakaliamman Temple. This Goddess has always been depicted as a furious deity who would brutally punish the wicked.
This temple is known for a strange ritual in which childless couple are made to ride a car on two wheels. Two forty one feet tall trees are fixed on the car. The couple are bound with the trees, using a long piece of cloth tied around their hip. They are made to hold a few little children. By the weight of the children, the trees would rise upwards. Once the car completes a ride around the temple, the children alight. It seems the Prayer of the couple to beget a child reaches gods and goddesses up above the sky through this ritual and that it would be answered. This strange arrangements on a car and the entire process is to be seen to be believed.
The question is how this dangerous ritual is permitted by the temple authorities. Four persons take part at a time in this ritual. Holywater (?) is sprinkled on them when the ridiculous ritual is over.
In many temples in Tamil Nadu, coconuts are broken on the skulls of devotees to please gods and goddesses. It is a common ritual at MettuMahadhanapuram near Karur in the State. Eminent Neurologists warn that breaking coconut on a skull causes irreparable damage to the brain. But the crazy custom has not been given up. Piercing cheeks using a trident like metal piece is another horrible ritual in many temples. The Dravidar Kazhagam has been protesting against such perilous superstitious rituals but people are yet to reform. Such rituals are to be banned by the government at the earliest as they are absolutely irrational.
Our Constitution stresses the dire need of scientific temper but it is being ignored. There are many more nauseating rituals in temples such as circumambulating on filthy plantain leaves, (common in Annadhanampatti of Salem district) devotees getting hit by footwear and broom sticks, (common in Karamadai, Tamil Nadu). Former Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi used to condemn all such rituals as barbaric.
Fanatics who refuse to deny god’s
who move courts of law protesting against the atheists should probe into all such rituals and answer whether they are all acceptable rituals. If god does exist, what is the need for such horrible rituals to get prayers answered? Obviously, these rituals are brahminist strategies to exploit gullible people and fill their coffers. People who hardly work, rob people of their hard earned money. This is the unpalatable truth.
Sacrificing animals in temples is prohibited by the government. Should it not prevent such bizarre rituals too? Periyar used to say that money power and the craving for publicity are the root cause of temples and worship of gods and goddesses. At Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, every year more than 180 days are spent on some festivity or the other. When we point out all these irrationalist activities we are abused as atheists. Our objective is only to make our people rationalists with a scientific outlook. We are struggling to draw out people from the darkness of ignorance.
