Faces of India – 300 Rats on Devotees Karnimata Temple Bikaner
Faces of India
a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country whom I met during my travels. I bring back souvenirs, frozen moments from my travels, why not some memories of people I have met and interacted during the travels. Faces of India is a weekly series in my blog since MARCH 2011. See more here…
This week I bring you a face who feels blessed to have that rat on her shoulder. If you are thinking it is her pet rat then let me tell you no. It is not a pet rat. Still puzzled?
Rats on Devotees of Karnimata Temple
I recently visited Karnimata Temple in Deshnoke, Bikaner. This temple is one of those quirky temples of India where rats are revered and considered holy. The residents of the village believe that rats are reincarnation of their ancestors.
When I saw this rat climbing up her hand and making itself comfortable on her shoulder I was shocked that she didn’t move or squirm. Instead she sat still unwilling to disturb the rat.
I requested her to pose for my camera and she happily lifted her face a bit. I asked her in a concerned manner how she was feeling about the rat seated on her shoulder… she said she felt blessed!
Rats on Devotees of Karnimata Temple
There are rats scrambling up other devotees too, and none of them shoo away the rats. And here I was jumping around seeing a rat come towards me!
Karnimata temple is really unique. Though I would think twice before I let a rat park itself on my shoulder. Good shot, you have caught the perfect expression, of the woman.
Such an interesting blog series, Indrani. I am scared of rats, but I guess I too wouldn’t mind one climbing on me at the Karnimata temple. Nice click 🙂
I’m not afraid of rats as long as it doesn’t come near me… But this woman has shown a love and respect of what their belief is, that we must have to respect as well…
Cool shot! Now I am curious to see a couple of pics of Karnimata Temple too. Do you know the story behind the rats being considered people’s ancestors?
Have you really been doing this series since March 2011?! That’s amazing, well done! It’s so interesting too, to find out the stories behind the faces. I don’t think I could’ve gotten close to this woman though, rats are the 1 thing I absolutely detest!
Wow. I love participating in as many cultural practices as I can when travelling, but this would be so so hard for me. A slight glimpse of a rat startles me and then makes me cringe. I don’t know it I could handle having one crawl all around me. How many rats were around this place when you visited? That alone would be hard to see.
Isn’t it true that there are temples in India where rats are revered, fed, and allowed to go about? It might be the reason why this woman didn’t flinch when the rat went up to her shoulder. Maybe she thinks it’s sacred?
Beautiful snap, captures her emotions very well. I have heard a lot about Karni Mata Temple and that there are many rats there. There is some story also behind it. And there are lots of devotees who visit here every day. I will definitely visit when I go to Bikaner.
Beautiful captures! I have not visited in a while and wanted to say Happy New Year 2017! I hope to be captioning your pics again shortly 🙂
Thank you Happy new year to you too!
Wow! Congratulations on reaching 300!
I was wondering how do you choose faces appearing in this series..
I mean while on a trip you may come across many many many interesting faces….but how do you zero in on one face for a post? Or is it that you choose all but write down in different posts??
Happy New Year!!
Thank you Aneesh. I do collect many faces during my travels but I try and put those which have interesting stories to share.
Well. I guess as far as rats go..this one is kinda cute.
Great shots!
– Lisa
OMG! How scary!
Lovely pic 🙂
Brilliant pictures
Perfect click !!