Today
Rats at the Karni Mata temple, Deshnoke
Photo credit: alschim
Okay, this is a weird one. But I tend to want to visit places that are a little strange and more than a bit creepy. I read about this place in a post on Twenty-something travel by Alex Budak of Unpopped Collar. Then I saw it on season one of the Amazing race.
The place is the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke, India. Karni Mata, is a Hindu sage who is worshiped as an incarnation of Durga, the warrior aspect of the divine mother goddess. Legend tells that Karni Mata asked Yama, the god of death to restore the life of the son of grief stricken clansmen (though in other versions it was the son of a storyteller). Yama refused her, but in the end they struck a deal that all of her clansmen would be reincarnated as rats until they could be reborn into the clan.
I’m not afraid of rats. In fact, I think they’re rather cute. There’s tonnes of them in the student living area where I reside. Perhaps a few too many. But we humans generally have an instinctive fear of rats and for good reason. They can carry lots of diseases so it makes sense that we don’t want to get anywhere near them. But I am fascinated to visit a place where, instead of jumping on a chair and screaming or swatting them with a broomstick, people worship and revere these much-maligned furry creatures.
How to visit the rat temple:
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Verity, Verity. Verity said: A new addition to my bucket list – the Karni Mata rat temple http://bit.ly/dh7rti #travel #lp [...]
o wow…I so have to tweet about this. tHank you for the post. I’m afraid of rat actually. I always see them running in NY subway station. haha
I like how the pigeons are in there too…. rats of the land with rats of the sky!
@Sarah I heard there were heaps of them in NYC. Do they come inside the houses too? There are lots here in the forest but usually they don’t come inside (except for those poor girls in the link above who had them in their kitchen). The only time I saw any inside was when I was housesitting for friends who had a cat who loved to bring in midnight presents. I had to chase so many rats around with a broom.
@Maddy… if only they had rats of the water! Umm… what would rats of the water be. Herring?
Yuck. Herring.
It sounds like it might be one of those places that you have to visit at least once in your life.
Rats are awesome. I used to have a pair of rats as pets when I was still at school. They’re truly marvellous creatures and incredibly intelligent too, yet… sadly misunderstood.
Wow! I get comments from James Lenoir and Xavier. I feel so privileged
. I only had pet mice and they certainly were not intelligent. We had an obese mouse called Cappuccino. She was pretty cute. A superfat snuffly mouse. I think rats might be a little smarter.
Hey girl,
I don’t think rats go inside the house, but maybe occasionally there might be mice running in old apartment building. But they are very small, like size of hamster : ) Rat will scared me if they’re running in my bedroom.. haha
Mice are pretty cute. I remember I was totally freaked out when one ran through my bedroom when I was kid. Actually, it might have been a native bushrat (there are all kinds of native rats in Australia). We had lots of those living in the roof of our house. Sometimes you could hear them squeaking and scratching around which was a little bit unsettling.
This is truly one of the most unique temples I had never heard about until now. I really want to go, but I really don’t know if I could talk my girlfriend into it. But, I mean, come on, it’s rats calmly drinking out of a bowl…cute as hell.
yea, expect they’re dirty (homeless hamster hee hee). These poor mice, they seem to be more afraid of me instead.
@Bob Hehe, I am equally unsure as to whether I could talk my boyfriend into it
. I think it is so interesting how the rats are all just sitting there, calmly as you said, not running away in fear.
@Sarah I do think the mice are more afraid of us. There is something a little funny about a big human being afraid of tiny whiskery mice