Rats Rule at Karni Mata Temple

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Deshnoke, INDIA (June 29, 2004) - The floors are a living tangle of

undulating fur. Small, brown blurs scurry across marble floors.

Thousands of rats dine with people and scamper over their feet.

 

It may sound like a nightmare from the New York City subway to some,

but in India's small northwestern city of Deshnoke, this is a place

of worship: Rajastan's famous Karni Mata Temple.

 

This ornate, isolated Hindu temple was constructed by Maharaja Ganga

Singh in the early 1900s as a tribute to the rat goddess, Karni

Mata. Intricate marble panels line the entrance and the floors, and

silver and gold decorations are found throughout.

 

But by far the most intriguing aspect of the interior is the 20,000-

odd rats that call this temple home. These holy animals are called

kabbas, and many people travel great distances to pay their

respects.

 

The legend goes that Karni Mata, a mystic matriarch from the 14th

century, was an incarnation of Durga, the goddess of power and

victory. At some point during her life, the child of one of her

clansmen died. She attempted to bring the child back to life, only

to be told by Yama, the god of death, that he had already been

reincarnated.

 

Karni Mata cut a deal with Yama: From that point forward, all of her

tribespeople would be reborn as rats until they could be born back

into the clan.

 

In Hinduism, death marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of

a new one on the path to a soul's eventual oneness with the

universe. This cycle of transmigration is known as samsara and is

precisely why Karni Mata's rats are treated like royalty.

 

Gautam Ghosh, professor of anthropology and Asian studies at the

University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, noted how rare this rat-

worshipping temple is. "In India, as in the West, rats aren't

treated with particular veneration."

 

In Hinduism, many deities take animals forms. "The main theological

point is that there's no dividing line between what forms gods or

goddesses can use," said Rachel Fell McDermott, professor of Asian

and Middle Eastern cultures at Barnard College in New York

City. "There's nothing to say they can't take form as a fish, a

bird, or even a rat."

 

Ghosh noted that this temple is linked to the royal family who ruled

Bikaner, a nearby city. When a Hindu royal family is seeking greater

power, they look to the local cults for a patron god—or, according

to London-based art historian George Michell, usually a goddess—to

help them attain that power.

 

The male gods are not as powerful for direct involvement in people's

lives, he explained, so cults surrounding local goddesses are

commonly used to help sway things in their favor. "Kings who want to

be powerful in India must be protected by goddesses," Michell said.

This is how the Karni Mata Temple was established.

 

The temple draws Hindu visitors from across the country hoping for

blessings, as well as curious tourists from around the world.

Inside, where shoes are not permitted, tourists and worshippers

alike hope to have rats run across their feet for good luck.

 

Eating food or drinking water that previously has been sampled by a

rat is considered to be a supreme blessing. But there is one rare

blessing that draws the most attention: the sighting of a white rat.

 

Out of all of the thousands of rats in the temple, there are said to

be four or five white rats, which are considered to be especially

holy. They are believed be the manifestations of Karni Mata herself

and her kin. Sighting them is a special charm, and visitors put in

extensive efforts to bring them forth, offering prasad, a candylike

food.

 

Unlike the rest of the world, where rats are commonly killed for

inhabiting the same space as humans, in this temple the rat

residents are treated with sincere devotion. The veneration is so

complete that if someone accidentally steps on a rat and kills it,

they are expected to buy a gold or silver rat and place it in the

temple as atonement.

 

For an animal that is commonly associated with pestilence and

disease, this may seem strange. But during the century of this

temple's existence, there has never been an outbreak of plague or

other ratborne illness among the humans who have visited—which may

be a miracle in itself.

 

Source: National Geographic Channel, "Twenty thousand rats inhabit

and are woshipped in northwestern India's Karni Mata Temple." By

Sharon Guynup and Nicolas Ruggia

URL:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0628_040628_tvrats.ht

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