On the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who constantly spoke of leaping into the 21st century piggybacking on science and technology, religious faith took a turn for the curious with people in Bareilley insisting that idols of gods and goddesses were ?drinking? milk offered by devotees.
The setting could not have been more incongruous. On the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who constantly spoke of leaping into the 21st century piggybacking on science and technology, religious faith took a turn for the curious with people in Bareilley insisting that idols of gods and goddesses were ?drinking? milk offered by devotees.
News first trickled in at about 10 am on Sunday morning that the female deity at a temple in Sanjay Nagar was ?drinking? milk. Reportedly a woman who had gone to pray to the goddess offered her a bowl of milk before closing her eyes in prayers. When she opened her eyes, the milk was gone and she ran out of the temple shouting that a miracle had taken place.
The trickle of the curious turned into a deluge with people coming with milk in packets, glasses, bottles, even buckets. Later similar reports came in from Anandnagar, Mall town and Chokla localities where idols of Shiva, shivlings and Ganesha were reported to be gulping down milk. Interestingly, the miracle has been reported from thickly populated, largely illiterate localities of labourers. SSP Anand Swaroop said that the police was on the alert to prevent any untoward incident. ?Milk is flowing through the drains outside the temple and it seems to be a case of mass hysteria. But we are alert to prevent any mishap?, Mr Swaroop said over the phone. The police is busy trying to maintain order in the temples where people have taken to shouting slogans.
The images brought back memories of a similar incident in the late 1990?s when idols of Ganesha were offered milk throughout the country. Some distance away in Agra, there were reports of an adolescent girl Manju having been deified. The 16-year-old reportedly was visited by a goddess in her dream and told to fast to bring rains to the area. On Sunday she started her fast, refusing food and water, sitting under a sun dressed in white while the faithful filed past her with folded hands. Manju?s deification is a repeat of an earlier incident in Agra when 15-year-old Parveen was similarly deified and made to sit on a fast to bring rains. The district administration had then tackled the situation sensitively with SDM Shatrughan Singh gently talking the girl out of her nine-day fast and prompting her to return home.
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