The Karni Mata Temple

By Shana

In the town of Deshnoke, which is in India, there is a Hindu temple where thousands of rats live: sleeping, eating and drinking the food that is given to them, and just crawling about doing whatever rats choose to do in their free time. The rats, called kabbas, are not considered pests, they are supposed to be there. They are sacred.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19429963@N00/2281682645/

The legend is that Karni Mata, the incarnation of the goddess Durga, asked the god of death, Yama, to give life to the dead son of a family member. Yama refused to do this, so Karni Mata made it so that all of her family would be reincarnated as rats until they could come back as part of her family again. The rats at the temple are supposedly these rats.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaatra/258383801/

People who visit the temple hope to have rats walk across their feet, because it is a sign of good luck. It is even better to see a white rat. People also drink or eat the leftovers of the rats. If someone kills a rat, they must buy a figure of a rat made of gold or silver to replace him or her (I really do not like calling animals “it” if I can avoid it, because they are not things in my opinion.)

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/owen-pics/2559023409/

As a person with pet rats, I love that there’s somewhere in the world where rats are not considered gross. Some people have this idea in their heads that all rats are scary, unsanitary, ugly, spread diseases, and that everyone else in the world agrees with them. Rats are adorable, and I wish I could visit this amazing temple.