Karni Mata Temple - The Temple of Rats

On my way north I visited a small city called Bikaner, a HOT desert town, former capital, and an essential stopover to restock my clean underwear supply.

Bikaner itself wasn't all that interesting, but just a few kms outside the city is one of the most unusual temples I've seen so far.

Here's the two minute back story:

Karni Mata, a 16th century Hindu sage, once got into a fight with Yama, the god of death. KM had wanted to reincarnate the son of local story teller but couldn't do so as Yama had already claimed the young boy's soul. KM was annoyed. Very annoyed. So in an act of revenge, she vowed that Yama would never again receive another soul from her tribe. So now whenever one of the KM clan passes on, they're reborn as a rat. Take that Yama!



So obviously the place is crawling with rats. They're everywhere! And they're very well looked after, being fed milk, water and grain by the visiting worshipers.

Oh, and it's believed that having them scuttle across your feet brings good luck. If anyone would like to kiss my lucky feet when I get back home, just let me know.