On 28 November, I (Aaron) had the opportunity to visit the world famous Rat Temple known as Karni Mata in Deshnoke. If you Google "Rat Temple" this is the only temple that will come up. National Geographic as well as other religious and travel logs have filmed this site and there has been much written on this sacred Hindu temple.
Why wouldn't such a spot draw such attention? Here you can see thousands of rats running everywhere, eating offerings of bread, seeds, grain and drinking from bowls and buckets of milk or water. It is a wonderful experience to have rats running over your feet, climbing your legs and nibbling on your toes!
Here is a photo of some of the residents of Karni Mata. This was taken just seconds before the rat on the left ran across my feet. As you can see, I was wearing socks, I promptly threw the socks away after leaving the temple. I know that you are thinking "But, Aaron is so cheap, why would he throw them away?". I knew that Melanie would kill me or at least disfigure me if I brought them home for her to wash.
I know what you are thinking, but this is not the Karni Mata Cafeteria. It is just one of the many bowls you see in the temple complex.
I had read and was told that the temple was extremely clean and that there was amazingly no odor to the temple complex. The rats were also very clean and healthy looking. Well, I have no agenda so I will be brutally honest with you regarding what I saw. As far as cleanliness goes, it was full of rats and rat turds, I will let you decide how clean that is. It unfortunately did have an odor, it smelled like a chicken farm- Con Agra in Chattanooga, TN came to mind over and over. I also have to say that some of the small rats were very cute and clean but many of the larger ones looked as though they were suffering from mange, some had some sort of disease which made their tail swell and others were missing tails, most of them looked like they had been through some very hard times.
The temple was mainly full of people who had come to worship the rats as well as the deity known as Karni Mata. There were a few there, like myself, that came just to see the temple and have the experience of interacting with these small creatures.
This is a photo looking into the Cave of Karni Mata. This is at the heart of the temple compound. This was built after Karni heard a voice saying
“Return to Deshnoke, you will find a carpenter there sleeping with my idol, outside the cave”. Install that idol in the cave. I will remain there forever and help all those who pray there with faith and pure heart”.Kanir Mata is an incarnation of the goddess Durga who is the goddess of power and victory. The following paragraphs are from the official website
www.karnimata.com and will explain why the rats are there. My comments will be in red for your further enlightenment.
According to the folklore, Shri Karni-Mata once restored a dead child of her devotee back to life from Yama Othe God of Death) then Mata announced that no one from her tribe would fall into Yama's hands again. Instead, when they died all of them would temporarily inhabit the body of a rat (Kaba), before being reborn into the tribe.
A normal human being will be absolutely scared over the thought, of the number of rats (They look like rats, but actually aren’t) that are in the temple. However, the outstanding fact is that, these Kabas are harmless and play around in the temple without disturbing the devotees. Rather they sit on devotees’ laps, shoulders, hands and head which the devotees think to be of divine spirit and blessings of the Goddess.
The magnificence of these Kabas is that, despite being innumerable, they never go out of the temple’s boundaries. Moreover, due to the blessings of Karniji they get their food, shelter, lodging and even their life cycle continues inside the temple. The miraculous fact is that no disease relating to rats has ever been found in Deshnoke till date. Neither the temple stinks of foul smells (sure, if you like the smell of a chicken farm) nor it is dirty anywhere (sure, everyone has rat poop laying around their home and place of worship). Infact even the offerings like milk, sweets, cereals, fruits, water and coconuts are first offered to the holy Kabas and then distributed among the devotees which is consumed by them as a holy prasad, especially the water that the Kabas drink is considered to be very auspicious (although others were partaking of these auspicious elements, I managed to refrain from having any).
Till date it has not been traced that how these Kabas are reproduced. Infact it is believed that these rats have their own VIP maternity hospital (?!?!?!), which takes care of the delivery. Moreover there has never been trace of baby rats. All the Kabas are of standard size and weight (?) without undergoing changes with the passage of time. In the world most of the attempts to control the growth of rats could not be successful because of their faster growth rate. Looking at this fast multiplication in their number and their protection in this temple for more than five hundred years, these Kabas have a disciplined growth as well as pre scheduled living with demarcated boundaries. That is why neither any temple erection has been done nor the outside shopkeepers have been disturbed by any epidemic. Isn’t it not a vivid miracle just before our eyes?
Usually, rats are considered to be coward as they are scared of human beings, but in Karniji’s temple, under her shelter, these Kabas are present all over, rule the temple like kings, roar like lions (I do not think you can hear this on the video) and roam about everywhere in the temple freely & comfortably.
Now, the ultimate question is – “When rats can become brave by taking shelter in this temple, then what about human beings”? When will they take shelter under Sri Karni Mata ? – “Visit the temple, find and justify yourself ”.
Isn’t it a miraculous temple?
Won’t you like to feel the wonders yourself?It is said to be very lucky if you see a white rat, I did not see any while I was there, only lots of black rats. It is also said that if you step on a rat and kill it, you must pay it's weight in silver; if it is a white rat, you have to pay it's weight in gold.
Here is a photo of a pile of rats just hangin' out on a fire stand. This stand along with others surrounds one of the idols and is lit for worship. It appears to be a comfy place to rest as well.
This is one of the rats that was running around at Karni Mata Temple. Notice the board behind him boasting "The 8th Wonder of World".
This is a video of the inner section of the Karni Mata Temple. It is one thing to see a picture but it is another to be able to see how much activity there is among these little creatures.
