Blissful trip to blessed Karni Mata temple of Deshnok
Take a trip to Deshnok Karni Mata Temple, situated 30 km from Bikaner. Karni Mata temple of Deshnok is an amusing pilgrimage with large number of brown rats running around the rat temple deshnok complex fearlessly. Deshnok tour packages attracting more and more devotees from places far and wide to Karni Mata temple of Deshnok for divine blessing of Karni Mata.
The Karni Mata temple of Deshnok is the only place in the whole world, where rats are regarded as holy ones. Thousands of domestic pilgrims come each year into the remote village Deshnok, in the north of India in the region Rajasthan, 30 km south of Bikaner, close to the Pakistani boundary, in order to do honour to the small rodents. The Karni Mata Temple was built in 15th century. Today, many foreign tourists also come here from all over the world to have the unique experience. It is said that about 20,000 rats live within the temple premises.
For about 600 years, the rats in the temple of Deshnok have been feeling themselves safe - mainly from their biggest enemy, the human being, to whom rats show no fear at all. The small animals are so credulous that they practice gymnastics around the bodies of the visitors. Many foreign tourists shudder by seeing so many rats. On the contrary, the Indians themselves see the animals differently: The view of thousands of rats initiates the feeling of internal happiness in them. In their eyes, the rats are fair and beautiful. It would specially be good fortune if one sees the albino rat (white rat) among the innumerable rats. Many visitors sit for hours and try to lure one of the albinos with the help of fruits, vegetables and other delicacies.
The Hindus name the rats lovingly "Kabahs" meaning so much like "small children". They believe that the rats are the children of the Goddess Karni Mata, to whom the temple of Deshnok is dedicated. If somebody puts a foot on a rat and if it dies then one must compensate it with the gold rat equal in the weight of the deceased rat. The Indians distinguish very probably between the rats within and outside of the temple compound. Outside, the small rodents are hunted in many places as a parasite, are caught and marooned afterwards in the desert. The animals are, however, not killed or poisoned, because that would be against the Hindu beliefs and principles.
Now the question arises, what is the connection between the Goddess Karni Mata and the rats? When one of her sons drowned in a lake, she requested to Yamraj, the God of the death, the return of her son. Yamraj refused however and revived her son not as a person, but rather as a rat, whereupon furious Karni Mata swore that all deceased members of her family should live as rats in the temple to their final reincarnation. On entering the temple, one must remove the shoes.
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