 |
|
öA Hindu child being buried alive in the shocking ritual
|
By
IOL South Asia correspondent
NEW
DELHI, August 23 (IslamOnline) - India was shocked by a centuries-old
custom in which young children are buried alive for moments in order to
please a Hindu goddess Thursday, August 22. This comes within two weeks
of a Hindu widow’s burning herself alive on the pyre of her dead
husband in what is known as sati, regarded as highest act of
faithfulness by a Hindu woman.
Thursday’s
bizarre ritual was enacted in the presence of C Dorai Raj, minister of
housing in Tamil Nadu state government. He was watching as part of the
crowd as children were first drugged and then buried for a full minute
in a village in Madurai district of the state.
In
this festival, which takes place once in every five years, children of
the village are buried alive to propitiate two deities, Muthukuzhi
Mariamman and Kaliamman, both incarnations of Hindu goddess Kali. The
ceremony is called “Kuzhi Maatru Thiruvizha” or “Festival of
emerging from the pit.”
Boys
in the age group of 4 and 20, and girls who haven’t attained puberty
take part in this ghastly ritual. It is said that villagers have
practiced this custom for four hundred years to please “gods”.
Reportedly over a hundred boys and girls took part in the ritual this
year.
Explaining
the ritual one of the villagers said, “The pujari [temple
priest] places some powder on the head, the children then faint. We then
cover them in yellow cloth and bury them. This way god feels happy.”
The
ceremony is essentially a “thanksgiving” service offered by parents
of those children who had been suffering from chronic diseases, while
others take part in the ritual to show their gratitude for being blessed
with an heir. According to a priest, the ceremony symbolized the
child’s re-birth under divine rejuvenation.
A
local priest claimed that more than 8,000 girls and young men have gone
through this ritual of live burial at his temple in the last 400 years
and not a single mishap was recorded.
The
minister’s presence has come as a severe embarrassment to the state
government, but the state police has declined to take any action since
“no one was hurt in this ritual,” according to a police spokesman.
State
police have not even filed a complaint so far. 
