Karni Mata temple, an unusual holy shrine where

On my journey towards spiritual India, I also experienced one of the weird temples of India.This temple is famous for, you won’t believe it, rats!!! Yes you read it right; you can find thousands of rats in this temple scurrying all over the place.

This temple of rats is located in Deshnok, a small town near Bikaner, Rajasthan.I first went to Bikaner and from there took a bus towards the temple which was almost 30 kms to the south of Bikaner. While I was on my way with other passengers, I came to know that this temple is devoted to Goddess Karni, a personification of Durga Maa.
As I was very interested to know more and more about all the spiritual places of India, I took an authorized guide with me from the airport itself. So, while travelling towards the temple the guide gave me much information about the temple.

The Karni Mata was a female Hindu sage and an official deity of Bikaner’s as well as Jodhpur’s royal families. This temple is very famous for rats which are given protection in the temple and treated as sacred. There are in all about 20,000 rats that are fed and worshipped.

After reaching there when we were entering into the temple, the guide informed me about the rats and asked me to be alert. I was a bit afraid but wanted to see the actual temple from within and also the rats. I was mentally prepared for the multitude of rats and got into the temple. I saw many holes in the courtyard in which rats were busy doing their activities. The rats are given milk, grains and sweets in huge metal bowls. To protect the rats from birds and other animals wires and grills are placed over the courtyard. They say when a rats run across your feet, you are considered to be very fortunate.

Throughout the year, many pilgrims from all over India as well various parts of the world visit this temple. It is also seen that during the Indian festival of Navratri, thousands of people come walking to the temple to pay religious tribute to the Karni Mata. I also came to know that if any of the rats is killed then you’ve to replace it with the rat made up of solid gold. Some people there restricted me for taking the photographs of the temple but after taking permission I was allowed to take it.
I was very happy after seeing this holy temple of Karni Mata. This was a strange but all in all a great experience for me at the Karni Mata temple of Rajasthan!