Villagers pray to rare turtle – convinced it is a deity
Wait till his big brother shows up and saves his butt!
Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God.
Villagers chanting hymns and carrying garlands, bowls of rice and fruits are pouring in from remote villages to a temple in Kendrapara, a coastal district in eastern Orissa state.
Policemen have struggled to control the gathering and have failed to persuade the villagers to give up the sea turtle…
The turtle is protected in India and anyone found keeping one without permission can be jailed for a year or more and fined.
But adamant villagers have refused to give up the reptile, saying the turtle bears holy symbols on its back and is an incarnation of Lord Jagannath, a popular Hindu deity.
“Lord Jagannath has visited our village in the form of a turtle. We will not allow anybody to take the turtle away,” said Ramesh Mishra, a priest of the temple.
If the sum of their attention finally kills the poor turtle, they’ll swear he’s gone on to a better life.
Sometimes the only thing separating man from “the animals” seems to be the animals’ clearer sense of reality.
Morey
November 12, 2009 at 2:10 am
I’ll stick with our Jesus’ face on toast, thank you very much.
wok3
November 12, 2009 at 3:35 am
Unenlightened people say The Flying Spaghetti Monster is silly but at least you’re allowed to eat it when you’re done worshipping it.
I wonder if those impoverished villagers have ever tasted turtle soup? Mmmm, mmmm, good!
Hey, the Christians eat their god, every day of the week.
Cinaedh
November 12, 2009 at 6:38 am
Darn I hate you. Here I am trying to eat a sandwich and, because of you, it is all over my keyboard.
Mr. Fusion
November 12, 2009 at 11:26 am
Sorry, he said with all due sincerity.
I find compressed air, followed by a Shop Vac works best when that sort of thing happens to me.
By the way, we’re probably even now when it comes to keyboards.
Cinaedh
November 12, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Mr. Fusion
November 13, 2009 at 1:49 am