Posted on 12/08/2009 9:35:40 AM PST by JoeProBono
AUTHORITIES in southern India plan to ban an age-old ritual in which babies are tossed from the top of a nine-metre temple.
Every first week of December in a rural district in the state of Karnataka, villagers drop babies from the top of a Hindu temple onto a blanket held by a crowd below, amid dancing and singing.
Thousands of people assembled on Wednesday at the temple near Indi in the district of Bijapur to witness the event, which is said to confer good health and a long life on the baby and bring prosperity to the family. But the centuries-old tradition has fallen foul of local authorities.
"As I am new to the district, I did not know about the unusual ritual, which is inhuman and terrifying for babies," Bijapur deputy commissioner R Shantharaj said. "I intend to prevent the people from indulging in such acts next time."
The Karnataka Commission for the Protection of Child Rights plans to summon the priests at the Sri Santeswar temple to explain themselves after 200 infants were dropped this year.
"We have also sought a report from the district administration on the ritual to prevent a repeat of it," commission spokesperson Neena Nayak said. India, home to all the world's major religions and a country where superstitions are widespread, plays host to a rich variety of festivals each year.
In August, authorities in central India attempted to ban a bizarre annual stone-pelting ritual which often leaves people dead or injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
No Darwin award nomination?
This is how I have always imagined congress critters to look like.
Doesn’t qualify - the babies aren’t tossing themselves.
True. But technically the men have removed themselves from the gene pool after the fact.
Problem is, they can have more, and potentially untossed, children.
I heard lobbyists make a very amusing thud when they hit the ground...
That look there, right there is the one for me!
Oh.
They’re catching them.
I thought they routinely threw their babies away at a festival. (????) The only thing I toss is trash.
What are some of the other activities and attractions at this festival? The drowning competition? The prize for the shortest stumps left over after fire-walking? How about the famous Lose the Wife in the Crowd marathon? What about the older children? They could participate in non-parachute base jumping. And what about the Start Your Cobra-Venom Immunity Now class?
A good time will be had by all who survive.
Don’t forget the grenade-catching contest.
I did! [slaps forehead] Thanks for adding it.
I read somewhere recently where in a place in Russia, mothers chuck their babies into ice water to toughen them up. I think there was even a video of infants as young as three months frolicking with their moms in a river where a hole had been chopped into an iced over river.
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