We left from this place with more questions than answers about this very unusual religion. We don't know what caused the Hindus to believe that these particular rats were re-born holy men, or why they believe that someone who had conducted his life on earth in such an exemplary manner would be re-born as a lowly rat. We did remember an interesting fact from the Discovery Channel show - that the town where the rat temple is has never experienced an outbreak of bubonic plague, despite repeated outbreaks in neighboring villages. BTW, this is the only temple in the whole of India where rats are "auspicious".