Today we had a very interesting lecture on Festivals, festivities and beliefs. It was followed by an hour long documentary that was screened after lunch- on Mayilaralingayatra.
Mayilaralingayatra is a festival followed in certain districts of Karnataka, where the head priest is led to a huge pole by a procession of people and he climbs onto the pole, looks at the sky and predicts the future for the clan and falls down to the ground in a trance. Following this, there are episodes where the believers pierce their legs with a 'trishul' and run a long string through the pierced hole in their leg. The worst is when they put a thorny stem of a plant through the same wound. Such self flagellations are something I just fail to understand. But obviously there are way too many people who truly believe in these rituals. There are people who walk on fire and proudly show off the burns on their feet.
Is it a way to please the gods? Is it to cleanse themselves of their sins in this world? Is it to transcend the laws of nature and to feel superhuman by going through such self inflicted pain?
I hope someone knows why they do it.
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