KALABURAGI: In a scene reminiscent of Dev Anand's 'Guide' in which a village gathers around a fasting swami, waiting for him to bring rain, villagers of Nandikur flocked to a temple near Kotanur (D) to watch a man meditate "underground". The difference:
Vijaykumar Pawar is meditating to avert his own death, predicted by a goddess in a dream.
Since Tuesday evening, Pawar, a construction contractor, has been sitting in a pit in front of the temple of goddess Karibasamma to meditate for three days at a stretch without food or water.
Surrounded by concentric circles of turmeric, vermillion and holy ash, the pit has been covered with tree branches to ward off heat.
Around the pit, men, women and children sit in anticipation, with some villagers setting up huge cooking pots so that they can stay put through the day.
Pawar, aged 35 and a father of two boys, had a dream on Sunday in which local deity Karibasamma ordered him to meditate "sitting under the ground" if he wanted to live long, his brother Ramesh said. The goddess, he said, asked Pawar to dig a 4-foot-deep pit before the temple and meditate for three days.
Failing this, he would die in three days, the deity is believed to have told him. Pawar was told not to eat or drink during this period. Nandikur villagers are ardent devotees of Karibasamma and believe the goddess holds sway over their lives. -Mouneshwar Sonnad
Vijaykumar Pawar is meditating to avert his own death, predicted by a goddess in a dream.
Since Tuesday evening, Pawar, a construction contractor, has been sitting in a pit in front of the temple of goddess Karibasamma to meditate for three days at a stretch without food or water.
Surrounded by concentric circles of turmeric, vermillion and holy ash, the pit has been covered with tree branches to ward off heat.
Around the pit, men, women and children sit in anticipation, with some villagers setting up huge cooking pots so that they can stay put through the day.
Pawar, aged 35 and a father of two boys, had a dream on Sunday in which local deity Karibasamma ordered him to meditate "sitting under the ground" if he wanted to live long, his brother Ramesh said. The goddess, he said, asked Pawar to dig a 4-foot-deep pit before the temple and meditate for three days.
Failing this, he would die in three days, the deity is believed to have told him. Pawar was told not to eat or drink during this period. Nandikur villagers are ardent devotees of Karibasamma and believe the goddess holds sway over their lives. -Mouneshwar Sonnad
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