Priests sit in aluminium vessels to pray for rain, get trolled by Twitterati

BENGALURU: With ponds in temples drying up and kalyanis (temple tanks) becoming extinct due to encroachments and concretisation, priests are now being forced to dunk into water-filled aluminium vessels to perform special prayers.
A pointer to this was the ‘parjanya homa’ conducted two days ago at the government-managed Sri Someshwara Temple in Ulsoor where two priests squatted in two big cauldrons seeking divine intervention for good monsoon across the state. The temple authorities performed ‘parjanya homa’ on Thursday as per the state government’s directive to invoke rain god Parjanya. Ideally, priests have to sit in a kalyani and chant Parjanya hymns 1,008 times.
The photo of the priests squatting in vessels with mobile phones in their hands triggered hilarious and sarcastic reactions in social media. Some were concerned about wastage water while praying for rains and a few mocked them for reading the mantras from their phones. Twitteratti termed it ‘hi-tech superstition’ and suggested they cool down in a swimming pool.
Dismissing the trolls, temple’s head priest Ramanath Deekshith told STOI: “In the past, prayers were offered near lakes or kalyanis. As there’s no such facilities now, we did it in the vessels. This is done in cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad too.”
Junior priest Someshwara Dixit, 17, who took part in the homa, said: “We prayed for the welfare of the state. After the puja, we emptied the vessels by watering plants.”
Kalyani awaits revival
Priests said a huge kalyani was found on the left side of the 1,250-year-old temple in 2010. However, devotees rued that no action has been taken to rejuvenate it. The kalyani gets water only when it rains and is not in a condition for people to take a dip.
T Selvamani, executive officer of the temple, said they’ve been demanding the government revive the kalyani for the past nine years, but in vain. “We’ve sought Rs 65 lakh from the government. If there’s a kalyani, the priests would have not been trolled in social media for sitting in vessels,” he added.
Meanwhile, locals want the government to establish ponds or rejuvenate kalyanis in all temples across the city. The last time a kalyani was revived was at Chola-era Vasantha Vallabharaya temple in Vasanthpura by Infosys Foundation last year at a cost of Rs 8.8 crore.