Karnataka: Case filed, village sealed after mutt horse’s funeral

BELAGAVI: An entire village in Gokak taluk here has been sealed for 14 days after hundreds of people participated in the funeral of a horse belonging to a mutt and believed to be the local “guardian deity”. The 24-year old horse died on Sunday, three days after it was let loose to roam the village to ward off the ongoing second wave of Covid-19 and future scourges to come.
The district police have registered a case as villagers thronged the funeral in violation of masking and distancing norms, and videos of the procession went viral.
Taluk health officer Dr Muttanna Koppad said directives have been issued to conduct 450 tests. So far, 25 villagers have undergone rapid antigen tests and all tested negative. “Due to shortage of staff, we could not do more testing. From tomorrow, more people will be tested,” he said. RT-PCR tests will be conducted only on those showing Covid-like symptoms, he added.
Villagers of Maradi attended the horse’s funeral in huge numbers, saying customary rituals were needed to placate the gods
On May 19, the horse was brought to Maradi village from the mutt on the request of residents who believe its presence will ward off all evil and plagues, including coronavirus. During the first wave too, the horse was made to wander in Maradi and villagers said not one person was infected in a population of about 1,200. Koppad, however, said eight cases were detected in the first wave, and five this year so far.
The horse was let loose from the mutt on the intervening night of May 19-20 after a puja and it returned around 3pm on Thursday after roaming the village. It was found dead in its shed in the early hours of Sunday. Mutt authorities said the horse may have died of old age.
“It has been at the mutt since the age of three,” said Manjunath Hukkeri, who donated the horse. Hukkeri is a devotee and close aide of seer Pawadeshwara Maha Swamiji of the mutt. This was the third horse he gifted the mutt. Customarily, the mutt horse is not given a name.
As news of the horse’s death spread, villagers began to gather at the mutt. They told cops that the death of the “guardian deity” has come as a shock and last rites must be performed according to tradition to pacify the gods.
An FIR has been filed under sections of the disaster management act and Karnataka Epidemic Act among others, SP Laxman Nimbargi told TOI.
Police are identifying those responsible for the large gathering, he said.
The Maradi mutt has a tradition of receiving horses as gifts from devotees and in the past, seers were known to ride them as well. Though horses are no longer used to move around, devotees continue to donate horses which are reared in the mutt. Over the years, the animals have gained the status of “guardian deity”, Hukkeri said. “Elders say that in the time of plague and cholera too, mutt horses were left to walk in the village to protect residents,” he said.
“The seer urged people not to attend the funeral in large numbers due to the pandemic but villagers rushed to pay their respects.”