Bengaluru: In order to get rid of the Coronavirus, villagers in Karnataka are resorting to superstitious rituals, which include poultry sacrifice and yajna/homa/havan.
A day after several hundreds defied Covid rules to take part in the funeral of a 'divine horse', BJP MLA from Belagavi Dakshin assembly segment Abhay Kumar Patil organised 'havans' (a fire ritual performed on special occasions by a Hindu priest usually for a homeowner) in over 50 different places within his constituency on Tuesday to ward off the Covid virus.
Patil told reporters that he was a firm believer in Ayurveda medicine and the good effects of Homa. "Hinduism has answers for all ill effects. Coronavirus too is an ill effect. To ward off the evil of this pandemic which has taken a toll on the people for over one year, it can only be stopped with divine intervention," he explained.
"You (reporters) may not be believers in these kinds of rituals but there are several people out there who believe in these rituals, it will surely hurt their sentiments,"
Patil said.
Read: Boy thrashed by BBMP officials for refusing to undergo Covid test
He said that with 'havan' being organised on the streets, it (smoke) would not cause any problems to those who are asthmatic or have bronchitis or any patient who is suffering from chest-related diseases.
Patil, who is a three-time MLA from Belagavi Dakshin, added that he himself had contracted the dreaded disease and he has a lot of faith in these rituals as these help people to ward off the evil effects of such a dreaded virus.
Hundreds of kgs of Curd-rice spilled:
The Dammur Kaggal villagers in Bellary district spilled hundreds of kgs of Curd-rice in their village as part of the rituals to get rid of Corona.
Around, 5 kg curd-rice was collected from each household in the village, which was then filled into a tractor and scattered around the village.
The incident took place in Kolagallu village recently and now in Dammur Kaggal village.
Poultry sacrifice to Maramma:
A special pooja was performed to appease goddess Maramma by sacrificing poultry in Chamarajanagar to end corona. People were seen sacrificing chickens and praying to goddess Maramma.
Yajna/homa/havan offered to get rid of corona:
BJP MLA Abhay Patil performed a special pooja, apart from yajna/homa/havan for atmospheric cleaning. He conducted this in various places of the Belagavi south constituency.
Berini (dung), camphor, ghee, neem leaves, rice, kavadi incense and cloves were burnt in a fire pit as part of the ritual to clean the polluted environment, Abhay Patil said.
(With inputs from IANS)
