The Rat Temple of Karni Mata

In the small town of Deshnok, in northern Rajasthan near the city of Bikaner, there is a temple where rats are worshipped. Live rats. Thousands of live rats.

How did this happen?

Karni Mata was a female sage who lived in Rajasthan to the ripe old age of 151. Hailed as an incarnation of the goddess Durga at age six in 1393, Karni Mata was revered even by the maharajas of her time, and it was she who laid the cornerstone of the forts of Jodhpur (1457) and Bikaner (1485) at their request.

In 1463 her stepson drowned, and Karni Mata implored Yama, the god of death, to bring him back to life. Yama refused, stating that he had already been reincarnated as a rat. Instead, he agreed that all of her male descendants would be reincarnated as rats, but that once they gave up their rat life they would be born again as human beings in a family of Depavats. (Another version of the story has it that it was Karni Mata who, angered by Yama’s refusal, vowed that all her family members would instantly be reincarnated as rats and then back as humans in order that they spend no time in Yama’s kingdom.)

Either way, the rats are revered and looked after in the rat temple specifically designed for them by priests who come from one of the 513 Depavat families in the region. Pilgrims bring the rats offerings of food, and it is considered quite auspicious to have one run across your feet, to have one eat from your hand, or to eat from the same food that the rats have already started nibbling on (i.e. sharing a meal). White rats are considered particularly lucky, but are quite rare.

The temple is home to some 20,000 rats, and sees likely that many or more pilgrims every year.