One of the first places we saw was the Karni Mata temple at Deshnoke. From the outside, it may not look any different from any other temple in India, but one step into the building reveals a eye-popping secret-this unassuming temple is actually swarming with thousands of rats roaming free, eating gifts of milk and sweets, and squeaking with delight as they play carelessly through the grounds.According to legend, Karni Mata, locally believed to be an avatar of Durga Mata, went to Yamaraja to resurrect her dead nephew. Yamaraja refused to do so, citing the inevitability of death. Frustrated, she, as God herself, resurrected her nephew and stated that none of her descendents would meet Yamaraja. Rather, they would be reborn as rats in her temple. Upon their own death, they would once more become human in a chain that will last until moksha.
Personally, I'm not liable to believe the tale, but I have to say that these rats must have done something great in their previous lives to live in such enviable luxury today!
Warning: pictures not for the squeamish!
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