Tiptoeing through the Rat Temple

Driven by boundless curiosity by pictures of dozens of docile mice happily drinking milk, I was determined to visit the Temple of the Mice, even though I'm afraid of mice. Half of our group of eight didn't want to go, saying, "Even one mouse running across your feet makes you scream, let alone a thousand." But curiosity eventually won. After nearly half an hour's tuk-tuk ride from New Delhi, the group arrived at the entrance to this strange temple located in northwestern India.

Deshnoke – a city famous for the Karni Mata temple (or simply called the Rat Temple) – looks like any other temple across India, but if you look closely, you'll notice the difference right from the gate. Karni Mata isn't crowded with tourists; tour groups probably won't be taken there. Only locals come to offer incense and curious visitors like us, scattered throughout the day. The temple doesn't charge any entrance fee, but visitors must go barefoot inside. I left my shoes outside in the shoe rack and walked into the temple with socks on, while my companions wrapped their socks in shoe covers that we'd brought with us. So I had to sacrifice a pair of socks, thankfully I had spares in my backpack.

In a courtyard right in front of the temple, dozens of pigeons were feeding. Hearing the footsteps of the strangers, they seemed accustomed to it and didn't bother to take flight. The temple gate looked different. Instead of elephant and bird figures, there were images of mice.

Gathering all my courage, I stepped through the door and into the temple. It wasn't as if the door wasn't infested with rats; a few scurried back and forth between the two doors, causing me to hastily lift my foot and run inside.

A strong, foul odor wafted up the moment I stepped through the door. Above, a protective netting encased a flock of pigeons. This netting was used to prevent the birds from swooping down on the rats scurrying around the temple grounds. It was already past 9 a.m. According to the temple caretakers, the rats had gone to sleep by this time after their meal at 7 a.m. If you arrived then, you'd see thousands of rats swarming the courtyard; you probably wouldn't dare go in. Even though it was their sleeping time, quite a few were still peacefully drinking milk from two large bowls in the corner of the courtyard. My long-awaited image of rats drinking milk, which I'd only seen online, finally came to fruition. I rushed to the corner, snapping pictures of the adorable rats licking their milk, constantly glancing down at my feet to see if any were about to run into me. While for the locals attending the ceremony, having rats run across their feet is considered good luck, tourists, despite trying not to appear impolite, will still cautiously and quickly move away if a rat happens to pass by.

Two basins of milk were crowded with dozens of black-headed rats, engrossed in drinking. The rats in the temple were accustomed to the sight of dozens of eyes watching them; they calmly drank, licked their whiskers, and slowly made their way back to their sheltered burrows. Some dozed off on the bent iron bars. Others lay on the steps, basking in the sun and curling up to sleep soundly. Rats were everywhere, climbing high up, scurrying back and forth across window frames and sinks, hiding by the steps and in the courtyard. The place with the fewest rats was the middle of the courtyard, where the sunlight rarely shone.

According to legend, the Karni Mata Temple, built in the 1900s by Maharaja Ganga Singh, is protected by the goddess Durga. Legend says that in the 1400s, when a child of a member of Durga's clan died, she begged Yama, the god of death, to bring the child back to life, but he refused. She continued to plead, and eventually, the god of death agreed, but the only way for the boy to be reborn was to be reincarnated as a rat. She made a deal with Yama that all deceased members of her clan would live as rats until they could be reborn as humans. If someone accidentally steps on a rat while entering the temple, they must buy a golden snake or a silver rat to place in the temple as atonement for the dead rat.

A ceremony was taking place inside the temple, so visitors weren't allowed in. A large crowd of people and rats mingled together. A little girl was being given a taste of milk from the very bowl the rats were drinking from. For them, it was considered good luck. For the visitors, it was incredibly brave. Locals believe that if a rat runs past your feet or if you see a white rat, you will receive a blessing. White rats are considered special deities, the embodiment of the goddess Karni Mata and her lineage. Even eating rat food is believed to bring good fortune. But just seeing the rats was terrifying; if one stumbled past my feet, no matter how hard I tried, I'd quickly move away. In another corner, the faint-hearted girls quickly slipped in, took pictures, and then dashed out.

As one of the world's most unusual temples, the Rat Temple attracts a considerable number of curious visitors daily. However, not everyone is brave enough to step inside and see the unique rats residing within this sacred temple. Karni Mata Temple is located in Deshnok, about 30 km from Bikaner. This city is connected to other cities such as New Delhi, Jaipur, and Jodhpur via one of India's current highways.

The Thanh