Date: 04 April 2019
Venue: Bikaner, Rajasthan
Karni Mata Temple is perhaps the most popular destination in Bikaner. Karni Mata is a local avatar of Goddess Durga. But the temple has gained a reputation for housing approximately 25000 rats inside the temple premise. This site has been covered by many international travel programs mostly on this account and has visitors from far and wide. We recently visited Bikaner and stayed at the luxurious Art Hotel Gaj Kesri. Karni Mata Temple was about 15 km from here. Given Bikaner traffic, the drive took us a mere 20 minutes.
Many tend to call Karni Mata Temple the “Temple of Rats” but the locals do not like that. For them, the rats are “Kabbas” or reincarnations of their ancestors. People travel far and wide to pay respect to them. Legend has it that the locals, post demise, are reincarnated as rats in this temple. In their subsequent births, they are born back in the community as human-beings.
We visited the Temple late afternoon and it was not very crowded. The brick and stone structure of the temple had a beautifully carved ornate front façade made of marble. Given that it is Rajasthan, we loved the soothing colour and smoothness of the marble. The intricate carvings depicted Lord Ganesh, other Hindu deities, vines and flowers and of course a very cute margin of rats.
Although the air around the temple smelt damp, we could only see the real rats after entering the temple. They do not bother the visitors and remain restricted to the corners where they are given food as offerings. The whole process is fairly simple and even the faint-hearted in our group visited the shrine without difficulty.
The deity in the sanctum sanctorum is in the form of a Shila, which is a carved piece of stone. If you make a food offering, the priest keeps a little bit and returns the prasaad back. There is no possibility of contamination in this part as well.
Incidentally, amongst the rats, the rare white rat is revered more for being incarnations of the Goddess Karni and her sons. Sighting of the white rat is considered very auspicious. We are glad that we had that special opportunity when both of us, individually, saw the white rat.
It is Navratri now and the temple sees heavy footfall of devotees in this season. We dare say, faith is all about ones belief and should be respected. But let not the rat reputation of Karni Mata Mandir excite or deter you from visiting this shrine. The beautiful temple itself is well-worth the visit. If you are a photographer, you will thank us extra.
A visit to Karni Mata mandir is truly a spiritual experience, and I was amazed to find the rats never leave the premises. Sundeep well-written article, which covers all the points.
Wow, this is something really interesting.
I am so inclined to visit this temple after reading your post.
A visit to Karni Mata mandir is truly a spiritual experience, and I was amazed to find the rats never leave the premises. Sundeep and Bedabrata, well-written article, which covers all the points. Very well summarised.
This is really great! I never knew that rats can be linked to re incarnations. Such is an interesting story. Would love to visit Karni temple soon. Bikaner is on my ‘To do’ list
I’ve been here in 2019. Thought it would be an eerie experience to have rats crawling all around but was saddened to see them all sick and ailing! Not a nice sight to witness.
But the visiting the temple is an interesting experience even without the presence of the rats.
India has so many hidden gems ! That most of Indians ain’t aware of . Thanks for bringing this out through such beautiful content
Well today I’ve learned about a temple with 25000 rats. Wow, it’s astounding to see how much faith people have. Also, I’m glad you both saw the auspicious white rat!
I had heard about this temple and rats before but never knew that the name was Karni Mata temple, until now. I have stayed in Rajasthan and visited a couple of places, but somehow Bikaner got left out.
Looks like a vacation at Narendra Bhawan is something I should have on my cards for the future.
I missed this temple when I was in Rajasthan. Would love to visit again and want to enjoy the moment with cute rats. Lovely article.
faith is beyond all explanations… whether rats of monkeys of Jakhu temple, they all know how to coexist. in out excitement, we end up hassling them and ourselves too.