More people to take part in made-made snana

MANGALORE:  The number of devotees likely to perform ‘made-made snana’ on the second day of Shasti Mahotsava in Kukke Shri Subrahmanya Temple will be more than 3,000 on Tuesday, temple sources said.The number will double on the last day of the festival on Wednesday. The centuries-old practice began attracting criticism when committees espousing the cause of Dalit rights begun opposing the ritual as it was “discriminatory”.A year ago, members of the Karnataka Rajya Hindulida Vargagala Jagruta Vedike and Dalita Hindulida Alpasankhyatara Samanvaya Vedike (DHASV) staged a protest in Subrahmanya accusing the temple management of forcing non-Brahmin devotees to roll on plantain leaves on which Brahmins had partaken of food.Sources said, the ritual was banned in 1979, but was reintroduced in gusto. “Even the British government never interfered in temple affairs,” informs former managing trustee of the temple and member of Temple Master Planning Committee D Venkataramana Bhat.According to ‘Subrahmanya Kshetra Purana’ and ‘Subrahmanya Kshetra Varnane’, the practice has a history of more than 400 years. According to the legend, Krishna’s son Samba in ‘Dwapura Yuga’ got rid of his leprosy by rolling over plantain leaves on which devotees had consumed food.Devotees who vow to perform made-made snana eat frugally for a week. After the lunch is served, the chief priest of the temple sprinkles holy water on the soiled plantain leaves and makes an offering by breaking a coconut before the presiding deity.The ritual is announced as a temple staffer walks ahead ringing the bell and the devotees trail behind by rolling over the leaves. The ritual is not an official activity of the temple, for no receipt is issued to devotees. Among the three types of made-made snana, the two-km-long Beedi Made-made snana is the most gruelling ritual.