It’s 5:06 a.m. and we’re back in the queue at Mookambika Temple in Kollur. I can hear the chaiwallah outside the stone walls, beckoning the early-morning devotees to indulge in the hot, sickly sweet national beverage that is to India what Tim Hortons is to Canada. Thankfully, the line is short this morning, and we proceed relatively quickly to the inner chamber where the goddess Devi sits amid offerings of water, fruit and flowers.
This is our second visit to the temple. The first, which took place last night, will remain with me for a long, long time. It being a Sunday – and just before Siva Ratri – the line of worshippers snaked around the temple and doubled back upon itself several times as thousands waited to pay homage to the goddess. The women in their finest saris and laden with gold jewelry, the men stripped down to bare skin above the waist. The belief is that men are less receptive to the gods’ blessings so they must remove barriers like clothing.
It was more than an hour before the line started to move, and when it did, the noise level increased exponentially. This was nothing however to what greeted us as we crammed through the tiny entrance into the inner sanctum where the puja was being performed. Hundreds of bells clanged at decibel levels that would be the envy of heavy metal bands. It had to be 40 degrees or more in that space, with bodies crammed together amid the feverish drone of mantras and prayer.
It occurred to me a few times that I might not make it out without fainting, but somehow, I held on until we were catapulted into the relative tranquility of the outer hall. Swamiji Nivedan is nothing if not religious however, so we turned around and did it all again. Apparently it is bad luck to go through once…
You must remove your shoes before entering a Hindu temple. You are also required to take a shower. Yet, there are cows inside the temple walls letting loose streams of urine (holy, apparently) and piles of poop. There is also a river in front of this sacred place which stinks of human shit. Because it is full of it. And this is the dichotomy that exists at every turn in this place.