Piligrimages that go wrong

The topic got triggered when I saw the news coverage of the 140 dead in the Himachal temple and also many injured.

The stampede happened due to the rumour of a landslide on the hill on which the temple stands.

People started running downhill and rammed into a crowd of people coming up the temple path.Others tried to jump the railing, which gave way leading to people slipping from the sides.

this is not a one a kind of news. There was the stampede at Kanaka durga temple at vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, this January taking lot of lives.

There are stampedes rampant during the makara jothi at the Sanctum of Sabarimala.

The 265 people who were killed in a temple in maharashtra.

Stampedes at temples are not uncommon in India where thousands of people gather to pray during festivals.

In olden days, before the advent of trains and other services, there used to be celebrations at home before the onset of a piligrimage to say kashi or badrinath and one again after their return (As question of safe return was always in the mind of everyone..)

Even in temples that were small ones without much gatherings are now gaining popularity thanks to the media. the other day there was a discussion of a temple that stands tilted and people thronging to see it.

Take the case of the haj/umra, even there, there have been stampedes.

Why does this happen? I have heard and seen about the crowd management and the security persons organised for the days during a piligrimage. But sometimes the rush of the people is more than is anticipated even by the authorities. Shouldn't the governments have more disaster/crisis management camps at these places, where things can be taken into hand.

After all life is precious to every human being, and in the case of the recent stampede, the rumour of a landslide has hit the survival instincts of the people that they stopped thinking before moving. A better emergency exit would have saved lot of lives??

I also wonder, if people die going to see god (as is said by these people), in those day a death of this kind was thought to be mukthi, which i cannot accept.

So what do you think should be done to avert these stampedes.....

I like the system of darshan at the Tirupathi temple, though sometimes it takes days for the piligrims to get a darshan, stampedes are very less.

what other solutions....

You must have heard of Shirdi Sai Baba Temple located at Nasik, Maharashtra. There are many devotees who have died on the way to the temple. S.T buses have over turned, the cars have rammed, horrendous accidents of devotess are witnessed. Some leading actors of Marathi Films have too died on the way to the temple.

I always say a small prayer while I am on my way to this temple. My mom would say, if you do not go with a clean heart, you will be punished and one devil can take 100's with him. May be what she says is true in the recent case of stampede at Shimla.

Believe me, It is suffocating and I have faced a mini stampede in Mumbai city..

May Gold rest the departed souls in peace. Give strength to the family to cope up with the loss.

Mals,

Thanks for stepping in here.

There are people who offer prayers, poojas before starting off on piligrimages, and the reason for this is obvious more these days.

I duly agree with your mom's idea. It could be true.
Look at the sabarimala piligrims, these days everything is done in the 41 days of vrath, cigars, liquor, everything...

There are temples where men wearing their shirts were not allowed and now i see them going around the sanctum wearing shirts.

All in the name of becoming more modern...

Call me traditional or whatever, I do prefer the old ways, still, though i may be part of a small group.

Dear Shanvy and Malspie
I prefer to go to a temple when there is no or less crowd. If there is huge crowd u wont be able to worship the Deity of the temple at all. Instead sit at home and pray the Deity on that particular day. It is oneway better. The regulations at Tirupati is far better but one thing there also u wont be able to view Lord Venkatachalapathy more than a milli second. Instead of slokams or namavali all u can hear was jarukandi, jarukandi and jarukandi.
Regards
uma

Dear Shanti,

I am proud to say that I too belong to that small group............I agree with you, everything has become so modernised these days...........all our old and golden practises are fading away .................there is so much bhakti and so much voilence in this present world.........God alone should save this world......................

Every thing that was practised in India had some reason or the other........may be we will have to explore the scientific reasons behind these practises.................which i do most of the time...................

Kali mudhiduthu., vera enna solradhu,we are hearing these type of incidents very frequenltly these days, but whatever happen public not going to change their mentality, why do they want to go in rush time to temple, and atleast after all these incidents, at the least they should avoid taking kids and senior citizens

And, pls dont talk about going to SABARIMALAI, its highly disgusting for me to talk about the issue, iam upset too seeing thier behaviour even at the time of VIRUDHAM and moreover those guys not doing any job or earning something for the family, even for sabari malai's expenses they expect money form the female member of the family ( this i have seen personally) fi feel, GURU should be STIRCT in choosing the guys ( ofcourse one should have self control by their own) mmmmm.no use in talking this...feeling sad to see all this....KALACHARA SIRAZHIVU

Hi,

Nice topic to discuss. My suggestion would be to strictly adhere to Q's. Till the path leads to the sanctum a strict Q should be formed and in specific the rails should be able to fit only one person at a time and not even a kid extra.At times we have to be strict when people try to misuse the opportunity and spoil the environment. So sad and worried to hear when people rushing front and gone mad at those environments after all we are there to worship lord, donno why they forget this and tend to stand first amongst all. Is god going to give them an extra boon ? No way. the disciplinary committee has to be strict when the crowd is uncontrollable. And above all inspite of rules and laws the people themselves should understand how to behave when they are in crowd.

Hi Shanthi,

You can count me in, I am very orthodox when it comes to temples etc.. Either you go with the tradition or you drop it completely. I salute people who openly say they are aethists, but worse is when they do the "Bandar" act, wearing shirts, drinking, many have started going to pilgrimage like honeymoon! I can't take all this, I am not very religious but when it comes to prayers I have a strict code of conduct for myself and I follow it religiously. No drinking, no dancing and no hoopla of any kind, it is neat and clean mind on the way to seek darshan.

Originally Posted by umasridharan

Dear Shanvy and Malspie
I prefer to go to a temple when there is no or less crowd. If there is huge crowd u wont be able to worship the Deity of the temple at all. Instead sit at home and pray the Deity on that particular day. It is oneway better. The regulations at Tirupati is far better but one thing there also u wont be able to view Lord Venkatachalapathy more than a milli second. Instead of slokams or namavali all u can hear was jarukandi, jarukandi and jarukandi.
Regards
uma

Hey uma,

the jaragandi jaragandi, indeed hits you raw on your nerves when you just wait so long for his darshan. I don't go to temples much. Infact it is a sore point at home as I have a temple just as I walk across my home.(Ofcourse the reasons some other day)

I definitely agree on praying at home, peacefully.

Originally Posted by padmavathi m

Dear Shanti,

I am proud to say that I too belong to that small group............I agree with you, everything has become so modernised these days...........all our old and golden practises are fading away .................there is so much bhakti and so much voilence in this present world.........God alone should save this world......................

Every thing that was practised in India had some reason or the other........may be we will have to explore the scientific reasons behind these practises.................which i do most of the time...................

Padma,

i think the small group just hangs in between the too traditional and the too hip hop generation of today...

God maybe thinking what to do.

There are lot of reasons, scientific , logical, social, for most practices..but these days even if you tell the kids, they don't wait to ask show me proof.

Some measures need to be taken ....