An Indian man cut off his tongue to appease a deity at a temple in India’s eastern state of Orissa state, a news report said on Wednesday.
Aswini Patel (25) went to a temple in Rourkela city on Tuesday, sliced off his tongue with a razor blade and offered it at the idol of Hindu god Shiva, police told the IANS news agency.
Rourkela lies about 500km north of state capital
Bhubaneshwar.
Relatives of the temple priest spotted the man when he was trying to put his severed tongue near the idol and informed the police, inspector Prasanta Mohanty said.
The man was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors who operated on him said he might be able to speak again.
Shiva, among the popular deities in India, is one of the gods in the Hindu holy trinity. The triad comprises Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the preserver or sustainer and Shiva the destroyer.
There is a centuries-old tradition of sacrifices to appease deities in India, but the practice has diminished.
Last year, a man in northern Jammu and Kashmir state cut off his tongue to appease the goddess Kali. Earlier, a man in another state slit the throat of his four-year-old son, saying he saw visions of Kali
demanding a human sacrifice. – Sapa-DPA