Followers of different religions all over the world often allege to
witness various supernatural occurrences, which are afterwards interpreted as
signs of divine interventions and used to justify the “righteousness” of the religious doctrines.
The Hindu Milk Miracle has started in Delhi’s Hindu Lord Ganesha temple
on the night of 21 September 1995. The temple’s head priest Radha Krishna
Bharadwai was woken at night by one of his neighbors who claimed that the
statue of the god Ganesha actually drank the milk, which was offered to it as part
of customary Hindu religious ritual.
It has soon unleashed veritable explosion of religious fervor among
the India’s Hindu majority population. To the extent that in some parts of the country it became difficult to obtain milk for
consumption, since everybody wanted to rush to his nearby temple in order to offer it to the god’s statue and receive
much needed blessings in exchange. Interestingly, Indian communities spread all over the world also
partook in the Ganesha milk miracle craze.
POSSIBLE
EXPLANATION:
The event caused understandable stir in India and soon some of the
leading scientists were asked by the government to investigate the matter. It
took some time to shed more light on the phenomenon. The scientists
claimed that since most of the statues were carved out of stone the natural occurrence
called caterpillar effect actually took place[1].
It is characterized by liquids flowing in narrow spaces without the assistance
or even in opposition to the forces of gravity[2], It is a common occurrence in
everyday life and paint brush absorbing the water is one of its most common
examples. Renowned psychologists also asserted that the so called miracle was an
example of a mass hysteria.
Not surprisingly, the scientifical proof didn’t convince the most
ardent believers. Especially, since the phenomenon ended almost simultaneously in
most of the temples just few days later, which was seen by some Hindus as a proof of the superranatural character of the phenomena.
The
article was inspired by the BBC World’s Podcast, which can be accessed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04kfxxt
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