An educated, 19-year-old Indian girl has taken a lot of people aback after she sliced off her tongue with a blade and offered it to Goddess Kali to appease the deity into granting her heart’s desire.
Aarti Dubey, an undergraduate student at TRS College in Madhya Pradesh, made the extreme sacrifice a day after she dreamed about the deity demanding her tongue in exchange for granting all her wishes.
Her brother Sachin told Mail Online:
“Aarti had confided in me about the dream and told me that she was going to offer her tongue to the deity. But it never occurred to me that she was serious about it. I thought she was just kidding.
“I have heard about incidents of illiterate and superstitious people offering their body parts to appease the gods. I never thought that my own college-going sister could be so superstitious.”
The shocking act took place at a Kali temple in the town of Reeva, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. After cutting off her tongue, Aarti fell unconscious immediately.
The priest and fellow devotees present on the temple premises covered her with a scarf and kept praying for her well-being instead of taking her to a doctor.
When the girl regained consciousness after five hours, people hailed it as the blessing of the goddess.
“I was right there when the girl cut off her tongue and offered it to the deity. The goddess is the almighty and she always protects her devotees,” said priest Devi Prasad Sharma.
Much to the surprise of the onlookers and devotees, Aarti got up and finished the rest of the rituals, including doing the rounds of the temple premises, with a faint smile on her face.
As the news spread in the locality, the authorities swung into action and a team of doctors and policemen arrived at the spot around noon. The doctors did a check-up on Aarti and sent her home after giving her first aid.
Shyam Mishra, a local journalist, said:
“There have been incidents of people offering their organs to the gods, expecting to get their wishes granted by the supreme power. What is startling in this case is the girl in question is educated. Illiterate people are bound to be superstitious, but when educated people become superstitious it does not bode well for the society as a whole.”