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A 24-year-old Indian man was recently hospitalized
after he allegedly cut off his tongue as an offering to the Hindu
goddess Kali Mata, to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
From putting quarantine offenders in haunted houses to people locking
spouses in the bathroom, we’ve seen people do some pretty extreme things
to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Vivek Sharma, a young
stone sculptor working in Suigam, India’s Gujarat state, takes the cake.
Frustrated about not being able to return to his home town in Madhya
Pradesh, because of nationwide lockdowns, Sharma reportedly chopped off
his own tongue at a temple, as an offering to Hindu goddess Kali Mata,
to stop the spread of the virus. So far his sacrifice has proven to be
in vain…
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Last week, Vivek, who was working on an extension of the Bhavani Mata
temple in Suigam along with eight other stone workers, told his
colleagues that he was going to the market during a break. No one
thought much of it at the time, but then he never returned. When they
tried calling his cellphone, they were surprised to hear the voice of a
stranger telling them that Vivek had been found unconscious in a nearby
temple with his tongue cut off.
The devout Hindu was reportedly found on the floor of the Nadeshwari
Temple, and then taken to a hospital in Tharad where doctors attempted
to reattach his tongue. However, it is too early to tell if the medical
procedure was successful, and if the 24-year-old will ever be able to
speak again.
Although he hasn’t yet been able to tell police what exactly happened in
the temple, a source in the police department told the Times of India
that Sharma had cut out his tongue as a sacrifice to Kali Mata, asking
her to stop the spread of the coronavirus so things could go back to the
way they used to be and he could return home.
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“We found him lying unconscious in the temple premises with the tongue
in his hand,” the source said.
“For the last few days, he was keen to go back to his native town in
Madhya Pradesh. But it was impossible due to lockdown. Today, in
reckless abandon, he chopped off his tongue,” police sub inspector HD
Parmar told the Times of India. “Only after thorough investigation we
will know the exact reason for such a step.”
One of Vivek’s co-workers, Brijesh Singh Saab Singh, told authorities
that Sharma, a devotee of Kali Mata, had kept chanting the deity’s name
for a while.
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