Oothupatti village, Dindigul district

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This bizarre ritual needs a strong head

The Times of India

Madurai: In a bizarre ritual in a village temple in Dindigul district in the early hours of Monday, devotees redeemed their vows to the local deity by allowing a priest to break coconuts on their heads.

In fact, every three years, the villagers subject themselves to the painful and dangerous ritual while offering worship to their deities, Sri Sennappan and Sri Karuppanasamy, in J Oothupatti village. [J seems superfluous: I Googled it.]

This year, the festival began with a special pooja and at about 2 am on Monday with devotees taking out a procession dressed in red robes and wearing a crown made of deer fur. Those wishing to take part in the ritual take a dip in the temple tank and come out in wet clothes and kneel down in the temple yard where the priest, A Malaiyan, goes into a trance and breaks the coconuts on their heads. Goats are then slaughtered to mark the end of the festival. People from the Kurumba Koundar community, spread across Tamil Nadu, rather here for the festival. ‘‘If the coconut’s broken with one strong blow on the head, it’s a sign that the deity has accepted our offering and we take them home as prasad,’’ a devotee said. TNN