Holy Rats and Camel Humps

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DAY 384: While Bikaner is home to the beautiful Junagarh Fort, it wasn’t the architecture that brought me there.  No, I had come for something much smaller in size than a big impenetrable fortress, and that little something was covered in dark fur and sported a long tail.  Thirty kilometers south of Bikaner lies the Karni Mata Temple, known by many simply as the “Rat Temple” for its thousands of sacred rats that run rampantly through the building.  According to Hindu lore, a rat was the reincarnation of the nephew of Karni Mata, Bikaner’s patron goddess, and all the male descendants thereafter were also born as rats.

I remembered seeing Karni Mata Temple serve as one of the obstacles the contestants had to overcome in the first season of The Amazing Race—people had to overcome any fears of free-range rodents running at their bare feet to get to the next clue.  It was a place that, like so many other places, proclaimed itself as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

AFTER A PUBLIC BUS RIDE THROUGH THE DESERT, I was dropped off in Deshnok, the small desert town where the temple resides amidst the food stalls that sprouted up when the temple became known as a tourist attraction.  I paid the camera usage fee, took off my sandals and prepared for the onslaught of sacred rodents. 

As a foreigner I wasn’t allowed into the sacred central shrine area, but that didn’t mean I didn’t get my share of rats.  Thousands of rats scurried around the temple pavilion, doing what sacred rats reincarnated from holy deities do, i.e. sleeping, kissing, eating or drinking the offerings brought over by worshipers.  Others simply honored the holy rats with music.  There was a time when such a scene might have freaked me out—believe me there were some jumpy people there—but for some reason it didn’t phase me; over the past year, I’d become desensitized to a lot of things in true experienced globetrotter form.  Rats?  Rats, schmats.  (At least they weren’t snakes.)

There weren’t really as many rats running around as I thought there would be; I expected it to be one big rat rave, like a big furry moving carpet, but the rats were pretty subdued as rats are, hiding in corners or in the insides of walls—although one curious rate came over to me to nibble on my foot (picture above).  I guess that means I was blessed.

THAT AFTERNOON I WENT TO SEE CREATURES of a bigger size, creatures also with four legs, but with big humps on their backs:  camels.  Seven kilometers out of Bikaner in the middle of the desert, was the Camel Breeding Center, still in operation today since its origins during the days of the ancient Silk Route.  An auto-rickshaw driver took me there and waited for me by the entry gate for me to finish.  I signed into the logbook and saw the names above mine:  “Martina” and “Michael.”

The Austrian couple was there, after recuperating from a night of Michael’s heat-related fever and Martina’s worrying and nursing of him.  They invited me to tag along their short guided tour they were on and we saw the things one sees at a camel farm:  lots of camels.  Camels walking, camels eating, and camels just sort of hanging out in stables—everything but camels actually breeding.  The in-ranch Camel Museum explained the different kinds of camels in the region (Jaisalmer, Kachchi and Bikaneri) and the versatility of camel-related products, from utensils to textiles to “decorative" camel fetuses.  It didn’t stop there; camels had also been used once to generate electricity and camel milk is of great importance; not only did it produce milk for the desert people, but camel milk was known to aid in the treatment of tuberculosis victims.  Camels were bred for all these purposes, but more significantly for camel safaris, the big thing to do in the region if you had the time and money.  (Those of you Blogreaders using this Blog for research for your own trip, a camel safari is a “must do;” I was only skipping out on it due to time restrictions and the fact that I’d done one in Morocco already.)

I MET THE AUSTRIANS back in town at a restaurant recommended in my guidebook, one of the few ones that actually served meat, but when we got there, nothing was being served in accordance with the Muslim fasting season of Ramadan, when food was not to be consumed until after sundown.  We looked elsewhere in town for a place that was open before sunset and finally found the Suraj Restaurant, serving Hindus not practicing the Muslim custom.  Although no meat was served, it was a good place for proper food, particularly the Kashmir Pullav rice dish I ordered with savory spices and fruits, garnished with a silvery substance that looked like aluminum foil (but edible).  For the Austrians and I it was a sort of farewell dinner; I’d leave that night on an overnight sleeper bus to Udaipur, while the two would stay another night and leave early the next morning to Jaisalmer for a camel safari. 

“May we invite you for dinner?” Michael asked me.  I was confused because we had just eaten.

“Treat you to dinner,” his girlfriend corrected his English.  “May we treat you to dinner.”

“No, it’s okay, I can pay.”

“No, really.  Our treat.”

I gave a respectful hesitant pause before saying, “Yeah, okay, sure.” Turn down a free meal?  Shiet, no way! Michael paid the tab and they sent me off on my way.  I suppose that’s how Austrians say goodbye.

I BOARDED THE OVERNIGHT SLEEPER BUS of private bus company Nandu Travels—it was the only way to get to Udaipur since there was no direct train.  The bus took me southbound, away from the camels and the rats nibbling on my feet.


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This blog entry about the events of Saturday, November 06, 2004 was originally posted on November 10, 2004 on the blog, "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World (Or Until Money Runs Out, Whichever Comes First)," hosted by BootsnAll.com. It is one of over 500 entries that chronicled a trip around the world from October 2003 to March 2005, encompassing travel through thirty-seven countries in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was this blog that "started it all," where Erik evolved and honed his style of travel blogging. (It starts to come into focus around the time he arrives in Africa.)

Praised and recommended by USA Today, RickSteves.com, and readers of BootsnAll and Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, The Global Trip blog was selected by the editors of PC Magazine for the "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without" (in the travel category) in 2005.





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