The terrifying test of faith occurred at a temple near Kumta in Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, India, on October 24.
Devotees of Goddess Kamakshi Devi temple lined up to dip their bare hands in boiling oil and take out ‘vadas,’ a local snack, which were being fried in it in order to be offered to the Godess.
As they performed the ‘miraculous’ feat, many watching the spectacle slipped into a trance.
In the video captured by one of the devotees, a man can be seen coming in the front and dipping his hands into the hot boiling oil as he splashed some vada (Local snacks) into the plate held in front of the big utensil. Later, the vadas were then offered to the Goddess as an offering under his name.
Devotees of the temple believe that the Goddess will help them solve their problems if they take a vow to dip their hands in boiling oil as a test of faith. Every year on the full moon day in October they gather at the festival to fulfill their vows.
A local government official described the tradition as harmless and said, “They take out their hands quickly. So, none gets hurt in the incident.”
