Devotees visiting the much-famed Banke Bihari temple in Mathura were recently mistaken by an AC outlet, which resembled an elephant's face. Most of them confused it with an outlet releasing holy water out of the sanctum sanctorum. Believing it to be 'Charan Amrit,' they consumed it. A video recorded many devotees approaching the elephant-designed structure to collect and drink water dripping off from it.
The video opened by showing 3-4 people holding paper cups in their hands to collect some water from the outlet, unaware of it not being AC water not suitable for consumption. They placed their cups below the outlet and took some drops of the water in it. Others placed their bare hand below to hold some water. One of the them, a woman, was also seen praying to the 'blessed' water before drinking it.
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"AC ka paani hai ye..."
As the devotees walked further, after sipping some water and sprinkling it on their body, a person told them that the water they just collected and consumed was coming out of an AC and not the main temple area where the deities were placed.
"Didi, AC ka paani hai ye. Charano ka paani nahi hai ye Thakur ji ke (Sister, this is AC water and not the water that washed Thakur ji's feet)," the person said, leaving the woman speechless. He quoted temple priests while making the claim about the source of water.
Netizens react
As the video rolled out on the internet, netizens reflected on a need to educate people to be cautious during their visits to an unfamiliar space, even be it temples or other places of faith.
Elephant structure, why?
"The mandir administration should have used an underground pipe. They constructed a weird elephant mouth and placed a bucket underneath?" wrote an user suggesting the elephant design made it confusing for people to figure out it was water being released from an air conditioner. Another user took note of the incident and called it "Embarrassing!"
