Babies Worldwide

A festival in Bijapur district which involves throwing babies from the top of a 9-metre Hindu temple onto a blanket held by revellers is facing a ban after drawing the ire of authorities. Tossing a baby is said to confer a long healthy life.

“As I am new to the district, I did not know about the unusual ritual, which is inhuman and terrifying for babies. I intend to prevent the people from indulging in such acts next time,” said deputy commissioner R Shantharaj.

India has a wide range of superstitions and festivals. A ban on a stone-throwing ritual, during which fatalities and injuries are not uncommon, triggered riots earlier this year. Eventually authorities were unable to prevent the event occurring.

Tags: baby throwing festival

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 10:59 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.