In drought-hit Karnataka, government holds prayers for rain

Rationalist Narendra Nayak said if this belief was correct then the state government should have held prayers in January to ensure rains throughout the year instead of conducting the exercise just before the advent of the monsoon.

Karnataka’s Muzrai or temple endowments department on Thursday held special prayers at temples across the drought-hit state for rain.

There has been acute shortage of drinking water across Karnataka and 156 of the 176 taluks in the state have been declared drought hit. (HT File Photo)

State water resources minister DK Shivakumar, who offered prayers at the Rishyasringa Temple in Chikkamagaluru district along with his colleague, PT Parameshwar Naik, said the state government was just following a long-held belief.

“There is a long-held belief that if you pray at the Rishyasringa Temple, then you get a good rain. With this in mind, the Muzrai department decided to hold prayers as a precautionary measure because the state faced severe drought last year.”

Muzrai commissioner Shailaja said the government had asked all premier temples in the state to hold prayers at a cost of ₹10,000 from their own funds. “Though there are 37,000 temples under the Muzrai department, not all of them might have conducted prayers because of lack of funds.”

“We prayed to Lord Shiva in the morning and then did the Prajanya Japa. Thanks to this, Lords Shiva and Varuna will ensure good rain and we might even see results as early as Wednesday,’ said SR Dikshit, the Someshwara Temple’s head priest.