Post News Network
Malkangiri, Dec 7: At a time when man-animal conflicts make regular news headlines, a wild bear, shunning its violent instincts, receives food from the devotees of a temple. Though sounds incredible, it is true.
A bear regularly visits the Bhairav temple, two km away from here on Malkangiri-Jeypore road, patiently waits till the religious rituals get over and disappears into a nearby forest without harming anyone after taking ‘prasad’ from the devotees, a report said.
This has proved yet again that even wild animals are not violent in nature unless they are pushed to the corners, locals claimed.
According to sources, most of the commuters stop over for a darshan and worship at the temple which is close to Gai hill and reserve forest. Earlier, two bears used to come to the temple and take coconut and banana from the devotees during festivals. After a few days, they got so familiar with the people that they started coming everyday for food. The presence of large number of devotees never stopped their movement on temple premises, a priest of the temple said.
The animals stopped coming to the shrine a few months back after miscreants pelted stones at them. But a bear has again started coming to the temple after more than 30 Swami Ayappa devotees came here to stay for some time. The devotees have been worshipping here round-the-clock. The bear comes to the temple regularly on hearing the sounds of cymbal and recital of mantras expecting ‘prasad’ and biscuits from devotees.
“The animal used to sit along the road till our rituals were completed and return to forest after consuming the fruit. However, it is feeling extremely comfortable with us and not in a hurry these days to escape into the wilderness. The unusual scene is drawing huge crowds to the temple,” some devotees said. PNN