Thread by @TheDilliMirror

THE ONLY TEMPLE OF EXORCISM IN INDIA: DON'T TAKE PRASAD HOME & DON'T LOOK BACK:
I have seen my share of pain & helplessness in life but there have been only 2 instances where crying of people have made my stomach churn and knees week. One - The crying of people with severe burns

being given bath at the burns ward of Safdarjung Hospital 2) Shrieks of people believed to be possessed at Mehdipur Balaji temple at Dausa District, about 110 km from Jaipur .

The first time I visited the temple - I was shocked by 2 particular sites. Hundreds , like really

hundreds of devotees lying around with heavy stones on their body. They believe the stones can relieve you of any pain.
And secondly the room where the exorcism is performed. People banging their heads on the wall, Hot water being poured on people, people chained to large rocks

One heavily pregnant lady was moving around in circles at a speed that would make a normal person fall down with dizziness. She was continuously chanting " Baccha hoga tu marr dongi, ab ja . Baccha hoga tu marr dongim, ab ja ".

Other man who was tied with chains shouting

"Purre gao ko aag lagana hai, phir maas khaonga" . I spent over 4-5 hours and actually saw these people going away normally. They were being treated by either chanting or physical pain. It was the most surreal experience of my life. This one particular instance -

a man was encircled by group of people. The man was dancing inside the circle- abusing, hitting, cutting himself the group outside playing dholki and chimta. Dancing and chanting. The tempo and beats of music slowly building. At its peak the tempo was so high that they could not

dance and yet the music kept getting louder and faster and then the man in the middle fell on the ground. The music stops. After 10 minutes , the man gets up . Looks around as if he has no idea where he is and quizzically looks at person who appears to be his father .

Both of them walk away quietly.
As the legend goes, long ago the image of Lord Balaji and that of Pret Raja (the king of spirits) appeared from the Aravali hills. Ppl suffering from malignant spirits and black magic or spell got relief when they made an appeal for relief to

Shri Bheruji Pret Raj Sankar who holds his court and awards punishment to the malignant spirits, ghosts, goblins, ghouls, evil eyed witches etc. It is said that all the idols in the temple have self appeared in the hills & are not man made.
There are 3-4 chambers in the temple.

First 2 are of lord Hanuman & Lord Bhairav, where you throe black color balls in the ceremonial fire to keep evil forces at bay. The 3rd chamber is where the exorcism is performed. There are 4 very clear rules that you have to follow-
1) Do not eat or drink anything

from the village as soon as you step inside.

2) Do not talk to or touch any person inside the temple.
3) Do not carry back any food item or prasad back home .
4) And most most importantly, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT LOOK BACK AS YOU ARE LEAVING !

Such is the impact of the

temple that in 2003 scientist, scholars and psychiatrists from Germany, Netherlands, AIIMS and Delhi University did a research study on temple trying to understand the role of occult and traditional tricks in areas of mental health .