Indian teen cuts out tongue as offering to Hindu goddess

A 19-year-old college student who sliced off her tongue with a blade as a sacrifice it to the Hindu Goddess Kali, said she did it because the deity appeared to her in a dream and offered to grant all her wishes.

Aarti Dubey, a student at TRS College in the central Indian state of Madya Pradesh, made the offering a day after dreaming that the goddess demanded her tongue in exchange for granting her wishes, according to the Daily Mail. 

Sachin Dubey, the teen’s brother initially thought she was joking when she informed her him of the plan.

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“Aarti had confided in me about the dream and told me that she was going to offer her tongue to the deity,” he told the paper. “But it never occurred to me that she was serious about it. I thought she was kidding.”

Such incidents are often associated with illiterate members of society in India, which is why it came as a shock to Dubey’s family.

“I have heard about incidents of illiterate and superstitious people offering their body parts to appease the gods,” he said. “I never thought that my own college-going sister could be so superstitious.”

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Dubey fell unconscious after cutting off her tongue and offering it to the goddess at the Kali temple in the town of Reeva.

But, instead of calling a doctor, a Hindu priest and other devotees at the temple covered her with a scarf and continued to pray for her well-being.

She regained consciousness after five hours and witnesses said it was a blessing from the goddess.

“I was right there when the girl cut off her tongue and offered it to the deity,” Devi Prasad Sharma, a priest at the temple said. “The goddess is the almighty and she always protects her devotees.”

Despite passing out for hours, Dubey got up and finished her rituals, including doing the rounds of the temple, even with a small smile on her face.

Police and doctors arrived on the scene around noon as word news of the incident spread locally. After being given first aid and a check up by doctors, the Hindu devotee was sent home.

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A local journalist told the Daily Mail there have been incidents of people offering their organs to the gods with the expectation of having their wishes granted, but the latest case was shocking because because the teen was educated.

“There have been incidents of people offering their organs to the gods, expecting to get their wishes granted by the supreme power,” Shyam Mishra said. “What is startling in this case is the girl in question is educated. Illiterate people are bound to be superstitious, but when educated people become superstitious it does not bode well for the society as a whole.”

Last year, a young cricket fan seeking “intervention of the gods,” cut out his tongue in an attempt to get India to win against Australia in a World Cup semifinal match. India still lost.