Karni Mata

Presiding deity of the temple by the
same name in the village of Deshnok in
the state of Rajasthan. Karni Mata is a
local form of the Mother Goddess; her
name refers to the place where an ear
(karni) of the dismembered goddess Sati
fell to earth. The temple is unusual in
that it is inhabited by thousands of rats,
which are considered Karni Mata’s sons.
According to the local tradition, Karni
Mata’s son drowned in a local pond.
When she tried to influence Yama, the
god of death, to give her son a favorable
rebirth, she was told that he had already
been reborn as a rat. At her request,
Yama allowed all of her male descendants to be born as rats in the temple at
Deshnok. Yama agreed that in the next
life the rats would be reborn as family
members of the temple’s servants.
According to this myth, the rats and the
temple priests are all members of one
extended family.