Chennai, July 2, 2013:A temple ritual ended in disaster for a pair of three-year-old twins who fell onto a bed of burning coals at the Draupati Amman temple in Kasimedu on Sunday evening. They were being borne by their grandfather who was walking on 100-ft-long ‘fire bed’ as part of an annual ritual.

While 60-year-old S. Narayanan, a fisherman, and one of the children, C. Bhavani, sustained 40 per cent burns, the other child, C. Bala, sustained 35 per cent burns. They were initially admitted to Government Stanley Hospital and are now being treated at Apollo Hospital in Tondiarpet for burns to the stomach, hands, legs and face.

The festival was held between 6 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. on Sunday and the main event was the ‘fire walking’ ritual. Over 10,000 devotees attended the festival at the 15th century temple and 1,108 devotees took part in the ‘fire walking’ ritual. Temple authorities said that the day being a holiday, the rush was especially heavy. As the duration of the festival was short, many devotees who came from places as far away as Kancheepuram, Periyapalayam, Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu thronged the temple hoping to get to return soon. “Devotees were pushing each other to get to walk on the ‘fire bed’. We told Narayanan not to carry the children but he insisted. Luckily, the moment the incident occurred, volunteers stepped in and removed the injured” said K.Veeran, a devotee in Kasimedu.

Eye-witnesses said Narayanan was unable to bear the weight of the children. Also, his eyes were covered by their legs and he slipped.  “We had told temple authorities not to allow devotees to carry children during but they said adequate safety measures, including volunteers, were in place,” said John Rose, inspector (Law & Order), Kasimedu police.  

Fishermen conduct rituals and offerings to the goddess Draupati before they venture out to the sea,” said K.Sridaran, former deputy director, state archaeology department.

Source: The Hindu, DT. July 2, 2013.