If the people are having troubles, sometimes you have to bring in the big guns.<\/p>\n
As the first wave of COVID-19 spread through India last June, Anilan Namboothiri, a resident of the southern state of Kerala, set up a new idol in his home shrine that he honors as \u201ccorona devi,\u201d or corona goddess: The unusual polystyrene figure, resembling the spiky COVID-19 protein, found its place alongside established Hindu deities such as Krishna and Shiva in the 48-year-old journalist\u2019s shrine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn ancient times, contagions were attributed to the wrath of goddesses\u2026 that needed to be propitiated,\u201d said Namboothiri in Malayalam. \u201cThe message I wanted to send people is that you can stay at home and worship god. God exists everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across India, people are worshipping female divine forms of the coronavirus, variously called \u201ccorona devi,\u201d or by other forms of respect such as \u201ccorona mata\u201d (corona mother) or \u201ccorona mai.\u201d Incidents of idol worship or rituals to a coronavirus-inspired female deity have been reported from the southernmost states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar in the north and Assam in the east, all apparently springing up organically and unrelatedly. [Religion News Service<\/strong><\/a>]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It doesn’t say that social distancing and vaccination were the decrees of the goddess, so they’d better get around to it quickly.<\/p>\n
It’s a bit of a big, blunt social tool, but if it works, then it’s at least tolerable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If the people are having troubles, sometimes you have to bring in the big guns. As the first wave of COVID-19 spread through India last June, Anilan Namboothiri, a resident of the southern state of Kerala, set up a new idol in his home shrine that he honors as \u201ccorona \u2026 Continue reading