India is home to many odd traditions. Its unique cultural heritage attracts people from all over the world. Considering its history, we all know that in this country, customs and religion go together. This country has witnessed it all, starting from innocuous customs to the out-and-out risky ones.
One such peculiar tradition is tossing children off the rooftop. Yes! Believe it or not, but this tradition is still very much in practice in many parts of the country.
The history of Indian Tradition - tossing children off the rooftop | Whats in India?
It was around 700 years back when this ritual came into force. Once a saint instructed the families to throw their babies off the roof of a holy shrine and God would miraculously present a sheet below to catch the baby.
This ritual is still practiced in a few villages of Karnataka and Maharashtra for ensuring a good and healthy life for their children. In such areas, the infant mortality rates are quite high. This is the primary reason for performing this ritual. Both Hindu and Muslim families live in that area practice this ritual.
Solapur, a small village in Maharashtra, has been practicing this custom for ages. Baba Umer Dargah is one such place in this village where this ritual is performed.
At the time the families used to take a newborn baby to this shrine, and the priest used to hold the baby by its limbs shook them a bit and then threw them from the rooftop of the Dargah. A group of people stood below with a sheet to hold the baby. Fortunately, they didn’t rely on the belief that a sheet would seem all of a sudden to hold the baby.
Is it really necessary to traumatize the infants to keep them safe and healthy and that too in an era where medical advancements are at its peak?
The action of higher authorities against this Indian ritual of tossing children off the rooftop | Whats in India?
In the year 2009, steps were taken by higher authorities to ban this culture. Though it had stopped for a while, again in 2012, the practice was resumed. It took place at a temple called Digambar Eshwara temple in a village of Nagrala.
Some video footage also went viral, where it is clearly seen that the infants are crying and trembling with fear. But the crowd cheering at the back seemed utterly indifferent to the fact.
This is simply one more case of following old practices that don't have a spot in current society. It's justifiable that hundreds of years back, individuals needed to depend more on strange notions than clinical science.
However, nowadays, such traditions are simply dangerous and superfluous. Having faith is great, but don't traumatise their childhood by doing so. Have they ever thought about what will happen if the man is irresponsible and does not hold the baby at the right time?
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