Unlikely visitor: Rat at rural Gadag pandal attracts Ganesha devotees

Pic: DRAWING CROWDS: A rat is seen with the Ganesha idol at a pandal in Totaganti village in Gadag districtGadag: According to Hindu mythology, the rat is believed to be the vehicle of Lord Ganesha.

Almost all artists and sculptors add a rat at the feet of Ganesha's image or statue. However, a real rat was seen with the Ganesh idol at a public Ganesha pandal at a Gadag village.

Photos and videos of this rat have gone viral on social media.Nagaraj Huilgol, a villager, told TOI that Annadaneshwar Yuvaka Mandali has been installing a 5-foot high idol for years. "This year, it is special for us as a live rat is attracting devotees even from neighbouring villages," he added.Vinayak Konagouda, Prajwal Honnappagoudar, and Praveen Shirur recalled that the rat accompanied the statue while they were bringing it by tractor from Kinnal village, which is famous for Ganesha statues and is located about 60 km away from Totaganti. "We stopped the tractor on the outskirts of Kinnal to have some tiffin at a tiny hotel while returning with the statue. We saw a rat running around the statue and removed it from there.

Meanwhile, we also found that the artist had forgot to make a rat statue at the feet of the Ganesha. When we told our village elders about it over the phone, they suggested not to harm the rat," they shared.Other volunteers, Shivu Shivabasangoudar, Kiran Madiwalar, Amaresh Patil, and Shashi Sanna Ayyanagoudar, said that even after performing the puja, the rat stayed around the statue. "Some of our elders took it and left it in a safer place, but it returned in a short while.

We are now feeding it with some sweet dishes such as laddu, grains, seeds, and pieces of fruit. It is often seen around the statue and sometimes on it.

When we take it in our hands, it has neither harmed us nor is frightened by us," they added.Biodiversity researcher Manjunath Nayak commented that the rat is a key animal in the food chain and resides in a specific place. "It looks like it is currently in a traumatic condition and will go away once it feels normal. We have requested villagers not to harm it and allow it to leave on its own," he said.The Ganesha idol will be immersed on Sept 4.