Open Challenge to Nagakallu (cobra stone) Visualisers
Mangaluru: Spreading superstitions in the name of Naga (the Indian cobra) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_cobra has been a common feature in coastal Karnataka with diagnosing the source of almost all problems of health or social or family matters as due to naga dosha. It could be either that someone in the family had killed a cobra or offended it or even did the same to a stone carved or inscribed with the picture of the snake. Once the fault is identified solutions which are usually very expensive are proposed! I have been campaigning against such since long.
Recently some of the TV channels have been featuring an individual who claims to identify such snake stones from depths of even 6 feet under the ground though covered by mud, cement, porcelain tiles and instructs how to dig them out. One channel has also shown such a stone along with a trident being extricated from a spot allegedly buried since years. The said individual also draws a diagram showing the figure inscribed on the stone! In order to put to test this person’s unique abilities, I would request him to hand over such a stone to me from his own collection which I would enclose in a box with mud covering it from all sides. I will put ten such boxes with mud out of which he will have to identify the one containing the stone. Of course, that will be the easy part of the test because the chances of guessing the right one will be one out of ten. Then comes the more difficult part. On the stone which he will provide, I will be sticking a currency note obliterating the figure of the snake inscribed on it as I am not afraid of any naga dosha or curse of the cobra. He will have to draw a picture of that. I already hinted that it will be a currency note. He will have to name the country, the currency, the denomination and most importantly the serial number of the note. If all these are right then I will hand over all my property to him and will be his servant for the rest of my life.
If he fails he will have to admit that he is a fraud. The test will be conducted in Mangalore at a venue open to the public and the media. Since a good number of innocent/ignorant people are falling prey to this superstition monger I am forced to do this under article 51 ah of the constitution of India which outlines one of the duties of a citizen that is to develop scientific temper, the spirit of inquiry and humanism.
Narendra Nayak
President, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations secretary, Dakshina Kannada Rationalist Association
Member of the board of Atheist Alliance International
in indian culutre they ask to respect naga ..bcos one reason to not to kill that animal so that eco balance will exist there …second point..when naga bana is there ..there you will get greenary and big trees…some time when you get fresh oxygen , your some health problem will improve..i bet no one will get bad health by daily visitng naga bana with big trees and getting fresh oxygen… next my question to narendra nayak …. nun called teressa from kalcutta got saint hood…that means she will be now eqvt. to god…and she got that saint hood for doing… Read more »
I support Prof Nayak in his pursuit of scientific inquiry. After all he has staked his entire property if proved wrong, so he would be the loser. The late Mother Teresa had never claimed to be a saint, she was herself treated at hospitals by “non-saints” (men of science) and that too in “phoren” lands. It is people who claim that she is a saint ( that a certain religious organization “capitalized” this claim is no wonder). Her work when she was alive makes her worthy to have been called a “living saint”(irrespective of her motives and beliefs). The recent… Read more »