Anantapur, AP, Dec 13: In a bizarre ritual, hundreds of women in Bhakthaharlli village, 140 km from Anantapur, lay on the ground in front of Bhagwan Narasimha temple, as a priest jumped, danced and walked over their prostrate bodies.
It's an annual ritual performed by women, who by centuries of superstition, believe that on the Full Moon night, supernatural powers enter the body of the priest nicknamed Bhoothappa.
The queue of women lying on the ground stretches to more than a kilometre. These women, mostly illiterate, believe that a priest walking on their bodies will fulfil their wishes, which range from marriage to child bearing to numerous diseases of the body.
Local administration had been trying to create awareness among the rural women but has failed. The number of such women appears to be on the rise every year.
