Black Bush Polder devotees say statue leaking sindoor

May 15, 2014 News

By Leon Suseran
Devotees of the Narine Durgaa Devi Maha Kali Temple, Mibikuri, Black Bush Polder, as well as curious onlookers and residents, turned out in their numbers yesterday to view a life-sized statue that has been covered in sindoor.

One of the ladies shows the palm of her hand with the sindoor after rubbing it off the sari of the statue

Sindoor is a red powder that adorns the forehead of married women.
The curious onlookers are claiming that the Hindu Goddess Kali has been leaking the symbolic powder since Saturday. This, they believe, is a sign from the spiritual world. The temple was established in 1999.
Sindoor is seen as a visible expression of a woman that she desires her husband to live long. Unmarried women and widows are exempted from using vermillion on their forehead.
Pujari Narine Seeram, priest at the church, stated that while his wife and two other relatives were dressing the statue on Saturday, in preparation for Mother’s Day, “they noticed the substance falling from the top of the head.” He then alerted the other devotees.
On Sunday, “[the sindoor] started to fall more and more.” He stated that heaps of the substance started to accumulate on and around the statue. Much of the powder was collected by devotees and taken to their homes for worship. “This is a miracle, really—we asked for it a long time. We have been worshipping very long. We wanted to see a miracle.”
He said the message being sent is that “it is a blessing—this is a power that she is there—we have many, many persons who say this is concrete that sit there.”
One of the ladies who were dressing the statue on Saturday, Sharmila, stated that they decided to change the statue’s attire around 13:00 hrs that day. “The other girl saw the thing falling down, but we did not check, but when we started to wrap Mother’s sari, we saw the thing dropping on our hands, and then when we took a long look—all her sari full, full with the sindoor and it dropped to her lap on the ground. On Sunday people started to dip out the sindoor for a blessing.”