Fire Walking

Devotees walk on burning coal to prove their devotion to the local deities. This is practiced in many parts of South India and is a ritual done to appease Goddess Durga, Lord Ayappa and Lord Subramanya. I went for this Ayappa Puja that was organized close to my residence in Chennai. I knew that people are going to walk on burning coal. I thought there would be just about 10 people doing it, to my surprise..there were more than 100 devotees in all. All the devotees had a cold water bath, and lined up for the fire walking. They walked one behind the other…..and no one was hurt. One of the devotees walked with a child on his hands.