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Showing posts from January 15, 2011


Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple Tragedy January 14, 2011 – More than 100 dead – One more addition to the long list of Temple Stampedes in India– When will we awake?

In a temple tragedy on Friday, January 14, 2011 at the famous Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple in Kerala more than 100 pilgrims have died in a stampede – the pilgrims numbering more than 200,000 were returning from Pullumedu in Idukki after witnessing the Makaravilakku and Makarajyothi on January 14, 2011. More than a million devotees had gathered in and around the mountains in Sabariamala to witness the annual Makaravilakku and Makarajyothi which concludes the two month long pilgrimage, which is believed to be the second largest pilgrimage in the world. Temple stampedes during festivals and auspicious days is nothing new in India. (Naina Devi Temple tragedy in 2008 – 145 Dead, Wai Temple Stampede in 2005 – 265 dead, Chamunda temple at Jodhpur (2008) – 147 dead, 63 after a temple gate crashed in UP in 2010...the list is endless. Government, politicians and public react to such incidents with usual statements and immediately forget about it. Stampede happens repeatedly and finally we find an e