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Massed mourners attend funeral of ‘divine’ horse in India, flouting Covid restrictions

The horse had been worshipped as the village's 'guardian deity'.

Staff Writers
1 minute read
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A screenshot of a video showing hundreds of people participating in a funeral procession for a horse, believed to have been divine, in Karnataka, India.
A screenshot of a video showing hundreds of people participating in a funeral procession for a horse, believed to have been divine, in Karnataka, India.

Hundreds of people gathered in Karnataka’s Belagavi on Sunday for the funeral of a horse which belonged to a local religious group and was believed to be divine.

The horse had miracle powers, the villagers said. According to them, every time there was a crisis in the village, the horse was allowed to move around freely to resolve the problems.

Hearing of the demise of the horse, around 500 villagers gathered for its funeral, preparing solemnly for its cremation.

In a video which went viral, villagers were seen taking part in a long procession with little to no regard for social distancing, even though Karnataka is under a strict lockdown, causing a Twitter storm.

Many users tweeted that while the country is battling the worst wave of Covid-19 which prevents many from being able to attend their loved one’s funerals, it is incredible that many people do not really care about the gravity of the situation and forget to follow pandemic procedures.

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “The district administration will look into this incident, and action will be taken.”

Following the funeral, the village has been sealed for 14 days and district health officials have started RT-PCR tests in every house of the village.

The south western state which has been under lockdown since May 10 continues to witness rising cases of Coronavirus.

On May 21, the state government announced an extension of the Covid lockdown for two weeks till June 7.