Kolkata : “Human footprints” on the surface of a pond adjoining a temple in West Bengal’s Howrah district Thursday saw hundreds thronging to see what they believed to be “footprints” of Goddess Shitala, a Hindu deity.
But scientists pooh-poohed the claim.
As news spread that two human footprints have surfaced over a pond beside a temple of “Maa Shitala” in Bally, people made a beeline to catch a glimpse.
People claimed they were the footprints of the goddess and jostled among themselves to pay obeisance to the ‘divine foot prints’.
“I know it is of Maa Shitala. She has come to bless us. Only a goddess can walk over water,” said one of the devotees.
Eminent nuclear scientist and a former director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics Bikash Sinha, dismissing the claim, said: “It is really ironical to know that people can be so superstitious in this age. There is nothing divine in the foot prints. The moment a scientific analysis is done it will be clear how it has been formed.”
“It is unfortunate that people are thronging to see the phenomenon and claiming it to be divine. People who are educated too believe in such hocus-pocus. It is indeed very sad,” P.N. Ghosh, the vice chancellor of Jadavpore University, said.
IANS
