VELLORE: A 86 year-old self-styled godman took bath in water mixed with over 30 kilos of chilli powder, in a bid to ward off the hardships and suffering of others. The news spread like wildfire and attracted a huge crowd to where the godman was performing his special ablution in a narrow street of Vavusi Nagar in Sathuvachari.
Around 100 people in and around Sathuvachari, Vellore and Gudiyattam poured the water mixed with chilli powder over the godman, who calls himself as “Alukku (Dirt) Samiyar.”
At 10.15 am, the godman sat inside a 25 litre cooking vessel, while his devotees poured the chilli-powder-water over him, one after another, for half-an-hour. “Around 10 persons purchased the chilli powder. We mixed it in water and we poured it over him using a small bucket . He did not show any sign of discomfort. We recorded the entire happening,” said Pandian, a realtor, who arranged the special pooja.
“I observe the torment and miseries of the persons who pour the chilli-powder-water over me. With the holiness vested in me, I will relieve them from all their sufferings,” the godman claimed. He said, a couple of years ago, he performed a similar pooja in Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
“It (chilli powder water) will not harm me,” said the godman, who is a native of Kerala and was brought up in an ashram in Vadakara (Kerala).
Before coming to Vellore four months ago, he was in Red Hills and Tiruvallur. “We want to set up an ashram in Sathuvachari hills during his stay here. He does not ask for anything from persons seeking his blessing, but accepts whatever they offer,” said Pandian.
However, some residents stated that few persons were trying to make money in the name of faith. The police warned the organisers of the pooja that action would be initiated if something happened to the godman.