Open challenge to nagakallu(cobra stone) visualisers
Mangalore Today News Network
Mangaluru, Nov 28, 2018: Spreading superstitions in the name of naga(the Indian cobra) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_cobra has been a common feature in coastal Karnataka with diagnosing the source of almost all problems of health or social or family matters as due to naga dosha. It could be either that some one in the family had killed a cobra or offended it or even did the same to a stone carved or inscribed with the picture of the snake. Once the fault is identified solutions which are usually very expensive are proposed!I have been campaigning against such since long and here is one write up http://nirmukta.com/2011/01/03/the-super-intelligent-superstitious/
Recently some of the TV channels have been featuring an individual who claims to identify such snake stones from depths of even 6 feet under the ground though covered by mud, cement, porcelain tiles and instructs how to dig them out. One channel has also shown such a stone along with a trident being extricated from a spot allegedly buried since years.
The said individual also draws a diagram showing the figure inscribed on the stone! In order to put to test this persons unique abilities I would request him to hand over such a stone to me from his own collection which I would enclose in a box with mud covering it from all sides.
I will put ten such boxes with mud out of which he will have to identify the one containing the stone. Of course that will be the easy part of the test because the chances of guessing the right one will be one out of ten. Then comes the more difficult part. On the stone which he will provide I will be sticking a currency note obliterating the figure of the snake inscribed on it as I am not afraid of any naga dosha or curse of the cobra. He will have to draw a picture of that. I already hint that it will be a currency note. He will have to name the country, the currency, the denomination and most importantly the serial number of the note. If all these are right then I will hand over all my property to him and will be his servant for the rest of my life.
If he fails he will have to admit that he is a fraud. The test will be conducted at Mangalore at a venue open to public and the media. Since a good number of innocent/ignorant people are falling a prey to this superstition monger I am forced to do this under article 51 ah of the constitution of India which outlines one of the duties of a citizen that is to develop scientific temper, the spirit of inquiry and humanism.
Narendra Nayak
president, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations secretary, Dakshina Kannada Rationalist Association
member of the board of Atheist Alliance International