India: Babies Thrown 50ft Off Temple

India: Babies Thrown 50ft Off Temple

news.sky.com

The bizarre ritual of throwing newborn babies off a temple 50ft high and catching them in a cloth sheet has been observed in India.
Devotees at a Muslim shrine in western India's Maharashtra state believe the act makes children stronger.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I couldn't believe it until I watched the video on the website. You gotta check this out. I cannot believe that this goes on. Babies have very fragile bones and limbs. The fact that they would risk serious injury doing this is just ludicrous IMO. But I am not from India. When you watch the video, check out the look on the baby's face near the end. Some pretty crazy rituals going on around the globe.

news.sky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I am indian and let me tell you, this does not represent India

seems like most of the crowd are onlookers

the article said that jayashree said.... jayashree is a hindu name, not a muslim one, which makes this even weirder

this has to be a small village of some sort

I have called many many many in india and nobody knew what I was talking about

Wow this is certainly interesting! What an unusual ritual...

Bloody media... India develops new generic drugs to combat a plethora of illnesses every day; develops new software every day; produces 500,000 trained mechanical engineers every year, and this is how they choose to represent us.

I'm not denying that this kind of stupidity goes on though. I look forward to the day when such acts are banished from the land not by laws, but by people becoming educated. It shall happen with time.

Weird, this has nothing to do with muslims and hindus, but yet it happens, like the other guy said this does not represent india. Also it does not represent Muslims or hindus. This is just weird. Ive never heard of this before lol.

Definitely weird. No matter if they put China, US, Russia in the title. I have to ask one of the docs I work with about this. He is from India as well. See if he has heard of such a thing. As the article states, this has been happening for years and years. So obviously there a lot of people that do it.
I wouldn't go as far as to say this is representing all on India though. I read a story the other day about Chinese now serving more animal penis in restaurants to patrons who have ED or performance issues. They believe it helps "straighten things out" if ya know what I mean.

Well here it is..



continue commenting

edit: switched to another vid showing the same scene

[edit on 1/5/2008 by Now_Then]

That is total insanity. In the 1600's (dont remember but around then) people used to throw babies from building to building until finally someone or a group of women actually stood up for the rights of the children. That was a wide spread practice in europe supposedly.

This is the same traditional backwards retarded type of behavior.

I have known a lot of people who grew up in India and have never heard of this. I have heard that many beggars would maime their children to make them more pitiful and so they they could make more money.

This needs more than just internet acclaim, the people that did this to the children need to be straightened out. This has GOT to end.

This is only one very small minority within India. In ours news (Canada), they made it explicitly clear that this was a minority group, and that the action was frowned upon by more than half of Indian citizens.

I say this because some people are framing this as an international media conspiracy to make India look bad. As one other person said, this would get the same attention from the media regardless of where it took place.

Beyond that whole thing, I wonder if this is actually physically harmful to the baby. Is being stopped by a blanket enough force to damage the body? By all logic I am going to say no.

I understand it is crazy and irrational, and I sure wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know. But if it is safe, I don't see how it is my right to tell this group that they cannot do this. If a baby dies or is hurt however, I would very quickly change my mind (as the babies really have no say in the matter).

Originally posted by WuTang
Beyond that whole thing, I wonder if this is actually physically harmful to the baby. Is being stopped by a blanket enough force to damage the body? By all logic I am going to say no.

How inconceivable is it that the child might 'twist' during the fall? Thereby suffering dislocating injuries or worse..

For that matter how can anyone justify the mental state of a crowd doing this sort of thing?

It seems to me the only innocent people here are the babies and the people operating the camera.

We are just so evolved as a species. Primates, canines, and felines care for their young better. I have heard of this before tho. Hmmm, let's see...circumcision or play parachute.
sp

Their is just something inherently wrong with having a slice taken off at birth. Now 'that's' barbaric.

[edit on 5/1/2008 by jpm1602]

[edit on 5/1/2008 by jpm1602]

reply to post by Now_Then


Because according to the article no baby has ever been hurt, and this has been going on for 40 years. I know it is crazy. But I don't believe it is my right to dictate to someone that a part of their belief structure is wrong. As long as no one has ever been hurt (this should be verified), than I don't see the harm.

As for twisting, when I watched the video on the news, the guy dropping the baby did so in a steady back down manner. I don't see how the baby would twist unless he spins the baby as he drops it (or if the baby had a very developed upper body and knew gymnastics/diving/snowboarding).

Again, I would not recommend this, but if it has never hurt anyone I can't say it is wrong.

Originally posted by WuTang
Again, I would not recommend this, but if it has never hurt anyone I can't say it is wrong.

Michael Jackson never 'hurt' any one....

There - some one finally made me go there

Oh, I will now shut down my PC and weather out the storm.

Throwing kids 50 foot is wrong!! I had to wait till my niece was 3 years old before I could fight back

Plus, I heard they banned midget tossing last year. It fills a necessary gap. It looks rather well choreographed and they even gently catch them on the first bounce. It's not like they are betting rupies on who makes it.

I work for a Hindu family, and have worked with a Muslim family as well, and I can tell you they both have very large families, and niether would EVER throw one of their children from anything! Their children are precious to them, to place them in danger would go against every thing they do every day to ensure their healthy happy children are safe. I feel this is irresponsible media reporting to make it sound like an accepted Indian practice. But to those who do it, education would make them understand their foolishness, but giving up their old ways make take more than that, like a law.

reply to post by Now_Then


Your right, MJ didn't do anything worse, because he wasn't convicted of the crimes he was accused of.

However, in my personal opinion, the crime he was convicted of, child molestation, is a whole heck of a lot worse than dropping a baby 50 feet onto a cloth.

If you believe this practice equates to child molestation, that's your opinion, but to say that these children are suffering more than a child who was molested is just preposterous.

I watched that this morning on the BBC and literally held my breath as they fell towards the ground
I can't even begin to understand... I don't have anything nice to say so I won't say anything at all

Didn't that Micheal Jackson character try this?
Sorry... couldn't help it.

This is a rather bizarre practice... then again, so is circumcision and a number of other practices.

I know many Indians, and they would certainly not be partaking in anything of this sort. For the most part, the Indians I know are VERY well educated, and wouldn't mistake such a ritual as having health benefits.

This has to be a cult of some kind.

Hey, there are still satanist cults in the US who kill newborns as sacrifices... at least, they do until they're caught.
There will always be wackos... no matter where you go.

Originally posted by WuTang
reply to post by Now_Then

 

If you believe this practice equates to child molestation, that's your opinion, but to say that these children are suffering more than a child who was molested is just preposterous.

Well I'd go more with irresponsible, and I would also expect there is a good amount of passive pressure for parents to join in with this ritual.

As others have said - everything is been done to reduce any chance of harm to the kids, and even babies are a lot tougher than they look (else how else would our flimsy looking frames evolve to practically dominate the globe?)

But still the kids clearly cannot consent to this, I know when I started doin semi dangerous and exciting things with my old man (ex marine, so relatively safe pair of hands) I at least had a chance to protest.. Hence now I have a good understanding of danger and am no dead yet.

I just don't see any real benefit in this - the child won't remember the actual event, he/she will learn of it later, at 6 or 7 that would be a different matter.. I still have the memory of plunging from height in to a deep fast flowing Dartmoor river with my old man at about that age - that showed me that it was quite a serious thing - and you had to stay calm and go with the flow.. That was a good lesson.