The Hindu : Woman suffers burns during 'fire-walking'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Woman suffers burns during 'fire-walking'

By S. Shivakumar

CHENNAI APRIL 2. A young housewife, taking part in a `fire walking ritual', suffered burns after she slipped and fell into the pit, at the Muthumariamman Temple in Choolai on the occasion of `Panguni Ammavasai' on Tuesday.

Jothi (30) has been admitted to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital with over 16 per cent burns.

"There is no danger to her life as the burns are only in the lower part of the body. Luckily she was wearing wet clothes, which minimised the intensity. Otherwise it could have been serious", points out V. Jayaraman.

Along with Ms. Jothi, 74 persons took part in the ritual. "We all ran across the pit filled with burning logs but did not suffer injuries", a visitor to the hospital, who also participated in the ritual, said. A few others suffered minor burns and blisters in the feet.

During the last five years as many as 238 persons had been treated for burns, Dr. Jayaraman said. However, only one woman died after suffering burns during such a ritual at Mylapore a couple of years ago.

What was causing concern to plastic surgeons was that an increasing number of children were being forced to participate in the ritual. Mathangi Ramakrishnan, plastic surgeon, said "the younger the child the more vulnerable the skin is to the effects of heat. These children are made to run over fire and they do not know how to manage the pressure and heat while walking. At other times, the parents run, holding the child and in the frenzy, the child falls onto the burning coals".

The KMC Burns Unit head, B. Jeevanandam, said there was a general rush of cases during the seasons and the hospital was prepared to meet any contingency.

For instance, as many as 12 persons were injured during a temple festival at Red Hills last year. In an earlier incident, five persons were rushed to the hospital after they suffered burns at a temple festival at Arumbakkam.

"There are trained fire walkers who participate regularly in these temple rituals. They skilfully run across the burning logs without resting their legs too long on any particular spot. It is usually the newcomers who slip and fall in the frenzy of the moment and get injured," Dr.Jayaraman adds.

Meanwhile, the Burns Association of India (BAI), which has been campaigning for safety, recommended safety procedures to be followed during these rituals.

Police said they now ensured that there was no pushing from behind, which led to victims falling in the fire.

Dousing the devotees with water and preventing children from taking part in the ritual were the other precautions that BAI advocated.

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