Video Snake temple believed to bless childless families with a baby

SHOTLIST :

AP Television

Alleppey District, Kerala, India, Recent, 2010

1. Mid of snake idols

2. Wide of people praying in front of snake idols

3. Various shots people walking around Snake Temple

4. Pull focus shot of snake idols

5. Various of Venkataraman Pranatharthiharan and his wife Meghna Venkataraman praying

6. Close of snake idols

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Venkataraman Pranatharthiharan, Devotee:

"The main purpose is like we want to have, we are not having baby for past three years after marriage. So, we came here. Guruji asked us to come here and meet Shankar Mama to get the blessings of Nagaraja (snake God) and also the Mother here."

8. Various of Pranatharthiharan and his wife offering prayers in the temple and taking the blessings of Mother

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Meghna Venkataraman, Childless woman and devotee:

"This is one of the rarest places dedicated to Lord Nagaraja, you know. It is meant for childless couples, you know. It is a belief that if a childless couple comes here and you know, pray to Lord Nagaraja, he removes all your doshams (obstacles) related to sarp dosham or any other pitri dosham and stuff like that."

10. Wide of people praying

11. Various of women praying

AP Television

Trivandrum, Kerala, India, Recent, 2010

12. SOUNDBITE (English) K.Jayakrishnan, Infertility Specialist:

"I think it''s the belief which plays an important role and belief in worship or a god helps them to relieve the psychological stress. And it helps quite a lot of people when the psychological stress is, so you find that treatment of infertility is associated with lot of stress and a place of worship or a belief will help them to relieve the stress and achieve success much faster, that''s what I feel so."

AP Television

Alleppey District, Kerala, India, Recent, 2010

13. Top shot of people inside temple

14. Various of people inside the temple

15. Wide of people inside the temple

16. Tilt down of lamp inside the temple

AP Television

Trivandrum, Kerala, India, Recent, 2010

17. SOUNDBITE (Malayalam) N.Ajithkumar, Historian:

"Worshipping snakes for their own good, their children''s good and even for getting children has been practiced for ages. When you work on the land (earth), if you happen to lose your life, then it is said that it is because the land is meant for snakes. It is in repentance that sacred groves were built and snakes worshipped."

AP Television

Alleppey District, Kerala, India, Recent, 2010

18. Wide of temple procession

19. Wide of Mother priestess of the temple carrying the idol of Nagaraja during procession

20. Various of people lining up to watch procession

21. Low angle shot of Mother priestess carrying the idol of Nagaraja

22. SOUNDBITE (English) S. Jayakumar, Temple administrator:

"This lady is supposed to be the mother of Nagaraja and she has got a specialty. All days we are doing the pujas, but on special days, she is doing. That''s a specialty here. No other temple I think ladies are entering the shrine and doing pujas (form of worship related to faith). This is the only place where this has been done."

23. Various of people playing instruments

24. Tilt of snake idol

LEAD IN

A land of temples, India boasts designated places of worship for hundreds of thousands of Hindu deities.

One of them is Mannarsala Nagaraja Temple, devoted to snake gods worshipped for their ability to bless childless couples with babies.

STORYLINE :

Snake idols line the entrance to this temple in Kerala.

The Mannarsala Nagaraja Temple in Alleppey district is the largest shrine devoted to snake gods in the region.

There are around 30 thousand images of snake gods along the path of the temple and among the trees. Hundreds of snakes live around the temple.




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