Bethany Brookshire

And I'm saying that in terms of Western cultures, in terms of like the global North. Other cultures do not associate rats with disgust.

So the Temple of Karni Mata, it's located in Deshnokhe, India. This temple houses around 25,000 black rats. And those rats are considered sacred. They are holy. I got to speak to some of the people who help run the temple, who cook the food for the rats. It's a beautiful temple. It has solid silver doors carved with rats. There are beautiful marble floors for the rats.

So the Temple of Karni Mata, it's located in Deshnokhe, India. This temple houses around 25,000 black rats. And those rats are considered sacred. They are holy. I got to speak to some of the people who help run the temple, who cook the food for the rats. It's a beautiful temple. It has solid silver doors carved with rats. There are beautiful marble floors for the rats.

So the Temple of Karni Mata, it's located in Deshnokhe, India. This temple houses around 25,000 black rats. And those rats are considered sacred. They are holy. I got to speak to some of the people who help run the temple, who cook the food for the rats. It's a beautiful temple. It has solid silver doors carved with rats. There are beautiful marble floors for the rats.

The rats drink from beautiful decorated bowls of milk, huge bowls of milk. They eat a wonderfully healthy diet. They get whole wheat, bread, like whole bran. They get fruit, vegetables. And people come to make fire and food offerings to these rats. It's because the rats are not considered to be real rats. The rats are reincarnations of people.

The rats drink from beautiful decorated bowls of milk, huge bowls of milk. They eat a wonderfully healthy diet. They get whole wheat, bread, like whole bran. They get fruit, vegetables. And people come to make fire and food offerings to these rats. It's because the rats are not considered to be real rats. The rats are reincarnations of people.

The rats drink from beautiful decorated bowls of milk, huge bowls of milk. They eat a wonderfully healthy diet. They get whole wheat, bread, like whole bran. They get fruit, vegetables. And people come to make fire and food offerings to these rats. It's because the rats are not considered to be real rats. The rats are reincarnations of people.

So the legend is that this woman, Karni Mata, grew up in that area and she grew up to be a sage. She had mystical powers. And so when her sister's son passed away, he drowned while playing, her sister brought her the boy and begged her to bring him back. And Karni Mata interceded with Yama, the god of death. And Yama said, okay, the people from your family will no longer die.

So the legend is that this woman, Karni Mata, grew up in that area and she grew up to be a sage. She had mystical powers. And so when her sister's son passed away, he drowned while playing, her sister brought her the boy and begged her to bring him back. And Karni Mata interceded with Yama, the god of death. And Yama said, okay, the people from your family will no longer die.

So the legend is that this woman, Karni Mata, grew up in that area and she grew up to be a sage. She had mystical powers. And so when her sister's son passed away, he drowned while playing, her sister brought her the boy and begged her to bring him back. And Karni Mata interceded with Yama, the god of death. And Yama said, okay, the people from your family will no longer die.

They will be reincarnated as rats. And then those rats, when they die, will again be reincarnated as people. And so now that temple, the family does still worship there, and it has been several hundred years. But other people, devotees, worship there as well because they believe that they will also be blessed if they are devoted enough to be reincarnated as these rats.

They will be reincarnated as rats. And then those rats, when they die, will again be reincarnated as people. And so now that temple, the family does still worship there, and it has been several hundred years. But other people, devotees, worship there as well because they believe that they will also be blessed if they are devoted enough to be reincarnated as these rats.

They will be reincarnated as rats. And then those rats, when they die, will again be reincarnated as people. And so now that temple, the family does still worship there, and it has been several hundred years. But other people, devotees, worship there as well because they believe that they will also be blessed if they are devoted enough to be reincarnated as these rats.

I would say there are a couple of things. There is one angle that's very cultural, right? I ended up interviewing for my book a bunch of people who worked in biblical scholarship. We ended up talking about translations and our understandings of things like Genesis. And God gave people dominion over the animals.

I would say there are a couple of things. There is one angle that's very cultural, right? I ended up interviewing for my book a bunch of people who worked in biblical scholarship. We ended up talking about translations and our understandings of things like Genesis. And God gave people dominion over the animals.

I would say there are a couple of things. There is one angle that's very cultural, right? I ended up interviewing for my book a bunch of people who worked in biblical scholarship. We ended up talking about translations and our understandings of things like Genesis. And God gave people dominion over the animals.

And that has become very deeply ingrained in many of our cultural ideas of what we should be able to control and how we should be able to control it. I would say that's one of the reasons that we hate these animals is because we expect animals around us to fail. We are prepared for that.

And that has become very deeply ingrained in many of our cultural ideas of what we should be able to control and how we should be able to control it. I would say that's one of the reasons that we hate these animals is because we expect animals around us to fail. We are prepared for that.

And that has become very deeply ingrained in many of our cultural ideas of what we should be able to control and how we should be able to control it. I would say that's one of the reasons that we hate these animals is because we expect animals around us to fail. We are prepared for that.

We move into an area, we pave it over, we put up a Walmart, a Target, a Starbucks, a McDonald's, what have you, and we expect the animals to leave. And then we wring our hands. We are so upset. We have killed off this beautiful species. This species becomes beautiful. It becomes charismatic. It becomes this wonderful thing. And look at the horrible stuff we've done to it.