Radha Venkatesan/TNN
 
Coimbatore, Oct 10: In a bizarre ritual called "parakathi" here in western Tamil Nadu, little boys and men stab their arms, back and belly and offer their thanks to the Goddess Sakthi every year on Vijayadasami, the last day of the Navarathri festival.

Amid cries of "dho para, thalli para, theesko thalli, vesko thalli" (We give it, you take it, Mother), the Telugu-speaking Thevanga Chettiar community go out in a procession with long, sharp knives and stripe their bodies, particularly arms, with bleeding wounds.

"We thank the Goddess Sowdeshwari (Shakti) who saved us from demons by offering our blood. Children as young as five, too, take part in the ritual. But they will not feel any pain. Nor will we give them any medicine," says 57-year-old Kapaleeswaran, trustee of the Sowdeshwari temple at Seeranaickenpalayam
.
As the cops stand and watch, eight-year-old Shyam Ganesh swishes the sword-like knives and hits his arms. "I feel no pain. The Goddess will take it," he smiles, as his friend sprays herbal powder on his bleeding arms.

Not all Thevanga Chettiars are allowed to participate in the self-stabbing ritual — while the "sanhaval" Chettiars can only apply the herbal powder, the "meduval" and other Thevanga Chettiars wear the yellow thread and slash the knives.

"Our children have been taking part in the ritual for several decades now. They will not suffer any pain or injury," says R Hamsaveni, as she watches her son, R Yakheswaran, who is in the eighth class, stab his tender forearms.