Priest slips during fire walking ritual, sustains injuries

The priest suffered burns on his face, chest, stomach, thighs and limbs

Representative image. Credit: iStock.

A temple priest sustained burn injuries after he lost balance and fell on the coal embers, during a temple ritual, at Maramma Kondotsava, at Mandalahalli, in Malavalli taluk, Mandya district, on Wednesday morning.

Guddappa Manjunath, 30, is the injured temple priest. He is being treated at the district hospital.

As every year, Maramma festival and kondotsava was being held at the temple. Manjunath, who walked on the embers amid enthusiastic crowd, lost balance, slipped and fell on the fire.

He suffered burns on his face, chest, stomach, thighs and limbs. The people nearby immediately dragged him out of the fire and rushed him to the hospital.