Ganesha drinking milk miracle

Before dawn on 20 September 1995, a worshipper at a temple in southern New Delhi made an offering of milk to a statue of Ganesha. When a spoonful of milk from the bowl was held up to the trunk of the statue, the liquid appeared to disappear, apparently taken in by the idol. Word of the event spread quickly, and by mid-morning it was claimed that statues of the entire Hindu pantheon in temples all over India were taking in milk. Many minor temples struggled to deal with the vast increase in numbers, and queues spilled out into the streets, reaching distances of over a mile. ==Analysis==

Many statues were reported to not be cooperative. At the famous South Mumbai Ganapati temple the statues were described as not drinking milk. The traders at the Delhi Stock Exchange tried to feed milk to a Ganesh statue to no avail. The murti at the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg shrine was claimed to drink fruit and sugarcane juice as easily as milk. The popular Siddhivinayak temple decided to close its gates after the statue allegedly stopped drinking milk at about 12:30 noon. The sadhus of these temples blamed local nastikas (disbelievers) for the mūrtis not drinking milk. The claims were not limited to Ganesh statues. A week later on 27 September, The Statesman reported that a statue of the Virgin Mary in Singapore had also accepted milk. A 28 September report from Mumbai in the Indian Express said some people had protested when locals offered alcohol to a Gandhi statue, which it had quickly sipped. Bahujan Samaj Party workers in Uttar Pradesh's Basti district began trying to feed milk to statues of Ambedkar and Buddha. Reports of milk drinking tapered off after 21 September, though a few incidents were still reported. A small number of temples outside of India reported the effect continuing for several more days, but no further reports were made after the beginning of October. The story was picked up, mostly as a novelty piece, by news services around the world, including CNN, the BBC, the New York Times and the Guardian. ==Similar incidents==

The “miracle” occurred again on 20–21 August 2006 in almost exactly the same fashion, although initial reports seem to indicate that it occurred only with statues of Ganesh, Shiva, and Durga. The first reported occurrence was on the evening of the 20th in the city of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, from where it quickly spread throughout India, but this time was not believed by many. However, the incident was again attributed to capillary action by scientists. The phenomenon had appeared only days after reports of sea water turning sweet that led to mass hysteria in Mumbai. In 1995, the phenomenon also occurred in Trinidad and Tobago; milk was accepted by both murtis and religious pictures. The phenomenon occurred in Hindu temples as well as at the homes of Hindus in Trinidad and Tobago. The Trinidad Express newspaper reported on 22 September 2010 that murtis of Ganesh "drank" or accepted milk at the Om Shanti Mandir, Cunjal Road, Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago on 21 September 2010 on the occasion of the holy period of Ganesh Utsav. ==References==