About 300 km eastward of Bombay , inward the remote Indian hamlet of Shani Shingnapur , law-breaking is a concept hence alien that villagers hither conduct hold stopped guarding their houses , their properties as well as their valuables. Nobody locks their cars as well as motorbikes anymore. Shopkeepers instruct out cash inward unlocked drawers overnight , as well as housewives maintain jewelry inward unlocked boxes , within houses that conduct hold no doors —just a wooden door frame amongst a drape drawn across to protect the privacy of the residents. Such is the organized faith the villagers conduct hold on their heavenly guardian , Lord Shani , who they believe protects them from thieves. The belief , that whoever steals anything from this house volition incur the wrath of Lord Shani —a Hindu god known for his mad temper as well as penchant for revenge— as well as volition conduct hold to pay dearly for their sins , has kept incorrect doers away from Shingnapur for the final 300 years.
A habitation inward Shani Shinganapur , Republic of Republic of India , where nearly all residences conduct hold no doors. Photo credit: Shashank Bengali / Los Angeles Times
Legend has it that hundreds of years agone , later a menstruation of intense pelting as well as flooding , a heavy slab of dark stone was works life washed upwards on the shores of a river that runs through the village. When locals touched the stone , the even out goes , that blood started oozing out of it. Then 1 nighttime , the hamlet caput had a dream inward which Lord Shani spoke to him as well as revealed that the slab was , inward fact , god himself. Shani instructed the villagers to maintain the stone inward the hamlet because he wished to remain in that place , as well as protect its people. But they should maintain the slab inward the opened upwards hence that he could oversee the village.
The side past times side solar daytime , the villagers dragged the stone to dry out dry reason as well as installed it on a roofless platform at the oculus of the village. They besides decided to create away amongst all doors as well as locks on their houses. With the Lord watching over them , they didn’t bespeak doors anymore. The tradition has continued since then.
Over the years , the lore has grown. Villagers are total of tales almost failed robbery attempts where thieves walk all nighttime thinking they conduct hold left the hamlet alone to discovery themselves yet inward the hamlet inward the morning. Apparently , they were walking inward circles. Another local lore says that 1 villager installed doors on his household as well as had a auto accident the really side past times side day.
The slab of stone , forthwith a shrine. Photo credit: www.mouthshut.com
Shingnapur remained inward obscurity until the 1990s , when it appeared on a Bollywood painting exhibit , later which it began drawing thousands of tourists as well as pilgrims from across the country. But according to some residents , the village’s crime-free picture is only a ploy to convey to a greater extent than tourist. They claim that piffling law-breaking as well as thefts happen all the fourth dimension but temple officials maintain everything hushed upwards to protect Shinganapur's reputation.
When a journalist visited Sonai Police Station final twelvemonth , nether which the jurisdiction of the hamlet barbarous earlier Shingnapur got its ain constabulary station , he works life 46 criminal cases registered from the hamlet inward the final vi twelvemonth , out of which eleven were cases of thefts. As 1 probes deeper , to a greater extent than instances of law-breaking laid about to emerge. One Shingnapur resident recalls how his mother's gilt necklace got stolen 1 nighttime from their household when he was yet a teenager. Pickpocketing is besides rampant around the temple surface area but they are seldom reported. The fact that Shingnapur has a constabulary station is a sign inward itself that its picture of a crime-free utopia is a myth.
The starting fourth dimension populace incident to stone the village’s reputation occurred inward 2010 when cash as well as items worth Rs. 35 ,000 were stolen from a vehicle. Then inward 2011 , cash as well as valuables were stolen from the habitation of a onetime temple trustee , as well as and hence over again inward Jan 2012 gilt ornaments were stolen from within the temple.
Another doorless household inward Shani Shingnapur. Photo credit: Punit Paranjpe/ AFP / Getty Images
Shani Shingnapur is forthwith changing. When a local banking concern opened a branch inward the hamlet inward 2011 , they installed a Plexiglas front end door amongst no padlocks to observe the village’s tradition , but the door is held close past times a remote-controlled electromagnetic lock. Many houses as well as local concern , particularly hotels , began installing sliding doors that slipped dorsum behind the wall , creating an illusion of a doorless entry. Even the temple keeps safety guards inward the premise along amongst baggage checks as well as safety cameras. Their donation box is kept locked.
Temple trustees as well as villagers , whose economic scheme depends on tourism , essay out difficult to maintain the village's reputation up. The constabulary station as well as the increased safety is for crowd management , non law-breaking patrol , they say. Some yet maintain that in that place are no crimes inward the hamlet , as well as that the constabulary station inward Shingnapur “is the alone 1 inward the entire province without doors” , blatantly ignoring the company wooden panels guarding its entrance.
Photo credit: www.surfolks.com
Sources: BBC / LA Times / Open