Strange

Man's "holy leg" chopped off by thieves

by cynthia yoo | December 13, 2007 at 01:32 pm

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Two thieves severed the reputed "holy" right leg of a famous Hindu holy man in southern India.

The 80-year-old holy man, Yanadi Kondaiah, claimed to have healing powers in the leg.
He is now recovering from his ordeal in hospital in the city of Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Local people believed they could be healed of spiritual and physical problems if they touched his leg.

They also believed in Mr Kondaiah's predictions of the future.

Police say the incident happened 550 km north of the state capital, Hyderabad.

Apparently, these two men approached Kondaiah a few days earlier, asking for his help on a medical problem.

Then this past Tuesday, they came back to "thank" him for his advice and got him rather drunk.

"After the old man had passed out under the influence of liquor, they cut off his right leg from the knee," he said.

Mr Dastgiri said that the amputation was carried out in a very "brutal manner" and that police are still looking for the leg and the men who so cruelly took it.

He said that the assailants used a sharp hunting knife, and left the old man alone and bleeding slowly to death.

Reasons for the attack are unclear.

Police say the reason for the attack could be because Mr Kondaiah told too many people of the alleged magical powers of his right leg.

"This might have motivated some people to take away his leg hoping to benefit from it," a police spokesman said.

"But it is difficult to say that this was the only motive. It could also be a case of a revenge attack."

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proxyindian2

at 18:19 on December 13th, 2007

This is a holy man, a sadhu. I asked to take his picture and he held up one finger for "wait a second." Then he finished his chai, patted down his moustache with water, put on the glasses and posed. I didn't have anything smaller than 500 Rupee notes at the time so I gave him an American dollar. He was very happy to take it.

You know, taking pictures of people was almost always done for nothing when I'd expected to have to pay for every shot. This man is a holy man so I thought it would be good for my soul to support him.

ToSStudio

at 21:30 on December 13th, 2007

One of the many "holy men" in India. At times society's drop-outs or endless searchers of wisdom ...

This man was seen at a temple on the river Ganges in Calcutta, India. (both legs still attached).

sanjayausta

at 20:50 on December 14th, 2007

Gurdwara-the holy temple of the Sikh faith in India as elsewhere is a haven for all faiths and all sections. Free food or langar is provided to everyone. In this picture an old sikh priest or granthi walks down the steps of the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara-Delhi. The granthis or gaurdians of the temple and walk about with a lace as shown here.

sanjayausta has contributed a photo to this story.

daenschmitt

at 03:43 on December 24th, 2007

Sadhus, the holy men of India. I had my first contact with a holy man in Jaipur. It was one of those hot monsun days in the middle of August - I was on the roundabout in the center of the red city taking pictures of people working, sleeping, suffering and driving and riding around the circle. The whole scene became even more crazy when suddenly this Sadhu appeared, sat on the wall to smoke his charas pipe. I took the oportunity to take a couple of pictures.

daenschmitt has contributed a photo to this story.