Madurai: In the name of tradition, young girls forced to live bare-chested at a temple in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai temple.
According to NDTV reports, the seven girls who haven’t hit puberty take part in the bizarre ritual. There is no dress and just some ornaments to cover their chest.
It has been reported that for 15 days, these seven girls were trained under the supervision of a male priest in the temple as part of the ritual.
Madurai collector K Veera Raghava said that this is a very old tradition and parents voluntarily sent the girls to be part of this ceremony.
“It is an ancient custom…Parents send their girls voluntarily,” said the collector.
To ensure that they were no abused or harassment with the girl, instructions were issued on behalf of the administration that the girl’s bodies are completely covered during the tradition.
Team of officials went to the spot to investigate the matter and reported no incidents of sexual harassment with the children in the temple.
People from around 60 villages participate in this tradition, which include the worship of the adolescent girls like goddess.