Bengaluru: Twitterati are once again at it! This time it’s at a couple of priests who, in a picture, can be seen sitting inside vessels filled with water holding their phones in front of them. Meanwhile, another priest is performing ‘yajna’ before a fire. 

The priests were conducting a special ritual at the Someshwara temple in Bengaluru’s Halasuru to appease the 'rain God' as per directive of the Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (commonly known as the Muzrai Department).

What caught the netizens’ eyes is that the priests sitting inside the vessels were holding phones and users were surprised as to why priests would have the necessity to use their phone during the performance of a ritual.

Soon tweets came pouring in with witty comments about this ‘hi-tech’ ritual. A user questioned, “Are those two pandits checking weather app already?!!” Another asked, “Are they whatsapping Indra dev for monsoon? What's the phones for?” These were just some of the many tweets.

The Karnataka government had issued a circular stating that special rituals would be conducted in temples across the state to pray for rain after a lack of pre-monsoon rainfall left the state reeling in drought. 

Temples in the state were also allowed to take Rs 10,001 from the donation boxes towards the ceremony, stating that similar orders had been issued to tackle similar crises in the past. Similar rituals were also held in Sringeri, Mandya, Chamarajanagara, and Mysuru. 

More than 100 out of 175 taluks in the state have been declared drought hit this year. A group of rationalists staged a protest against the Karnataka coalition government for conducting special pujas in temples coming under the Muzrai department. The special prayers, called ‘Parjanya’ are conducted to appease rain Gods. The Muzrai department had issued a notice to as many as 34,000 temples in Karnataka, directing them to conduct a special puja for rain.