In a shocking incident that occurred recently in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, a 19-year-old college student sliced off her own tongue as an offering to the Goddess Kali, in exchange for the fulfillment of her wishes.

Aarti Dubey, an undergraduate student at TRS College in Madhya Pradesh, apparently dreamed about Kali asking her to cut off her tongue in exchange for her heart’s desire, and the next day she went to the goddess’ temple in the town of Reeva, to do just that. While it’s not unheard of for devotees to offer their body part to the goddess Kali, Aarti’s sacrifice is considered highly unusual because she is an educated young woman.

“There have been incidents of people offering their organs to the gods, expecting to get their wishes granted by the supreme power. What is startling in this case is the girl in question is educated. Illiterate people are bound to be superstitious, but when educated people become superstitious it does not bode well for the society as a whole,” local journalist Shyam Mishra told The Daily Mail.

Photo: The Daily Mail

According to eyewitness reports, the young woman arrived at Kali’s temple, and after performing some rituals, proceeded to slicing off her tongue with a sharp blade. She fell unconscious almost immediately after performing the bizarre sacrifice – most likely from the pain – but instead of calling an ambulance or giving her first aid, the temple priest and fellow devotees simply covered her with a scarf and started praying for her recovery.

Five hours past until Aarti Dubey finally regained consciousness, during which time no one attempted to help her. To everyone’s surprise, she simply got up and started performing her rituals for Kali, including doing the rounds of the temple premises, all with a faint smile on her face.

As news of Aarti’s shocking sacrifice began to spread around the town of Reeva, an ambulance and a team of policemen finally arrive at the temple to investigate. After confirming she was in a stable condition and offering first aid, they just sent the college student home.

Aarti’s brother Sachin told The Daily Mail that the girl had told him about her dream and her intentions, but he never imagined she would actually go through with it. “Aarti had confided in me about the dream and told me that she was going to offer her tongue to the deity. But it never occurred to me that she was serious about it. I thought she was just kidding,” the man said.