What is sacrificed to the "God of toothache" (5 photos)

Anything, you can bring it if you have a toothache, everyone knows that. And in Nepalese Kathmandu, everyone knows that for toothache you need to go to the square next to the Vaishya Deo temple and pin a coin to a tree. This will be your payment to God for dental protection.





What a chthonic-looking thing!

Now that's what I call a useful god. They pray to all sorts of vague gods, but here is a specific and terrifying one.

When a Nepalese gets a toothache, this is the first place he goes. It's logical that the cunning dentists quickly realized that this square has the largest concentration of people with problematic teeth.



This tree also has a hole inside, like a cavity from caries!

That's why all the free advertising space around is literally covered with signs and advertisements for dental clinics. Dental clinics take up almost an entire block here! For any budget.

If God doesn't accept a coin and the pain doesn't go away, then this is their client, a nice one.





Dentistries are decorated with already wilted wreaths of flowers

By the way, an interesting historical fact: coins in Nepal used to be made of aluminum, and it was quite easy to nail them. Today, coins are made very strong, from steel, it is very difficult for an ordinary person to pierce them. And new coins are stuffed into the cracks.

That is why beggars appear here in the evenings and carefully pick out unnailed new coins from the cracks. Perhaps that is why there are so many dentistry clinics around. After all, the god doesn't have time to receive the gift, of course, the Nepalese's toothache doesn't go away and he has to go to the hospital.



Close-up of old soft coins

These new coins have broken the whole scheme of the toothache deity!

By the way, there is a sign that if you pass by, you should still stroke the tree with your hand. Just in case, so that your teeth don't hurt. After all, everyone knows that you need to take care of your teeth in advance, and not when you're in a pinch.

It is worth noting that even the poorest dental clinics in Nepal look much better than the street mobile dentists in India, who work literally in the roadside dust and give the client drinks as an anesthetic.



A street dentist and a queue to him on the road in India

Apparently, even such a small deity allowed this particular industry to develop in the country. Hidden, but pleasant benefits from beliefs.