By Sudeshna Sarkar
IANS
Kathmandu : Doomsday with devastating earthquakes will smite Nepal and its neighbouring countries in less than a fortnight, a Nepali godman has warned, a prophecy that is, however, being contested vigorously by the country's leading soothsayers.
The dire prediction comes from Bishweshwor Chaudhary, a former small-time builder from Sindhuli, a district east of Kathmandu, who left his trade about four years ago to become a self-proclaimed godman.
Chaudhary, who now lives in Kathmandu, calls himself Trishuli Baba and carries a trident whose touch, he claims, can cure people of their ailments.
Trishuli Baba sports shoulder-length hair kept back from his face by an ornament that is a cross between a socialite's tiara and a beauty queen's crown. He has currently begun a fast at Mrigasthali near Kathmandu's famed Pashupatinath temple in anticipation of the coming disaster.
"The first tremors will hit Nepal at 6.15 a.m. on June 22 and the devastation will continue till July 10," he told a Nepali weekly. "The worst disaster will occur on June 24 and July 10."
The godman told Ghatana R Bichar weekly that he was given supernatural powers after a holy spirit entered his body.
Since it was now his duty to protect mankind, he was sending out the detailed warning, complete with dates and the time, so that people would be alerted and be able to save themselves when the killer quake came, the godman said.
Besides Nepal, the disaster will also hit Pakistan, India and other countries in the neighbourhood, he has predicted.
His followers have been distributing pamphlets in the capital with warnings about the apocalypse ahead. People are being asked not to reside near rivers and to move out of mud houses.
However, till now, there has been little alarm at the dire predictions. Also, Nepal's leading astrologers have hotly contested the black warnings.
The National Astrology Service Committee issued a statement, saying they had checked the position of the planets and found no signs of disaster in June and July.
Astrologer Bishwa Prem Bhattarai, spokesman of the group, said people should not heed the alarmist call but carry on with their lives without fear.
Nepal is located in a belt that is prone to earthquakes and in the past, there have been major tremors, killing hundreds.
The baba meanwhile remains unfazed by the thought that he could be proved wrong.
"I am not going anywhere," he told the weekly. "Meet me after June 22. I will still be here."