Image of Lord Ganesha

What causes idols to ‘drink’ milk?

On 21 September 1995 a small temple in Delhi reported that their idol of Lord Ganesha was drinking milk. The Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), a rationalist group founded by Narendra Dabholkar, attempted to quell the mass hysteria that followed with scientific explanations for the phenomenon.

eshna benegal 29 Jul 22

On 21 September 1995, a small temple in Delhi reported that their idol of Lord Ganesha was drinking milk. The priest of the temple offered a spoon of milk to the idol, within seconds it was all gone. This event caused a huge stir with people across the country thronging to various Ganesh temples to try feeding him milk. It was treated as a divine miracle.

The Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), a rationalist group founded by Narendra Dabholkar, attempted to quell the mass hysteria with scientific explanations of how the idol could have actually drunk milk. MANS’ aim was to convince the layperson that there had been no miracle. They cited the following reasons:

  • Capillary action: The ability of a liquid to move up through narrow spaces of porous substances against gravity. 
  • Surface tension: The property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force, due to the cohesive nature of its molecules. 

When the idol’s mouth punctures the surface of a liquid, some of it flows out, giving the appearance that the liquid is vanishing when in actuality it is simply flowing out.

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