Simhastha Kumbh Mela 2015 : Devotees are cheated at Shri-kshetra Trimbakeshwar thro’ sale of ‘Rudraksha’ !

• Fake ‘rudraksha’ stuck to dried stem of tree and sold as original !
• Devotees deceived through sale of ‘rudraksha’ by ingraining signs like ‘serpent, shiva-pinda etc.on ‘rudraksha’ !
• Fake ‘ekmukhi’ –rudraksha is sold for Rs. 500/-.

‘Vaijayanti-maal’ costing Rs. 10/- is sold for Rs. 100/-

Real ‘Rudraksha’ is flat like a fish and has holy signs like ‘Om’ etc. which are available for Rs. 4000 – Rs. 40,000/-. It is, however, very rare to see a real ‘Rudraksha’.

Shri-Kshetra Trimbakeshwar (Dist. Nasik, Maharashtra) : Devotees from all over India are coming to Trimbakeshwar during Simhastha-Parva and for ‘darshan’ of Bhagavan Shri. Trimbakeshwar, which is also one of 12 ‘Jyotirlingas’. After having ‘darshan’, they buy ‘Rudrakshas’ with lot of devotion as ‘prasad’; but it was observed by a reporter of ‘Dainik Sanatan Prabhat’ that innocent devotees were cheated through sale of fake ‘Rudrakshas’.

1. A string of ‘Rudrakhsa’ worn around neck is sold for Rs.150 to Rs. 350/-. Few shopkeepers are selling Rs. 150 string for Rs. 300/-. Most of the ‘Rudrakshas’ in these strings look like painted with red and brownish colour; some in dark or light shades. It therefore, raises doubt over genuineness of such ‘Rudraksha’.
2. ‘Vaijayanti’ string otherwise available for Rs. 10/- is being sold for Rs. 100/- here and thus devotees are looted by extracting more money from them.
3. Every shopkeeper when asked about genuineness of ‘Rudraksha’ claims that it has been brought from Nepal; without showing its proof.
4. More serious matter is that sticks of dried trees are stuck with the help of ‘fevi-quick’ to ‘Rudrakshas’ to appear as original and it is claimed that the sticks are from trees growing in Nepal and Himachal Pradesh.
5. A vendor named Govind showed a ‘Rudraksha’ stuck to a dried piece of a stem claiming it to be ‘Ek-mukhi Rudraksha’ costing Rs. 500/-. ‘Rudraksha’ string is sold for Rs. 500/-. In another shop, similar rudraksha-string is sold for Rs. 100/-.
6. Some are going a step further and ingraining holy symbols like serpent, Shiva-pinda etc.; sticking them to dried stem and selling as genuine. It can be made out that the signs are ingrained with machine. Such ‘Rudraksha’ is sold for Rs. 30.
7. These things are happening openly and the District Administration is paying no heed to the same.

Source : Dainik Sanatan Prabhat