MANDSAUR, INDIA, June 14, 2020: As religious places are being reopened for devotees after easing of restrictions, a famous Shiva temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur has installed a bell with a sensor, which can ring without the need for physically touching it. This contactless bell, developed by an elderly Muslim man, has been fitted at the famous Ashtmukhi Pashupatinath Mahadev temple to avoid physical contact and thereby curb the spread of coronavirus. In Hindu temples, bells are usually hung in the area or porch preceding the inner sanctum and devotees ring them as an invocation to the Deity.
Talking to on Sunday, 62-year-old Nahru Khan Mev, the brain behind this sensor-operated bell, said, “When I saw that azaan [call to prayer] was allowed in mosques after the coronavirus-induced-lockdown and religious places were opened for devotees, I thought that temple bells should also be allowed to be rung.” “Keeping this in mind, I got a sensor from Indore and prepared a machine at my factory here at a cost of about US$80 and placed it in the temple,” he said. The bell starts ringing as soon as a devotee comes under it or folds his hands beneath it to pay respect to the Deity.