Bangalore prays to ward off swine flu virus

Bangalore, Aug 20 (ANI): Residents belonging to the Jain community in Bangalore organised special prayers to invoke divine intervention to ward off the swine flu virus.

One of the renowned surgeons of Bangalore, Dr. Sunita Aggarwal along with her medical and family friends organised a continuous enchantment of 'Navakar Mantra' at her clinic.

The prayers were held continuously for 24 hours on Wednesday.

According to their belief, the purpose behind chanting the 'Navakar Mantra' is to ward off the virus with divine intervention as the HINI virus claimed lives in the country while the medical frontiers are still struggling with the situation.

During the prayers, people wore similar cloth masks, which are actually worn by the Jain sects for covering their mouth and nose to avoid inadvertently harming insects or microbes by inhaling them.

"The Jains have used this to a great advantage. We are trying to inculcate that same message through the Jain's community. The 'Navakar Mantra' itself is such simple mantra and they have such a deep belief that this mantra can completely throw away all your problems," said Dr. Aggarwal.

India recorded its first H1N1 case in Hyderabad in May and since then the virus has spread across the country with dozens of cases from Pune.

Bangalore has reported five deaths out of the country's toll of 28. (ANI)