Worshipped as ‘kuldevta’ in MP’s Dhar, totems turn out to be fossilised dino eggs

LUCKNOW: Faith can move mountains. In MP's Dhar, it was moving palm-sized "stone balls" till a band of experts determined them to be fossilised dinosaur eggs.Vesta Mandaloi (40) of Padlya village had been worshipping these balls as "Kakar Bhairav" following his forefathers' belief that the "kuldevta (totem)" would protect his farmland and cattle from problems and misfortunes. "Kakar" means land or farm and "Bhairav" denotes lord. Like Mandaloi, many others worshipped similar balls that they found during digging activities in Dhar and adjoining districts. It was only when experts from Lucknow's Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences made a field visit recently to the area that the residents learnt the balls they'd been worshipping were fossilised eggs of dinosaurs' Titanosaurus species.