Om Banna and the motorcycle temple of India
Thousands of travelers in India honor Om Banna and his motorcycle
— -- India’s streets are some of the most congested and deadliest in the world.
Over 230,000 people are killed on the country's roads each year, seven times more traffic deaths than in the United States.
After one fatal motorcycle accident in December 1991, a mysterious motorcycle captured the attention of the northwest region known as Rajasthan.
Its rider, Om Banna, lost control of the bike and died shortly after colliding with a tree.
According to locals, police took his 300 Enfield Bullet motorcycle to a nearby police station as evidence of the crash, but by the next morning, it had mysteriously returned to the site of the accident. After the police again locked the “Bullet Bike" up at the station, it repeatedly managed to find its way back to the spot even after its fuel had been removed from its tank.
As rumor of the apparent motorcycle miracle spread through the region, locals would stop at the site to offer prayers for their own safe travels. Later “Bullet Baba’s Temple” was erected to allow thousands of visitors each year to pay their respects to the motorcycle and its former rider.
Many offer flowers, money, and libations to fend off danger during their own journeys along India’s often treacherous roads.
