Keonjhar: A 28-year-old man on Saturday attempted to chop off his tongue at the Maa Tarini shrine at Ghatagon in the district in a bid to propitiate the goddess and bring good fortune to his family.

The man screamed in pain as he tried to slice his tongue with a shaving blade. Hearing him, policemen and priests stopped the person.

The incident occurred around 9.30am, said inspector of Ghatagaon police station Satish Nayak.

The man has been identified as Dasarathi Jena, a native of Thakurmunda village in Mayurbhanj district, said Nayak. "He was promptly rushed to Ghatagaon community health centre in a police van. He bled profusely. Doctors stitched the wound. He is out of danger. He is able to speak," he said.

"The matter has been reported in the police station. Though self-inflicted injury is a penal offence, we have not registered any case against him on humanitarian grounds. The injured man has been discharged from hospital. He appeared to be mentally disturbed." There have been past incidents of devotees offering their tongue to the deity at the shrine here as part of a superstitious practice.

The last such incident was reported around three years ago at the Maa Tarini shrine, he said. "The temple rituals here have no place for such barbaric and cruel practice. It's a superstition and we strongly condemn it," said president of Maa Tarini temple trust Rajendra Kumar Pattnayak.