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 Thousands of people flocked to temples across India on Monday following reports that idols of Hindu gods were drinking milk given by devotees（皈依者）as sacred（神圣的）offerings, witnesses said.
Teenagers, adults and the aged stood in long lines with garlands（花环）and bowls of milk to feed the idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna and the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha（象头神甘奈施）, they said.
Hundreds chanted hymns（赞美诗）in the northern city of Lucknow and the eastern city of Kolkata and went into hysterics（疯狂）when the milk held against the idols disappeared.
"It is amazing, Lord Ganesha drank milk from my hands. Now he will answer all my prayers," said Surama Dasgupta, a middle-aged woman in Kolkata.
The frenzy（狂暴）began late on Sunday in some northern cities and soon spread across the country, including the capital New Delhi, even as rationalists（理性主义者）and non-believers called it mass hysteria（歇斯底里）.
A similar mania gripped the country in 1995 when thousands of Hindus fed milk in spoons to marble（大理石）idols of Lord Ganesha.
That rumour spread across the globe and there were reports of Hindu deities drinking milk in London, New York and Italy.
"It is very natural for any stone idol to absorb any liquid and the older the stone the more it absorbs," M.P. Singh, a geology professor at Lucknow University, told Reuters.
Note:
从周日开始，印度人民纷纷前往寺庙喂石头佛像喝牛奶。当牛奶被佛像“喝”掉后，他们惊喜万分，认为佛像会答应他们的所有请求。但是地质学教授说石头会吸收水分是很正常的现象，并且越老的石头吸水越多。
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